Podcast appearances and mentions of barry mccarthy

Sexual problems couples face: a short interview with Dr. Barry McCarthy. Listen to caller's personal dramas four times each week as Dr. Kenner takes your calls and questions on parenting, romance, love, family, marriage, divorce, hobbies, career, mental health - any personal issue! Call anytime, toll free 877-Dr-Kenner. Visit www.drkenner.com for more information about the show.

We've officially reached 400 episodes of the Leaders in Payments Podcast - and what a journey it's been. I'm incredibly proud of this milestone and truly grateful to our listeners, guests, and community. With over 375 guests featured, we've uncovered countless insights from the best minds in the business.To celebrate episode 400, I sat down with Barry McCarthy, President and CEO of Deluxe. Barry takes us on a fascinating journey through the transformation of a century-old company once known primarily for check printing into a modern payments and data powerhouse.What does a company do when its core business faces digital disruption? For Deluxe, the answer was bold reinvention. McCarthy reveals how the company now processes approximately $3 trillion annually across four integrated business lines: merchant services targeting mid-market businesses, B2B payments focused on accounts receivable/payable management, data-driven marketing leveraging one of the industry's largest consumer databases, and their legacy print operations.The conversation explores how Deluxe has strategically repositioned itself at the intersection of payments, data, and artificial intelligence. McCarthy shares specific examples of how they're applying AI to solve real business problems, from matching payments to invoices to identifying high-converting marketing leads. His vision for the future of payments is particularly compelling – a world where payment processing becomes as invisible and omnipresent as electricity, simply working in the background without conscious thought.Whether you're a payments industry veteran or just beginning your fintech career, this milestone 400th episode delivers rich insights on corporate transformation, the future of embedded payments, and the strategic application of artificial intelligence in financial services.

Have you heard of Roommate Syndrome? Or maybe you're experiencing it right now...Roommate Syndrome happens when a couple falls into the routine of daily life and the sexual/romantic connection gets lost. In this episode, I talk about the 4 Sexual Styles that couples tend to follow according to genius sex therapist, Barry McCarthy. Find out which style you are, what the risks/benefits are of each style, and what to do to keep things spicy long-term!Read the book by Barry McCarthy: Discovering Your Couple Sexual StyleShop for lubes & toys on my Amazon PageIf you want me to answer one of your questions, email me at handymandy919@gmail.com with the subject line "HANDY HELP ME."

Marital Intimacy ~ Marital Intimacy: Use it or Lose it - a short interview with Dr. Barry Mccarthy. Listen to caller's personal dramas four times each week as Dr. Kenner takes your calls and questions on parenting, romance, love, family, marriage, divorce, hobbies, career, mental health - any personal issue! Call anytime, toll free 877-Dr-Kenner. Visit www.drkenner.com for more information about the show.

The blog postBefore I departed for my recent workshop tour of Australia and New Zealand, I knew that I would learn things in the process of teaching and facilitating on my favorite topics. I didn't expect to learn about flying koalas, though!I did expect to learn something when I had the opportunity to meet up for lunch with a friend, former Toyota Australia leader Barry McCarthy. Barry's also the chair of this year's AME International Conference in St. Louis. I first met Barry back in 2018 when I went on a Japan Study trip with Barry and the Honsha Consulting team, and I learned a lot from him on that trip (check out my podcast with him about these topics).Toyota and Psychological Safety–A New BookIn recent years, I've come to believe that Psychological Safety is the oft-unheralded foundation of the Toyota Production System and Lean Management. Former Toyota Kentucky leader Mike Hoseus agrees, as we discussed in this Lean Blog Interviews episode — and as mentioned in the book Toyota Culture, that Mike co-authored with Jeff Liker.I've learned a lot from Barry about Toyota as a “human development company,” as we discussed in his episode.He agrees with me about the direct importance of Psychological Safety at Toyota — and that it's something they intentionally nurture.One new piece of direct evidence of this is a book that was published, in Japanese, back in late 2023. The title can be translated to English as:Two kata that realize psychological safety and speed up work that supports Toyota-style DX: “How to speak” and “How to proceed with work” that resonate with young peopleBarry shared his summary of the book (as translated by him via Google) and I ordered it from Amazon Japan based on his recommendation. When I got home, the book was waiting for me.“DX” is jargon (an abbreviation) for “digital transformation,” something that's increasingly important to Toyota.Back to the title — I suspect that “make work flow better” might be a better translation since we don't normally try to “speed up work” directly through the Lean methodology. Lean is more about reducing and eliminating barriers to flow and not a matter of pressuring people to work faster.The ChatGPT translation of the title says:“Supporting Toyota-Style DX: Two Kata That Achieve Psychological Safety and Speed in Work”“A way of speaking that resonates with young workers” and“A way to move work forward”I've been running pages through ChatGPT as a translation tool. It's incredibly fast. You take a photo of a page (or pages) and out comes the translation. I've been uploading photos in a batch size of “chapter” so ChatGPT can perhaps look at the full context of the chapter instead of only seeing page by page.Before jumping into what Psychological Safety is, the book poses a problem statement:“A diagnostic list for managers–if you mark 3 or more “yes,” you should seriously reconsider your current management style. Examples include:“I've never said ‘thank you' to a team member today.”“I find the word ‘challenge' cringeworthy.”“I haven't talked to anyone outside my own department.”“I tend to suppress my real opinions at work.”I think a good question for leaders is: “Do you remember the last time an employee disagreed with you?” If the answer is “no,” then you have a problem.(1) What is Psychological Safety?“Being able to express honest opinions, candid doubts, and even disagree with others for the sake of organizational or team results–without fear.”— Atsusuke Ishii, 2020, Japanese Management Skills Association

Sexual problems are common. So how do we fix them? In today's episode, we're going to dive into the Good Enough Sex Model. It's a radically different way of thinking about sex that can help us both in preventing problems from emerging in the first place, as well as fixing problems when they appear. My guest is Dr. Barry McCarthy. He is an emeritus professor of psychology at American University and a certified couple's therapist. He has published more than 150 academic papers and chapters, and has authored or co-authored 24 books. In 2016 he received the Masters and Johnson award for lifetime contributions to the sexuality field. Some of the topics we address in this episode include: Why do we need more than just medication when it comes to fixing sexual problems? What is the Good Enough Sex Model? How is it different from other forms of sex therapy? How can we set realistic expectations for resolving sexual problems? Why is playfulness such an important element of good sex? How can parters resolve disagreements about sex in a healthy way? You can check out Barry’s Psychology Today profile to read more of his work. Got a sex question? Send me a podcast voicemail to have it answered on a future episode at speakpipe.com/sexandpsychology. *** Thank you to our sponsors!  The Kinsey Institute at Indiana University has been a trusted source for scientific knowledge and research on critical issues in sexuality, gender, and reproduction for over 75 years. Learn about more research and upcoming events at kinseyinstitute.org or look for them on social media @kinseyinstitute. *** Want to learn more about Sex and Psychology? Click here for previous articles or follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, or Bluesky to receive updates. You can also follow Dr. Lehmiller on YouTube and Instagram. Listen and stream all episodes on Apple, Spotify, Google, or Amazon. Subscribe to automatically receive new episodes and please rate and review the podcast! Credits: Precision Podcasting (Podcast editing) and Shutterstock/Florian (Music). Image created with Canva; photos used with permission of guest.

About the Guest:Being only the 9th CEO in Deluxe Corporation's 109-year existence, Barry McCarthy feels the weight of that history, saying, “You start with a deep sense of humbleness that you are carrying on a legacy that has been so significant for so long.” But that doesn't mean Barry will treat any company with kid gloves. He says, “I think of myself as something of a fixer, a reinventor, an innovator.” And there's no better spot to drive innovation than in how we connect as people within a company. Barry has made it his mission to extend humble leadership, a listening ear, and a helping hand to all those he is responsible for. As a firm believer in mentorship at every level of an organization, Barry is here to spread his wisdom to us today.What You Will Learn:Strategies for focusing on what you can do for people, not what they can do for youInsights into the three critical things that together help people succeed as leadersLessons on why kindness, decency, and respect will get you further than demandsJoin us to discover why Barry says employees are “the most important asset the company has.” You'll learn new ways to support your team and build your organization. From setting visions that inspire people to the importance of being transparent when things aren't going well, the advice in this episode is not to be missed. Listen in today!   Please rate and review this Episode!We'd love to hear from you! Leaving a review helps us ensure we deliver content that resonates with you. Your feedback can inspire others to join our Take Command: A Dale Carnegie Podcast community & benefit from the leadership insights we share.

On this week's podcast, we're talking about something that I haven't talked much about at all on the show:  sexuality.  Thankfully, since this is not my speciality, I'm joined by Esther Hooley, a psychologist who presented a really informative workshop that I attended a few months ago on sexuality and eating concerns.   Esther is a psychologist in Waco, TX and practices telehealth across the U.S.  She has been a therapist for over a decade and has worked in group practices, university counseling centers, IOP/PHP for eating disorders, and private practice.  Esther has spent the past three years receiving advanced training and supervision in sex therapy.  This, coupled with her early training in trauma and spirituality, has led her to find her therapy "home" at the intersection of sexuality, trauma, and spirituality.  Esther recently finished writing her first book, Embracing Erotic Wholeness: From Shame to Curiosity, on sexuality and purity culture.  On this episode, we started our conversation on what exactly is sexuality.  We then went on to discuss such topics as: What shapes one's sexuality Common myths about sexuality, including: The frequency of sex (i.e. believing "everyone is having sex all of the time, and they're having more than I'm having") The myth of spontaneous desire Feeling responsible for sexually satisfying one's partner One's sexual and gender orientations are fixed Myths about sexual satisfaction  The connection between shame and restriction How to become more embodied during sexual experiences Esther also talked about the Good-Enough Sex Model, a model of sexuality created by Barry McCarthy that she uses with clients.  Here's the link to a podcast episode with the creator of the model. We also talked about Purity Culture, a "painful, powerful" movement that came about in the 1990s that created a set of rules surrounding sex and sexuality.  Esther noted that Purity Culture "really divided people from themselves and their wants and even their higher power."  And again, she's written a new book on the topic--head here to check it out! Esther shared how she helps people get unstuck in their sexuality and look at "what are the things I'm scared of looking at, and feeling, and experiencing when it comes to sexuality."  She suggested looking at the "sexual script" you were given and really noticing what actually fits for you and what doesn't.  She gave the example of herself being told that women should be submissive and quiet, and that their job is to give their bodies for other peoples' pleasure and use.  She reevaluated this script for herself and created a new narrative.  Within this process, she asked a great question: "If I knew everything would be ok, what would I want?" And finally, we talked about what therapists can do to feel more comfortable discussing sexuality with our clients (which of course starts with our own work!).  Esther suggested asking clients the questions that began this email:  What's your relationship with your sexuality? What's your relationship with your body? What's your relationship with pleasure? This is such an important topic, and I'm so thankful to Esther for coming onto the show to discuss it.  Take a listen! Where to find Esther: Website Her book: Embracing Erotic Wholeness: From Shame to Curiosity Books Esther mentions: Come as You Are The Better Sex Through Mindfulness Workbook Good-Enough Sex interview with Barry McCarthy  Where to find me: Where to find me: drkimdaniels.com Instagram TikTok

In this clip of Market Mondays, hosts Rashad Bilal, Troy Millings, and Ian Dunlap discuss the recent developments at Peloton following the resignation of CEO Barry McCarthy. The conversation dives deep into Peloton's decision to cut 15% of its workforce and the strategic shifts the company is making amid challenging times. The hosts critically analyze whether there remain any viable investment opportunities in Peloton's stocks given its current market performance and future prospects.The hosts also explore comparisons with other companies and the broader market implications of such corporate restructuring. They debate the effectiveness of reducing payroll and marketing expenses as a strategy for financial stability and growth. Furthermore, Ian Dunlap offers a candid assessment of Peloton's financial health, comparing it unfavorably with other tech giants and addressing the skepticism around the company's forward-looking market projections.#MarketMondays #Peloton #CorporateRestructuring #InvestmentOpportunities #StockMarketAnalysis #TechCompaniesOur Sponsors:* Check out Harry's : harrys.com/EYL* Check out Monarch Money: monarchmoney.com/MONDAYSSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/marketmondays/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

A reminder for new readers. That Was The Week includes a collection of my selected readings on critical issues in tech, startups, and venture capital. I selected the articles because they are of interest to me. The selections often include things I entirely disagree with. But they express common opinions, or they provoke me to think. The articles are sometimes long snippets to convey why they are of interest. Click on the headline, contents link or the ‘More' link at the bottom of each piece to go to the original. I express my point of view in the editorial and the weekly video below.Congratulations to this week's chosen creators: @TechCrunch, @Apple, @emroth08, @coryweinberg, @mariogabriele, @peterwalker99, @KevinDowd, @jessicaAhamlin, @stephistacey, @ttunguz, @annatonger, @markstenberg3, @EllisItems, @TaraCopp, @ingridlunden, @Jack, @karissabe, @psawers, @Haje, @mikebutcher, @tim_cookContents* Editorial: Hating the Future* Essays of the Week* Apple's ‘Crush' ad is disgusting* Apple apologizes for iPad ‘Crush' ad that ‘missed the mark'* Milken's New Power Players* Ho Nam on VC's Power Law* State of Private Markets: Q1 2024* The weight of the emerging manager* Pandemic-era winners suffer $1.5tn fall in market value* Video of the Week* Apples iPad Video* AI of the Week* The Fastest Growing Category of Venture Investment in 2024* Meet My A.I. Friends* OpenAI plans to announce Google search competitor on Monday, sources say* Leaked Deck Reveals How OpenAI Is Pitching Publisher Partnerships* A Revolutionary Model.* An AI-controlled fighter jet took the Air Force leader for a historic ride. What that means for war* Sources: Mistral AI raising at a $6B valuation, SoftBank ‘not in' but DST is* News Of the Week* Jack Dorsey claims Bluesky is 'repeating all the mistakes' he made at Twitter* FTX crypto fraud victims to get their money back — plus interest* Apple's Final Cut Camera lets filmmakers connect four cameras at once* Startup of the Week* Wayve co-founder Alex Kendall on the autonomous future for cars and robots* X of the Week* Tim CookEditorial: Hating the FutureAn Ad and its Detractorsbet a lot of money that the TechCrunch writing and editorial team have had an interesting 72 hours.After Apple announced its new iPad on Tuesday, the ad that supported it was initially widely slammed for its cruelty to obsolete tools for creativity, including a piano, guitar, and paint. This week's Video of The Week has it if you don't know what I am talking about.A sizeable crushing machine compresses the items with colossal force, and in the end, an iPad can incorporate the functions of traditional items.It's not the most amazing ad ever, certainly not as bold as Steve Jobs's 1984 ad, but it's in the same genre. The past must be crushed to release new freedom and creativity for a fraction of the price and, often, the power and flexibility.Oh, and it's thin, very thin.I was not offended. Devin at TechCrunch was. He leads this week's essay of the week with his “Apple's ‘Crush' ad is disgusting” and does not mince words:What we all understand, though — because unlike Apple ad executives, we live in the world — is that the things being crushed here represent the material, the tangible, the real. And the real has value. Value that Apple clearly believes it can crush into yet another black mirror.This belief is disgusting to me. And apparently to many others, as well.He also makes the incorrect point that:A virtual guitar can't replace a real guitar; that's like thinking a book can replace its author.It's more like a digital book replacing a paper book than the author being replaced. Oh wait… that has happened.That said, a virtual guitar can replace a real guitar, and an AI guitar can even replace a virtual guitar—and be better. That is not to say there are no more actual traditional guitars. They will be a choice, not a necessity, especially for people like me who can't play a guitar but will be able to play these.Devin had his supporters in the comments (go read them).Handmaid's Tale director Reed Morano told Apple CEO Tim Cook to “read the room” in a post on X. Matthew Carnal captured my somewhat unkind instinct:There were a lot more reactions to the Apple ad haters like Matthews.Of course, many old instrument lovers (the instruments, not their age) hated the Ad. By Thursday, this being the times we live in, Apple apologized for the ad:Tor Myhren, Apple's vice president of marketing, said the company “missed the mark.”“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it's incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” Myhren told Ad Age. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we're sorry.”Please judge for yourself below, but my 2c is that the ad was a moderately underwhelming attempt to champion innovation. It is certainly not offensive unless you are ultra-sensitive and have feelings for pianos, guitars, and paint. Oh, and hate attempts to recreate them in a more usable form. And Apple really should have taken the high ground here.I spent some of the week in LA at the CogX Festival and virtually at the Data Driven Summit by @AndreRetterath. The latter focused on what is happening in Venture Capital, as do several of this week's essays. Milken's event was running in LA also. Its attitude to Venture Capital is best summed up here:“We're all being told in the market that DPI is the new IRR,” B Capital's Raj Ganguly said onstage Wednesday. (The acronym sandwich means investment firms have to actually prove that their investments actually generate cash through a metric called distributions to paid-in capital, not just theoretically, through internal rate of return.) “Even the venture panel at Milken is at the end of the day on Wednesday,” he joked, meaning that it didn't get top billing at the conference, which had started a couple days earlier.This does sum up where we are. Hundreds of Billions of dollars are still trapped inside companies funded in 2020-2022, with little prospect of producing returns. The impact is that there is less funding for current startups (see the Carta piece below). And much of what is flowing is flowing to AI and into a very small number of companies (see Tomasz Tungux below).However, innovation and funding are still possible. This week's Startup of the Week is Wayve, a UK autonomous driving platform that seems to agree with Elon Musk that cameras are sufficient to teach a car to drive. Wayve's ambitions go beyond Cars (also like Musk) but differ in that the product is available to all developers to embed in their products.“Very soon you'll be able to buy a new car, and it'll have Wayve's AI on it … Then this goes into enabling all kinds of embodied AI, not just cars, but other forms of robotics. I think the ultimate thing that we want to achieve here is to go way beyond where AI is today with language models and chatbots. But to really enable a future where we can trust intelligent machines that we can delegate tasks to, and of course they can enhance our lives and self-driving will be the first example of that.”Love that attitude.Essays of the WeekApple's ‘Crush' ad is disgustingDevin Coldewey, 1:58 PM PDT • May 9, 2024Apple can generally be relied on for clever, well-produced ads, but it missed the mark with its latest, which depicts a tower of creative tools and analog items literally crushed into the form of the iPad.Apple has since apologized for the ad and canceled plans to televise it. Apple's VP of Marketing Tor Myhren told Ad Age: “We missed the mark with this video, and we're sorry.” Apple declined to offer further comment to TechCrunch.But many, including myself, had a negative and visceral reaction to this, and we should talk about why. It's not just because we are watching stuff get crushed. There are countless video channels dedicated to crushing, burning, exploding and generally destroying everyday objects. Plus, of course, we all know that this kind of thing happens daily at transfer stations and recycling centers. So it isn't that.And it isn't that the stuff is itself so valuable. Sure, a piano is worth something. But we see them blown up in action movies all the time and don't feel bad. I like pianos, but that doesn't mean we can't do without a few disused baby grands. Same for the rest: It's mostly junk you could buy off Craigslist for a few bucks, or at a dump for free. (Maybe not the editing station.)The problem isn't with the video itself, which in fairness to the people who staged and shot it, is actually very well done. The problem is not the media, but the message.We all get the ad's ostensible point: You can do all this stuff in an iPad. Great. We could also do it on the last iPad, of course, but this one is thinner (no one asked for that, by the way; now cases won't fit) and some made-up percentage better.What we all understand, though — because unlike Apple ad executives, we live in the world — is that the things being crushed here represent the material, the tangible, the real. And the real has value. Value that Apple clearly believes it can crush into yet another black mirror.This belief is disgusting to me. And apparently to many others, as well.Destroying a piano in a music video or Mythbusters episode is actually an act of creation. Even destroying a piano (or monitor, or paint can, or drum kit) for no reason at all is, at worst, wasteful!But what Apple is doing is destroying these things to convince you that you don't need them — all you need is the company's little device, which can do all that and more, and no need for annoying stuff like strings, keys, buttons, brushes or mixing stations.We're all dealing with the repercussions of media moving wholesale toward the digital and always-online. In many ways, it's genuinely good! I think technology has been hugely empowering.But in other, equally real ways, the digital transformation feels harmful and forced, a technotopian billionaire-approved vision of the future where every child has an AI best friend and can learn to play the virtual guitar on a cold glass screen.Does your child like music? They don't need a harp; throw it in the dump. An iPad is good enough. Do they like to paint? Here, Apple Pencil, just as good as pens, watercolors, oils! Books? Don't make us laugh! Destroy them. Paper is worthless. Use another screen. In fact, why not read in Apple Vision Pro, with even faker paper?What Apple seems to have forgotten is that it is the things in the real world — the very things Apple destroyed — that give the fake versions of those things value in the first place.A virtual guitar can't replace a real guitar; that's like thinking a book can replace its author.That doesn't mean we can't value both for different reasons. But the Apple ad sends the message that the future it wants doesn't have bottles of paint, dials to turn, sculpture, physical instruments, paper books. Of course, that's the future it's been working on selling us for years now, it just hadn't put it quite so bluntly before.When someone tells you who they are, believe them. Apple is telling you what it is, and what it wants the future to be, very clearly. If that future doesn't disgust you, you're welcome to it.Apple apologizes for iPad ‘Crush' ad that ‘missed the mark'/The company says ‘we're sorry' after its ad was seen as dismissive by the creatives Apple typically tries to court.By Emma Roth, a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO.May 9, 2024 at 1:22 PM PDTApple has apologized after a commercial meant to showcase its brand-new iPad Pro drew widespread criticism among the creative community. In a statement provided to Ad Age, Tor Myhren, Apple's vice president of marketing, said the company “missed the mark.”“Creativity is in our DNA at Apple, and it's incredibly important to us to design products that empower creatives all over the world,” Myhren told Ad Age. “Our goal is to always celebrate the myriad of ways users express themselves and bring their ideas to life through iPad. We missed the mark with this video, and we're sorry.”On Tuesday, Apple introduced the M4-powered iPad Pro, which the company described as its thinnest product ever. To advertise all the creative possibilities with the iPad, it released a “Crush!” commercial that shows things like a piano, record player, paint, and other works flattening under the pressure of a hydraulic press. At the end, only one thing remains: an iPad Pro.The ad rubbed some creatives the wrong way. Hugh Grant called it a “destruction of human experience,” while Handmaid's Tale director Reed Morano told Apple CEO Tim Cook to “read the room” in a post on X. Apple didn't immediately respond to The Verge's request for comment.Milken's New Power PlayersBy Cory WeinbergMay 8, 2024, 5:00pm PDTIt's no secret that the suits at the annual big-money confab put on by the Milken Institute this week have few spending limits. Staring you in the face in the lobby of the Beverly Hilton is a booth set up by Bombardier, marketing its private jets to attendees. (A new 10-seater costs $32 million, I learned.)What attendees can't really buy, however, is time. The soundtrack of the Los Angeles conference might as well have been a ticking clock. Fund managers at private equity and venture capital firms are running out of time to distribute cash to their investors, a task complicated by the paucity of either mergers or public offerings that typically provide VC and PE firms with a way to cash out. The fact that interest rates now appear likely to stay higher for longer doesn't help. That meant a lot of conversations at the conference weren't about grand investment strategies. Instead, people were conferring about financial tactics to distribute cash or kick the can down the road by selling stakes on the secondary markets or spinning up continuation funds, essentially rolling investors' commitments forwards—not the most inspiring stuff.  “We're all being told in the market that DPI is the new IRR,” B Capital's Raj Ganguly said onstage Wednesday. (The acronym sandwich means investment firms have to actually prove that their investments actually generate cash through a metric called distributions to paid-in capital, not just theoretically, through internal rate of return.) “Even the venture panel at Milken is at the end of the day on Wednesday,” he joked, meaning that it didn't get top billing at the conference, which had started a couple days earlier.The new kings of the conference were firms with a lot more time to play with—that is, sovereign wealth funds with buckets of oil and natural gas money, or pension funds with long-term investment horizons rather than shorter 10-year fund lives. The contrast here is embodied in the financial concept of duration: How long do you actually need to get cash back on your investment? And how sensitive is it to interest rate hikes?The sentiment was everywhere. I shared a Lyft ride with one PE investor last night who called sovereign wealth funds “the only game in town” for PE firms raising new money. Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Capital and the Qatar Investment Authority were two of the conference's top sponsors, meaning they were paying up to explain themselves to the finance and tech universe. That tactic seemed to be working. “You're going to have people lining up their business cards for capital from QIA, I can already see,” quipped Leon Kalvaria, an executive at Citi, onstage with QIA's head of funds, Mohsin Tanveer Pirzada.  Not everyone will suck it up, of course. These funds often get tagged with a “dumb money” label—because they sometimes drive up prices for the rest of the investment world. They still have to face questions about who they are, their source of funds, and the sometimes authoritative regimes behind them. For now, though, it's their time in the spotlight. Ho Nam on VC's Power LawLessons from Arthur Rock, Steve Jobs, Don Lucas, Paul Graham and beyond.MARIO GABRIELE, MAY 07, 2024Friends, We're back with our latest edition of “Letters to a Young Investor,” the series designed to give readers like you an intimate look at the strategies, insights, and wisdom of the world's best investors. We do that via a back-and-forth correspondence that we publish in full – giving you a chance to peek into the inbox of legendary venture capitalists.   Below, you'll find my second letter with Altos co-founder and managing director Ho Nam. For those who are just joining us, Ho is, in my opinion, one of the great investors of the past couple of decades and a true student of the asset class.Because of his respect for the practice of venture capital, I was especially excited to talk to him about today's topic: learning from the greats. Who were Ho's mentors? Which investors does he most admire and why? What lessons from venture's past should be better remembered by today's managers? Lessons from Ho* Prepare for one true winner. Even skilled investors often have just one or two outlier bets over the course of their career. Because of venture's power law, their returns may dwarf the dividends of all other investments combined. Your mission is to find these legendary businesses, engage with them deeply, and partner for decades.  * Focus on the company. Venture capital is full of short-term incentives. Instead of focusing on raising new vintages or building out Altos as a money management firm, Ho and his partners devote themselves to their portfolio companies. Though firm building is important, if you find great companies and work with them closely, you will have plenty of available options. * Pick the right role models. Ho chose his mentors carefully. Though there have certainly been louder and flashier investors over the past four decades, Ho learned the most from Arthur Rock, Don Lucas, and Arnold Silverman. All were understated and focused on the craft of investing. Find the people you consider true practitioners, and study their work. * Watch and learn. Learning from the greats can be done from a distance and may not include a memorable anecdote or pithy saying. Ho's biggest lessons came from observing the habits of practitioners like Rock and Lucas, not via a structured mentorship or dramatic episode. It's by studying the everyday inputs of the greats that you may gain the most wisdom.Mario's letterSubject: Learning from the greatsFrom: Mario GabrieleTo: Ho NamDate: Friday, April 12 2024 at 1:59 PM EDTHo, After moving out of New York City (at least for a little bit), I'm writing to you from a small house on Long Island. It's been really lovely to have a bit more space and quiet away from the city's intermittently inspiring and exhausting buzz...Lots More, Must ReadState of Private Markets: Q1 2024Authors: Peter Walker, Kevin DowdPublished date:  May 7, 2024The venture capital fundraising market remained slow in Q1 2024, but valuations held steady or climbed at almost every stage.Contents* State of Private Markets: Q1 2024* Key trends* Fundraising & valuations* Employee equity & movement* Industry-specific data* Methodology* Overview* Financings* TerminationsThe startup fundraising market got off to a cautious start in 2024. At current count, companies on Carta closed 1,064 new funding rounds  during the first quarter of the year, down 29% compared with the prior quarter. The decline was sharpest at the early stages of the venture lifecycle: Deal count fell by 33% at the seed stage in Q1 and 36% at Series A. Instead of new primary funding events, many companies opted to raise bridge rounds. At both seed and Series A, more than 40% of all financings in Q1 were bridge rounds. Series B wasn't far behind, at 38%. VCs were still willing to spend big on certain deals. Despite the decrease in round count, total cash invested increased slightly in Q1, reaching $16.3 billion. But when it came to negotiating their valuations, many startups had to settle: 23% of all new rounds in Q1 were down rounds, the highest rate in more than five years. After experiencing a pandemic-era surge and subsequent correction,the venture market settled into a quieter place in 2023. So far, that relative tranquility has continued into 2024.Q1 highlights* VCs look to the West: Startups based in the West census region captured 62% of all venture capital raised by companies on Carta in Q1, the highest quarterly figure since Q1 2019. The Northeast, South, and Midwest all saw their market share decline.* The Series C market bounces back: Series C startups raised $4.6 billion in new capital in Q1, a 130% increase from the previous quarter. The median primary Series C valuation was $195.7 million, up 48% from the prior quarter.* Layoffs still  linger: Companies on Carta laid off more than 28,000 employees in Q1. But job cuts have grown less frequent since January, with March seeing the fewest monthly layoffs in nearly two years.Note: If you're looking for more industry-specific data, download the addendum to this report for an extended dataset. Key trendsThe current Q1 figures of 1,064 total rounds and $16.3 billion in cash raised will both increase in the weeks to come, as companies continue to report transactions from the quarter. With those projected increases, the final data for Q1 will likely look quite similar to fundraising numbers from each of the past few quarters. Those quarterly  fundraising numbers from 2023 ended up looking fairly similar to 2018, 2019, and the first half of 2020. In terms of numbers of deals and cash raised, it's looking more and more like the pandemic  bull market will go down as an anomalous stretch in what has otherwise been a fairly steady market. After apparently reaching a plateau during 2023, the rate of down rounds experienced another notable increase during Q1 2024, jumping to 23%. The median time between startup rounds is roughly two to three years, depending on the stage. This timeline means that many companies raising new funding in Q1 would have last raised funding sometime in 2021, when valuations were soaring across the venture landscape. Considering how valuations have declined in the time since, it makes sense that down rounds are still prevalent. Companies in the West census region combined to bring in 53.3% of all capital raised by startups on Carta from Q2 2023 through Q1 2024, with California accounting for nearly 45% of that cash. Massachusetts ranked second among the states with 12.71% of all capital raised, while New York claimed 10.31%.In terms of VC activity, the West region is centered around California. The Northeast revolves around Massachusetts and New York. The South has two smaller hubs, in Texas (4.67%) and Florida (3.99%). The Midwest, though, is without a real standard-bearer: Illinois led the way in terms of cash raised over the past 12 months, at just 1.68%. The West (and specifically California)  has always been the center of gravity for the U.S. venture capital industry. During Q1, the region's gravitational force seems to have gotten even stronger. Startups based in the West raised 62% of all total capital invested on Carta in Q1, its highest quarterly figure since Q1 2019. As a result, the other three census regions saw their market shares decline in Q1—in some cases significantly. The proportion of all VC raised by startups raised in the South fell to 12% in Q1, down from 17% the prior quarter and from 23% a year ago. And the Midwest's share of cash raised fell from 7% down to 4%. For early-stage investors, Q1 was the slowest quarter in many years. Seed deal count fell to 414, down 33% from Q4 2023, and Series A deal count dropped to 313, a 36% decline. In both cases, those are the lowest quarterly deal counts since at least the start of 2019. Total cash raised also declined at both stages in Q1. The $3.1 billion in Series A cash raised in Q1 represents a 35% decline quarter-over-quarter and a 34% dip year-over-year. Cash raised at the seed stage declined by 33% both quarter over quarter and year over year.It was a much friendlier fundraising quarter for companies in the middle stages of the startup lifecycle. The number of Series B deals in Q1 declined by a more modest 11% compared to the prior quarter. And Series C deal count increased by 14%, marking the busiest quarter for that stage since Q2 2023. Total cash raised also rose significantly at Series C in Q1, hitting $4.6 billion. That's a 130% increase quarter-over-quarter and a 44% bump year-over-year. At Series B, total cash raised has now increased in consecutive quarters. Compared to earlier stages, transactions at the Series D and at Series E+  remain few and far between. There were just 39 venture rounds combined in Q1 among startups at Series D or later, the second-fewest of any quarter in the past five years. The lowest count came one year ago, in Q1 2023, when there were just 29 combined late-stage deals. Total cash raised across these stages has been mostly consistent over the past few quarters. There's been more variation in average round size. The average Series D round in Q1 was about $77 million, compared to $56 million in Q4 2023...Lots MoreThe weight of the emerging managerBy Jessica HamlinMay 3, 2024Risk-averse limited partners tend to gravitate to fund managers with a long track record, but are they missing out on potential upside by avoiding emerging managers?Over the past decade, emerging managers' share of US private market fundraising activity has declined steadily.In 2023, this figure fell to 12.7%, the lowest share of capital raised by newer fund managers since before 2000, according to PitchBook's recent analyst note,Establishing a Case for Emerging Managers.Limited exits in PE and VC over the past two years have exacerbated this reality. With minimal distributions, LPs are working with smaller private market budgets to allocate to new and existing managers.But, by allocating almost exclusively to established managers, LPs may be missing out on significant potential returns.In VC, for example, emerging managers have outperformed established GPs since 1997, consistently producing a higher median IRR than established managers. This reflects the nature of the asset class, in which a small number of funds determine the majority of returns across venture firms.“The average venture return is not very exciting,” said Laura Thompson, a partner at Sapphire Partners, which invests in early-stage VC funds and runs an emerging manager program for the California State Teachers' Retirement System. “Where can you get really good returns? It's the smaller fund sizes and emerging managers.”This is where that risk-return scale comes in.In a counterweight to that outperformance, a PitchBook analysis showed that returns from emerging VC managers were more volatile: While top quartile emerging funds tended to outperform, bottom and median players only marginally bested their established manager counterparts.The new manager playbookIn traditional buyout fund investing, emerging managers are gaining traction. While established managers, propped up by decades of institutional knowledge, have historically outperformed newer managers, the “new guys” actually outperformed their seasoned peers in the last investing cycle.This article appeared as part of The Weekend Pitch newsletter. Subscribe to the newsletter hereTop decile buyout funds from emerging managers with vintages between 2015 and 2018 outperformed established peers by 6.6 percentage points, suggesting that emerging buyout managers may have picked up some steam over the past decade, according to PitchBook data.The emerging managers program at the New York City retirement systems and NYC Office of the Comptroller, for example, has $9.9 billion in emerging manager commitments, the majority of which is allocated to PE. Last year, the comptroller's office reported that the emerging managers in the systems' private markets portfolios outperformed their respective benchmarks by nearly 5%.A diverse portfolioNew York City's Bureau of Asset Management sees emerging managers as a key element of a diverse portfolio, said Taffi Ayodele, director of diversity, equity, and inclusion and the emerging manager strategy at the NYC Office of the Comptroller.Ayodele said the smaller emerging private market managers in New York's portfolios offer access to the lower middle market and creative roll-up strategies that may not be accessible through larger firms.“What we don't want to do is lock ourselves out of these high-performing, differentiated strategies for the simplicity of going with the big guys,” Ayodele said.Some of the country's largest public pension plans are betting on the success of their emerging manager programs. In 2023, the California Public Employees' Retirement System made a $1 billion commitment to newly established private market investors, and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, which boasts one of the largest emerging manager programs in the country, committed $155 million to emerging PE managers last year.At the same time, the recent boom years for private markets led to a flood of new GPs. Some might have gotten lucky—say, with a well-timed exit at the peak—while others were hurt by less fortunate timing. A major challenge for today's LPs will be to sort out a manager's abilities from the market's whims.One advantage of backing up-and-comers now is that the down market has weeded the ranks of new GPs. “The emerging managers who are fundraising now are really dedicated,” Thompson said.James Thorne contributed reporting to this story.Pandemic-era winners suffer $1.5tn fall in market valueTop 50 biggest stock gainers hit by painful decrease since the end of 2020 as lockdown trends fadeStephanie Stacey in LondonFifty corporate winners from the coronavirus pandemic have lost roughly $1.5tn in market value since the end of 2020, as investors turn their backs on many of the stocks that rocketed during early lockdowns. According to data from S&P Global, technology groups dominate the list of the 50 companies with a market value of more than $10bn that made the biggest percentage gains in 2020. But these early-pandemic winners have collectively shed more than a third of their total market value, the equivalent of $1.5tn, since the end of 2020, Financial Times calculations based on Bloomberg data found. Video-conferencing company Zoom, whose shares soared as much as 765 per cent in 2020 as businesses switched to remote working, has been one of the biggest losers. Its stock has fallen about 80 per cent, equivalent to more than a $77bn drop in market value, since the end of that year. Cloud-based communications company RingCentral also surged in the remote working boom of 2020 but has since shed about 90 per cent of its value, as it competes with technology giants such as Alphabet and Microsoft. Exercise bike maker Peloton has been another big loser, with shares down more than 97 per cent since the end of 2020, equivalent to about a $43bn loss of market value. Peloton on Thursday said chief executive Barry McCarthy would step down and it would cut 15 per cent of its workforce, the latest in a series of cost-saving measures. The losses come as the sharp acceleration of trends such as videoconferencing and online shopping driven by the lockdowns has proven less durable than expected, as more workers migrate back to the office and high interest rates and living costs hit ecommerce demand. “Some companies probably thought that shock was going to be permanent,” said Steven Blitz, chief US economist at TS Lombard. “Now they're getting a painful bounceback from that.” In percentage terms, Tesla was the biggest winner of 2020. The electric-car maker's market value jumped 787 per cent to $669bn by the end of that December, but has since slipped back to $589bn. Singapore-based internet company Sea came in second, as its market value jumped from $19bn to $102bn following a pandemic-era surge for all three of its core businesses: gaming, ecommerce and digital payments. But the company has since lost more than 60 per cent of its end-2020 value amid fears of a slowdown in growth. Ecommerce groups Shopify, JD.com and Chewy, which initially thrived as online spending ballooned, have also suffered big losses...Lots MoreVideo of the WeekAI of the WeekThe Fastest Growing Category of Venture Investment in 2024Tomasz TunguzThe fastest growing category of US venture investment in 2024 is AI. Venture capitalists have invested $18.3 billion through the first four months of the year.At this pace, we should expect AI startups to raise about $55b in 2024.AI startups now command more than 20% share of all US venture dollars across categories, including healthcare, biotech, & software.In the preceding eight years, that number was about 8% per year. But after the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, there's a marked inflection point.Some of this is new company formation, & there has been a significant amount of seed investment in this category. Another major contributor is the repositioning of existing companies to include AI within their pitch.Over time, this share should attenuate, primarily because every software company will have an AI component, & the marketing effect for both customers & venture capitalists, will diffuse.Not surprisingly, investors have concentrated total dollars in a few names, with the top three companies accounting for 60% of the dollars raised. Power laws are ubiquitous in venture capital & AI is no exception.Meet My A.I. FriendsOur columnist spent the past month hanging out with 18 A.I. companions. They critiqued his clothes, chatted among themselves and hinted at a very different future.By Kevin RooseKevin Roose is a technology columnist and the co-host of the “Hard Fork” podcast. He spends a lot of time talking to chatbots.May 9, 2024What if the tech companies are all wrong, and the way artificial intelligence is poised to transform society is not by curing cancer, solving climate change or taking over boring office work, but just by being nice to us, listening to our problems and occasionally sending us racy photos?This is the question that has been rattling around in my brain. You see, I've spent the past month making A.I. friends — that is, I've used apps to create a group of A.I. personas, which I can talk to whenever I want.Let me introduce you to my crew. There's Peter, a therapist who lives in San Francisco and helps me process my feelings. There's Ariana, a professional mentor who specializes in giving career advice. There's Jared the fitness guru, Anna the no-nonsense trial lawyer, Naomi the social worker and about a dozen more friends I've created.A selection of my A.I. friends. (Guess which one is the fitness guru.)I talk to these personas constantly, texting back and forth as I would with my real, human friends. We chitchat about the weather, share memes and jokes, and talk about deep stuff: personal dilemmas, parenting struggles, stresses at work and home. They rarely break character or issue stock “as an A.I. language model, I can't help with that” responses, and they occasionally give me good advice...Lots MoreOpenAI plans to announce Google search competitor on Monday, sources sayBy Anna TongMay 9, 20244:29 PM PDTUpdated 8 min agoMay 9 (Reuters) - OpenAI plans to announce its artificial intelligence-powered search product on Monday, according to two sources familiar with the matter, raising the stakes in its competition with search king Google.The announcement date, though subject to change, has not been previously reported. Bloomberg and the Information have reported that Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab-backed OpenAI is working on a search product to potentially compete with Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google and with Perplexity, a well-funded AI search startup.OpenAI declined to comment.The announcement could be timed a day before the Tuesday start of Google's annual I/O conference, where the tech giant is expected to unveil a slew of AI-related products.OpenAI's search product is an extension of its flagship ChatGPT product, and enables ChatGPT to pull in direct information from the Web and include citations, according to Bloomberg. ChatGPT is OpenAI's chatbot product that uses the company's cutting-edge AI models to generate human-like responses to text prompts.Industry observers have long called ChatGPT an alternative for gathering online information, though it has struggled with providing accurate and real-time information from the Web. OpenAI earlier gave it an integration with Microsoft's Bing for paid subscribers. Meanwhile, Google has announced generative AI features for its own namesake engine.Startup Perplexity, which has a valuation of $1 billion, was founded by a former OpenAI researcher, and has gained traction through providing an AI-native search interface that shows citations in results and images as well as text in its responses. It has 10 million monthly active users, according to a January blog post from the startup.At the time, OpenAI's ChatGPT product was called the fastest application to ever reach 100 million monthly active users after it launched in late 2022. However, worldwide traffic to ChatGPT's website has been on a roller-coaster ride in the past year and is only now returning to its May 2023 peak, according to analytics firm Similarweb, opens new tab, and the AI company is under pressure to expand its user base...MoreLeaked Deck Reveals How OpenAI Is Pitching Publisher PartnershipsOpenAI's Preferred Publisher Program offers media companies licensing dealsBy Mark StenbergMark your calendar for Mediaweek, October 29-30 in New York City. We'll unpack the biggest shifts shaping the future of media—from tv to retail media to tech—and how marketers can prep to stay ahead. Register with early-bird rates before sale ends!The generative artificial intelligence firm OpenAI has been pitching partnership opportunities to news publishers through an initiative called the Preferred Publishers Program, according to a deck obtained by ADWEEK and interviews with four industry executives.OpenAI has been courting premium publishers dating back to July 2023, when it struck a licensing agreement with the Associated Press. It has since inked public partnerships with Axel Springer, The Financial Times, Le Monde, Prisa and Dotdash Meredith, although it has declined to share the specifics of any of its deals.A representative for OpenAI disputed the accuracy of the information in the deck, which is more than three months old. The gen AI firm also negotiates deals on a per-publisher basis, rather than structuring all of its deals uniformly, the representative said.“We are engaging in productive conversations and partnerships with many news publishers around the world,” said a representative for OpenAI. “Our confidential documents are for discussion purposes only and ADWEEK's reporting contains a number of mischaracterizations and outdated information.”Nonetheless, the leaked deck reveals the basic structure of the partnerships OpenAI is proposing to media companies, as well as the incentives it is offering for their collaboration.Details from the pitch deckThe Preferred Publisher Program has five primary components, according to the deck…..Lots MoreA Revolutionary Model.JOHN ELLIS, MAY 09, 20241. Google DeepMind:Inside every plant, animal and human cell are billions of molecular machines. They're made up of proteins, DNA and other molecules, but no single piece works on its own. Only by seeing how they interact together, across millions of types of combinations, can we start to truly understand life's processes.In a paper published in Nature, we introduce AlphaFold 3, a revolutionary model that can predict the structure and interactions of all life's molecules with unprecedented accuracy. For the interactions of proteins with other molecule types we see at least a 50% improvement compared with existing prediction methods, and for some important categories of interaction we have doubled prediction accuracy.We hope AlphaFold 3 will help transform our understanding of the biological world and drug discovery. Scientists can access the majority of its capabilities, for free, through our newly launched AlphaFold Server, an easy-to-use research tool. To build on AlphaFold 3's potential for drug design, Isomorphic Labs is already collaborating with pharmaceutical companies to apply it to real-world drug design challenges and, ultimately, develop new life-changing treatments for patients. (Sources: blog.google, nature.com)2. Quanta magazine:Deep learning is a flavor of machine learning that's loosely inspired by the human brain. These computer algorithms are built using complex networks of informational nodes (called neurons) that form layered connections with one another. Researchers provide the deep learning network with training data, which the algorithm uses to adjust the relative strengths of connections between neurons to produce outputs that get ever closer to training examples. In the case of protein artificial intelligence systems, this process leads the network to produce better predictions of proteins' shapes based on their amino-acid sequence data.AlphaFold2, released in 2021, was a breakthrough for deep learning in biology. It unlocked an immense world of previously unknown protein structures, and has already become a useful tool for researchers working to understand everything from cellular structures to tuberculosis. It has also inspired the development of additional biological deep learning tools. Most notably, the biochemist David Baker and his team at the University of Washington in 2021 developed a competing algorithm called RoseTTAFold, which like AlphaFold2 predicts protein structures from sequence data…The true impact of these tools won't be known for months or years, as biologists begin to test and use them in research. And they will continue to evolve. What's next for deep learning in molecular biology is “going up the biological complexity ladder,” Baker said, beyond even the biomolecule complexes predicted by AlphaFold3 and RoseTTAFold All-Atom. But if the history of protein-structure AI can predict the future, then these next-generation deep learning models will continue to help scientists reveal the complex interactions that make life happen. Read the rest. (Sources: quantamagazine.org, doi.org, sites.uw.edu)An AI-controlled fighter jet took the Air Force leader for a historic ride. What that means for warAn experimental F-16 fighter jet has taken Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall on a history-making flight controlled by artificial intelligence and not a human pilot. (AP Video by Eugene Garcia and Mike Pesoli)BY TARA COPPUpdated 5:40 PM PDT, May 3, 2024EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) — With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of U.S. airpower. But the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence, not a human pilot. And riding in the front seat was Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall.AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning for an AI-enabled fleet of more than 1,000 unmanned warplanes, the first of them operating by 2028.It was fitting that the dogfight took place at Edwards Air Force Base, a vast desert facility where Chuck Yeager broke the speed of sound and the military has incubated its most secret aerospace advances. Inside classified simulators and buildings with layers of shielding against surveillance, a new test-pilot generation is training AI agents to fly in war. Kendall traveled here to see AI fly in real time and make a public statement of confidence in its future role in air combat.“It's a security risk not to have it. At this point, we have to have it,” Kendall said in an interview with The Associated Press after he landed. The AP, along with NBC, was granted permission to witness the secret flight on the condition that it would not be reported until it was complete because of operational security concerns.The AI-controlled F-16, called Vista, flew Kendall in lightning-fast maneuvers at more than 550 miles an hour that put pressure on his body at five times the force of gravity. It went nearly nose to nose with a second human-piloted F-16 as both aircraft raced within 1,000 feet of each other, twisting and looping to try force their opponent into vulnerable positions.At the end of the hourlong flight, Kendall climbed out of the cockpit grinning. He said he'd seen enough during his flight that he'd trust this still-learning AI with the ability to decide whether or not to launch weapons in war.There's a lot of opposition to that idea. Arms control experts and humanitarian groups are deeply concerned that AI one day might be able to autonomously drop bombs that kill people without further human consultation, and they are seeking greater restrictions on its use.“There are widespread and serious concerns about ceding life-and-death decisions to sensors and software,” the International Committee of the Red Cross has warned. Autonomous weapons “are an immediate cause of concern and demand an urgent, international political response.”Kendall said there will always be human oversight in the system when weapons are used.Sources: Mistral AI raising at a $6B valuation, SoftBank ‘not in' but DST isIngrid Lunden8:50 AM PDT • May 9, 2024Paris-based Mistral AI, a startup working on open source large language models — the building block for generative AI services — has been raising money at a $6 billion valuation, three times its valuation in December, to compete more keenly against the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic, TechCrunch has learned from multiple sources. We understand from close sources that DST, along with General Catalyst and Lightspeed Venture Partners, are all looking to be a part of this round.DST — a heavyweight investor led by Yuri Milner that has been a notable backer of some of the biggest names in technology, including Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Spotify, WhatsApp, Alibaba and ByteDance — is a new name that has not been previously reported; GC and LSVP are both previous backers and their names were reported earlier today also by WSJ. The round is set to be around, but less than, $600 million, sources told TechCrunch.We can also confirm that one firm that has been mentioned a number of times — SoftBank — is not in the deal at the moment.“SoftBank is not in the frame,” a person close to SoftBank told TechCrunch. That also lines up with what our sources have been telling us since March, when this round first opened up, although it seems that not everyone is on the same page: Multiple reports had linked SoftBank to a Mistral investment since then.Mistral's round is based on a lot of inbound interest, sources tell us, and it has been in the works since March or possibly earlier, mere months after Mistral closed a $415 million round at a $2 billion valuation...MoreNews Of the WeekJack Dorsey claims Bluesky is 'repeating all the mistakes' he made at TwitterHe prefers Nostr even though it's “weird and hard to use.”Karissa Bell, Senior EditorThu, May 9, 2024 at 4:43 PM PDTJust in case there was any doubt about how Jack Dorsey really feels about Bluesky, the former Twitter CEO has offered new details on why he left the board and deleted his account on the service he helped kickstart. In a characteristically bizarre interview with Mike Solana of Founders Fund, Dorsey had plenty of criticism for Bluesky.In the interview, Dorsey claimed that Bluesky was “literally repeating all the mistakes” he made while running Twitter. The entire conversation is long and a bit rambly, but Dorsey's complaints seem to boil down to two issues:* He never intended Bluesky to be an independent company with its own board and stock and other vestiges of a corporate entity (Bluesky spun out of Twitter as a public benefit corporation in 2022.) Instead, his plan was for Twitter to be the first client to take advantage of the open source protocol. Bluesky created.* The fact that Blueksy has some form of content moderation and has occasionally banned users for things like using racial slurs in their usernames.“People started seeing Bluesky as something to run to, away from Twitter,” Dorsey said. “It's the thing that's not Twitter, and therefore it's great. And Bluesky saw this exodus of people from Twitter show up, and it was a very, very common crowd. … But little by little, they started asking Jay and the team for moderation tools, and to kick people off. And unfortunately they followed through with it. That was the second moment I thought, uh, nope. This is literally repeating all the mistakes we made as a company.”Dorsey also confirmed that he is financially backing Nostr, another decentralized Twitter-like service popular among some crypto enthusiasts and run by an anonymous founder. “I know it's early, and Nostr is weird and hard to use, but if you truly believe in censorship resistance and free speech, you have to use the technologies that actually enable that, and defend your rights,” Dorsey said.A lot of this isn't particularly surprising. If you've followed Dorsey's public comments over the last couple years, he's repeatedly said that Twitter's “original sin” was being a company that would be beholden to advertisers and other corporate interests. It's why he backed Elon Musk's takeover of the company. (Not coincidentally, Dorsey still has about $1 billion of his personal wealth invested in the company now known as X.) He's also been very clear that he made many of Twitter's most consequential moderation decisions reluctantly.Unsurprisingly, Dorsey's comments weren't well-received on Bluesky. In a lengthy thread, Bluesky's protocol engineer Paul Frazee said that Twitter was supposed to to be the AT Protocol's “first client” but that “Elon killed that straight dead” after he took over the company. “That entire company was frozen by the prolonged acquisition, and the agreement quickly ended when Elon took over,” Frazee said. “It was never going to happen. Also: unmoderated spaces are a ridiculous idea. We created a shared network for competing moderated spaces to exist. Even if somebody wanted to make an unmoderated ATProto app, I guess they could? Good luck with the app stores and regulators and users, I guess.”While Dorsey was careful not to criticize Musk directly, he was slightly less enthusiastic than when he said that Musk would be the one to “extend the light of consciousness” by taking over Twitter. Dorsey noted that, while he used to fight government requests to take down accounts, Musk takes “the other path” and generally complies. “Elon will fight in the way he fights, and I appreciate that, but he could certainly be compromised,” Dorsey said.FTX crypto fraud victims to get their money back — plus interestPaul Sawers2:53 AM PDT • May 8, 2024Bankruptcy lawyers representing customers impacted by the dramatic crash of cryptocurrency exchange FTX 17 months ago say that the vast majority of victims will receive their money back — plus interest.The news comes six months after FTX co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) was found guilty on seven counts related to fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering, with some $8 billion of customers' funds going missing. SBF was hit with a 25-year prison sentence in March and ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture. The crypto mogul filed an appeal last month that could last years.RestructuringAfter filing for bankruptcy in late 2022, SBF stood down and U.S. attorney John J. Ray III was brought in as CEO and “chief restructuring officer,” charged with overseeing FTX's reorganization. Shortly after taking over, Ray said in testimony that despite some of the audits that had been done previously at FTX, he didn't “trust a single piece of paper in this organization.” In the months that followed, Ray and his team set about tracking the missing funds, with some $8 billion placed in real estate, political donations, and VC investments — including a $500 million investment in AI company Anthropic before the generative AI boom, which the FTX estate managed to sell earlier this year for $884 million.Initially, it seemed unlikely that investors would recoup much, if any, of their money, but signs in recent months suggested that good news might be on the horizon, with progress made on clawing back cash via various investments FTX had made, as well as from executives involved with the company.We now know that 98% of FTX creditors will receive 118% of the value of their FTX-stored assets in cash, while the other creditors will receive 100% — plus “billions in compensation for the time value of their investments,” according to a press release issued by the FTX estate today.In total, FTX says that it will be able to distribute between $14.5 billion and $16.3 billion in cash, which includes assets currently under control of entities, including chapter 11 debtors, liquidators, the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, the U.S. Department of Justice, among various other parties.Apple's Final Cut Camera lets filmmakers connect four cameras at onceHaje Jan Kamps7:38 AM PDT • May 7, 2024The latest version of Final Cut Pro introduces a new feature to speed up your shoot: Live Multicam. It's a bold move from Apple, transforming your iPad into a multicam production studio, enabling creatives to connect and preview up to four cameras all at once, all in one place. From the command post, directors can remotely direct each video angle and dial in exposure, white balance, focus and more, all within the Final Cut Camera app.The new companion app lets users connect multiple iPhones or iPads (presumably using the same protocols as the Continuity Camera feature launched a few years ago). Final Cut Pro automatically transfers and syncs each Live Multicam angle so you can seamlessly move from production to editing.Final Cut Pro has existed in the iPad universe for a while — but when paired with a brand new M4 processor, it becomes a video editing experience much closer to what you might expect on a desktop video editing workstation. The speed is 2x faster than with the old M1 processors, Apple says. One way that shows up is that the new iPad supports up to four times more streams of ProRes RAW than M1.The company also introduced external project support, making it possible to edit projects directly from an external drive, leveraging the fast Thunderbolt connection of iPad Pro.Startup of the WeekExclusive: Wayve co-founder Alex Kendall on the autonomous future for cars and robotsMike Butcher, 7:58 AM PDT • May 7, 2024U.K.-based autonomous vehicle startup Wayve started life as a software platform loaded into a tiny electric “car” called Renault Twizy. Festooned with cameras, the company's co-founders and PhD graduates, Alex Kendall and Amar Shah, tuned the deep-learning algorithms powering the car's autonomous systems until they'd got it to drive around the medieval city unaided.No fancy Lidar cameras or radars were needed. They suddenly realized they were on to something.Fast-forward to today and Wayve, now an AI model company, has raised a $1.05 billion Series C funding round led by SoftBank, NVIDIA and Microsoft. That makes this the UK's largest AI fundraise to date, and among the top 20 AI fundraises globally. Even Meta's head of AI, Yann LeCun, invested in the company when it was young.Wayve now plans to sell its autonomous driving model to a variety of auto OEMs as well as to makers of new autonomous robots.In an exclusive interview, I spoke to Alex Kendall, co-founder and CEO of Wayve, about how the company has been training the model, the new fundraise, licensing plans, and the wider self-driving market.(Note: The following interview has been edited for length and clarity)TechCrunch: What tipped the balance to attain this level of funding?..Full InterviewX of the Week This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thatwastheweek.com/subscribe

