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<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="219358" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mark-Cuban">Mark Cuban</keyword> will launch a competitor app to the buzzy startup <keyword id="1293839" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="clubhouse">Clubhouse</keyword>, The Verge reported.</li><li>"All I can tell you is that I'm involved and love the project," Cuban told Insider.</li><li>Clubhouse is an invite-only audio chatting platform worth $1 billion.</li></ul>Mark Cuban is involved in an upcoming competitor to the hot invite-only audio startup Clubhouse.Cuban and co-founder Falon Fatemi will launch Fireside, a live-conversation app that allows users to record conversations, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/2/8/22272148/mark-cuban-fireside-podcast-app-launch-creator-conversations">The Verge reported Monday</a>.Cuban confirmed to Insider he was involved with Fireside, but declined to answered when the company would launch. "All I can tell you is that I'm involved and love the project," he said in an email.Fatemi, once the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-youngest-employee-falon-fatemi-node-2018-12">youngest-ever Google employee</a>, previously got Cuban to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/business-advice-pitch-node-falon-fatemi-tips-2018-12">invest</a> in her startup Node, a AI-as-a-service platform. The co-founder said Fireside would allow for better conversations and prevent social-media echo chambers, she said in an email to creators obtained by The Verge.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-are-clubhouse-founders-paul-davison-rohan-seth-2021-1?r=aa-sub">The unofficial story of how Clubhouse founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth failed their way to a $1 billion app</a>Fireside will "level the playing field by empowering creators based on what they have to say (not how loud they yell) and we give their ideas the reach to turn a single conversation into the seed of the next media empire," Fatemi wrote, according to The Verge.<h2>Conversation-based apps are having a moment</h2>Clubhouse attracted attention recently after high-profile users <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-app-good-time-show-hosts-elon-musk-mark-zuckerberg-2021-2">Elon Musk</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marc-andreessen-and-ben-horowitz-host-a-new-clubhouse-show-2021-2">Marc Andreessen</a> hosted talks. The 11-month old <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-founders-share-advice-for-entrepreneurs-business-owners-2021-2">startup</a> allows users to enter "rooms" to discuss topics like sports, entertainment, and business with like-minded people. Clubhouse, founded by social entrepreneurs Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, already has 2 million users and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-are-clubhouse-founders-paul-davison-rohan-seth-2021-1">a $1 billion valuation</a>, and its popularity may have inspired a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/want-to-be-on-clubhouse-you-can-pay-your-way-2021-2">black market</a> selling invitations to the app on Twitter, Ebay, and Craigslist. Cuban has been on Clubhouse since last year, per <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/inside-the-clubhouse-whats-all-the-fuss-about-silicon-valleys-exclusive-social-media-app-11594861201">The Wall Street Journal</a>. He has invested in other social-media apps like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-backs-mercury-protocol-blockchain-communications-startup-2017-8">Mercury Protocol</a>, a messaging app built on blockchain, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cubans-new-iphone-app-cyberdust-2014-4">Dust</a>, a messaging app where conversations self-destruct after 30 seconds.The "<keyword id="1417364" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Shark-Tank">Shark Tank</keyword>" star and <keyword id="218068" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Dallas-Mavericks">Dallas Mavericks</keyword> owner frequently shares his opinions on politics and business on <a href="https://twitter.com/mcuban">Twitter</a>, and has said individualism and having a social conscious <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-cuban-social-conscience-good-business-2018-12">make for good business</a>.

Mark Cuban says he's 'involved' with an upcoming competitor to Clubhouse, the $1 billion invite-only conversation app Silicon Valley can't get enough of

