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erin griffith Profile
erin griffith

@eringriffith

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New York Times writer covering start-ups and venture capital. 🦄 FOLLOW ME on threads (@ griffitherin), bluesky (@ ering), substack (@ erin), or linkedin!!!

San Francisco, CA
Joined September 2008
Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.
@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
Reading about white collar crime in the new yorker and this detail is just perfect
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
some Robinhood staff were unhappy about the trading halt... so Robinhood gives them a $40 DoorDash credit? 👀
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
2010: founder of startup with big exit ➡️ VC 2011: techcrunch blogger ➡️ VC 2014: c-suite at startup with ok exit ➡️ VC 2019: stripe engineer ➡️ VC 2020: VC podcast ➡️ VC 2021: VC meme account ➡️ VC
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
just learned about a wild legal fight between a VC firm and startup: 1. Startup is fundraising, VC firm sends unsolicited term sheet. 2. Startup says sorry, the round is oversubscribed. 3. VC wires the money anyway. 4. Startup returns it... (cont ⤵️)
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
9 months
Crazy lawsuit from an investor - Softbank - against a startup - IRL. Softbank invested $150m in 2021 ($25m went to insiders) on the claim that IRL had 12m monthly users. But the company was spending 50k a month on a bot army and the app was "a virtual ghost town."
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
1 year
12 million people attended a virtual travis scott concert in Fortnite
@alexeheath
Alex Heath
1 year
"probably the biggest room that has ever been assembled online," says David Sacks of this new Twitter Space with Ron DeStantis and Elon Musk (first one didn't work and was canceled) i have been in bigger Clubhouse rooms
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
the tech buzzword hype cycle plays out the same way every time. FIRST, a startup breaks out and VCs rush to fund it.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
7 months
SmileDirectClub has filed for bankruptcy and alongside the announcement, they included an infographic listing other brands that have gone bankrupt. All the cool companies are doing it!
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
4. VC firm FAKES signatures on the term sheet and threatens the startup with “nasty, public PR battles” and a “fight until the bitter end” if the startup doesn't take their $. 5. Startup sues, gets a different kind of $ - settlement. full story:
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
That's how hard investors were fighting to dump money into startups over the last 2 years. Today it's more like the other way around...
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
would love someone to write a catchy song that teaches people 100% = doubled 200% = tripled 300% = quadrupled
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
my gamestop take is, what did we expect when we "democratized" day trading? social media democratized publishing and we got steak-umm and horse ebooks. the results are gonna be weird and random and terrifying and hilarious. i am enjoying it immensely
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
7 years
this is some handmaid’s tale shit right here
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
11 months
i finally did it, i kept a tab open for a full year. the author of the article has now changed jobs twice. what a run we've had, this tab and me.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
🩸Today is the final day of Elizabeth Holmes’s testimony. Since people have been asking, I thought I’d share my daily schedule for covering the trial. (The Four Points San Jose does not have stationary so I made do with this, uh… menu.)
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
i do not regret the error
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
7 years
"they soon realized that getting users to return the umbrellas would be a problem"
@shanghaiist
Shanghaiist
7 years
Umbrella-sharing startup loses nearly all of its 300,000 umbrellas in a matter of weeks
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
1 year
Once again, I am outside the courthouse in San Jose at an ungodly hour. Today Elizabeth Holmes will be sentenced for defrauding investors at Theranos.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
9 months
Employees literally creating Jira tickets to "Add Fake Users & Fake Chats" to the platform.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
press release author: so, what does your company do? ceo: we make software for call centers PR: no no no that is way too easy to understand. how about,
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
Elizabeth Holmes has arrived at the courthouse
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
In other news BeReal passed 50m installs, per Sensortower Instagram had 30m users when Facebook bought it for $1bn.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
8 months
Startups rarely die fast. Bird, backed by $600m in funding and once valued at $2.5bn, is now at risk of bankruptcy and trades at a market cap of *$13 million.*
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
@Hipstercrite I once met Karl Malone and he shook my hand and told me to stay in school. I was 32.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
7 years
a good way to answer rude emails from angry men is to tell them they should smile more. so far response rate is 0%
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
Crypto ppl writing me about this article saying "DUH! everyone knows that," might want to take a step outside the bubble. There's value in explaining things to the broader world and getting them on board rather than shitting on anyone who doesn't know.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
oh my god my FAVORITE STARTUP STORY is back!!!!!
