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If you’re wondering about our Spotify Wrapped listening personalities, you’re in luck. See below. Happy end of November — on to the last month of the year! — Christine and Hey
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The businessroundups.org Top 3
- #SpotifyPacked: If you were like most of us TechCrunchers today, you were discovering what Spotify had to say about your years of listening trends. Sara writes that in addition to the list of your most listened to songs, Spotify Wrapped 2022 tried to guess your mood: Christine is “The Maverick” and Haje is “The Time Traveller”, in case you wanted to know.
- More layoffs: Food deliverers are still struggling. DoorDash is the latest to announce it will lay off 1,250 employees to reduce operating costs. Aisha reports.
- It turns out you can have fun stuff: We enjoyed Mary Ann‘s well done story on ResortPass, a company that gives people the chance to lounge by the pool of a five-star resort without having to stay there. The company’s recent $26 million cash infusion includes celebrities and most likely five-star pool loungers, Jessica Alba and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Startups and VC
Today, crypto exchange Kraken announced that it will let go of 1,100 employees. The announcement came from a company blog post, Alex reports. The news that Kraken is cutting staff – and thus costs – is no surprise, given the generally gloomy macroeconomic environment and even worse climates in cryptoland. Speaking of cryptoland, Sara reports that Jack Dorsey’s Bitcoin project TBD kills his plan to trademark “Web5”. Meanwhile, the creator of Magic: The Gathering spoke to Devin about why he put a paper game on the blockchain.
Aside from the world of crypto, it was a good day for new funds – Christine reports that New Fare Partners is the latest female-led VC to close the first fund, and Catherine has a story today about Iterative launching its second fund targeting startups in Southeast Asia.
“Native Americans are the most impoverished group in the US, a remnant of intergenerational, systematic disenfranchisement. As a result, they are also currently the hardest hit by inflation,” said Danielle Forward, CEO and co-founder of Natives Rising in an interview with Mike. She is working to change that situation. “As the technology industry slows down in hiring, tech jobs remain one of the most economically powerful, in-demand jobs of the future, especially for those who want to work remotely.”
Okay, fine, there are a few more:
Dear Sophie: How should I prepare for my visa interview?
Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/businessroundups.org
Dear Sophie,
Our startup has just been admitted to the winter batch of a top accelerator!
My co-founder with an H-1B just got fired from Big Tech, but he’s fine because his immigration attorney is filing for a change of status from B-1 within the 60-day grace period. I’m a little nervous because I’m outside the US and don’t have a B-1/B-2 visitor visa yet.
How can I pass the visa interview? What kind of questions will I get? How should I prepare?
— Tenacious in Tobago
Three more from the TC+ team:
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Big Tech Inc.
In the new life of Airbnb, it plays the role of a real estate agent. The vacation rental giant is now helping renters find an apartment so they can Airbnb it. Ivan writes. Quite interesting when you consider that Airbnb and its hosts have gotten into trouble in the past by listing properties without the permission of landlords, and in some cases the city government.
Speaking of things you’re allowed to do in cities, Brian reports that “San Francisco police can now use robots to kill.” The city’s board of trustees approved the proposal that robots should only be used “in extreme circumstances to save or prevent further loss of innocent lives,” he writes.
And we have five more for you:
