Highlights of the Week (February 4, 2022)

Sometimes hard news is, well, hard. We're currently dealing with Russian invasions, stock market volatility, and waning enthusiasm for our President. During times like these, I engage in nuanced discussions around cultural topics du jour via opinion columns, human-interest pieces, and comment sections. One particular article that caught my eye this morning was Roxanne Gay’s opinion piece over her decision to leave Spotify after the company signed a $100MM contract with Joe Rogan. The comments section runs the gamut between censorship and curation. Another article involves how TikTok’ers make money and their cries for legitimacy as professional content creators. Then there’s a story about a teenager who tweets the whereabouts of billionaires like Elon Musk as they whisk around the country by private jet. Their security issue might become his job offer.

Let’s look back on the week’s stories from PrivCo:

• Monday, we pulled the insights and predictions from Shopify’s retail report of 2022 and used D2C darling Glossier as a case study. See what’s shaking in retail after a rough couple of years. Check it out.

• For our investment highlight, we looked at public market volatility and its effect on private markets. Expect those soaring valuations to come back down to earth. Learn more.

• How much money does a company make when you order a late-night snack off an app? It turns out, most of these companies are losing money—lots of it. Find out about the actual cost of on-demand groceries here.

• Yesterday, we examined the meteoric rise and tumble of cryptocurrencies and their related businesses. From Coinbase’s disappointing public performance to the startups raising megafunds and delaying IPOs, find out more here.