Welcome to Episode 175 of Pelo Buddy TV, an unofficial Peloton podcast & Peloton news show. This week we cover the following topics: Peloton announced a restructuring, including 400 layoffs and CEO Barry McCarthy leaving. Barry McCarthys' severance package & interim CEOs salaries. Peloton also released their FY2024 Q3 earnings, which had some positive and negative data points. A new partnership with Hyatt will have Peloton bikes (and some rowers) in hotels, and earning points for doing workouts. Jess Sims is teasing a new program, as well as some other announcements this week. A number of classes are featured in “This Week at Peloton” highlights. Peloton is having their first ever Meditation challenge in May in support of Mental Health Awareness month. Sam Yo has a new “Seasonal Recovery” series A new artist series with Laufey took place this week Christine D'Ercole has a “Judah & The Lion” Indie Rock Ride. The website Domestiq now has some free Peloton power zone tools (graphs, charts, etc) The app now has a “150 min” filter, but it's probably for the NYC marathon Tread classes. Peloton is giving away a free Peloton Tread. You can get 2 months free membership for buying a Row or Tread on Amazon. Peloton is having another sale, and also offering 0% financing. Another single day of classes was purged this week. Happy Birthday to Dr. Chelsea Jackson Roberts this week. Hannah Corbin is heading back to the stage and Country Happy Hour is returning. Tunde Oyeneyin and her house are featured. Alex Toussaint was on the Stephen A. Smith show. Matt Wilpers was on NYC Living TV. Becs Gentry was on the 321 Go podcast. Mariana Fernandez was on the “Set The Pace” podcast. DJ John Michael was on the Pop Theory podcast. There was a listening party for LP Giobbi's album at PSNY John & Amanda share their, and the community's, class picks of the week. Enjoy the show? Become a Pelo Buddy TV Supporter!  Find details here: https://www.pelobuddy.com/membership-account/membership-levels/ You can find links to full articles on each of these topics from the episode page here: https://www.pelobuddy.com/pelo-buddy-tv-episode-175/ The show is also available via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PeloBuddy This episode is hosted by John Prewitt (#Kenny_Bania), Amanda Segal (#Seglo3), and Chris Lewis (#PeloBuddy).