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
7 years
Tech dudes, not a good look to walk out of the room when a town hall on gender diversity begins #fortunetech
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
Elizabeth Holmes has been convicted on four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She was found not guilty on four counts. And the jury was unable to reach a verdict on three counts.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
NEW: The fallout from Theranos extends far beyond its own implosion. Female founders, especially in science and health care, have faced constant comparisons to Elizabeth Holmes. My story ahead of the upcoming Holmes trial:
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
7 years
My latest feature is out today in @FortuneMagazine . It’s about 2016’s string of startup scandals:
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
8 years
starting tomorrow I’m taking over Term Sheet, the daily newsletter that @danprimack leaves behind. subscribe here:
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
7 years
long version: (short version: I’m joining @WIRED !)
@eringriffith
erin griffith
7 years
some suggested listening for this morning’s newsletter
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
Starting a new thread for this. 🩸 Elizabeth Holmes has taken the stand. 🩸
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
All the initial excitement and momentum quickly fades. A new buzzword emerges. Everyone moves on.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
"What's going on with you marketing an SPV to randos? ... Please stop. This makes it seem like I'm desperate."
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
8 months
Fireworks from @fredwilson at the NYC Summit on VCs that hold stocks after IPO instead of distributing to their LPs (iykyk): "They should be fired. Their LPs should fire them and never give them another dime. ... It was irresponsible what they did."
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
historic levels of mortification in the airport today after my mom INSISTED I take my high school varsity jacket home and it didn’t fit in my suitcase 😑
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
live from robinhood hq
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
The whole time I was at Bitcoin 2021 I kept thinking "I hope everyone here is vaccinated." Then Ron Paul got on stage and said the pandemic was invented by politicians for entertainment, so I guess the reports of people getting sick shouldn't be a surprise.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
@KurtWagner8 i need a play by play on who got hugged and who got snubbed
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
cars protesting an empty office building while everyone works from home feels exactly as absurd as everything else about the Robinhood/Gamestop story
@GriffinMalone6
Griffin
3 years
So WSB is organizing protests now.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
7 years
oh my god @asanwal @CBinsights what did you do!!!!
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
🩸🩸🩸Hello from the the dark of night in San Jose where I’m lined up for Elizabeth Holmes to take the stand again in her fraud trial.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
Lately I've realized that asking a CEO about their return-to-office plans is FRAUGHT. A lot of startups are really grappling with this and the most salient point I've heard so far is that young employees want an office - mentorship, networking, camaraderie, learning etc.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
print! still a thing and still cool to me
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
Airbnb's first earnings as a public company are out: revenue decline and a big big loss
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
feels like every week i get pitched on a startup with the same name as a defunct startup i covered years ago, which means i've been doing this too long or there aren't enough good startup names in the world
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
1 year
Investors asking FTX for better governance got told “go fuck yourself”
@MilkRoadDaily
Milk Road
1 year
How Samuel Bankman-Fraud pitched Chamath
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
🩸A small portion of the US v Elizabeth Holmes courtroom tickets I’ve found hiding in various pants, coat and purse pockets…
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
So the start-up fraud trial of the decade is about to begin. Hope everyone’s ready, we’ve got three months of this then we start over again with Balwani. In the meantime, here’s a thread of some stuff to read about it:
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
are we just programmed to default to zoom forever? feels like every meeting i ask for a phone call and get a zoom invite terrible development for those of us who like to pace :(
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
i dont know if trading meme stocks is still a thing but you guys did it, you killed a hedge fund!
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
7 years
at first you don’t wanna drink the Trump water because it might be poison. an hour later you’re hoping it is
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
"Every time the bees were exposed to the coronavirus they stuck out their tongues." I need to see a photo of a bee sticking its tongue out THIS INSTANT!!
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
1 year
“Are you bringing back people to your big ass, giant ass building in San Francisco?” @karaswisher asks @Benioff
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
Elon Musk "exposed his penis to her and offered to buy her a horse"
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
Opening arguments for Epic vs. Apple will begin shortly. I'm here in the courtroom and can report that Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has ditched his cargo shorts and t-shirt for a suit. 🕴️ Read our preview of the trial here:
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
7 years
Still find it incredible that firms thinking adding all their partners' years of experience together sounds impressive
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
water in a can but make it tech
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
Reading through texts between Elizabeth Holmes and Sunny Balwani in the latest filing from prosecutors... Come for the intense romantic texts, stay for the Alwaleed gossip
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
1 year
I just can't get over this. These startups -solicited detailed personally identifiable medical information about 100,000 customers -told them their data is “protected” and “used only” by its care team -SHARED IT WITH ADVERTISERS FOR YEARS
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
Epic v Apple verdict: Judge Gonzalez Rogers rules in favor of Apple on all but one on one count: Apple can no longer ban app companies from telling their customers to pay elsewhere.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
@BW
Businessweek
3 years
Robinhood, Apple, Facebook, and Twitter have at least one thing in common
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
11 months
New from @yaffebellany and me: How did Sam Bankman-Fried get connected to so many rich, powerful and famous people? Through Michael Kives, a Hollywood agent-turned-VC, whose firm got $700m from FTX (including $125m to him personally).
