yext

Here’s what Alex got into today:

• Stocks are mixed around the world this morning while crypto stays pretty flat. Earnings this week that we’re excited about include Gitlab, Couchbase, Yext, Smartsheet, and Hashicorp. (We’re also keeping an eye on the Atomic Wallet hack.)
• Reddit’s proposed API changes (charges, more like) are having a pretty big impact on the service’s userbase; there are calls for a blackout of certain forums in response to the proposed updates. Reddit, on the other hand, is a business and needs to make money.
• Sticking to social media, news broke this morning that Twitter’s revenues are down sharply compared to year-ago totals, at least when we consider its American advertising incomes. Twitter does more than just ads in North America, but given that it’s likely a pretty big chunk of its total top line, it’s not good news.
• Canva’s valuation was slashed by a mutual fund (something that we have seen a lot lately), the latest in a string of similar headlines for other unicorns.
• Closing, WWDC is today. Get. Hype.

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Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

This week, we’re thrilled to be joined by Sridhar Ramaswamy, co-founder and CEO of privacy-focused search engine Neeva — and the former leader of Google’s $115 billion advertising division. Drawing on a lifetime of tech experience — particularly his 15 year tenure at Google — Ramaswamy dives deep on the evolution of the search ecosystem, why he felt compelled to launch Neeva, and what the future of (ad-free?) search really looks like.

This week, we’re joined by Ruby Au, Head of North America at Ecosia, the search engine that plants trees with its ad revenue. In this episode, Au explains Ecosia’s environmentally-focused mission, dives into the troubled relationship between search and privacy, and predicts what the search landscape will be like in 5 years.

This week, we’re joined by Zac Pappis, VP of Insights at DuckDuckGo — and the second employee to join the company back in 2012. In this episode, Pappis details DuckDuckGo’s origins, explains why we’re seeing a proliferation of search interfaces today, and makes his case for why privacy-focused upstart search engines stand a fighting chance.

This week, we’re joined by Steven Levy, Editor at Large at Wired and author of top technology books including “In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives” and the iconic “Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution.” In a wide-ranging episode, Levy discusses controversial aspects of Google's growth, dives into the intersection of search and ethics, and makes some bold predictions for the future of search.

In this debut episode, our host Christian Ward, Chief Data Officer at Yext, introduces Yext Talks: Search Wars — a season that will dive into everything from the “AI-ification” of search to the complex intersection of search and privacy — and gives a sneak peek into the guest lineup.

Interview mit Florian Hübner, Mitgründer und CEO von Uberall

Das Berliner Online-Marketing-Anbieter Uberall hilft Unternehmen dabei, besser im Netz gefunden zu werden. Jetzt hat das Startup bei Kapitalgebern frisches Geld eingesammelt: Insgesamt 95 Millionen Euro haben unter anderem Bregal Milestone, Level Equity und der deutsche Internet- und Mobilfunkanbieter United Internet investiert. Zeitgleich wird die Expansion in den USA vorangetrieben. Im Zuge der Finanzierungsrunde verkündet Uberall die Übernahme des US-Suchoptimierers Momentfeed. Derzeit betreut Uberall 1.600 Kunden in sieben Ländern – darunter 1&1, Total, Douglas, BP, Pizza Hut und die Deutsche Bahn. Im Interview erläutert ein gut gelaunter Florian Hübner die Hintergründe der Finanzierungrunde und die Strategie des Unternehmens. Der studierte Informatiker und Ex-McKinsey-Berater Hübner hat Uberall 2012 zusammen mit seinem Grundschulfreund David Federhen gegründet. Uberall verzeichnet nach seinen Angaben einen Jahresumsatz von 60 Millionen Euro und und beschäftigt knapp 300 Mitarbeiter in sechs Ländern.

As CEO at human performance company Exos and a member of the board of directors at Strava, Sarah Robb O’Hagan has a pretty impressive resume in the fitness world. In this episode, she draws on her present roles — as well as her background at Flywheel and Equinox — to deliver great insights on the evolution of at-home workouts post-COVID, fitness for the future, and lots more.

As Chief Marketing Officer at Crypto.com, Steve Kalifowitz has a front row seat to the crypto boom — and a unique ability to explain and evangelize the space to both experts and newcomers. In this episode, Kalifowitz shares his thoughts on the crypo bull run, goes deep on NFTs, and much more.

For this week’s deep dive Natasha and Alex and Chris dug into the world of the IPO. Not just the numbers and the metrics and the calculations of valuations at diluted, and non-diluted share counts. No. We wanted to talk about the morality and efficacy of going public.

So to round out our conversation we enlisted Steve Cakebread, the CFO of Yext and Garth Mitchell, the CFO of Latch. Cakebread is known for being aboard the Salesforce, Pandora, and Yext's IPOs. Mitchell has sat on both sides of the table during the IPO process, and is currently helming the money equations as Latch approaches the public markets via a SPAC.

For more context, Yext, a company that first launched at a Techcrunch event back in 2009, provides data tooling and search software to businesses, while Latch builds software and hardware for rental-focused buildings. Yext is public. Latch will be in a few months.

Back to our topic, we asked Cakebread to talk about his thesis on why going public earlier than later can help a company's maturity process and can help provide greater returns to the general public. The CFO has written a rather good book about the IPO process more generally and what it means for a company's internal processes, but his morality notes especially stood out because its an argument far less noisy than the POP critics. Baked beans comes up, somehow!

We also asked Mitchell to talk about Latch's choice to go public, and what opportunities and challenges the SPAC route brings for the company. Of course, there's a SPAC joke in there (or two), but we get into broader "what's next" debates about if more companies will start to leave the private world, venture capital's role in this whole mess, and the financial lift of going to the public market.

Hope you enjoyed the show, and get excited: Equity is going to have more guests on from time to time, and we welcome any suggestions you want to throw at us.

Credits: Equity is hosted by TechCrunch's Alex Wilhelm and Mary Ann Azevedo. We are produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.

As the Founder and CEO Nearby, a platform aimed at empowering local businesses and helping them reach more customers, tech entrepreneur April Underwood has unique insight into the profound challenges — and opportunities — facing local biz today. But what does the “future of local” look like following the destabilizing year that was 2020? What technologies will be necessary for businesses of all stripes to embrace a “digital-best” mentality? In this episode, which sees Underwood drawing on her local expertise as well as her background as Chief Product Officer at Slack, you’ll hear about the future of empowering local businesses, tips for a successful digital transformation, predictions on the future of remote work, and more.

As Head of Inclusive Marketing at Microsoft, for the past three years, MJ DePalma has had a front row seat to profound shifts in the landscape of diverse & inclusive marketing. In this episode, DePalma is joined by colleague Kelli Kemery, Lead Market Researcher at Microsoft, as they share their thoughts on the evolution of inclusive marketing, the difference between “inclusive” ads and including viewers, and the future of designing for audiences with disabilities.

As a 2018 inductee to the Marketing Hall of Fame, author, speaker, and tech founder Seth Godin knows a thing or two about the marketing landscape. In this episode, Godin talks about marketing to the “smallest viable audience,” shares his thoughts (and advice!) on crucial mistakes marketers make, and issues some surprising predictions for the future.

What’s next? This is a question on everyone’s minds as we reflect on the pandemic and how it’s changed our lives. But one thing is certain: technology has never been more important, and we’ve already seen online consumer behavior change dramatically — especially around the things people search for. In our first podcast episode, hosts Christian Ward, Chief Data Officer at Yext, and Josh Grau, Chief Marketing Officer at Yext, introduce this season of Yext Talks while unpacking the “next wave” of search.