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="1293839" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="clubhouse">Clubhouse</keyword> was being valued at $4 billion in a new funding round, <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/andreessen-horowitz-values-clubhouse-at-4-billionwith-dst-tiger">The Information</a> reported.</li><li><keyword id="47361" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="VC">VC</keyword> firm Andreessen Horowitz reportedly led the round. </li><li>The social audio app was valued at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-early-employees-hiring-plans-2021-2">about $1 billion</a> earlier this year. </li></ul>Audio-only app Clubhouse is reportedly being valued at $4 billion in a fresh round led by venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. <a href="https://www.theinformation.com/articles/andreessen-horowitz-values-clubhouse-at-4-billionwith-dst-tiger">The Information</a> on Friday reported the fundraising round, saying it would include investments from Tiger Global Management and DST Global. Both are newcomers to Clubhouse. <keyword id="3169683" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="the-Information">The Information</keyword> didn't detail the amount the firms planned to invest. The outlet did report, however, that it was likely more than the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-early-employees-hiring-plans-2021-2">$100 million</a> Clubhouse raised in a previous round. In January, the app had been valued at <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-early-employees-hiring-plans-2021-2">about $1 billion</a>. Bloomberg earlier this month reported <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-funding-round-4-billion-valuation-social-media-app-2021-4">discussions ahead</a> of the funding round. The invite-only app launched for Apple users in March 2020. Amid buzzy press coverage, it jumped to more than 10 million users, according to the company.This month it partnered with Stripe to let users <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-app-payments-donations-users-send-money-creators-stripe-2021-4">send money to creators</a> via their profiles, perhaps signalling a way to bring in revenue. Clubhouse has an increasing number of competitors, including clones made by social-media powerhouses <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-hotline-app-clubhouse-test-video-instagram-2021-4">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-aims-to-make-live-audio-feature-spaces-available-globally-by-april-2021-3">Twitter</a>. The latter reportedly held talks with Clubhouse about a potential <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-reportedly-held-discussions-to-buy-clubhouse-for-4-billion-2021-4">$4 billion buyout</a>, Bloomberg reported this month. The app has had its share of growing pains, including calls for <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouses-growth-raises-troubling-questions-over-spread-of-misinformation-2021-3">greater content moderation</a>. Last week, Cyber News reported that personal data from 1.3 million users had been <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-data-leak-1-million-users-2021-4">scraped and posted online</a>. A French government watchdog <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-investigated-french-regulator-cnil-gdpr-privacy-data-2021-3">opened an investigation</a> into the company, following a complaint over data privacy. Andreessen Horowitz has previously invested in Clubhouse. The VC firm's Andrew Chen said he'd connected with Clubhouse cofounders Rohan Seth and Paul Davison in early 2020. At the time, the pair were working on a podcasting app called "Talkshow," Chen wrote in <a href="https://a16z.com/2021/01/24/investing-in-clubhouse/">a January 2021 blog post</a>. Instead, they launched Clubhouse.Chen said: "At the beginning, it was just a single 'room' where the founders hung out all the time. You could pop inside, have a great audio-only conversation with Rohan and Paul, and leave whenever you wanted."Clubhouse didn't immediately return a request for comment.

Clubhouse is being valued at $4 billion in new fundraising round led by Andreessen Horowitz, reports say

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-clubhouse-app">Clubhouse</a> is looking at a funding round that would value the <keyword id="235499" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="APP">app</keyword> at $4 billion, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-06/clubhouse-is-said-to-discuss-funding-at-about-4-billion-value?sref=lAVQtUwz">Bloomberg</a> reported.</li><li>The audio-only app, which launched in March 2020, was valued at around $1 billion in January.</li><li><keyword id="1293839" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="clubhouse">Clubhouse</keyword> says that it has 10 million weekly users, and other companies are developing competitors.</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-clubhouse-app">Clubhouse</a> is in talks to raise funding in a round with a $4 billion valuation just over a year after the audio app launched, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-06/clubhouse-is-said-to-discuss-funding-at-about-4-billion-value?sref=lAVQtUwz">Bloomberg</a> reported Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.This is up to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-are-clubhouse-founders-paul-davison-rohan-seth-2021-1">four times the valuation</a> Clubhouse achieved in January.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-are-clubhouse-founders-paul-davison-rohan-seth-2021-1">The unofficial story of how Clubhouse founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth failed their way to a $1 billion app</a>The sources told Bloomberg that the terms of the round could still change, and the publication said it was unclear how much funding Clubhouse was seeking. <a href="https://a16z.com/2021/01/24/investing-in-clubhouse/">Andreessen Horowitz</a> has previously invested in the app.Clubhouse did not immediately respond to request for comment by Insider.The invite-only app has boomed in popularity over the last few months. The company said in late February that it had more than 10 million active users each week, and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-app-breach-audio-chatrooms-security-concern-conversations-streamed-2021-2">celebrities</a> including Paris Hilton, Oprah Winfrey, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and entrepreneur Mark Cuban have all used the app.CEO Paul Davison said in late March that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-android-app-launch-release-date-invite-only-paul-davison-2021-3">Clubhouse could arrive on Android by summer</a> and might ditch its invite-only access. The app has also begun allowing users to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-app-payments-donations-users-send-money-creators-stripe-2021-4">send money directly to creators</a> through a partnership with payments company Stripe.But concerns have been raised over <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-investigated-french-regulator-cnil-gdpr-privacy-data-2021-3">data privacy</a> and the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouses-growth-raises-troubling-questions-over-spread-of-misinformation-2021-3">spread of misinformation</a> on the app, and other tech companies, including <a href="https://help.twitter.com/en/using-twitter/spaces">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/technology/facebook-building-product-clubhouse.html">Facebook</a>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-is-doing-early-tests-on-a-clubhouse-audio-competitor-2021-3">LinkedIn</a>, and <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/30/22356993/spotify-locker-room-clubhouse-launch-acquisition">Spotify</a>, are all working on voice-chat competitors.

