Fred (@f)

12 Nov 2025EF’s Matt Clifford Specter CEO TechCrunch #1 hire Anthropic Europe a16z media SoftBank NVIDIA shift

2:00:356 min

Viral 'Assholes Per Capita' Chart & Waiting for Fred

While guest Fred is stuck in the stream waiting room, the hosts react to @oran's viral chart ranking 'assholes per capita' by industry — politics at the top, tech at the bottom — which Elon Musk quote-tweeted, and banter about whether ETN counts as tech or media. They fill the delay with sponsor reads for ati.dev and Airwallex while troubleshooting Fred's audio and video links.

2:00:35

2:06:3419 min

Fred (@f): First TechCrunch Employee & Lisbon AI

Fred explains how knowing the original Twitter team let him register the @f handle, why he never sold it despite offers, and how Musk has anchored its value. He recounts becoming TechCrunch's first employee in 2005 — chasing founders in Menlo Park and Atherton garages when one post could trigger an acquisition — before returning to Portugal and spending ~12 years in VC. He details the Lisbon AI event he co-organised with builders from Cursor, ElevenLabs, Lovable and Letta, Lisbon's rise as a startup and digital-nomad hub, and closes with his view that new media now runs on vibes, taste and podcasts.

2:06:34