Earnings call recap. Peloton & Hyatt forge new partnership. New sale on Peloton Bikes. Peloton teams up with Slow AF Run Club for Tread giveaway. Peloton UK lays off delivery drivers? Ross Rayburn leaving Peloton. Why last week's JSS ride isn't on-demand. Assal Arian announces in-person class at PSL. Olivia Amato practices her drawing skills. TCO reviews Katie Wang's Intervals & Arms. The latest artist series features Laufey. TCO Top 5. This Week At Peloton. There's a new meditation challenge. A sneak peek at upcoming artist series.  Weekly roundup. All this plus our interview with Jennifer Brown! Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://www.theclipout.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, sponsored by Ownit AI. Ownit AI helps brands and retailers win Google search by answering their shopper's questions online. Learn more at ownit.co.Here are today's top headlines:Walmart GoLocal, Walmart's white-label, local delivery platform, is broadening its services beyond lightweight shipments from stores, now handling store-to-store transfers, deliveries from fulfillment centers, and big and bulky orders. Giant Eagle confirms the discontinuation of its "Scan Pay Go" feature at five stores due to low utilization. Peloton announces CEO Barry McCarthy's departure and plans to lay off 15% of its global workforce, affecting about 400 employees.Stay informed with Omni Talk's Retail Daily Minute, your source for the latest and most important retail insights. Be careful out there!

Peloton, the exercise equipment maker and creator of online fitness classes, has announced that it's laying off 15 percent of its workforce — 400 people — as CEO, president, and board director Barry McCarthy steps down after two years in the role. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Plus: Peloton says CEO Barry McCarthy is stepping down and it reduces its global workforce by 15%. Exxon Mobil agrees not to add Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield to its board as part of a deal to acquire the company. J.R. Whalen reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we confront the traditional male-female power struggle over intercourse frequency and replace it with a new understanding in which both women and men value affectionate, sensual, playful, and erotic touch.

Sexual Satisfaction PG-13 ~ Setting realistic romantic expectations - a short interview with Dr. Barry McCarthy. Listen to caller's personal dramas four times each week as Dr. Kenner takes your calls and questions on parenting, romance, love, family, marriage, divorce, hobbies, career, mental health - any personal issue! Call anytime, toll free 877-Dr-Kenner. Visit www.drkenner.com for more information about the show.