Clubhouse is reportedly in talks to raise funding in a round that values the audio app at $4 billion just a year after it launched

<ul><li>The social network for professionals has confirmed that it is working on ‘bringing audio’ to other parts of <keyword id="28120" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Linkedin">LinkedIn</keyword> as it races to launch its <keyword id="1293839" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="clubhouse">Clubhouse</keyword> rival. </li><li>LinkedIn’s product is currently in the testing phase. </li><li>The company said that the audio experiences will be connected to the users’ ‘professional identity’, which would be the LinkedIn accounts of users. </li></ul>LinkedIn is the latest company to join the race to launch a <keyword id="11022554" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="clubhouse-clone">Clubhouse clone</keyword>. The US-based professional social media network has confirmed that it is testing Clubhouse-like audio features. Clubhouse is an audio-chat app that is currently available only for iPhones. It is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-are-clubhouse-founders-paul-davison-rohan-seth-2021-1?IR=T">valued at $1 billion</a>, and was co-founded by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth. It has over 8 million downloads and at the moment, users need an invitation to join the service. The company <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/clubhouse-could-finally-arrive-on-android-and-ditch-invite-only-joining-by-the-summer-ceo-paul-davison-said/articleshow/81652539.cms">has said</a> it is working on an Android version as well. “We’re doing some early tests to create a unique audio experience connected to your professional identity,”LinkedIn’s spokesperson Suzi Owens said in a <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/30/linkedin-confirms-its-working-on-a-clubhouse-rival-too/">statement</a> to TechCrunch. “We’re looking at how we can bring audio to other parts of LinkedIn such as events and groups, to give our members even more ways to connect to their community,” Owens further added. When launched, LinkedIn will join a long list of social media companies racing against time to ensure they incorporate Clubhouse’ functionality into their own services. Twitter <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/twitter-ramps-up-roll-out-of-spaces-to-take-on-clubhouse/articleshow/80764144.cms">announced</a> it is rolling out Spaces to a wider number of users, Facebook is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/10/technology/facebook-building-product-clubhouse.html">reportedly</a> working on a similar product as well, Spotify is <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/3/30/22356993/spotify-locker-room-clubhouse-launch-acquisition">working</a> on its own take on Clubhouse, collaboration tool <keyword id="1815769" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="slack">Slack</keyword> is also <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/26/slack-wants-to-be-more-than-a-text-based-messaging-platform/">jumping in</a> on the craze and billionaire investor Mark Cuban <a href="https://www.firesidechat.com/">doesn’t want to be left out</a> either. According to a screenshot shared by TechCrunch, LinkedIn’s Clubhouse rival will include features like joining and leaving the room, comment reactions, and speaking requests, among other things. The layout is similar to that of the Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces apps. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/twitter-ramps-up-roll-out-of-spaces-to-take-on-clubhouse/articleshow/80764144.cms">Twitter ramps up roll out of 'Spaces' to take on Clubhouse</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/mark-cuban-says-hes-involved-with-an-upcoming-competitor-to-clubhouse-the-1-billion-invite-only-conversation-app-silicon-valley-cant-get-enough-of/articleshow/80756919.cms">Mark Cuban says he's 'involved' with an upcoming competitor to Clubhouse, the $1 billion invite-only conversation app Silicon Valley can't get enough of</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/clubhouse-could-finally-arrive-on-android-and-ditch-invite-only-joining-by-the-summer-ceo-paul-davison-said/articleshow/81652539.cms">Clubhouse could finally arrive on Android and ditch invite-only joining by the summer, CEO Paul Davison said</a>

LinkedIn joins the race to launch a Clubhouse rival

<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-data-scraped-500-million-users-for-sale-online-2021-4"></a>Good morning and welcome to <keyword id="9070519" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="10-things-in-tech">10 Things in Tech</keyword>. If this was forwarded to you, <a href="http://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/4np/10-things-in-tech">sign up here</a>.Let's get started.1. Hackers scraped data from 500 million LinkedIn users and posted it for sale online. In the wake of Facebook's major data leak, LinkedIn is investigating a leak that affected two-thirds of its users. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-data-scraped-500-million-users-for-sale-online-2021-4">Here's what kind of data was scraped.</a>2. Amazon union workers in Bessemer, Alabama, are on track to reject plans to unionize. The National Labor Relations Board paused its public counting of Amazon employees' ballots shortly after 7 p.m. Eastern Time on Thursday <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-anti-union-vote-leading-after-first-day-ballot-counting-2021-4">with the anti-union votes leading 1,100 to 463</a>.3. Leaked Amazon documents detail a controversial employee-review system that ranks employees in tiers. Insiders say the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-annual-performance-review-process-bonus-salary-2021-4">opaque tier system</a> requires that a certain percentage of employees rank at the bottom - even if they're performing well. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-employees-annual-reviews-rating-2021-4">We took a deep dive into the contentious review system.</a> 4. Amazon Prime Day will reportedly be held in June instead of July this year. Bumping up the shopping event could be to give the company a second-quarter boost, Recode reports. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-prime-day-june-report-2021-4">More on that here.</a>5. Billionaire Peter Thiel said bitcoin could be a "Chinese financial weapon." During a virtual seminar held by the Richard Nixon Foundation this week, the <keyword id="6358815" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tech">tech</keyword> investor also warned the cryptocurrency threatens the US dollar. <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/peter-thiel-bitcoin-chinese-financial-weapon-against-us-threatens-dollar-2021-4-1030284380">Here's what else he said.</a>6. Boston Dynamics' Spot robot was thrown into an army field test - but it ran out of battery mid-combat. The French military is testing Spot, the famous robot dog, in combat scenarios. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boston-dynamics-spot-robot-french-military-combat-out-of-battery-2021-4">See photos of Spot in combat.</a>7. Facebook is testing an app that's similar to Clubhouse, but with video. The app, called Hotline, has a Q&amp;A feature. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-hotline-app-clubhouse-test-video-instagram-2021-4">Here's what the app would - and wouldn't - do.</a>8. Apple has reportedly delayed iPad and MacBook production due to the global chip shortage. Nikkei reported that Apple pushed back some component orders to the second half of this year - but iPhone production has not been affected. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-ipad-macbook-delay-production-global-chip-shortage-2021-4">Here's what else you should know.</a>9. The founders of Clubhouse had a revealing conversation on their unstoppable rise. In a recent interview, Paul Davison and Rohan Seth discussed how they built the ever-popular audio-only app. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-founders-story-origin-2021-4">Read the nine key takeaways from the interview.</a>10. Fintech darlings Robinhood and SoFi want to democratize IPOs. The companies are looking to encroach on what's typically been wealthier investors' territory - opening up the IPO market to much smaller investors. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sofi-robinhood-ipo-allocation-retail-investors-stock-trading-underwriting-brokerages-2021-3">Here's how they're trying to beat Wall Street at its own game</a>.Correction: Yesterday we misstated the cost of Best Buy's new membership program, Best Buy Beta. It will cost $199.99 per year. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-buy-amazon-prime-competitor-membership-discounts-free-installation-support-2021-4">More details on the program here</a>.Have an Amazon Alexa device? Listen to this update by searching "Business Insider" in your flash briefing settings.Compiled by Jordan Erb. Tips/comments? Email <a href="mailto:jerb@insider.com">jerb@insider.com</a> or tweet <a href="https://twitter.com/jordanparkererb">@JordanParkerErb</a>.Sign up for <a href="https://newsletter.businessinsider.com/join/free">more Insider newsletters here.</a>

