Thursday, Feb 24, 2022 • 6min
Equity Live: A short note about the ongoing situation in Ukraine
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Today we gathered to do our live show, something that was scheduled a long time ago. Obviously, the world's condition has changed since. So, we sat down and tore up our notes doc and put most of the show on hold. What we wound up recording was short, and frankly a little bit raw and from the gut.
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Speakers
(3)
Alex Wilhelm
Natasha Mascarenhas
Mary Ann Azevedo
Transcript
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Alex Wilhelm
00:00
Hello, everybody Welcome to Equity Live. My name is Alex and I'm here with Natasha and Marianne. However, as I'm sure, you know, today isn't a very normal day out there in the world and so we have a slight change in plans if you will.
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Natasha Mascarenhas
00:12
Yeah, I mean we didn't feel right about talking about funding rounds and executive shakeups and growth in
Fintech
today because of the new war beginning with Russia
's invasion of Ukraine
.Share
00:25
So in classic Equity manner, we just decided to like, come on the mic, let you guys know. It didn't, we didn't feel good about doing a show as our normal type selves because it's, it's a sad, it's a sad day for so many people and our prayers are out there.
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Mary Ann Azevedo
00:38
It just doesn't feel right to be talking about how much money one company raised and things like that.
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Alex Wilhelm
00:44
It 's days like today when I kind of wake up and I have a little bit of like self doubt because I love what I do, I love the podcast with you guys. I love to cover tech and business, but you know, sometimes I kind of look at myself and I'm like, are you just explaining rich people shipped to rich people?
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00:58
And it 's, it 's on days of turmoil like this and you know, the capital right a year ago and you know, Equity is been around through a lot of stuff and so we've had this moment before and it's, you almost want the distraction, frankly, you know, I'm just, I'm talking about something else, but I don't think this is the time to look away.
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Natasha Mascarenhas
01:15
Yeah, I'm really glad we changed our motto to the numbers and nuance behind the headlines because nuance, it feels like a big theme of the year, but I mean yeah, Alex your point, I think a lot of people due process by trying to stay informed, I am not someone who has like a fully developed take other than being you know, super upset.
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01:33
But I mean we do have a story on the site about how the tech industry is responding to
Russia
's invasion of Ukraine
, that I do really recommend people to check out to understand how it's impacting maybe their world. I don't know from a tech perspective.Share
Alex Wilhelm
01:46
Not just from a tech perspective, but I mean from from a very human perspective because whenever we talk about companies, you know, we were talking about collections of humans that are doing work as a group and one thing that I had missed frankly until today, when I when I did read the story that we put together about it and shout out to the people who wrote that, I thought was that was great, frankly, there's just a lot more tech workers in
Ukraine
than I thought a lot more tech companies.Share
02:08
So, you know, we talk a lot on the show about the global impact of the tech market and how it 's you know, all around the world now and yeah, I mean now for some reason were also a part time nutsack reporters to some degree. It 's a surprising development, but companies are working to get stuff out. And I don't think we've heard a lot from companies on the record because it appears Marianne, they're still figuring out what 's going on.
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Mary Ann Azevedo
02:29
Yeah, I think one person who had agreed to an interview initially had to cancel saying that there were, there was too many emergencies they had to deal with and the interview just wasn't a priority, which makes perfect sense.
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02:39
So, I mean, besides tech companies that are based in the
Ukraine
, a number of companies that are based here have offices and operations in the Ukraine
. So, they're going to be impacted and, you know, their staff, and so there 's there 's concern, you know, all over for the people in Ukraine
who are being impacted by all of this.Share
Alex Wilhelm
02:56
It's insane. Another thing that I've been kind of keeping an eye on and I don't know where this is going to end up, there 's been a lot of discussion about cybersecurity globally for not just companies, but, you know, like infrastructure, health institutions and so forth.
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03:09
And the question is, you know, as this situation develops and that 's a really euphemistic ways and as the war rumbles on what will the cyber impact be? And then how widespread will the damage be? Because this could spill out from just the national borders of
Ukraine
into really our own backyards and impact our own day to day life. But we don't know yet what it will look like, but it 's not going to be contained to just one nation state is my anticipation.Share
Mary Ann Azevedo
03:30
The article that Zach, Ingrid and Carly wrote, I mean starts out talking about cyber attacks, so this is like, it 's a different kind of war right? Like not only is it, you know, war in the sense that historically we've envisioned war to be, but now it 's it 's one involving cyber attacks and things like this. So it's like a whole other level of war that I don't think we've ever seen before in the past.
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Natasha Mascarenhas
03:54
One thing that will continue to play out and it 's something that we can all really resonate with is disinformation during this time. So just like your constant reminder to make sure to triple check your sources before you amplify them. Actually read the story and not feel like you need to amplify everything right now.
Share
04:10
I feel like we live, I mean we're talking about before the show, the echo chambers, we all are in as tech reporters on Twitter right now and how that can make you feel like you need to say something that you don't need to say something. But like if you're listening, you are probably in that world in some way as well.
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04:26
And I think it 's an important time to watch and absorb and not retweet and and Tweet out statements if you're not feeling up to it right now.
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Alex Wilhelm
04:34
You can just sit down and that 's okay. I mean we're kind of doing that right now and that's OK. Natasha and I were talking about this and she 's like our show tends to be kind of high energy, a little bit joyous and, you know, we try to have a lot of fun and sure we'll, we'll throw darts at people, but the show isn't, it does. It does. It 's totally wrong for the day and you know, just do what we're doing. Do less, it feels it feels good frankly.
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Mary Ann Azevedo
04:58
Yeah, and I mean, I think earlier made a comment about not talking about funding rounds. Like I, I don't mean that as a slam to anyone who had planned to announce like their funding around today. I mean that was of course no one knew this was going to happen. So I get it. I mean you've got a company, you may have raised money, so not trying to say, okay, don't be proud of that.
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05:16
I'm just saying that we don't feel like right now is appropriate time for us to be digging into this sort of thing, so it 's not that it 's not important, still, it 's not that we don't think it 's a value, it 's just, we don't feel this is the right time to be talking about it.
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Natasha Mascarenhas
05:29
Thats a good clarification.
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Alex Wilhelm
05:30
Yeah. I have one more data point. I just pulled up historical Equity downloads because one of the nice things about the internet, as we all know that I've talked about ad nauseam on the show is that it 's everywhere, and you can kind of talk to folks anywhere in the world and we've had through time, tens and tens of thousands of downloads in
Ukraine
.Share
05:46
So if you're hearing this on the feed or live or whatever, just our, our hearts are with you and it's a, it's a tough world. It 's a tough day. I think that 's probably about enough from us. I know that the president is going to be giving a speech, so we'll be tuning into that to see kind of what 's coming up and, what the international response will be.
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06:06
But in the meantime, Natasha and Marianne, I think we'll put a pause on this, come back in a couple of weeks to do this again with our full energy level and the usual slate of shows, and in the meantime, everyone, please stay safe.
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Natasha Mascarenhas
06:17
Yes, thank you everyone for coming and we'll probably chat with you soon, but I appreciate your trust as always.
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Mary Ann Azevedo
06:23
Yeah, thank you.
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Alex Wilhelm
Natasha Mascarenhas
Mary Ann Azevedo