Ashley Carman joins Jason & Molly to discuss Spotify's acquisition of podcast ad-tech companies Chartable and Podsights (1:55). Ashley is a senior reporter at The Verge and the lead writer at HotPod. We dig into why she thinks Spotify's main competition is YouTube and how the Big Tech and Big Media podcasting efforts are playing out. 

After that, 10 companies pitch Jason and the team in rapid-fire (46:16). These startups went through Founder University, a 12-week course run by the team at Launch.

0:00 Jason and Molly tee up today’s topics: Spotify’s podcasting ambitions with Ashley Carman PLUS 10 founder pitches from Founder University
1:55 Ashley Carman joins to break down the news: Spotify acquires Chartable and Podsights, she also covers what happened to Clubhouse
13:25 Ourcrowd - Check out the deal of the week at https://ourcrowd.com/twist
14:29 What podcasting loses by going with dynamically inserted ads, building for creators vs. building for established brands, Spotify going after YouTube as the main platform for creators
26:45 Linode - Apply to their Rise program for founder-led, early-stage startups and get 3 years of discounts at https://linode.com/twist.
27:52 Podcast tracking users habits, why Spotify is rejecting open standards, sleeping giants in the podcasting space
37:01 Mercury - Banking built for startups. See more at https://mercury.com/twist
38:26 Reflecting on Lumiary’s big bet to be the HBO of podcasting
46:16 First 5 pitches: Giphting, Chojuu, TaCo, Term Payments, Fix6 PLUS judge feedback
1:02:05 5 Next 5 pitches: Remotespace. SavvyTeam, Gaan, Timewell, Innocuous AI PLUS judge feedback

FOLLOW Ashley: https://twitter.com/ashleyrcarman

Check out Founder University: https://www.founder.university

Companies Pitching: Giphting, Chojuu, TaCo, Term Payments, Fix6, Remotespace, SavvyTeam, Gaan, Timewell, Innocuous AI

FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis
FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood