Let's officially stop comparing Adam Neumann and Elizabeth Holmes

Aug 17, 2022

Anita Ramaswamy, co-host of TechCrunch's crypto-focused podcast Chain Reaction, brings her insights on the controversial return of Adam Neumann in real estate with his new startup Flow, which is already valued above $1 billion. The discussion dives into the implications of his past, the challenges of trust in venture capital, and the systemic biases female founders face. Anita and her co-host call for more nuanced comparisons between Neumann and Elizabeth Holmes, emphasizing that fraud is a complicated issue with many layers.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Unexpected Coverage

Anita Ramaswamy, covering crypto and fintech, unexpectedly reported on Adam Neumann's Flow Carbon.
This was Neumann's first post-WeWork venture, focused on tokenized carbon credits.

INSIGHT

Third Chance, Not Second

Flow, Neumann's real estate venture, marks his third entrepreneurial attempt, not his second.
This is often confused with his earlier crypto startup, Flow Carbon, funded by the same firm.

ANECDOTE

Oxygen to the Flame

Natasha Mascarenas worried about giving Neumann more attention by covering Flow.
She questioned if covering the story would perpetuate the cycle of Neumann's sensationalism.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Get the app

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

This is our Wednesday show, where we niche down to a single topic, think about a question and unpack the rest. And, I mean, are you surprised what we're working with this week? Of course we're talking about Flow, Adam Neumann's a16z-fueled return to real estate that is already reportedly valued above $1 billion.

This week, Natasha asked: Is the return is a result of vision, track record, or Adam Neumann-privilege? She's joined by Anita Ramaswamy, the co-host of TechCrunch's crypto-focused podcast Chain Reaction. The duo wrote a piece about the tech community's reaction to Neumann's new startup, so consider this episode a mic'd up follow-up:

The news, what we know, and what we still don't - including how much of that $350 million check is cash
The reporter's notebook take on how to cover news that is sensationalist in nature. Do we give oxygen to something that is meant for a reaction? And when is something worth capturing versus worth waiting to see materialize?
Why folks get checks, and Neumann's background in vision, track record and ability to raise money. After all, to succeed in becoming a venture-backed founder, all you need to be able to do is be good at getting venture backed.
How this fits into the female founder takedown story - and why people need to stop comparing Neumann to Elizabeth Holmes. Fraud, my friend, is complicated.

https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/15/tech-industry-reacts-to-adam-neumanns-a16z-backed-return-to-real-estate/

Equity drops every Monday at 7 a.m. PDT and Wednesday and Friday at 6 a.m. PDT, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts.

Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices