AI? Crypto? Equity crowdfunding and former startup founders trying to bribe China? We had it all this week, friends, so please strap in and get ready for another catchup with your besties Mary Ann, Natasha and Alex. Here's the show rundown in case you want to play along as you listen:

• Deals of the Week: How Seed Checks could disrupt early-stage fundraising, notes on StellarFi's latest capital raise, and the end of the Lyft founders' operational saga.
• All about Substack and its equity crowdfunding round, an event that we have lots of good things to say about, and one complaint.
• Then there was crypto. Let's see: We WTF'd about the latest from FTX's SBF, CZ is in trouble, and more.
• And we closed with notes on an open letter asking for AI development work to pause — ha -— and had some fun with ChatGPT!

It was a hell of a week. We do it again starting Monday!

For episode transcripts and more, head to Equity’s Simplecast website. 

Equity drops at 7:00 a.m. PT every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, so subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. TechCrunch also has a great show on crypto, a show that interviews founders, one that details how our stories come together and more!

Credits: Equity is produced by Theresa Loconsolo with editing by Kell. Bryce Durbin is our Illustrator. We'd also like to thank the audience development team and Henry Pickavet, who manages TechCrunch audio products.