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
1 year
Testing out a theory: FTX is not going to put a massive chill on venture investment in crypto, as a lot of people are predicting. I've talked to a lot of crypto investors this week and all of them say this doesn't change their conviction about the category. (thread)
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
1 year
NEW: Reid Hoffman is at the center of the AI action: He's on MSFT's board, he co-founded Inflection AI, he's invested in a bunch of AI companies including OpenAI and he frequently talks up AI to govt officials. (1/3)
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
🩸 The jury in the fraud trial of Sunny Balwani has reached a verdict. I'm here at the courthouse. It will be read at 11:20. Here we go!
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
1 year
This story has a little of everything! Angry, scared, wary and determined founders. Memes. Memos. Firesales. Apologies. Emergency bridge loans. Harrowing moments. Contingency plans. And Chick-fil-A.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
if everyone could stop inventing new kinds of IPOs for a few minutes while i figure out the exact mechanics of the existing ones that would be great
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
VC exits have are already breaking records this year, driven by SPACs, per S&P. If the pace continues, "VCs will have seen more liquidity via M&A this year than the entire period from 2012-2020."
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
1 year
Sam Bankman-Fried says he was more focused on the upside scenarios and wildly underestimated how bad things could get in the downside. He says his lawyers have told him to stop talking, but "that's not who I am."
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
1 year
Layoffs, cost cutting and the move to remote led tech companies to shut their offices en masse, clearing out offices full of expensive designer furniture. Some of it has never been used. Amid the bust, a group of furniture hustlers sees opportunity. 🪑
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
run "we sell glasses" through the startup mission statement generator and you get...
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
@ranjanxroy in that case u may enjoy the first draft of this thread that i abandoned after i realized it was too much work to shrink all the little logos in MS paint
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
1 year
The mayor of Miami has resorted to cold calling VC firms
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
the thing they don't tell you about covering trials is the glamour. sitting awkwardly in a skirt on the hallway floor, pulling down your mask to scarf your 100th bad starbucks sandwich this month while also charging your laptop, banging out a draft and cold callling experts
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
1 year
John Bostic, asst US Attorney, cites a salacious quote from Holmes, where she apparently told a Walgreens exec, "They don't put attractive people like me in jail." Kevin Downey, Holmes's lawyer, criticizes that reference as it wasn't part of the trial / evidence.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
my favorite genre of trolling is wsj vs adult children
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
Bird investor presentation: "114% revenue growth" Bird balance sheet: lol actually revenue fell 37% last year... Bird footnote: hehe so uh... that was actually ESTIMATED revenue growth for the end of next year 🙃
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
8 months
goldman tech conference in SF is a real kaleidoscope of "no one knows how we're supposed to dress anymore"
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
6 months
It is the beauty and the curse of Silicon Valley’s innovation machine — so eager to fail fast, so focused on the future and the shiny new thing — that few ever seem to learn from its mistakes.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
9 months
The conflict in these cases (like theranos, ftx, headspin and others) comes down to diligence. How did supposedly sophisticated investors get duped? Here Softbank says it commissioned a third party report that showed IRL had only been downloaded 9m times...
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
getting pitched by "longtime" NFT collectors who got their start way back in august of 2020
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
Lol great work @sfchronicle ♥️♥️♥️
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
6 months
hes gonna buy it out of bankruptcy isn’t he
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
My NFT story from this morning already needs updating - NBA Top Shot has done $48 million worth of sales in the last 24 HOURS, including a Lebron selling for over 200k!
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
3 years
I am sorry to announce that I am back in ⚖️trial twitter⚖️ mode. Jury selection for US v Elizabeth Holmes starts tomorrow. Here's our preview of the case w @erinkwoo :
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
2 years
VC funding is down for the 3rd quarter in a row. Total raised in Q3 was $43bn, a 53% drop from last year, per Pitchbook. It is the largest such drop in the last decade.
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@eringriffith
erin griffith
10 years
50 cent hotdog for lunch, 50 dollar steak for dinner: The Erin Griffith story
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