Of all the sectors, I would never have guessed that one-click checkout companies would be the nexus of startup world drama. And yet that is where we find ourselves.
The industry leader Bolt was co-founded by a man who seems desperate to win some sort of commendation for his conspiratorial tweetstorms.
Meanwhile, rival Fast flamed out hot and, well, fast. The startup, which raised money from Index Ventures and Stripe, generated just $600,000 in revenue from its checkout service last year. The company was burning through as much as $10 million a month.
Those figures come from the reporting of Kate Clark and her colleague Malique Morris at The Information. The duo have chronicled the fall of Fast, which had raised more than $100 million in funding.
Tom Dotan, Katie Benner, and I spoke with Clark about Fast’s implosion. We also talked about Tiger Global renegotiating deal terms and Peter Thiel’s strange speech at Bitcoin 2022.
Give it a listen.
Imploding Fast (w/Kate Clark)