LinkedIn wants a piece of Wordle’s success

Hello, and welcome back to Equity, the podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.

This is our Monday show, in which we take a look back at the weekend and what’s ahead in the week. We’re coming to the end of earnings season, which means that there are just a few weeks left in the first quarter.

With spring in the air, here’s what we got into this morning:

Apple may tap Google for AI: Sure, Apple is working on its own AI tech, but Google’s Gemini model could be headed for an iPhone near you. Bloomberg broke the news. Grok goes open source: As promised, xAI’s LLM Grok is out for people to play with. Most importantly, startup founders seem excited. Reddit’s IPO makes progress: Oversubscription is always a good signal, but is also no promise of IPO riches to come. Gumroad says ‘no thanks’ to NSFW content: Another year, another platform booting adult creators. It’s a tale as old as time! Gaming is coming to LinkedIn: Look I don’t know what to tell you other than that all platforms eventually become one.