10 things in tech you need to know today

One morning this past spring, I was working at my desk when Biz, a fellow tech reporter with a bloodhound's nose for news, texted me a screenshot of my husband's Twitter bio.Something was missing. Kyle had deleted the name of his startup."What happened to Playbyte????" Biz wrote.Confused, I wrote back, "Wait that's so weird. I'll talk to him."Kyle and I both work from home, and I wanted to confront him then and there. But talking about my husband's battle-scarred startup always had the potential to turn into a fight. And if his reason for scrubbing Playbyte's name was that he was winding it down, well, that would be an even longer conversation. That night, as he plugged in his Apple Watch, iPhone, and Steam Deck on his side of the bed, I sidled up to him and asked what the story was. Kyle shrugged it off. Playbyte, which had started as a kind of TikTok for games (which I loved) and then pivoted to software for indie game developers (meh, he could do better), was about to pivot again. For weeks, Kyle told me, he and Playbyte's two employees — all who were left after he laid off several others during the tech downturn — had been working on a new tool, one that would let anyone build a web app by describing it to a chatbot. I knew that part, though barely because Kyle had been sharing less and less about the company with me. Then he said he didn't relate to the name Playbyte anymore.My cheeks flushed. I wanted to scream. Kyle had put 3 ½ years of his life — of our life — into building his startup, and now he had wiped it from public view in a few keystrokes. That, I told him, sent a message to his 20,000 Twitter followers that he had given up. What he was really doing was siphoning off code from the old project to start a new one. Had he considered the knock-on effects on his ability to attract new investors or talent? (After eight years of reporting on startups and venture capital, I'm sad to say, I reflexively use phrases like "knock-on effects" with my husband in bed.)Kyle knit his brow and explained why he didn't need more money or engineers. I changed the subject to what we should put on before bed. We watched "The Mandalorian" in stewing silence.By the time I rolled over and turned off the light, I was feeling a pang of remorse. I wished I had told Kyle that I would understand if he wanted to quit. I'd reassure him that he hadn't failed. I had the words ready, but I couldn't bring myself to say them. I still wanted to present as the kind of wife who had unlimited confidence in her husband's ability to turn things around.In my reporting on the world of company building, I've grown familiar with the myriad ways startups end — with acquisition jackpots or bankruptcies, with trading debuts or lawsuits, with Champagne or jail. "The myth of a successful journey is that it starts with an idea, followed by a ton of hardship, and then a gradual and linear rise to the finish line," the founder and investor Scott Belsky writes in his book "The Messy Middle." It's taken living with a founder to fully dispel that myth for me. "In reality, the middle is extraordinarily volatile — a continuous sequence of ups and downs, flush with uncertainty and struggle," Belsky adds. That's as apt a description of Kyle's startup as it is of our relationship. And in our case, the startup's middle has surely been made messier by the fact that the startup's founder is married to a startup reporter.Lately, I've been fixated on a nagging question: Would my marriage be happier if my husband's startup failed?Four years ago, when Kyle began talking over dinners and dog walks about becoming a founder, I secretly hoped he'd change his mind. I'd written hundreds of stories about the life he was signing up for: 80-hour work weeks, high stress, low salaries. Not the ideal lifestyle to adopt, right as we were planning to start a family. I told Biz and Jillian, also a tech reporter, over breakfast in San Francisco's Mission District that I thought this was a bad idea. They asked whether we had savings to fall back on. Nine in 10 startups fail. Yet, at the time, it didn't occur to me that my husband's might. During the 10 years I'd known Kyle, things always had a way of working out for him. When he was 20, he dropped out of the University of California, Berkeley, to write for TechCrunch. Before long, he had parlayed a sit-down interview with the renowned investor Chris Dixon into a dealmaking role at Andreessen Horowitz. In 2019, while working at a drone startup, he caught the entrepreneurial bug.My worst fear about his startup wasn't that he'd fail. My worst fear was that I'd never see him, and we'd grow apart as he became a staggering success. Late nights of toiling over code would lead to private jets and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/employees-inside-adam-neumanns-wework-reveal-a-wild-culture-2019-9">alcohol-fueled</a> company retreats, and I'd be left behind, reading about his corporate conquests under someone else's byline. Earlier that year, Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott had filed for divorce amid a tabloid scandal that included love nests and racy texts with a news anchor. I wondered whether someday our children would spend every other weekend at Kyle's Pacific Heights mansion with his own "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-lauren-sanchez-relationship-timeline-photos">alive girl</a>."But I didn't tell him any of this. Like my mother, and her mother before her, I am ruthlessly nonconfrontational. When I was growing up, my dad lovingly referred to our "Schulze talk" — the thing you say when you're upset, instead of what you really mean. Becoming a reporter and learning to ask hard questions of founders and investors helped immensely, but being hard on the aspiring founder I slept next to was another thing. I worried that if I didn't support his career, my husband might love me less.As Kyle was conceiving his startup, I found out I was pregnant. For that, I did confront him. I told him I'd feel more comfortable with him becoming a solopreneur if we moved from San Francisco, where rents were catastrophically high at the time, to New York, where we would be closer to family when the baby arrived. He agreed to my condition, even though it meant he'd be a continent away from the investors and talent he needed to court.Kyle, who learned to program in fifth grade so he could <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_modding">mod</a> his favorite video games, dreamed up an app for creating and sharing simple games in a scrolling feed. I thought it was fantastic, and well-timed: TikTok was just then taking off in America. Together, we picked out a name by covering our living room walls with sticky notes filled with words and phrases. He settled on Playbyte, a nod to both the app's bite-size games and our tug-of-war-loving pit bull, Nubs.