Hi!
I’m Greg Kumparak.
I’ll be on Weekly in the near future, with your former host Lucas Matney diving into cryptoland with the launch of the newsletter and podcast called Chain reaction. He won’t go too far, and I’m sure he will stop in from time to time.
If my name sounds familiar, it might be because I watched Week in Review a few times while Lucas was AFK / touching the grass / not staring at the screen. Or maybe it’s because you’ve been reading TechCrunch for a long time. I’ve been around this place for over a decade; I wore a lot of hats during that time. (The metaphorical hats. I have a head so big, most actual hats don’t fit.)
That’s all I’m going to say about me, for now, as this is not the Greg in Review newsletter. But come say hi on twitter. Let me know what you like best about the Week in Review as it’s been around so far. I don’t mean to change the format much, but I always try to do more of what people like.
big thing
Lucas always starts his newsletter with the “big thing” of the week… and, crucially this week, there’s no denying that Elon Musk offered $44 billion to buy Twitter and Twitter accepted. If you’re looking at our list of the most read posts of the week, you might think it’s only what happened in tech this week. Not a joke.
I’m pretty sure everything that can be said about Elon, Twitter and the combination of Elon and Twitter… has been said. The temperature is hot, not too hot… all levels, at all temperatures, have been taken. I believe that if you have nothing smart to say, the smartest thing you can say is nothing.
[ … pause for effect]
Luckily, I have a lot of smart friends who say a lot of smart things!
Ron was hurry out of the gate with some thoughts on how Twitter has evolved since he joined in 2007 and where it could go from here. Natasha pointed out that, to some Twitter employees suddenly less happy and possibly richer, this could be the start of a whole new wave of startups. Devin questioned… well, everything about it.
If somehow you find yourself saying “Wait, Elon buys Twitter?”, here it is summary of the whole wild ride.
different things
Believe it or not, other things happened this week! As:
PayPal confirms that it will be closing its SF office: Our own Mary Ann Azevedo announced today that PayPal is parting ways with its SF office, with the company saying it is assessing its “global office footprint” based on how the pandemic has unfolded. change the way we work. It looks like SF employees will be able to work virtual or commute to San Jose Command.
Snap built a selfie drone?: It’s lovely, but I’m having a hard time seeing this turn into anything more than a goofy side project for the company. “Do your best friends, don’t get cocky. Let me get the drone. Wait, let it boot. A second. Wait, no drones allowed here? It’s okay, we’ll be quick. I don’t kill the vibe! I am. Hooray, the battery is dead, wait a minute. ”
Someone found a Pixel Watch: In news that took me back to the wild gadget blogging days of 2010*, someone found what appeared to be a prototype of a Google-made Pixel smartwatch being abandoned at a restaurant. Google’s big I/O event kicks off in just a few weeks, so I expect to hear more about this after that. (* “Oh no, how is the iPhone 4 / Gizmodo more than a decade ago‘ he said to himself as he collapsed to dust and blew away.)
things added
We have a fee wall section on our website called TechCrunch+. It costs a few dollars a month and is full of very good stuff! From this week, for example:
9 startups developing the batteries of tomorrow: From building smarter devices to fighting climate change, we need better batteries if we are to keep going. But what is really happening in space? TechCrunch newcomer Tim De Chant kicked things off with a blast (zap?) with an in-depth look at nine companies that have raised more than $4 billion in hopes of disrupting the next era. of battery technology. Plus he made a pun in the title, which is a win in my book.
YC’s Dalton Caldwell on how to get into YC: A few weeks back at our TechCrunch Early Stage event, Y Combinator’s Dalton Caldwell led a panel session on what he looks for when a startup applies. The session and Q&A that follow are full of real, actionable insights from someone who knows more about the accelerator’s application process than anyone else, and in this post, I collected the most information that stood out to me.
Should you put any of your 401(k) in crypto? This week, Fidelity announced that it will allow retirement account holders to invest up to 20% of their 401(k) in bitcoin. But should you? Anita Ramaswamy brilliantly explores risks and rewards.