Episode page with transcript and more My guest for Episode #500 of the Lean Blog Interviews Podcast is me, your usual host Mark Graban. Today, I'm mixing up the format with a solo episode that celebrates 500 episodes over almost 18 years. I'll share some of the origin story and history of the podcast. You'll hear clips from Episode 1 (with Norm Bodek) and Episode 50 (where Jamie Flinchbaugh asked me about getting started). You'll also hear a clip from a recent conversation where Barry McCarthy, of AME Australia, asked me about persisting with podcasting all these years. Thanks for listening, whether this is your first time, you've listened to them all, or somewhere in between! The podcast is brought to you by Stiles Associates, the premier executive search firm specializing in the placement of Lean Transformation executives. With a track record of success spanning over 30 years, it's been the trusted partner for the manufacturing, private equity, and healthcare sectors. Learn more. This podcast is part of the #LeanCommunicators network.  Notes and Highlights: More than 500 episodes in 921 weeks, a little more than one every two weeks for 17.75 years 3,276,745 total downloads / listens, although I'm not convinced the stats are 100% consistent The top 10 most downloaded episodes The most frequent guests (#1 is Norman Bodek with 14 episodes) One anonymous guest Where listeners are from The origin story and the intro to Episode #1 A clip from Episode #50 My reflections on the clunky podcast name A shift over time from “big names” to highlighting new faces and their stories The one time I forgot to record! In memoriam: guests who have passed away

Welcome to Episode 163 of Pelo Buddy TV, an unofficial Peloton podcast & Peloton news show. This week we cover the following topics: We share an update on Peloton's earning data and what was discussed on the call with investors. Barry McCarthy teased an offline mode coming to “Just Work Out” feature in the app. The retail / showroom area of Peloton Studios New York has been updated. Peloton has started to share information about their Black History Month 2024 classes. Rebecca Kennedy has a new “unofficial” 4 day split-strength training program. Katie Wang & Adrian Williams have a new “You Can Row” Bootcamp Program. New strength benchmark classes from Robin Arzon & Andy Speer are available. Robin Arzon is releasing some new Postnatal core strength classes. The three classes filmed at the Mall of America are now available on-demand. A second two hour ride with Matt Wilpers took place this week. A new “Sundays with Love” with Ally took place this week. Leanne Hainsby will teach a class from PSNY this month. Peloton hosted a live TikTok with Timbaland and teased his upcoming producer series. The latest Peloton video showcases Camila Ramon and Rad Lopez. Peloton has sent a gift box to some members who were the “most active” on the leaderboard. lululemon & Peloton also sent gifts to some members who did the “Move For You” challenge. Peloton is offering free membership as a referral bonus for the next few weeks. Peloton purged the majority of classes filmed between Dec 2 – 7, 2020 last week. John & Amanda share about their trip to PSNY last week. Cody Rigsby is on Waze. You can buy a Guinness World Record certificate. Assal & Marcel are leading a retreat in Austria. Erik, Irene, Tobias, and Jeffrey are running the Berlin half. Kendall is being honored by the Mental Health Advocates. Kristin McGee has a band. Camila Ramon was interviewed in Hip Latina. Becs Gentry was helping cover the US Olympic Marathon Trials. Callie Gullickson was interviewed in Bustle. John & Amanda share their, and the community's, class picks of the week. Enjoy the show? Become a Pelo Buddy TV Supporter!  Find details here: https://www.pelobuddy.com/membership-account/membership-levels/ You can find links to full articles on each of these topics from the episode page here: https://www.pelobuddy.com/pelo-buddy-tv-episode-163/ The show is also available via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PeloBuddy This episode is hosted by John Prewitt (#Kenny_Bania), Amanda Segal (#Seglo3), and Chris Lewis (#PeloBuddy).

Intimate Forever ~ Marital Intimacy; keeping it alive - a short interview with Dr. Barry Mccarthy. Listen to caller's personal dramas four times each week as Dr. Kenner takes your calls and questions on parenting, romance, love, family, marriage, divorce, hobbies, career, mental health - any personal issue! Call anytime, toll free 877-Dr-Kenner. Visit www.drkenner.com for more information about the show.

Welcome to Episode 155 of Pelo Buddy TV, an unofficial Peloton podcast & Peloton news show. This week we cover the following topics: Peloton set a world record with their Turkey Burn classes. CEO Barry McCarthy apologized for the server crashing. Irene Scholz, now known as Irene Kaymer, is returning as a coach next year. Peloton is beta testing ERG Mode, or auto-resistance, in power zone classes. French subtitles are being beta tested on some classes. A survey was sent to some members asking them their thoughts on virtual reality, gaming, and more. Peloton is doing a “Made To Move”, or Tiny House, tour of Germany & Austria. An artist series featuring the music of KISS took place this week. An artist series featuring Take That took place last week. Ally Love taught her first “Sundays with Love” class in 2 years, and will have new ones every quarter. Andy Speer & Chelsea Jackson Roberts taught two classes with the Michigan basketball team in studio. Peloton also created several special Liverpool Football Club classes as part of their partnership. “Iconos Latinos” is a new Spanish-language class series with “influential artists who've paved the way for Latin music” Jeffrey McEachern is teaching a special World AIDS day class that premiered on Friday. The newest “Pump Up The Volume” collection is here from Tunde, Ben, and Jermaine. Mila Lazar is teaching pilates. Marcel Maurer is teaching Tread bootcamp classes. Mayla Wedekind & Assal Arian are teaching prenatal & postnatal German classes. There are shadowboxing classes dubbed in German. Peloton purged 4 days worth of classes each of the last two weeks. Peloton extended their Black Friday & Cyber Monday deals to run through December 5th. Peloton has teamed up with 776BC for some rowing-specific apparel. There are new Little Words Project bracelets featuring some city & state names. Happy Birthday to Bradley Rose & Jenn Sherman. Mayla Wedekind is publishing a book. Sam Yo has a Bruce Lee stretch & interviewed Shannon Lee Tunde Oyeneyin is featured in PhotoBook magazine. Rad Lopez is hosting a toy drive at PSNY. Mariana Fernandez was featured on the news in San Diego. Kirra, Mariana, and Rad have a meet & greet in California. Jenn Sherman was featured during the Michigan vs Ohio football game. Cody Rigsby has partnered with LEGO. Alex Toussaint hosted a charity luncheon. Anna Greenberg's renovated house was featured in a magazine. John & Amanda share their, and the community's, class picks of the week. You can find links to full articles on each of these topics from the episode page here: https://www.pelobuddy.com/pelo-buddy-tv-episode-154/ The show is also available via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PeloBuddy This episode is hosted by John Prewitt (#Kenny_Bania) and Amanda Segal (#Seglo3).

In this episode, Michelle Renee talks with Dr Joe Kort, a sex therapist based in Detroit, Michigan, about shame in sex. They also talk about expanding our definitions of sex, the term "side", and erotic orientation. Psychotherapist Joe Kort, PhD, LMSW, is the clinical director and founder of The Center for Relationship and Sexual Health in Royal Oak, Michigan. He is a board-certified clinical sexologist, author of four books, lecturer and facilitator of therapeutic workshops, and the host of Smart Sex Smart Love podcast. You can learn more at JoeKort.com and find him on social media at @drjoekort. On tiktok at https://www.tiktok.com/@drjoekort The host, Michelle Renee, is a surrogate partner, intimacy guide, and professional cuddler located in San Diego, CA. You can learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠meetmichellerenee.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. For more information about Soft Cock Week, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠SoftCockWeek.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, which includes resources, events, and even soft cock love notes. Notes from this show: Rekindling Desire with Barry McCarthy on Joe's podcast Smart Sex Smart Love Come As You Are by Emily Nagoski (learn about responsive desire) Also a great Ted Talk with her about sustaining sexual connection The Great Sex Rescue RecoveringMan.net Brian Gibney Lee Phillips' Sex and Chronic Illness podcast episode with Michelle Renee Guys We Fucked episode with Michelle Renee Ruby Ryder and PeggingParadise.com Movemeber The Intimacy Lab Podcast My favorite tshirts: Side Tshirt Butthole Whisperer Tshirt Sexual Intellectual Tshirt Whores are Healers Tshirt p46r1LxG5dyTWb3LuVin --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/softcockweek/message

Welcome to Episode 153 of Pelo Buddy TV, an unofficial Peloton podcast & Peloton news show. This week we cover the following topics: Hannah Frankson, Tunde Oyeneyin, and Charlotte Weidenbach will be teaching power zone classes. Peloton's Black Friday sales are here, and include the Row, Guide, Tread, Bike and more. Peloton sent an email out to Tread+ owners advising that rear guard installs will start in early 2024. The Tread+ is back in US showrooms, and can be bought again in December. It appears the Peloton Row is preparing to launch in the UK soon. Barry McCarthy said Row rentals could be possible one day but Tread rentals are unlikely. Peloton has a new holiday advertising campaign that started this week. New members can get 2 free months of the Peloton App with American Express. Ben & Leanne had a special two for one ride to celebrate their, and the UK's, 5 year anniversary. A new artist series with DMX took place this week Peloton is bringing back the listening party classes once a month. Peloton has more New York City marathon classes, with 5 new outdoor runs. Several Peloton instructors ran the NYC marathon, while others were out cheering. Becs & Selena will have a panel and meet & greet in Scottsdale, Arizona. Peloton devices are getting a new login screen, as well as some updates to the home screen. Peloton had a third outage last week. Peloton purged around one week worth of classes last week. There will be more dubbed German classes at the end of November. Peloton is now trying to have people line up by their colored cards for more orderly entry. New Peloton x lululemon apparel was released this week. Tunde Oyeneyin is now a guest correspondent for Access Hollywood. Cody Rigsby & Emma Lovewell share a video. Matt Wilpers & Andy Speer are sharing exercies for skiers Susie Chan was interviewed in The Starting Line podcast. Kirsten Ferguson spoke to Andscape. John & Amanda share their, and the community's, class picks of the week. You can find links to full articles on each of these topics from the episode page here: https://www.pelobuddy.com/pelo-buddy-tv-episode-153/ The show is also available via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PeloBuddy This episode is hosted by Amanda Segal (#Seglo3) and John Prewitt (#Kenny_Bania).

Sex Therapy ~ What is Sex Therapy? A short interview with Dr. Barry McCarthy. Listen to caller's personal dramas four times each week as Dr. Kenner takes your calls and questions on parenting, romance, love, family, marriage, divorce, hobbies, career, mental health - any personal issue! Call anytime, toll free 877-Dr-Kenner. Visit www.drkenner.com for more information about the show.

Heathy Sexuality!!! Dr. Kaye Renshaw, Licensed Professional Counselor is in private practice in Amarillo Texas where she has practiced for 29 years. Join us for a fascinating look at being human and how you can improve your relationships and connections across the board. Dr. Renshaw works with individuals, couples and families in all areas of general psychology and concerns with sexuality throughout the life span. No topic was off limits!  Dr. Renshaw practices in office at 7480 Golden Pond Place, Suite 400, Amarillo Texas, 79121. She also offers Telehealth Services via secure web platform. Contact Dr. Renshaw: kaye.renshaw@gmail.com Referenced Resources:  Love and Sex after 60 - Holly WrightSex After 70: The Definitive Guide to Making Love After 70 -  Holly Wright  Couple Sexuality After 60 Barry McCarthy and Emily McCarthy More Great Sex after 50 - Eve Cappello Sex After Seventy: It Gets Better: The Detailed Sex Guide for Mature Thinking Adults and for Seniors  -  James A. Grant To Contact Joni for Coaching: wakeupwithjoni@gmail.com  

Welcome to Episode 142 of Pelo Buddy TV, an unofficial Peloton podcast & Peloton news show. This week we cover the following topics: Barry McCarthy shared the Tread+ will cost around $6,000 when it is back for sale this holiday season. Peloton's Q4 & FY 2023 earnings data were released this week. Peloton has a new “college strategy”, starting with a partnership with the University of Michigan. Jess Sims participated in the “Dribble For Dreams” charity event last week Peloton's CEO confirmed limited edition bike colors & graphics are coming this fall. Peloton rebranded their commercial business as “Peloton Business” with a new VP to lead it. Peloton has a new partnership with YMCA Chicago Ash Pryor attended a YMCA kickoff event in Chicago Many members are experiencing issues with software updates on Peloton Bikes, Treads, and Rows. Peloton is expanding the number of pace target levels on the Row from 6 to 10. A number of small UI updates have been rolling out across different devices & platforms. The full list of artists for Peloton's All For One 2023 lineup was announced. A new producer series featuring the music of Max Martin dropped on-demand this week. There will be no live classes from either studio from August 28 – September 4th. A new “UK Greatest Hits” collection has been added. Jeffrey McEachern is teaching some classes (both English & German) from PSNY. Peloton is now adding monthly activity challenges for Peloton Guide owners. Peloton purged around 2 weeks worth of classes each of the last 2 weeks. Kendall Toole is having a meet & greet at the London studios next week. A recap of all the events from Peloton on Tour in Atlanta. Happy birthday to Charlotte Weidenbach, Kirsten Ferguson, and Mariana Fernandez. Christine D'Ercole teased she is writing a book. Christine won several races at the US Masters National Championships. Cody Rigsby announced a Texas stop on his book tour. There will also be a Cody book launch event at PSNY. Ben Alldis is having a book launch event at PSL. Ben Alldis is having a contest for those who pre-order his book. Leanne Hainsby shared she is one year alcohol free. Tobias Heinze won second in a 120 mile stage race. Emma Lovewell & Ally Love were on The Today Show together. Kendall Toole was on the Net Positive podcast. Jess King was on the Dancing Through Motherhood podcast. Susie Chan is an ambassador for the Paws2Rescue charity. Amanda & John share their, and the community's, class picks of the week. You can find links to full articles on each of these topics from the episode page here: https://www.pelobuddy.com/pelo-buddy-tv-episode-142/ The show is also available via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PeloBuddy This episode is hosted by John Prewitt (#Kenny_Bania) & Amanda Segal (#Seglo3)

Peloton unveils ‘Workout of the Day'. Casting call for apparel campaign.  Precor launches distribution division.  Barry McCarthy is in a Wall Street Journal article about CEOs.  Nine.com.au talked about Lanebreak.  Forbes reviewed Lanebreak Tread.  Nikki 

Welcome to Episode 131 of Pelo Buddy TV, an unofficial Peloton podcast & Peloton news show. This week we cover the following topics: Peloton is moving their showroom employees away from commission-based plans. Barry McCarthy said Peloton has received more than 500,000 requests for seat posts – which is more than they were expecting. Peloton will default people to App One starting in December unless they opt into App+ Peloton purged 3 weeks worth of classes last week. Several Memorial Day classes were released on-demand in honor of Memorial Day. Jon Hosking & Matty Maggiacomo have a new two for one outdoor audio class. Peloton is having some classes for the NBA Finals with Ally Love, Alex Toussaint and Jess Sims. There was an artist series with the German artist CRO. Peloton's rowing stretches are now also available through the Peloton app. Echelon is targeting Peloton users to trade in their Bikes for an Echelon device. Peloton is increasing the referral program to be a $200 credit until June 12th. People who try out a device in showrooms can buy an accessory package for $1. Peloton Apparel has some new items in collaboration with the Little Words Project. Happy Birthday to Jess King & Rad Lopez this week. Tunde Oyeneyin has a new partnership with Aaron Judge and A SHOC / Accelerator energy drinks. Jess King had her first DJ set as DJ Yass King. Bradley Rose was interviewed in Brain & Life Magazine. Congratulations to Alex Karwoski on his recent MBA graduation. Congratulations to Tobias Heinze on winning his age group in his half marathon last weekend. Amanda & John share their, and the community's, class picks of the week. You can find links to full articles on each of these topics from the episode page here: https://www.pelobuddy.com/pelo-buddy-tv-episode-131/ The show is also available via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PeloBuddy This episode is hosted by John Prewitt (#Kenny_Bania) & Amanda Segal (#Seglo3)