<div type="image" title="Melia puts the box of post-its away." height="1650" width="3300" msid="105235737" hostid="261"></div>I put the Post-its in a shoebox of keepsakes, along with handwritten love notes and ticket stubs from our travels, at the back of our closet. Back then, I imagined I would get the Playbyte Post-it framed and give it to Kyle on the day he took the company public, generating a windfall for our family that would pay for our daughter's tuition and so much more.Lately, though, the Post-its feel like just another relic of our relationship, ones we'll dig out decades from now and laugh over. "Remember when you tried doing a startup?" I'll say.The most shocking thing I've learned about startups is how boring they are. Day to day, almost nothing happens. There's a call with an investor, a coding sprint, and a team stand-up. So much for "move fast and break things." In my house, it was more "futz endlessly with a Figma file and chat with employees on Discord all day."Being a startup reporter married to a startup founder isn't without its perks. We can talk about our days without having to explain a million little things. When I get tripped up on jargon such as "transformer" or "smart contracts" or anything Marc Andreessen blogs, Kyle is my Google Translate for tech speak. He rolls deep in juicy news tips, which I'm frustratingly unable to use. And he sets his own hours. When I have to work late, he can easily cover parenting duties.At times, though, it was strange to experience the way my professional and personal lives had blurred. One drizzly morning last spring, as the tech sector entered year two of a global correction marked by mass layoffs and a dearth of venture-capital funding, I was reporting a story about a looming "<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/silicon-valley-fears-exctinction-event-startup-failure-rate-increase-2023-6">mass extinction event</a>" for startups. In our living room, my husband had gathered the team for an off-site. By then, they had already killed the first two iterations of the startup and had begun work on the chatbot app builder. They spoke hunched over laptops on the couch, surrounded by paper coffee cups and twisting charger cables."This isn't going to be the thing that determines if we become a billion-dollar company or go out of business," I overheard an engineer say matter-of-factly.The next night, when Kyle and I were out to dinner with the team, I admitted how bizarre it had been for me to eavesdrop on the challenges they faced at the same time I was interviewing people in the tech industry about the Darwinian moment that startups were facing. To my surprise, Kyle had a confession of his own. He'd been listening in on my interviews, and overhearing talk of things such as "startup mortality rates" didn't exactly give him hope. I'm not sure Kyle has found as many perks to being a startup founder married to a startup reporter. Perhaps more than any other job, entrepreneurs are encouraged to fake it till they make it, to either bountiful or cataclysmic results. "Startups only exist because their founders are willing to suspend the disbelief of the probable and instead consider what is possible," <a target="_blank" href="https://techcrunch.com/2016/02/13/the-probable-the-possible-the-delusional/#:~:text=Startups%20only%20exist%20because%20their,instead%20consider%20what%20is%20possible.">Eric Paley</a>, an early Uber investor, once wrote. Steve Jobs' infamous "reality-distortion field" let him convince himself and nearly everyone around him of practically anything. Kyle's reality-distortion field seemed strong, and it's often been at war with my journalistic service weapon, a bullshit radar gun.I knew too much about what could go wrong, like a first lady who doubled as a reporter in the White House press corps. I often assumed the worst because I'd reported dozens of stories about the worst. When one of his favorite employees quit to start his own company — just two months before Playbyte debuted in the App Store — it put both of us in a tailspin of doubt. Had the employee left, we wondered, because he lost confidence in Kyle's idea?As Playbyte struggled to gain users and investors, I worried less about being the relentlessly positive cheerleader. I began plying Kyle with unsolicited reviews of his pitch deck and interrogating his every move. Did the team really need those logo fleece blankets? When the company had layoffs in spring 2022, had he done everything possible to minimize the impact on his employees? I thought I knew better than he did — after all, I'd just spoken to a dozen talent partners at venture-capital firms for an <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-layoffs-how-to-help-employees-laid-off-2022-6">article</a>, "11 ways companies can ease the burden on laid-off employees." That night, we sat on the bed, bickering over how long the company should extend healthcare benefits. I wanted him to stretch coverage longer. He wanted to be comforted.Kyle began to bristle at my feedback. Knotted with anxiety, he started withholding details and sought my input less and less. He was trying to find the idea that clicked and found no joy in discussing those that blew up on the launchpad.