In the 32nd episode of Cartoon Avatars former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo discusses his time at Second City with greats like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and Steve Carrell, successfully managing and running Twitter as a non-founder, and trying to buy Instagram. (0:00) Intro (0:58) Mark Cuban canceled (4:08) The editing room (6:07) Logan’s engagement (9:22) Welcome Dick Costolo (13:54) Dick’s time at Second City (28:16) After Second City (32:44) Why Twitter is a unique challenge (35:06) Treating all Twitt...
Sep 09, 2022•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 32
In the 31st episode Twitter poster Compound248 joins to discuss his own background, and why he chooses to stay anonymous on Twitter. Plus explanations on venture and endowments, thoughts on Spotify compared to TV streaming, the Twitter whistleblower and Elon deal, and his experiences starting his own private investment fund. (0:00) Intro (0:52) Compound248’s Background (4:24) Why be anonymous (9:15) Responsibilities of asset allocation (14:53) Why endowments led the way (18:15) Science of asset ...
Aug 26, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 31
In the 30th episode, William Hockey joins for a conversation on founding Plaid, what it’s like running Column with his wife, and the state of startups and fintech. Plus author of “The Cult of We” Maureen Farrell and founder of Common Brad Hargreaves join to discuss Adam Neumann and his latest real estate venture in Flow. (0:00) Intro (1:55) Introducing William (4:48) Kids today (6:22) William’s first pitch to Zach (10:44) Data prioritization (12:21) Providing services others don’t want to do (21...
Aug 19, 2022•1 hr 53 min•Ep. 30
In the 29th episode, Multicoin Capital Co-Founder and Managing Partner Kyle Samani joins the crypto debate and discusses Solana and Helium’s wireless network. Zach breaks down One Medical and their acquisition by Amazon, plus Rashad Assir comes on to discuss going viral. (0:00) Intro (1:06) Welcoming Rashad (4:34) Going viral (5:22) Changing the work culture (8:19) Perf cycles (14:31) Cash cow (19:59) Google investing in people (23:03) One Medical (29:50) Welcoming Kyle (34:26) Solana (37:54) Pr...
Aug 12, 2022•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 29
In the 28th episode Logan and Zach sit down for a conversation with Molly White on how and why she started Web3 is Going Just Great, which reports on the most disastrous of crypto news. Plus winding down web3 debates, the DataRobot AI scandal, and a recap of the Sam Lessin episode. (0:00) Intro (0:38) Releasing the Sam Lessin Episode (6:39) The state of the market (18:58) DataRobot AI (21:22) Zach’s take (25:00) DataRobot distinctions (28:11) Tax code is founder-friendly, not employee-friendly (...
Aug 05, 2022•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 28
Lux Capital’s Josh Wolfe joins to discuss startups in the current market, and the long-awaited release of the crypto debate between Zach Weinberg and Slow Venture’s Sam Lessin that got so heated we weren’t sure we could publish it. (0:00) - Intro (1:27) – Welcome Josh Wolfe (3:10) – Market updates (13:21) – Anti-bubble (16:28) – Consolidation (19:57) – Everything times pi (22:35) – Welcome Sam Lessin (25:43) – NY tech founders in ‘07 (30:44) – Slow Ventures (33:12) – The crypto debate begins (41...
Jul 29, 2022•2 hr 24 min•Ep. 27
Logan Bartlett joined the Ordinary Astronauts podcast to talk Cartoon Avatars, the current state of venture capital, how startups can raise in this environment and paths for company building. Listen to Ordinary Astronauts: https://t.co/6bVExMcSVF Time Stamps: (0:00) - Intro (1:18) – Private vs public markets (4:31) – Finding your investor (7:47) – Valuations in the current market (12:52) – Few buyers at $1B valuation (14:12) – VC conspiracy theories (18:56) – Founder decisions (23:50) – Work/lif...
Jul 28, 2022•1 hr 5 min
In the 26th episode author of Chaos Monkeys and former Facebook PM Antonio García Martínez joins to discuss his experiences visiting Ukraine during the current crisis, debunking the biggest Facebook conspiracy theories, announces his new Web3 company, and then debates Zach about it! (0:00) - Intro (1:27) – Welcoming Antonio García Martínez (AGM) (4:04) – AGM’s greatest hits (7:45) – Ad tech (10:04) – Why AGM wrote Chaos Monkey (14:50) – His character in Chaos Monkey (17:19) – Bringing your whole...