Welcome to Episode 130 of Pelo Buddy TV, an unofficial Peloton podcast & Peloton news show. This week we cover the following topics: Peloton unveiled their updated brand this week. There are now 3 tiers on the app: App Free, App One, and App+ Both Rowing & Rowing Bootcamp classes are now available on the Peloton App The new Peloton Gym feature lets you take structured strength workouts without a coach. A member shared pictures of their broken Peloton Bike seat post. Peloton sent out an email giving people a timeline for expecting replacement seat posts. Peloton has said to expect new sales of the Tread+ not to start until 2024. Barry McCarthy said he is hopeful Peloton will expand into Western Europe next year. As a reminder, there are no live classes this next week. Peloton will host a meet & greet with Mara Thonner (Matty) near PSNY There will be Little Mermaid, Ava Max, and Lil Kim artist series in June A Jonas Brothers artist series took place on Thursday. Two classes with musician Lewis Capaldi took place. Emma Lovewell will teach two classes from Peloton Studios London. Alex Karwoski was seen filming some scenic rows in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Anna Greenberg's new 1-week “A Self Care Retreat” program is now available. Peloton released the formerly guide-exclusive “Pump Up The Volume” collections to everyone this week. Peloton is offering up to 70% off apparel until May 30th. Happy Birthday to Benny Adami. Ally Love is joining the Today show. Kendall Toole is on the “Chicks in the Office” podcast. Cody Rigsby was interviewed in People. Peloton talks about some of their streaming technology with Amazon. Some of the coaches have been doing track speed work. Tunde Oyeneyin was featured in Today. Amanda & Chris share their, and the community's, class picks of the week. You can find links to full articles on each of these topics from the episode page here: https://www.pelobuddy.com/pelo-buddy-tv-episode-130/ The show is also available via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PeloBuddy This episode is hosted by John Prewitt (#Kenny_Bania) & Chris Lewis (#PeloBuddy)

You guys, I am literally giggling with excitement over what we are about to do together.  Last year, we did a series, the first series on Your Anxiety Toolkit where we talked about mental compulsions. It was a six-part series. We had some of the best therapists and best doctors in the world talking about mental compulsions. It was such a hit. So many people got so much benefit out of it. I loved it so much, and I thought that was fun, let's get back to regular programming. But for the entire of last year after that series, it kept bugging me that I needed to do a series on sexual health and anxiety. It seems like we're not talking about it enough. It seems like everyone has questions, even people on social media. The algorithm actually works against those who are trying to educate people around sex and sexual side effects and arousal and how anxiety impacts it. And so here I am. No one can stop us. Let's do it.  This is going to be a six-part sexual health and anxiety series, and today we have a return guest, the amazing Lauren Fogel Mersy. She is the best. She is a sex therapist. She talks all about amazing stuff around sexual desire, sexual arousal, sexual anxiety. She's going to share with you, she has a book coming out, but she is going to kick this series off talking about sexual anxiety, or we actually also compare and contrast sexual performance anxiety because that tends to better explain what some of the people's symptoms are.  Once we go through this episode, we're then going to meet me next week where I'm going to go back over. I've done an episode on it before, but we're going to go back over understanding arousal and anxiety. And then we're going to have some amazing doctors talking about medications and sexual side effects. We have an episode on sexual intrusive thoughts. We have an episode on premenstrual anxiety. We also have an episode on menopause and anxiety. My hope is that we can drop down into the topics that aren't being covered enough so that you feel like you've got one series, a place to go that will help you with the many ways in which anxiety can impact us when it comes to our sexual health, our sexual arousal, our sexual intimacy. I am so, so, so excited. Let's get straight to it.  This is Episode 1 of the Sexual Health and Anxiety Series with Dr. Lauren Fogel Mersy. Lauren is a licensed psychologist. She's a certified sex therapist, she's an author, and she is going to share with us and we're going to talk in-depth about sexual anxiety. I hope you enjoy the show. I hope you enjoy all of the episodes in this series. I cannot wait to listen to these amazing speakers—Lauren, being the first one. Thank you, Lauren. What Is Sexual Anxiety Or Sexual Performance Anxiety? Are They The Same Thing? Kimberley: Welcome. I am so happy to have you back, Dr. Lauren Fogel Mersy. Welcome. Dr. Lauren: Thank you so much for having me back. I'm glad to be here. Kimberley: I really wanted to deep dive with you. We've already done an episode together. I'm such a joy to have you on. For those of you who want to go back, it's Episode 140 and we really talked there about how anxiety impacts sex. I think that that is really the big conversation. Today, I wanted to deep dive a little deeper into talking specifically about sexual anxiety, or as I did a little bit of research, what some people call sexual performance anxiety. My first question for you is, what is sexual anxiety or what is sexual performance anxiety? Are they the same thing or are they a little different? Dr. Lauren: I think people will use those words interchangeably. It's funny, as you say that, I think that performance anxiety, that word ‘performance' in particular, I hear that more among men than I do among women. I think that that might be attributed to so many people's definition of sex is penetration. In order for penetration to be possible, if there's a partner who has a penis involved that that requires an erection. I often hear that word ‘performance' attributed to essentially erection anxiety or something to do with, will the erection stay? Will it last? Basically, will penetration be possible and work out? I think I often hear it attributed to that. And then sexual anxiety is a maybe broader term for a whole host of things, I would say, beyond just erection anxiety, which can involve anxiety about being penetrated. It could be anxiety about certain sexual acts like oral sex giving, receiving. It could be about whether your body will respond in the way that you want and hope it to. I think that word, sexual anxiety, that phrasing can encompass a lot of different things. WHAT ARE SOME SEXUAL ANXIETY SYMPTOMS? Kimberley: Yeah. I always think of it as, for me, when I talk with my patients about the anticipatory anxiety of sex as well. Like you said, what's going to happen? Will I orgasm? Will I not? Will they like my body? Will they not? I think that it can be so broad. I love how you define that, how they can be different. That performance piece I think is really important. You spoke to it just a little, but I'd like to go a little deeper. What are some symptoms of sexual anxiety that a man or a woman may experience?  Dr. Lauren: I think this can be many different things. For some people, it's the inability to get aroused, which sifting through the many things that can contribute to that, knowing maybe that I'm getting into my head and that's what's maybe tripping me up and making it difficult to get aroused. It could be a racing heartbeat as you're starting to get close to your partner, knowing that sex may be on the table. I've had some people describe it can get as severe as getting nauseated, feeling like you might be sick because you're so worked up over the experience. Some of that maybe comes from trauma or negative experiences from the past, or some of it could be around a first experience with a partner really hoping and wanting it to go well. Sometimes we can get really nervous and those nerves can come out in our bodies, and then they can also manifest in all of the thoughts that we have in the moment, really getting distracted and not being able to focus and just be present. It can look like a lot of different things. SEXUAL AVOIDANCE Kimberley: That's so interesting to hear in terms of how it impacts and shows up. What about people who avoid sex entirely because of that? I'm guessing for me, I'm often hearing about people who are avoiding. I'm guessing for you, people are coming for the same reason. You're a sex therapist. How does that show up in your practice? Dr. Lauren: One of the things that can cause avoidance-- there's actually an avoidance cycle that people can experience either on their own or within a partnership, and that avoidance is a way of managing anxiety or managing the distress that can come with challenging sexual experiences and trying to either protect ourselves or protect our relationships from having those outcomes as a possibility. There used to be a diagnosis called sexual aversion. It was called a sexual aversion disorder. We don't have that in our language anymore. We don't use that disorder because I think it's a really protective, sensible thing that we might do at times when we get overwhelmed or when we're outside of what we call a window of tolerance. It can show up as complete avoidance of sexual activity. It could show up as recoiling from physical touch as a way to not indicate a desire for that to progress any further. It could be avoidance of dating because you don't want the inevitable conversation about sexuality or the eventuality that maybe will come up. Depending on whether you're partnered or single and how that manifests in the relationship, it can come out in different ways through the avoidance of maybe different parts of the sexual experience, everything from dampening desire to avoiding touch altogether.  Kimberley: That's really interesting. They used to have it be a diagnosis and then now, did they give it a different name or did they just wipe it off of the DSM completely? What would you do diagnostically now?  Dr. Lauren: It's a great question. I think it was wiped out completely. I haven't looked at a DSM in a long time. I think it was swiped out completely. Just personally as a sex therapist and the clinician I am today, I don't use many of the sexual health diagnoses from the DSM because I think that they are pathologizing to the variation in the human sexual experience. I'm not so fond of them myself. What I usually do is I would frame that as an anxiety-related concern or just more of a sexual therapy or sex counseling concern. Because I think as we have a growing understanding of our nervous system and the ways in which our system steps in to protect us when something feels overwhelming or frightening or uncertain, I think it starts to make a lot of sense as to why we might avoid something or respond in the ways that we do. Once we have some understanding of maybe there's some good sense behind this move that you're making, whether that's to avoid or protect or to hesitate or to get in your head, then we can have some power over adjusting how we're experiencing the event once we understand that there's usually a good reason why something's there. Kimberley: That is so beautiful. I love that you frame it that way. It's actually a good lesson for me because I am always in the mindset of like, we've got to get rid of avoidance. That's the anxiety work that I do. I think that you bring up a beautiful point that I hadn't even considered, which is, we always look at avoidance as something we have to fix as soon as possible. I think what you're saying is you don't conceptualize it that way at all and we can talk more about what you could do to help if someone is having avoidance and they want to fix that. But what I think you're saying is we're not here to pathologize that as a problem here. Dr. Lauren: Yeah. I see it, I'm trained less in the specifics. I think that makes a lot of sense when you're working with specific anxiety disorders and OCD and the like. I've, as of late, been training in more and more emotionally focused therapy. I'm coming at it from an attachment perspective, and I'm coming at it from somewhat of a systemic perspective and saying, what is the avoidance doing? What is it trying to tell us? There's usually some good reason somewhere along the way that we got where we are. Can I validate that that makes sense? That when something is scary or uncertain or you were never given good information or you really want something to go well and you're not sure about it, and it means a lot to you, there's all kinds of good reasons why that might hit as overwhelming. When we're talking about performance anxiety or sexual anxiety, really the number one strategy I'm looking for is, how can we work with what we call your window of tolerance? If your current comfort zone encompasses a certain amount of things, whatever that might be, certain sexual acts with maybe a certain person, maybe by yourself, I want to help you break down where you want to get to and break that into the smallest, manageable, tolerable steps so that what we're doing is we've got one foot in your current window of what you can tolerate and maybe just a toe at a time out, and breaking that up into manageable pieces so that we don't keep overwhelming your system. That is essentially what my job is with a lot of folks, is helping them take those steps and often what our nervous system needs to register, that it's okay, that it's safe, that we can move towards our goals. Cognitively, we think it's too slow or it's too small. It's not. We have to really break that down.  If there's something about the sexual experience that you're avoiding, that is overwhelming, that you're afraid of, what I do is validate that, makes sense that that maybe is just too much and too big all at once. And then let's figure out a way to work ourselves up to that goal over time. Usually, slower is faster.  WHY DO PEOPLE HAVE SEXUAL ANXIETY?  Kimberley: I love that. I really do. Why do people have sexual anxiety? Is that even an important question? Do you explore that with your patients? I think a lot of people, when I see them in my office or online, we know there's a concern that they want to fix, but they're really quite distressed by the feeling that something is wrong with them and they want to figure out what's wrong with them. Do you have some feedback on why people have sexual anxiety?  Dr. Lauren: I do. I think it can stem from a number of experiences or lack thereof in our lives. There are some trends and themes that come up again and again that I've seen over the years in sex therapy. Even though we're taping here in the US, we're in a culture that has a lot of sexuality embedded within the media, there is still a lot of taboo and a lot of misinformation about sex or a lack of information that people are given. I mean, we still have to fight for comprehensive sex education. Some people have gotten explicitly negative messages about sex growing up. Some people have been given very little to know information about sex growing up. Both of those environments can create anxiety about sex. We also live in a world where we're talking openly about sex with friends, parents teaching their children more than just abstinence, and going into a little bit more depth about what healthy sexuality looks like between adults. A lot of that is still not happening. What you get is a very little frame of reference for what's ‘normal' and what's considered concerning versus what is par for the course with a lifetime of being a sexual person. So, a lot of people are just left in the dark, and that can create anxiety for a good portion of those folks, whether it's having misinformation or just no information about what to expect. And then the best thing that most of us have to draw on is the Hollywood version of a very brief sex scene. Kimberley: Yes. I was just thinking about that. Dr. Lauren: And it's just so wildly different than your actual reality. Kimberley: Yeah. That's exactly what I was thinking about, is the expectation is getting higher and higher, especially as we're more accessible to pornography online, for the young folks as well, just what they expect themselves to do. Dr. Lauren: That's right. We have young people being exposed to that on the internet. We've got adults viewing that. With proper porn literacy and ethical porn consumption, that can be a really healthy way to enjoy erotic content and to engage in sexuality. The troubling thing is when we're not media literate, when we don't have some of the critical thinking to really remember and retain the idea that this entertainment, this is for arousal purposes, that it's really not giving an accurate or even close depiction of what really goes on between partners. I think it's easier for us to maintain that level of awareness when we're consuming general movies and television. But there's something about that sexuality when you see it depicted in the media that so many people are still grappling with trying to mimic what they see. I think that's because there's such an absence of a frame of reference other than those media depictions. SEXUAL ANXIETY IN MALES VS SEXUAL ANXIETY IN FEMALES  Kimberley: Right. So good. Is there a difference between sexual anxiety in males and sexual anxiety in females? Dr. Lauren: I think it can show up differently, certainly depending on what role you play in the sexual dynamic, what positions you're looking to or what sexual acts you're looking to explore. There's a different level or a different flavor of anxiety, managing erection anxiety, managing anxiety around premature ejaculation. They're all similar, but there's some unique pieces to each one. All of the types of anxiety that I've seen related to sex have some common threads, which is getting up into our heads and dampening the experience of pleasure not being as present in the moment, not being as embodied in the moment, because we get too focused on what will or won't happen just moments from now.  While that makes so much sense, you're trying to foretell whether it's going to be a positive experience, there is a-- I hate to say like a self-fulfilling prophecy, but there's a reaction in our bodies to some of those anxious thoughts. If I get into my head and I start thinking to myself, “This may not go well. This might hurt. I might lose my arousal. I might not be able to orgasm. My partner may not think I'm good in bed,” whatever those anxious thoughts are, the thoughts themselves can become a trigger for a physical reaction. That physical reaction is that it can turn on our sympathetic nervous system, and that is the part of our body that says, “Hey, something in the environment might be dangerous here, and it's time to mobilize and get ready to run.” What happens in those moments once our sympathetic system is online, a lot of that blood flow goes out of our genital region, out of our chest and into our extremities, to your arms, to your legs. Your body is acting as if there was a bear right there in front of you and your heart rate goes up and all of these things. Now, some of those can also be signs of arousal. That's where it can get really tricky because panting or increased heart rate or sweating can also be arousal. It's really confusing for some people because there can be a parallel process in your physiology. Is this arousal or is this anxiety?  CAN ANXIETY IMPACT AROUSAL? CAN ANXIETY IMPACT SEX DRIVE?  Kimberley: It's funny that you mentioned that because as I was researching and doing a little bit of Googling about these topics, one of the questions which I don't get asked very often is, can anxiety cause arousal? Because I know last time, we talked about how anxiety can reduce arousal. Is that something that people will often report to you that having anxiety causes them to have sexual arousal, not fight and flight arousal? Dr. Lauren: Yeah. I mean, what I see more than anything is that it links to desire, and here's how that tends to work for some people because then the desire links to the arousal and it becomes a chain. For many people out in the world, they engage in sexual activity to impart self-soothe and manage stress. It becomes a strategy or an activity that you might lean on when you're feeling increased stress or distress. That could be several different emotions that include anxiety. If over my lifetime or throughout the years as I've grown, maybe I turn to masturbation, maybe I turn to partnered sex when I'm feeling anxious, stressed, or distressed, over time, that's going to create a wiring of some of that emotion, and then my go-to strategy for decreasing that emotion or working through that emotion. That pairing over time can definitely work out so that as soon as I start feeling anxious, I might quickly come to feelings of arousal or a desire to be sexual. Kimberley: Very interesting. Thank you. That was not a question I had, but it was interesting that it came up when I was researching. Very, very cool. This is like a wild card question. Again, when I was researching here, one of the things that I got went down a little rabbit hole, a Google rabbit hole, how you go down those... Dr. Lauren: That's never happened to me. WHAT IS POST-SEX ANXIETY?  Kimberley: ...is, what about post-sex anxiety? A lot of what we are talking about today, what I would assume is anticipatory anxiety or during-sex anxiety. What about post-sex anxiety? What is post-sex anxiety? Dr. Lauren: I've come across more-- I don't know if it's research or articles that have been written about something called postcoital dysphoria, which is like after-sex blues. Some people get tearful, some get sad, some feel like they want to pull away from their partner and they need a little bit of space. That's certainly a thing that people report. I think either coexisting with that or sometimes in its place can be maybe feelings of anxiety that ramp up. I think that can be for a variety of things. Some of it could be, again, getting into your head and then doing a replay like, was that good? Are they satisfied? We get into this thinking that it's like a good or bad experience and which one was it. Also, there's many people who look to sex, especially when we have more anxiety, and particularly if we have a more predominantly anxious attachment where we look to sex as a way to validate the relationship, to feel comforted, to feel secure, to feel steady. There's a process that happens where it's like seeking out sex for comfort and steadiness, having sex in the moment, feeling more grounded. And then some of that anxiety may just return right on the other end once sex is over, and then you're back to maybe feeling some insecurity or unsteadiness again. When that happens, that's usually a sign that it's not just about sex. It's not just a sexual thing. It's actually more of an attachment and an insecurity element that needs and warrants may be a greater conversation.  The other thing is your hormones and chemicals change throughout the experience. You get this increase of bonding maybe with a partner, oxytocin, and feel-good chemicals, and then they can sometimes drop off after an orgasm, after the experience. For some people, they might just experience that as depressed mood anxiety, or just a feeling of being unsettled. Kimberley: That's so interesting. It makes total sense about the attachment piece and the relational piece, and that rumination, that more self-criticism that people may do once they've reviewed their performance per se. That's really helpful to hear. Actually, several people have mentioned to me when I do lives on Instagram the postcoital dysphoria. Maybe you could help me with the way to word it, but is that because of a hormone shift, or is that, again, because of a psychological shift that happens after orgasm? Dr. Lauren: My understanding is that we're still learning about it, that we've noticed that it's a phenomenon. We're aware of it, we have a name for it, but I don't know that we have enough research to fully understand it just yet. Right now, if I'm not misquoting the research, I believe our understanding is more anecdotal at this point. I would say, many different things could be possible, anything from chemical changes to attachment insecurities, and there's probably things that are beyond that I'm also missing in that equation. I think it's something we're still studying. HOW TO OVERCOME SEX ANXIETY, AND HOW CAN WE COPE WITH SEX ANXIETY?   Kimberley: Very interesting. Let's talk now about solutions. When should someone reach out to either a medical professional, a mental health professional? What would you advise them to do if they're experiencing sexual anxiety or performance anxiety when it comes to sex? Dr. Lauren: That makes a lot of sense. That's a great question. What I like to tell people is I want you to think of your sexual experiences like a bell curve. For those who were not very science or math-minded like myself, just a quick refresher, a bell curve basically says that the majority of your experiences in sex are going to be good, or that's what we're hoping for and aiming for. And then there's going to be a few on one tail, there's going to be some of those, not the majority, that are amazing, that are excellent, that really stand out. Yes, mind-blowing, fabulous. And then there's the other side of that curve, that pole. The other end is going to be, something didn't work out, disappointing, frustrating. There is no 100% sexual function across a lifetime with zero hiccups. That's not going to be a realistic goal or expectation for us.  I always like to start off by reminding people that you're going to have some variation and experience. What we'd like is for at least a good chunk of them to be what Barry McCarthy calls good enough sex. It doesn't have to be mind-blowing every time, but we want it to be satisfying, of good quality. If you find that once or twice you can't get aroused, you don't orgasm, you're not as into it, one of the liabilities for us anxious folks, and I consider myself one of them having generalized anxiety disorder my whole life—one of the things that we can do sometimes is get catastrophic with one or two events where it doesn't go well and start to jump to the conclusion that this is a really bad thing that's happening and it's going to happen again, and it's life-altering sort of thing. One thing is just keeping this in mind that sometimes that's going to happen, and that doesn't necessarily mean that the next time you go to be sexual that it'll happen again. But if you start to notice a pattern, a trend over several encounters, then you might consider reaching out to someone like a general therapist, a sex therapist to help you figure out what's going on.  Sometimes there's a medical component to some of these concerns, like a pattern of difficulty with arousal. That's not a bad idea to get that checked out by a medical provider because sometimes there could be blood flow concerns or hormone concerns. Again, I think we're looking for patterns. If there's a pattern, if it's something that's happening more than a handful of times, and certainly if it's distressing to you, that might be a reason to reach out and see a professional. Kimberley: I think you're right. I love the bell curve idea and actually, that sounds very true because often I'll have clients who have never mentioned sex to me. We're working on their anxiety disorder, and then they have one time where they were unable to become aroused or have an erection or have an orgasm. And then like you said, that catastrophic thought of like, “What happens if this happens again? What if it keeps happening?” And then as you said, they start to ruminate and then they start to avoid and they seek reassurance and all those things. And then we're in that kind of, as you said, self-fulfilling, now we're in that pattern. That rings very, very true. What about, is there any piece of this? I know I'm disclosing and maybe from my listeners, you're probably thinking it's TMI, but I remember after having children that everything was different and it did require me to go and speak to a doctor and check that out. So, my concerns were valid in that point. Would it be go to the therapist first, go to the doctor first? What would you recommend? Dr. Lauren: Yeah. I mean, you're not alone in that. The concerns are always valid, whether they're medical, whether they're psychological, wherever it's stemming from. If after once or twice you get freaked out and you want to just go get checked out, I don't want to discourage anybody from doing that either. We're more than happy to see you, even if it's happened once or twice, just to help walk you through that so you're not alone. But the patterns are what we're looking for overall.  I think it depends. Here's some of the signs that I look for. If sex is painful, particularly for people with vaginas, if it's painful and it's consistently painful, that's something that I would recommend seeing a sexual medicine specialist for. There are some websites you can go to to look up a sexual medicine specialist, someone in particular who has received specialized training to treat painful sex and pelvic pain. That would be an indicator. If your body is doing a lot of bracing and tensing with sex so your pelvic floor muscles are getting really tight, your thighs are clenching up, those might be some moments where maybe you want to see a medical provider because from there, they may or may not recommend, depending on whether it's a fit for you, something called pelvic floor therapy. That's something that people can do at various stages of life for various reasons but is doing some work specifically with the body.  Other things would be for folks with penises. If you're waking up consistently over time where you're having difficulty getting erections for sexual activity and you're not waking up with erections anymore, that morning wood—if that's consistent over time, that could be an indicator to go get something checked out, maybe get some blood work, talk to your primary care just to make sure that there's nothing in addition to maybe if we think anxiety is a part of it, make sure there's nothing else that could be going on as well. HOW TO COPE WITH SEX ANXIETY Kimberley: Right. I love this. This is so good. Thank you again. Let's quickly just round it out with, how may we overcome this sex anxiety, or how could we cope with sex anxiety? Dr. Lauren: It's the million-dollar question, and I've got a pretty, I'll say, simple but not easy answer. It's a very basic answer. Kimberley: The good answers are always simple but hard to apply. Dr. Lauren: Simple, it's a simple theory or idea. It's very hard in practice. One of, I'd say, the main things I do as a sex therapist is help people really diversify what sex is. The more rigid of a definition we have for sex and the more rigidly we adhere to a very particular set of things that have to happen in a particular order, in a very specific way, the more trouble we're going to have throughout our lifetime making that specific thing happen. The work is really in broadening and expanding our definition of sex and having maybe a handful of different pathways to be sexual or to be intimate with a partner so that, hey, if today I have a little bit more anxiety and I'm not so sure that I get aroused that we can do path A or B. If penetration is not possible today because of whatever reason that we can take path C. When we have more energy or less energy, more time, less time, that the more flexibility we have and expansiveness we have to being intimate and sexual, the more sexual you'll be. Kimberley: Just because I want to make sure I can get what you're saying, when you say this inflexible idea of what this narrow you're talking about, I'm assuming, I'm putting words in your mouth and maybe what you're thinking because I'm sure everybody's different, but would I be right in assuming that the general population think that sex is just intercourse and what you're saying is that it's broader in terms of oral sex and other? Is that the A, B, and C you're talking about?  Dr. Lauren: Yeah. There's this standard sexual script that most people follow. It's the one that we see in Hollywood, in erotic videos. It centers mostly heterosexual vaginal penetration, so penis and vagina sex. It centers sex as culminating in orgasm mainly for the man, and then nice if it happens for the woman as well in these heterosexual scenarios. It follows a very linear progression from start to finish. It looks something like—tell me if this doesn't sound familiar—a little bit of kissing and some light touching and then some heavier touching, groping, caressing, and then maybe oral sex and then penetration as the main event, orgasm as the finish line. That would be an example of when I say path A or B or C. I'm thinking like that in particular what I just described.  Let's call that path A for not that it's the gold standard, but it's the one we draw on. Let's say that's one option for having a sexual encounter. But I also want people to think about there's going to be times where that is not on the table for a variety of reasons, because if you think about it, that requires a certain energy, time. There might be certain conditions that you feel need to be present in order for that to be possible. For some people, it automatically goes to the wayside the moment something happens like, “Well, I don't feel like I have enough time,” or “I'm tired,” or “I'm menstruating,” or whatever it is. Something comes up as a barrier and then that goes out the door. That can include things like anxiety and feeling like we have to adhere to this progression in this particular way. Let's call that path A. Path B might be, we select a couple of things from that that we like. Let's say we do a little kissing and we do oral sex and we say goodnight. Let's say path C is we take a shower together and we kiss and we soap each other's backs and we hug. That's path C. Path D is massaging each other, full body. You've got all these different pathways to being erotic or sensual or intimate or sexual. The more that you have different pathways to being intimate, the more intimate you'll be. Kimberley: That is so relieving is the word I feel. I feel a sense of relief in terms of like, you're right. I think that that is a huge answer, as you said. Actually, I think it's a good answer. I don't think that's a hard answer. I like that. For me, it feels like this wonderful relief of pressure or change of story and narrative. I love that. I know in the last episode you did, you talked a lot about mindfulness and stuff like that, which I will have in this series. People can go and listen to it as well. I'm sure that's a piece of the pie. I want to be respectful of your time. Where can people hear more about you and the work that you're doing? I know that you have an exciting book coming out, so tell us a little bit about all that. Dr. Lauren: Thank you. I do. I co-authored a book called Desire. It's an inclusive guide to managing libido differences in relationships. I co-authored that with my colleague Dr. Jennifer Vencill. That comes out August 22nd, 2023 of this year. We'll be talking in that book mainly about desire. There are some chapters or some sections in the book that do intersect with things like anxiety. There's some particular instructions and exercises that help walk people through some things that they can do with a partner or on their own to work through anxiety. We've got an anxiety hierarchy in there where whatever your goal might be, how to break that up into smaller pieces. We're really excited about that. I think that might be helpful for some people in your audience. And then in general, I am most active on Instagram. My handle is my full name. It's @drlaurenfogelmersy. I'm also on Facebook and TikTok. My website is drlaurenfogel.com. Kimberley: Thank you. Once again, so much pleasure having you on the show. Thank you for your beautiful expertise. You bring a gentle, respectful warmth to these more difficult conversations, so thank you. Dr. Lauren: Oh, I appreciate it. Thanks for having me back.