<div type="image" title="Kyle works out with dumbells." height="1650" width="3300" msid="105235740" hostid="261"></div>Like other founders I've met, Kyle's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/startup-founders-mental-health-stress-economy-funding-2022-7">mood</a> is moored to the health of the business. When he's excited about a development, he oozes confidence and throws himself into the company, often working past dinner. I rarely mind caring for our toddler solo on those nights. Better a happy partner, I figure, than a cranky coparent. Because when a bug creeps into the software, or an investor ignores his email, Kyle can be hard to be around. He snaps at coffee spills and bad drivers and grunts loud enough at his computer to jolt our dog awake. I know things are tense when I hear the dumbbells clanging from his office in the middle of the day. He feels the upsets so intensely because he believes every one reflects on his acumen.Over the years, I've come to believe that Kyle would cut off his own arm, "127 Hours" style, before putting an end to his startup. After the layoffs, when I asked if he had considered winding down the company and returning some of the funding to his investors, he immediately launched into a pitch on how well the beta test was going. I'm convinced he's going to keep building until he's spent the startup's last dollar.I often write about founders having blow-through-walls resilience. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-are-clubhouse-founders-paul-davison-rohan-seth-2021-1">Clubhouse</a> founders Rohan Seth and Paul Davison had at least nine failed apps between them before hatching the breakout app of the pandemic. Steve Huffman led the turnaround of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-reddit-hired-engineers-after-revolt-ceo-steve-huffman-interview-2018-9">Reddit</a> after a firestorm of user revolts and hate speech. I wrote about them in nearly glowing terms. But the same determination I so admired in them I found unnerving in Kyle. I was exhausted, my patience eroding with each new round of hiring and firing, capital raising, and pivoting.I told my therapist, my friends, and my boss, whose husband had started and sold his own startup, how I wished my husband would get a "normal job." They encouraged me to tell him how I felt. But that would require me to confront my fear of confrontation. More than once, I tried to "Inception" Kyle by talking up other companies I thought he'd enjoy working for. He could join a venture firm in Boston, say, and make a six-figure salary, plus a share of the fund's profits. I knew that shutting down his startup would deal a disastrous blow to his confidence. But it would be temporary. In a new role, he could resume a healthy relationship with work. The weight of failure would fall across the entire organization, not on his shoulders alone. He could feel good about himself again. I could breathe easier, too. The money would certainly help. But more than wealth, I want things to be less fraught at home. I want to talk about Kyle's work, and mine, without tiptoeing around a minefield. I want him to be free of the torment the startup puts him through. I want to release myself of the guilt I feel for tearing us away from the Bay Area, where he would have had an easier time getting funded. I want peace of mind.One afternoon in September, I watched Kyle leave his office and face-plant onto the bed. I went over and placed a hand on his back. He looked up at me, tears forming. "Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.He told me that in a few hours he had to call an investor and share the news: The app-building chatbot was over. I tried to assure Kyle that his investor had calls like that all the time, especially this year, as founders twisted themselves into pretzels trying to get funded. Just because everything hasn't clicked into place yet, I told him, doesn't mean it won't eventually. After all, YouTube launched as a dating service, and Instagram started off as Burbn.For once, I thought, I had found the right thing to say — but I must not have been very convincing. Kyle sank back into the pillow and sighed, and I went back to work.Now Kyle's startup has pivoted a third time. Instead of creating software to help amateurs and indie developers make video games, he and his team plan to use what they've learned to create their own game. The idea is a first-person shooter and an homage to a game, set in a ruinous Russian war zone, that became a pandemic smash hit.I'm skeptical. In my years of reporting on startups, I've never heard of a pivot like that. Game studios don't exactly scream venture-backed business. Many are bootstrapped or funded by an incumbent studio searching for the next big hit. In the past few years, venture investment in gaming has swelled, but it's still a precarious time for startups that need to raise capital.The truth is, I don't know if Kyle's startup will make it.But in the throes of the pivot, Kyle and I faced our most harrowing experience yet. On Labor Day, we were role-playing characters from "Legend of Zelda" with our 3-year-old when Nubs bounded into the kitchen. He jumped on me and kissed me hard before padding over to Kyle. That's when our daughter came up behind Nubs, startling him, and he bit her on the face, slicing her eyebrow and cheek.She turned out to be OK. But that night in bed, after she had fallen asleep, Kyle and I wept, cradling Nubs in our arms as we had every night for six years. We agreed to call the vet in the morning to discuss euthanasia. Nubs, Playbyte's namesake, was Kyle's best friend. If we went through with it, I asked, did he think he could handle being with me at the vet to put Nubs down?I wasn't sure how he would respond. This was a man for whom things had always fallen easily, happily into place. But in that moment, as he faced the death of a loved one, I saw that something had changed within him. He now understood peril, having chosen a path rife with it. He had told employees he cared for that he was letting them go. He had gone to investors, tail between his legs, to confess that a new round of funding had fallen through. He had weathered incessant grillings from his reporter-wife, who was not always as supportive as she wished to be and whose own anxiety had often contributed to his. The loneliness and the self-doubt, the sleepless nights and the cold sweats, all the stress and the sorrow of launching and tending to a startup, had shown him something."I can do hard things," he told me. He would go with me to say goodbye. For a flickering moment, between sobs, I was bursting with pride.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/author/melia-russell">Melia Russell</a> is a senior correspondent at Insider.