Jul 22, 2022•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 26
In the 25th episode of Cartoon Avatars Logan talks with friend and Braze CEO Bill Magnuson about his start, his success, and the joke stocking stuffer worth 20k. Plus Redpoint’s Rashad Assir is back once again to discuss his own background, and how it led to his TikTok success and work with Redpoint. (0:00) Intro (0:22) Introducing Rashad (3:05) Rashad’s background (5:45) Redpoint’s TikTok (10:45) Introducing Bill Magnuson (16:27) How big is Braze? (17:36) Bill’s Background (20:48) Taking colleg...
Jul 15, 2022•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 25
In a special bonus episode due to Elon Musk’s announcement that he’ll be backing out of the Twitter deal, Logan is joined by Axios Business Editor Dan Primack to cover the whole story. What happened, how we got here, and can Elon actually just do this? (The answer is not really, no) Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky Produced: Andrew Nadeau and Rashad Assir Executive Producer: Josh Machiz Music Griff Lawson 🎙 Listen to the show Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: h...
Jul 09, 2022•53 min
In the 24th episode of Cartoon Avatars, QED Investors Co-Founder and CIO Frank Rotman joins the crypto debate with Zach, and discusses Capital One’s unique origins and structure with Logan. Plus the “Redpoint TikTok Guy” Rashad Assir is finally revealed in his first appearance on the pod. (0:00) Intro (0:44) Introducing Rashad Assir (3:25) Introducing Frank Rotman (6:36) History of Capital One (14:40) Building the infrastructure (16:25) Starting QED (18:29) Frank’s Web3 journey (24:15) Where’s t...
Jul 08, 2022•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 24
Logan and Zach are the featured guests on the "Best Business Show w/ Anthony Pompliano - Episode: 239" in this bonus episode of Cartoon Avatars. 🎙 Listen to the show Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast... Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb... Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0... Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/cartoonavatars 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/cartoonavatars 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@carto...
Jul 04, 2022•1 hr 14 min
Time Stamps: (1:18) Introducing Zach Weinberg (2:44) Web2 celebrity status (7:22) Frozen tech market (10:33) Investor perspective (14:06) Current market state (25:07) Advising founders (34:24) Bill Magnuson Story (38:13) Founder characteristics) (42:37) Zach vs Keith Rabois (49:13) Acquired FM intro (50:09) Acquired FM history (1:04:43) The state of podcasts (1:08:48) Logan’s backstory (1:23:52) Creating episodes (1:33:55) Three priorities of Acquired (1:46:28) Acquired’s best moments (1:49:10) ...
Jul 01, 2022•2 hr 22 min•Ep. 23
(00:00) Intro (02:57) Introducing Shaun Maguire (09:52) DARPA to cyber security (15:41) Paying in Bitcoin (17:27) Wife’s family fleeing their country for safety (27:27) Crypto in autocratic nations (31:20) Middlemen (35:30) Investing in equity (36:28) Blockchain video games (37:36) Uniswap (40:33) Future use cases (42:56) Following where young people are excited (49:27) Introducing Andrew Parker (51:15) How Logan and Andrew met (55:12) Andrew’s background (57:30) Telehealth – MD Live (58:52) The...
Jun 24, 2022•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 22
(00:00) Intro (01:19) Introducing Jon Wu (04:40) What is Ethereum? (08:10) Present and future of crypto (12:53) How Jon got into crypto (17:48) The oracle problem (19:58) Real world crypto uses (23:07) Post speculation (29:15) Lack of sovereign money (35:00) What’s happening with Celsius? (37:30) Why does DeFi work? (42:00) Digital goods (48:06) Celsius state of play (55:40) Celsius’ impact on the crypto market (59:29) Crypto regulation (1:05:31) TAM analysis (1:10:08) Youth in crypto (1:12:21) ...
Jun 18, 2022•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 21
(01:14) Introducing Zach Weinberg and Mike Dudas (06:06) Mike’s background (19:02) Exciting about crypto (24:18) Zach vs crypto (32:04) Inflation hedge (38:25) Does Zach own Crypto (41:00) Banking in foreign countries (53:59) Stablecoin vs wire transfer (59:00) KYC (1:03:57) Crypto insurance (1:09:24) Eric Glyman: Welcome (1:11:32) Eric Glyman: Background (1:16:57) Eric Glyman: Mandarin Debate video (1:20:28) Eric Glyman: Starting Paribus (1:24:51) Eric Glyman: Selling to Capital One (1:28:57) E...