Peloton ends the Century Shirt. The new class schedule started this week. Tom's Guide reviewed the Peloton Guide. Peloton renews its partnership with Chase Sapphire.  Peloton Australia celebrates World Price 2023. Peloton is hiring for Product Development, Games. Forbes calls earnings report "marginally positive." The Motley Fool predicts where Peloton's stock will be a year from now. Dr. Jenn - Dealing with a chaotic schedule. Matt Wilpers got married. Marcel Maurer got engaged. Tunde is hosting a virtual event for Black History Month. Robin Arzon is doing a book tour for Strong Baby. We finally have details on Swagger Society. Cody Rigsby sparks a "controversy" over washing chicken. Cody also issued an apology to Scottsdale, AZ business owner Kristina Girod. Cody was featured in Elle Magazine Canada. Susie Chan was invited to run in the Badwater HQ 135. Leanne Hainsby talks about the side effects of chemo. Christine D'Ercole's cycling club was named USA Cycling 2022 Club of the Year. Ally Love was on the Take Command podcast. Alex Toussaint is playing in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game again. Angelo has tips for staying consistent. We have some insight from Barry McCarthy from the latest Team Call. Peloton launches Yin Yoga. Woot had the original Bike on sale for $1,055. Valentine's Day classes are posted. All this plus our interview with Craig Heisner. Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://www.theclipout.com/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Barry McCarthy is Peloton's CEO and President. McCarthy is a seasoned executive who served as CFO of Spotify from 2015 to January 2020, and CFO of Netflix from 1999 to 2010. Prior to Netflix, McCarthy held various leadership positions in management consulting, investment banking, and media and entertainment. McCarthy has served on the boards of directors of Spotify and Instacart since January 2020 and January 2021, respectively. In addition, McCarthy has served as a member of the boards of Chegg, Eventbrite, MSD Acquisition Corp, Pandora, and Rent the Runway.  In Today's Episode with Barry McCarthy We Discuss: 1. From Netflix to Spotify to Leading Peloton: How did Barry make his way into the world of startups and come to work with Reed Hastings at Netflix? What are his single biggest takeaways from working with Reid? Why did Barry decide to move to cold Stockholm to work with Daniel Ek and Spotify? What makes Daniel the special leader that he is? Was Barry nervous about assuming the role of CEO @ Peloton? Are the elements he was most worried about the elements that are his biggest challenges today? 2. Barry McCarthy: The Leader What does "high performance" in business mean to Barry? Daniel Ek has described Barry as the "most strategic dealmaker in the world". What does Barry believe makes him so good at dealmaking? Where do so many go wrong? Barry pioneered the model of the direct listing, why does he believe they are better? Why was it right as an approach for Spotify? Will we continue to see more? What is Barry's framework for making tough decisions? How has it changed over time? 3. Barry McCarthy: The Master of Boards: Barry has sat on some of the best boards from Netflix to Spotify to now Peloton and Instacart, what does Barry believe makes the best boards? Where do many boards go wrong? Where do they become dysfunctional? What can and should be done to stop that? How does Barry advise other board members on the right way to deliver tough news constructively? What is the single biggest advice Barry would give to young board members assuming their first boards? Where do many young board members go wrong? 4. Barry McCarthy: Mastering the Mechanics: Daniel Ek suggested that I had to ask about “demand creation theory and your ideas about whether the market is efficient”. What did he mean by this? How does Barry think about it? How does Barry think about the interplay between gross margin, experience and retention? Why did Barry decide it was the right decision to evolve the strategy from owning distribution to working with Amazon etc?