My husband founded a startup. Then our marriage got weird.

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="1293839" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="clubhouse">Clubhouse</keyword>'s CEO said the currently invite-only platform will open to all users as soon as possible.</li><li>Clubhouse operates as a real time, audio-only application which allows users to go into individual "rooms" and have open conversations.</li><li>The site has generated headlines after hosting conversations with public figures like Oprah Winfrey and Elon <keyword id="364027" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Musk">Musk</keyword>.</li></ul>Clubhouse CEO Paul Davison told CNBC on Monday that he plans to open the currently invite-only application - known for hosting celebrities and Silicon Valley leaders - to all users when it launches. "We're working to open up to everyone as fast as we can" Davison said in <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2021/02/01/clubhouse-ceo-interview-mission-growth.html">an appearance on CNBC's "Squawk Box."</a>Davison said he wants to make sure they "get the product right" before releasing it to the public, making sure the platform is the best it can be for facilitating constructive conversations and eliminating the pitfalls of other social-media applications.Clubhouse operates as a real time, audio-only application which allows users to go into individual "rooms" and discuss anything from politics, to social justice to pop culture.Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-the-hype-about-1-billion-clubhouse-not-so-crazy-2021-1?r=gk-sub">I caved and tried Clubhouse, a 10-month-old startup with a $1 billion valuation. I'm not sure I'll use it, but at least now I get what all the fuss is about.</a>Davison says the app is designed to foster real communication during a time when other <keyword id="6354632" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="social-media">social media</keyword> networks like Twitter and Facebook have become increasingly toxic."The focus is on authentic human connection and dialogue, rather than likes or follows, and it's all using your voice," Davison said.Other social-media networks like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ceo-john-matze-parler-may-never-get-back-online-amazon-2021-1">Parler have had difficulty</a> monitoring conversations, and platforms like <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-has-blocked-president-trump-indefinitely-2021-1">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jack-dorsey-speaks-twitter-trump-ban-capitol-riots-2021-1">Twitter</a> have been forced to increase moderating efforts, even suspending former President Donald Trump from their sites.Davison plans to moderate conversations in real time, but the app has had trouble with moderation in the past. Users have reported misinformation on vaccination, as well as hate speech. During Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Judaism, users reported a chatroom that turned into a string of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/clubhouse-anti-semitism-chat-on-yom-kippur-2020-9">anti-Semitic hate speech</a>.See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-are-clubhouse-founders-paul-davison-rohan-seth-2021-1?r=gk-sub">The unofficial story of how Clubhouse founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth failed their way to a $1 billion app</a>Clubhouse has strict guidelines on hate speech and harassment, according to Davison. The site has moderators that are equipped to step in on difficult conversations and allows users to report conversations that violate the site's policies."Any social network needs to make moderation a top priority," Davison said. "We have very strict guidelines in place that explicitly tell you what's not okay." He says the social media network centers on the importance of <keyword id="78075" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="free-speech">free speech</keyword> and dialogue."We believe in the power of voice," Davison said. "The fact that anyone can go there without a following, without an audience and create conversations like that, that's what gets us excited."The company also plans to allow users to make money directly from the site through subscriptions, ticketed events, and tipping.The social-media application has gained public attention over the past year for hosting <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/everything-you-need-to-know-about-clubhouse">public figures </a>like Oprah Winfrey and Jared Leto, as well as many Silicon Valley leaders. Clubhouse has over a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-are-clubhouse-founders-paul-davison-rohan-seth-2021-1">$1 billion valuation</a> even though it has yet to post any revenue and was founded less than a year ago.On Sunday, Tesla CEO Elon Musk <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-clubhouse-robinhood-ceo-vlad-tenev-interview-gamestop-stocks-2021-2">conducted</a> an interview with Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, questioning the CEO regarding his decision to limit the trading of more volatile stocks like GameStop and AMC on the app.