Jun 11, 2022•2 hr 30 min•Ep. 20
(00:00) Intro (00:13) Intro Zach and Packy (01:07) Solana (05:14) Crypto Ecosystem (13:00) Crypto Use Cases (18:02) Crypto Investments (21:45) Elon’s Ultimatum (27:43) Billionaire Senate Run (32:04) VC Firm’s Scam & Media War (37:39) Sheryl Sandberg Steps Down (48:03) Matt Levine Intro (49:39) Leaving Goldman Sachs (52:26) Joining Deal Breaker (55:04) Choosing Topics (1:01:08) Crypto as a Lab for Financial Institutions (1:02:08) Deal Breaker to Bloomberg (1:07:00) Finance Bro Groupies (1:08:14) ...
Jun 04, 2022•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 19
(00:08) Welcome Zach Weinberg (00:55) Andreessen Horowitz/Flow Carbon (10:41) Crypto Litigation Risk (16:27) Venture vs. Hedge Funds (22:25) Sequoia’s Leaked Deck (27:04) Different Kind of Crisis (28:20) Tech Companies Had It Easy (30:21) Uber vs. Lyft (34:16) Down Rounds (40:27) High Valuation Doesn’t Mean Good Employment (45:31) 2008 Work Force (49:50) Parker Conrad Intro (50:13) Working on Harvard’s Crimson (52:45) Left School for a Little Rock Newspaper (55:13) Cancer Diagnosis (57:16) Start...
May 28, 2022•2 hr 4 min•Ep. 18
0:30 – Traveling 2:51 – Welcome Ben Evans 11:07 – Past and Future of Tech 30:06 – Elon and Twitter 39:43 – What’s Really Regulated 57:52 – Welcome Alexis Gay 59:56 – From Tech to Comedy 1:02:58 – Twitter Experience 1:14:08 – Breaking Into YouTube 1:23:28 – Importance of Structure 1:29:12 – Starting Podcasting 1:33:04 – Redefining Success 1:37:34 – Figuring Out What Works 1:45:24 – Getting a Fund 1:49:23 – The Tech Ecosystem Executive Producer: Rashad Assir Producer: Leah Clapper Mixing and editi...
May 21, 2022•2 hr•Ep. 17
(00:00:00) Intro with Zach Weinberg (00:02:22) Public Market Bloodbath (00:07:10) Distribution of Risk (00:12:56) Update on SoftBank and Tiger (00:28:30) Eric Golden joins the pod to talk Luna (00:30:04) What happened in the market this week? (00:40:55) What is Luna? (00:53:21) Why is this pulling down Bitcoin as well? (01:02:04) Do Kwon sucks (01:13:43) Interview with Aaron Levie (01:36:08) The state of Web3 (01:38:37) Interesting use cases for Web3 (01:41:01) The rhetoric of crypto skepticism ...
May 14, 2022•2 hr 6 min•Ep. 16
(00:00:00) Intro (00:02:28) Packy & Ben’s Businesses (00:23:08) Finding Your Audience (00:36:01) VC Hindsight (00:46:18) Creative Process (00:57:52) Web3 (01:05:57) Advice for Content Creators (01:14:59) All-In and Twitter (01:23:54) One Last Thing Follow the show: https://twitter.com/3cartoonavatars https://www.instagram.com/3cartoonavatars/ https://www.tiktok.com/@3cartoonavatars Follow the hosts: https://twitter.com/loganbartlett Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky Produced: Andrew Nadeau and ...
May 07, 2022•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 16
(00:00:00) Intro (00:02:35) A Message From Zak (00:05:02) @prayingforexits (00:53:39) Bored Ape Yacht Club Experts (00:27:13) Tiger Global (00:35:44) Facebook's Hiring Freeze (00:41:26) Two Things About Elon (00:47:10) Neeraj Arora's Twitter Thread on Selling WhatsApp (00:53:39) Intro to Conversation with BAYC Experts (00:57:08) Bored Ape Land Sale (01:05:40) Democratizing NFT Access (01:16:38) Metaverse Bored Ape Game (01:20:25) BAYC Founders (01:31:39) Metaverse Game Skepticism (01:38:33) Fina...
