Musk and Kardashian remind us to stop crying for the rich • australiabusinessblog.com

Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we dig into the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. Before we get into this week’s show notes, some programming notes:

• First use the code “EQUITY” for a special listener discount on Disrupt tickets. We’re only a few weeks away, and you should come hang out with us when we record on opening day!
• We also have a special for people affected by layoffs. If you’re fired, go here to get a free ticket to australiabusinessblog.com Disrupt’s Expo!

Okay, throat clearing aside, here’s what we did this week:

• $700 million water? Yes, the Liquid Death round was in the news a lot this week because everybody had an opinion about it. Us included. While there’s good reason to doubt the DTC model today—cough, cough, public markets—Alex was ready to stand up for the, er, almost unicorn.
• How much should you pay your staff? From there, it was time to chat about fair compensation, and how a startup called Comprehensive wants to tackle the question. It just raised $6 million.
• Duolingo goes shopping! Yes, we have covered this business before. And yes, it is now public. But Duolingo picking up another company gave us an opportunity to whine a little about edtech in general, and we’ll always take that opportunity.
• Naver, Poshmark and Depop: Naver’s move to blow up Poshmark is the story of two big corporations who find a union. But since the Poshmark deal was similar to the 2021-era Depop deal, it fit our bill. After all, Poshmark and Depop were both venture darlings once.
• Twitter-Elon, round 472: Since we recorded this podcast, there has been even more Elon-Twitter news. God, we’re fed up.
• Kim Kardashian’s crypto problem: We’re far from giving advice, but if you’re going to take $250,000 to shill a shitcoin, publicize the payment!

And that’s our show. Next week we have a fixed schedule, and then live the week after!