Invite-only chat app Clubhouse, which Elon Musk used over the weekend, says it plans to open its doors to everyone as soon as possible

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="6355315" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="elon-musk">Elon Musk</keyword> interviewed <keyword id="1268253" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Robinhood">Robinhood</keyword> CEO <keyword id="6520524" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="vlad-tenev">Vlad Tenev</keyword> on Sunday night on the audio app Clubhouse.</li><li>He asked Tenev about why Robinhood stopped users from trading "<keyword id="10688429" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="meme-stocks">meme stocks</keyword>" such as <keyword id="363661" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="GameStop">GameStop</keyword>.</li><li>Tenev said the company had been asked to place a $3 billion deposit after those stocks soared.</li></ul>The GameStop stock saga took a new turn on Sunday night when Tesla CEO Elon Musk unexpectedly interviewed Vlad Tenev, the CEO of the trading app Robinhood, on the new audio app <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-the-hype-about-1-billion-clubhouse-not-so-crazy-2021-1">Clubhouse</a>.Robinhood was the target of widespread outrage last week when it <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/robinhood-removes-gamestop-amc-reddit-wallstreetbets-fueled-stock-rally-gme-2021-1-1030015292">stopped users from purchasing shares of GameStop, AMC, BlackBerry</a>, and other so-called meme stocks that had <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/explainer-what-is-going-on-with-gamestop-stock-2021-1">rocketed over the week</a>, fueled by <keyword id="334157" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Reddit">Reddit</keyword> users.Musk went on Clubhouse for a wide-ranging interview in which he spoke about his plans to colonize Mars; his neural-technology company, Neuralink; and his love of memes. At the end of the interview, Musk brought in Tenev, introducing him as "Vlad the stock impaler."Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-are-clubhouse-founders-paul-davison-rohan-seth-2021-1?r=oo-pol">The unofficial story of how Clubhouse founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth failed their way to a $1 billion app</a>"Spill the beans, man, what happened last week? Why couldn't people buy the GameStop shares?" Musk said. "The people demand an answer, and they want to know the details and the truth."Tenev said Robinhood had been forced to temporarily stop users from buying those stocks because the surge had resulted in a deposit requirement of $3 billion from the National Securities Clearing Corporation. Robinhood, which had raised only $2 billion in venture capital, spoke with the NSCC to get that requirement reduced to $700 million, Tenev said.His comment echoed a <a href="https://blog.robinhood.com/">statement</a> from Robinhood on Friday.<div type="image" title="Vlad Tenev" height="1901" width="2535" msid="80634065" hostid="261"></div>Tenev said that the NSCC's decision-making process to get to the $3 billion figure was "opaque" and that it was hard to know why it settled on that."Did something maybe shady go down here?" Musk said.Tenev answered that he wouldn't say so, adding that the NSCC had been cooperative after the initial $3 billion deposit request.Musk also asked whether Citadel Securities, a market maker and intermediary for Robinhood, could have influenced the NSCC's decision."There was a rumor that Citadel or other market makers kind of pressured us into doing this," Tenev said, "and that's just false.""But wouldn't they have a strong say in who got put in charge of that organization since it's an industry consortium and not a government consortium, or not a government regulatory agency?" Musk said of the NSCC.Tenev said he didn't "have any reason to believe" that. "Then you're getting into the conspiracy theories a little bit," he said.A Citadel spokesperson told Insider: "Citadel Securities has not instructed or otherwise caused any brokerage firm to stop, suspend, or limit trading or otherwise refuse to do business. Citadel Securities remains focused on continuously providing liquidity to our clients across all market conditions."Musk regularly chimed in during the interview with jokes; at one point he asked Tenev, "Is anyone holding you hostage right now?"Many of the Reddit traders said a motivation for galvanizing meme stocks was to <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/reddit-day-traders-investors-conflict-with-wall-street-hedge-funds-2021-1-1030016712">take on hedge funds with heavily shorted stocks</a>. Musk, who has historically attacked short-sellers, has been described as a sort of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/29/business/elon-musk-gamestop-twitter.html">folk hero</a> for Reddit day traders.This wasn't the first time Musk demanded answers from Robinhood. Last week, he <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-aoc-robinhood-gamestop-2021-1">expressed support for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's call for</a> the House Financial Services Committee to hold a hearing on the app's actions.Robinhood allowed trading of meme stocks to resume on Monday <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/robinhood-narrows-list-restricted-stocks-from-50-8-gamestop-users-2021-2-1030027218">with some restrictions</a>.<h2>Listen to Musk and Tenev's full exchange here:</h2>

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