May 07, 2022•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 15
(00:00) Introducing Josh Wolfe (02:41) Elon Musk Buys Twitter Because No One Told Him He Can Buy Other Stuff (39:58) Bolt, Katara, and the World’s Greatest Time to be a Law Firm (56:53) Introducing Scott Belsky (57:18) Trying to Explain Twitter (67:55) Algorithms and Free Speech Follow the show: https://twitter.com/cartoonavatars https://www.instagram.com/cartoonavatars/ https://www.tiktok.com/@cartoonavatars Follow the hosts: https://twitter.com/loganbartlett https://twitter.com/wolfejosh https...
Apr 30, 2022•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 14
(04:35) Miami Tech Week is just dangerous being so close to Coachella (08:18) Netflix somehow losing subscribers even though they raised prices and have 98 competitors (24:14) Elon Musk just buying stuff out of spite (29:57) A16Z’s new Accelerator (36:08) Keith Rabois interview and his hottest of takes Follow the show: https://twitter.com/cartoonavatars https://www.instagram.com/cartoonavatars/ https://www.tiktok.com/@cartoonavatars Follow the hosts: https://twitter.com/zck https://twitter.com/n...
Apr 23, 2022•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 13
(01:35) Dan Primack Breaks Down Elon Musk’s Bid for Twitter but Not Why His Tweets Are So Bad (22:07) Zach Weinberg Debuts as a Cartoon Avatar (32:06) Crypto’s a Security but Shut Up About It Follow the show: https://twitter.com/cartoonavatars https://www.instagram.com/cartoonavatars/ https://www.tiktok.com/@cartoonavatars Follow the hosts: https://twitter.com/zck https://twitter.com/zachweinberg https://twitter.com/loganbartlett Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky Produced: Andrew Nadeau and Ras...
Apr 15, 2022•51 min•Ep. 12
(00:39) - Elon Musk buys 9.2% of Twitter and species he only wants “the good parts” (11:54) - History of Twitter runs deep and sometimes stupid (16:40) - Twitter’s current role/issues, and there are a lot (35:54) - Fast shuts down and the schadenfreude gets intense Follow the show: https://twitter.com/cartoonavatars https://www.instagram.com/cartoonavatars/ https://www.tiktok.com/@cartoonavatars Follow the hosts: https://twitter.com/zck?s=21 https://twitter.com/nikitabier?s=21 https://twitter.co...
Apr 09, 2022•54 min•Ep. 11
(00:20) NFT LA and Nikita’s parties (01:50) Onlyfans ideal for SPAC which surprisingly isn’t a sex thing (15:40) Twilio programmers great at programming, terrible at insider trading (25:20) Ryan Breslow exclusive interview (30:57) How Ryan got good at Twitter (33:34) Is the Silicon Mob real?? (38:40) Why one-click checkout is impossible to explain but very cool (44:11) Is blocking competition conspiracy or just good strategy (49:57) Surprising controversy over early exercise options loans Follow...
Apr 02, 2022•1 hr•Ep. 10
(01:26) Facebook executives flee but not in a super disconcerting way yet (09:34) Yuga Labs raised $450 million dollars to let Bored Ape Yacht Club try to do a thing (21:53) Democratizing NFTs for everybody as long as everybody has $250,000 (29:33) Why you’d mess with NFT success kinda just because it’s cool (35:43) How Vitalik Buterin just wanted his World of Warcraft stuff and now there are million dollar monkeys https://www.wsj.com/articles/mark-zuckerberg-and-metas-leadership-take-remote-wor...
Mar 26, 2022•45 min•Ep. 9
3:34 - AMC Invested in a Gold Mine, Unfortunately Literally 8:16 - Can You Build a Business on Memes 19:03 - Roseanne Wincek Joins 21:27 - Glossier Article and How Takedown Pieces Are Cattier Than What the Takedown is For 41:17 - Google Employees Aren’t Happy Despite Excessive Foosball Table Access 46:57 - Remote Work Makes it Too Easy to Send Me Angry DMs Bloomberg - AMC bought a Gold Mine: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-03-15/amc-bought-a-gold-mine Adam Aron Wiki: https://en.w...
Mar 19, 2022•50 min•Ep. 8
(00:30) Nikita’s Family and first good use of Twitter (01:32) Bain Capital Crypto's self own (05:12) Ryan Breslow’s crypto pharma start-up will not feature psychedelics initially and that's a real sentence (07:50) Buying domains and trips to Oklahoma to meet website brokers (22:05) Alumni Ventures and the "standard" vc terms (32:32) Twitter’s podcast platform and the best social app creator (39:30) Tiger partners funding seed managers with $1b over next 3 years https://www.bloomberg.com/news/art...
Mar 12, 2022•44 min•Ep. 7
