Daily Crunch: ‘I’ve gotten beat’ on my ‘Shark Tank’ bets, Mark Cuban admits

Every day at 3 p.m., you'll get a rundown of the biggest and most important stories from the site. Don't forget to subscribe here.

It was a good day. If you want to go to Miami, Florida, you need to mark November 17, 2022, on your calendar. That is correct, there is a special event for cryptocurrencies. It is our first dedicated event and we would love for you to join us. You can get tickets today and save a few hundred dollars.

The TechCrunch Top 3

• Exceptional assessments: That’s our play on Better Opinions, an Indian startup that claims to be building “a prediction market,” and just may be Meta’s next acquisition in the region, Manish writes.
• Rolling with the defaults: Microsoft users will want to set their calendars for July 27. That is when the tech giant will block Office macros by default to cut down on malware being introduced via email. This is something Carly reports had been paused by Microsoft earlier this year, but now is back in full swing.
• One company’s cutback is another company’s lesson: Big Tech taking a time-out on hiring may provide some leeway for startups to dive into that expertise talent pool and come back up with some, as Alex puts it, “human capital for their financial capital.”

Startups and VC

Mark Cuban became a household name thanks to the television show "Shark Tank". Cuban hasn't made a profit off his Shark Tank portfolio

Alto's founder said that they needed to employ their drivers so that they could not only select and vet, but also train and manage them to drive a consistent high-quality experience for their passengers.

Haje was very excited to interview the CEOs of Boston Dynamic and Sarcos about how to take robot from the lab into the real world.

Is there more to come? There's more.

• Domo Arigato: If you missed yesterday’s TC Sessions: Robotics, Matt has a great recap so you can get yourself up to speed.
• I’ll have a book, an apple, and a colonoscopy, please: Amazon bought One Medical, reports Alex, Natasha M, and Mary Ann.
• Beautiful plumage: Custom wigs, meet AI — Parfait raised $15 million to upend the $13 billion custom wig industry, reports Ron.
• Ooh, I wouldn’t cut that if I were you: AI platform Theator analyzes surgery videos to improve training and quality of care. The company raised nearly $40 million, Ingrid reports.
• 0.76 billion for opportunities: Menlo Ventures raised $761 million, its largest-ever opportunities fund, Harri reports.

How to check for founder-investor alignment before you start fundraising

It's important to find an investor who shares your values and perspective.

choosing the right partner for the right stage of your business can make the difference between building a billion dollar company and losing control.

The partners at Wiggin and Dana shared a post about working with institutional investors, angels, friends and family of other stripes, as well as other types of people.

Your risk tolerance may change, but your process for evaluating investors should not.

How to check for founder-investor alignment before you start fundraising

Techcrunch+ is a membership program that helps startup teams. You can join here.

Big Tech Inc.

People are leaving their jobs on a daily basis. Herbert Diess is leaving after four years at the helm. Oliver Blume was appointed by the board as the new boss. Over the past two years, Diess has survived a number of confrontations with the board and unions.

DJ Paoni, the president of the company's North America region, is leaving after 26 years. They have more.

Apoorva Mehta, the executive chairman of the company, will step down from the board once the company goes public.

There is more second-quarter earnings chat to come. Revenue was up but missed analyst expectations and future financial performance was not forecast. Lucas writes that the stock of the company was not doing as well as it could have. The company spent $33 million trying to close the Musk acquisition, as well as reporting a quarterly sales drop.

It's even more.

• Copyright, schmopyright: Kyle digs a bit deeper into commercial image-generating artificial intelligence, and the legal issues therein, in light of DALL E-2’s beta launch.
• Don’t let that get on you: We enjoyed Amanda’s look into a TikToker who may have gotten in over her head with some Pink Sauce that allegedly had some questionable nutritional information, and some customers reported the sauce bottle had exploded in packages before it got to them.
• Do you want to ride?:Jaclyn provides us with a bit of car porn today with a look at the Cadillac Celestiq flagship EV and some explanation from the automaker on why it is its “most advanced vehicle in 120 years.”
• Move over: Oh, and Tesla and its suppliers now have their own dedicated lane when crossing the Mexican border, Rebecca reports.

You don't want to miss out, so here are some highlights from yesterday's session.