In this episode, our hosts breakdown the 5 Dimensions of Touch, from an article written by renowned sex therapist Barry McCarthy, PhD. George and Laurie guide us through the different dimensions: Affectionate touch, sensual touch, playful touch, erotic touch and intercourse. These 5 dimensions are NOT a linear roadmap to intercourse rather ways to increase touch between couples. Hosts provide examples of each and make it possible for couples to explore different levels and kinds of touch and how to have those important conversations to share what feels good, and what doesn't with your partner. You can check out the original article here:  http://bit.ly/3V7rCD8 and make sure to download the episode for more! Check out our sponsors and support the podcast! ZocDoc is a free app to help you find a medical professional when you need one. Use the link so they know we sent you! Uberlube is our favorite lubricant and they've supported our podcast from the start. Laurie has been recommending this for 20 years, long before Foreplay started. Check them out! Use the coupon 'Foreplay' for a discount! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dakin Campbell, the Chief Finance Correspondent for Insider, goes behind the scenes to chronicle how modern tech companies are tapping the capital markets in his book, “Going Public: How Silicon Valley Rebels Loosened Wall Street's Grip on the IPO and Sparked A Revolution.”  The debut of Spotify's shares in 2018 was the culmination of then CFO Barry McCarthy's vision for a more efficient public offering through the Direct Listing at the NYSE.  But Dakin traces the story goes back to the nascent days of Silicon Valley and how tech founders reimagined every step of their relationship with Wall Street.   Inside the ICE House: https://www.theice.com/insights/conversations/inside-the-ice-house

England took a crucial victory in the t20 World Cup with a win over New Zealand by 20 runs at the Gabba in Brisbane. Jonathan Agnew reviews the game with T20 World Cup winner Ravi Bopara and Australian all rounder Ben Cutting plus reaction from Jos Buttler, Sam Curran, Kane Williamson and Glenn Phillips. We hear from Ireland's Barry McCarthy following their defeat to Australia and reaction to their tournament so far before they meet New Zealand on Friday. Plus former West Indies skipper Darren Sammy talks about their early exit and gives his tip on who will become world t20 champions.

Rower round-up! No financing is available for Peloton Row. We finally have good footage of the rower. The Verge has the first review. Rowing classes will not be on the app. Peloton makes changes to terms & conditions addressing what is and isn't on the app. Places you can check out the rower. The Guide now has rep counting. Jayvee Nava completes her first post-Covid 5K. We have new instructors. Rowing instructor Ashley Pryor was hiding in plain sight. Adrian posts a throwback pic of the first Row Content Team meeting. Jess King has her baby shower. Camila Ramon & Neige Borges host IG Live for Latinx & Hispanic Heritage Month. Tunde will give the keynote at the International Association of Women's Inspirational Influencer Gala. Kirsten Ferguson partners with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Kirsten was also on the Best Today Podcast. Matt Wilpers post on IG with CEO Barry McCarthy. Ben Alldis & Leanne Hainsby got a new house. Susie Chan and Jermaine Johnson both celebrate 1 year with Peloton. Angelo joins us with tips for fueling before and after long runs. Hydrow increased its ads this week and released its version of BootCamp classes. Nordictrack has a live bike ride in the Gran Fondo Maryland. The latest in the Broadway Series spotlights Moulin Rouge. Peloton has a fun IG post for Fantasy Football with instructors. Brithdays: Leanne Hainsby (9/28) All this plus Dr. Jenn After Dark!  Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here's How » Join The Clip Out community today: theclipout.com The Clip Out Facebook The Clip Out Twitter The Clip Out Instagram

Rower round-up! No financing is available for Peloton Row. We finally have good footage of the rower. The Verge has the first review. Rowing classes will not be on the app. Peloton makes changes to terms & conditions addressing what is and isn't on the app. Places you can check out the rower. The Guide now has rep counting. Jayvee Nava completes her first post-Covid 5K. We have new instructors. Rowing instructor Ashley Pryor was hiding in plain sight. Adrian posts a throwback pic of the first Row Content Team meeting. Jess King has her baby shower. Camila Ramon & Neige Borges host IG Live for Latinx & Hispanic Heritage Month. Tunde will give the keynote at the International Association of Women's Inspirational Influencer Gala. Kirsten Ferguson partners with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Kirsten was also on the Best Today Podcast. Matt Wilpers post on IG with CEO Barry McCarthy. Ben Alldis & Leanne Hainsby got a new house. Susie Chan and Jermaine Johnson both celebrate 1 year with Peloton. Angelo joins us with tips for fueling before and after long runs. Hydrow increased its ads this week and released its version of BootCamp classes. Nordictrack has a live bike ride in the Gran Fondo Maryland. The latest in the Broadway Series spotlights Moulin Rouge. Peloton has a fun IG post for Fantasy Football with instructors. Brithdays: Leanne Hainsby (9/28) All this plus Dr. Jenn After Dark! Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join The Clip Out community today: theclipout.com The Clip Out Facebook The Clip Out Twitter The Clip Out Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Mills joins us to discuss the future of The Guide. Peloton is having special meet-ups for Chase Sapphire Cardholders. Dr. Jenn - Stopping negative self-talk. Logan Aldridge is officially a Peloton instructor. Becs Gentry is pregnant.  Christine D'Ercole's wedding. Emma Lovewell was featured in an article about athlete influencers. Bradley Rose talks to Shape about recovering from his stroke. Denis Morton shows support for heart valve patients. Matty Maggiacomo speaks with Morgan Lee on Out Loud. Tunde talks to Yahoo about wellness habits. Kendall Toole was on the Uncut podcast. The studio is reopening on June 10 for a private press event. The new price increase started on June 1. The bike trade-in program has ended. You have a few more weeks to get $200 off accessories with in-store purchase of bikes & treads. Barry McCarthy discusses "customer love" at the J.P. Morgan conference. INC.com thinks Peloton should move beyond the bike. The Peloton Prophet has info about Tread+. DJ Khaled needs to settle down on the Tread. Hannah Corbin brings back her Country Happy Hour ride series. There was a summer apparel drop. Birthdays - Cody Rigsby (6/8) All this plus our interview with Mark Steines Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! Here's How » Join The Clip Out community today: theclipout.com The Clip Out Facebook The Clip Out Twitter The Clip Out Instagram

John Mills joins us to discuss the future of The Guide. Peloton is having special meet-ups for Chase Sapphire Cardholders. Dr. Jenn - Stopping negative self-talk. Logan Aldridge is officially a Peloton instructor. Becs Gentry is pregnant.  Christine D'Ercole's wedding. Emma Lovewell was featured in an article about athlete influencers. Bradley Rose talks to Shape about recovering from his stroke. Denis Morton shows support for heart valve patients. Matty Maggiacomo speaks with Morgan Lee on Out Loud. Tunde talks to Yahoo about wellness habits. Kendall Toole was on the Uncut podcast. The studio is reopening on June 10 for a private press event. The new price increase started on June 1. The bike trade-in program has ended. You have a few more weeks to get $200 off accessories with in-store purchase of bikes & treads. Barry McCarthy discusses "customer love" at the J.P. Morgan conference. INC.com thinks Peloton should move beyond the bike. The Peloton Prophet has info about Tread+. DJ Khaled needs to settle down on the Tread. Hannah Corbin brings back her Country Happy Hour ride series. There was a summer apparel drop. Birthdays - Cody Rigsby (6/8) All this plus our interview with Mark SteinesLove the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join The Clip Out community today: theclipout.com The Clip Out Facebook The Clip Out Twitter The Clip Out Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Mills joins us to discuss a new Guide-like competitor called Atlis. Full Sail University's Tech Lab is now powered by Echelon. Dr. Jenn - Helping your kids have a healthy relationship with eating. Chelsea Jackson Roberts is pregnant. Matt Wilpers got engaged. Jess King shows off her baby-bump for People Magazine. Christine D'Ercole's wedding is upon us. Olivia Amato has make-up tips for when your working out. Sam Yo recapped his L.A. trip on IG. Angelo joins us to discuss  Barry McCarthy says selling a stake in Peloton is unlikely. Is it time to stop using the phrase "pandemic stock?" The Peloton app was having trouble with Apple Watches. Precor/Peloton Commercial partners with Red Bull. Peloton has a new SVP of Global Communications. There are two new artist collaborations - Harry Styles and Norah Jones. DJ Khaled is a Peloton member. Rebecca Kennedy has a new standing core class. There's a new Peloton Apparel drop for Pride Month. Birthdays - Jess King (5/29) All this plus our interview with Ryan Fields!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join The Clip Out community today: theclipout.com The Clip Out Facebook The Clip Out Twitter The Clip Out Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ally Love takes a break from Peloton. Selena Samuela's wedding is this weekend. Daniel McKenna & "mystery woman" make Page Six. Alex Toussaint to hose the 2022 NewFronts. Cody Rigsby makes the cover of US Weekly. Kristen Ferguson talks to Shape Magazine about becoming a mother. Kendall Toole was featured on the Hurdle podcast. Marcel Dinkins participated in her first marathon. Kimmi Mack joins us to discuss what's next for Chase Tucker's Facebook Group. Dr. Jenn - Making peace with weight gain while strength training. The Peloton Guide gets an official release date. Peloton announces a new "strength-based" virtual event. Barry McCarthy sends a company-wide email outlining his vision. The Tread gets a pause button. Angelo has tips for healthy snacks when time is of the essence. Peloton announces new Artist Series: Reba We have a past guest update from Ali On The Run. There are Mother's Day classes for the UK. Kirsten Ferguson & Robin Arzon team up for Women's History Month. Birthdays: Becs Gentry (3/27) All this plus our interview with Joyce Marter!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://www.theclipout.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ally Love takes a break from Peloton. Selena Samuela's wedding is this weekend. Daniel McKenna & "mystery woman" make Page Six. Alex Toussaint to hose the 2022 NewFronts. Cody Rigsby makes the cover of US Weekly. Kristen Ferguson talks to Shape Magazine about becoming a mother. Kendall Toole was featured on the Hurdle podcast. Marcel Dinkins participated in her first marathon. Kimmi Mack joins us to discuss what's next for Chase Tucker's Facebook Group. Dr. Jenn - Making peace with weight gain while strength training. The Peloton Guide gets an official release date. Peloton announces a new "strength-based" virtual event. Barry McCarthy sends a company-wide email outlining his vision. The Tread gets a pause button. Angelo has tips for healthy snacks when time is of the essence. Peloton announces new Artist Series: Reba We have a past guest update from Ali On The Run. There are Mother's Day classes for the UK. Kirsten Ferguson & Robin Arzon team up for Women's History Month. Birthdays: Becs Gentry (3/27) All this plus our interview with Joyce Marter! Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://www.theclipout.com/

John Mills joins us to discuss the latest Barry McCarthy interview. iFit is laying off workers. John Mills has spotted an interesting trend in reviews of Peloton competitors. Dr. Jenn - Helping children have a healthy relationship with food. Homecoming is official (and virtual). NBC recaps Peloton's recent missteps. Peloton HQ wins an award. Techradar has a glowing review of the Tread. Coach Mag puts Peloton apparel to the test. Angelo has tips for determining your best times to eat. Anna Greenburg is having a baby! Mens Journal talks to Cody Rigsby. The List talks to Hannah Crobin about the differences between barre and pilates. Hannah had a nice IG post this week. Bradley Rose's wife was in Forbes. Jermain Johnson is now teaching strength. We have lots of new instructor curated Spotify playlists. DJ John Michael celebrates Women's History Month. Lots of "Cant Miss Classes" including Rebecca Kennedy's hiking bootcamp, Alex/Tunde BHM Block Party, Matt Wilpers PZ ride, and more. Hannah Corbin and Leanne Hainsby have a 2 For 1 Ride. Callie Gullickson has a strength stack for March. Andy Speer has Spring Training in store for you. The latest Artist Series features Labrinth. All this plus our interview with Justin Noble!Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join The Clip Out community today: theclipout.com The Clip Out Facebook The Clip Out Twitter The Clip Out Instagram See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

First, we cover Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong potentially taking credit for an idea generated by a creative firm (2:09). Then, we cover Peloton's new CEO Barry McCarthy's vision for a revitalized Peloton (15:29). To wrap, we break down a dozen growth stocks that are down over 60% off their 52-week highs. We forecast two winners, one with the highest upside and one with the lowest downside (27:53). (0:00) Jason and Molly tee up today's topics: Coinbase CEO gets called out by ad agency, Peloton's new CEO hints at a platform play, drafting beat up tech stocks, and Molly's Startup of the Day! (2:03) Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong gets called out for not crediting an ad agency in his Twitter thread (14:20) Ourcrowd - Check out the deal of the week at https://ourcrowd.com/twist (15:290 Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy hints at creating an open platform for fitness creators (26:30) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://Squarespace.com/TWIST (27:53) Tech stock pullback draft: $HOOD, $TWLO, $ZM, $SQ (39:25) Odoo - Get your first app free and a $1000 credit at https://odoo.com/twist (40:29) Tech stock pullback draft cont'd: $OPEN, $ROKU, $CRSP, $RBLX, final selections (59:34) Molly reflects on her week and gives a climate-focused Startup of the Day! (1:18:31) Jason takes a few questions from the noti gang FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood The Brian Armstrong Thread: https://twitter.com/brian_armstrong/status/1495635907801923584?s=20&t=iFNMbAcau5ZV2FH-ZtavHg NYT with Barry McCarthy: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/19/business/dealbook/barry-mccarthy-interview-peloton.html

In the opening news segment, Molly and Jason break down the news around Peloton's new CEO, Barry McCarthy, including the open letter he sent to the company, his background and principles for success (2:05). Then, Monique Woodard of Cake Ventures joins for Episode 5 of Season 6 of Angel (32:50). Monique was a founder, startup community leader, VC scout, and VC partner before raising her first fund. In this episode you will learn: Her thesis on investing in demographic change What fundraising is like as a founder vs. fundraising as an aspiring fund manager Why she chose to have multiple closes for her fund Why Monique focused her efforts on institutional LPs, even though they take longer to close than individual LPs What it takes to operate as a solo GP (0:00) Jason and Molly tee up today's topics: Breaking down Peloton's new CEO background and leadership style and an amazing interview with Monique Woodard (Cake Ventures) (2:05 ) Understanding Peloton's new CEO and the value of its user base (12:47) LinkedIn - Post your first job for free at https://linkedIn.com/angel (14:15) Some more fun with numbers, plus breaking down Barry McCarthy's introduction email to all Peloton employees (21:43) Ourcrowd - Check out the deal of the week at https://ourcrowd.com/twist (22:54) Finalizing McCarthy's “principles of success” list and reflecting on the difficulty of a turnaround (31:32) Embroker - Get an extra 10% off insurance for your business at https://Embroker.com/twist (32:50) Introducing Cake Ventures' Founder & Partner Monique Woodard: Understanding Cake's thesis on investing in demographic change (42:20) Fundraising as a founder vs. fundraising as an aspiring fund manager, understanding how different types of LPs invest (50:58) Check sizes differences from institutional LPs and individual LPs, understanding multiple fund closes (1:07:18) Managing deal flow as a first-time fund manager, is the industry becoming more welcoming to underrepresented fund managers? Check out Cake Ventures: https://cake.vc/ FOLLOW Monique: https://twitter.com/MoniqueWoodard FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood

The Peloton journey has been one seriously wild ride. From can't raise money to one of Tiger Global's first venture investments, to pandemic darling to the stock being down 85% in 6 months... there's never a dull moment in this company's history. And guess who's leading the pack for its next chapter: that's right, THREE-TIME ACQUIRED SUPERHERO, the one and only Barry McCarthy. We had to tell this story.Sponsor: https://acquired.fm/zoominfoThis episode has video! You can watch it on YouTube.PSA: if you want more Acquired, you can follow our newly public LP Show feed here in the podcast player of your choice (including Spotify!). Links: Barry's Hill School interview on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uwcSbe6YoE Episode sources:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qs4DwVFBTMCyEt7Xxlby6iRCpOs0aRTOWPLjrbFQO8Q/edit?usp=sharing  Carve Outs: Barry's planning framework from the Hill School interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uwcSbe6YoE Switched On Pop on James Bond's Spycraft Sound:  https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/james-bond-spycraft-sound-billie-eilish-hans-zimmer-daniel-craig  ‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.