Paul Graham’s 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups🚫, Firing Without Destroying Your Team⚔️, AI Agent Playbooks📚
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Let’s get into it 👇
In-Depth Insights 🔍
What Makes a Successful Startup Team 💥
Startups win when teams share the same vision and passion, not just impressive resumes. Cultural harmony and aligned goals often outperform pure experience. [HBR]25 Proven Tactics to Accelerate AI Adoption at Your Company 🤖
Shopify, Ramp, and Duolingo share how they got real results with AI. The playbook includes removing barriers, rewarding usage, and making AI part of everyday work. [Peter Yang]
4 Lessons in AI Product Design From Microsoft Copilot 💡
A close look at Copilot’s design reveals four patterns and anti-patterns for building useful, reliable AI tools. The focus is on trust, clarity, and everyday usability. [Jonas Braadbaart]
The GPT-5 Launch Disaster 🚨
GPT-5 landed with high expectations but ran into user disappointment. Small performance gains were overshadowed by UX issues and rollout confusion.
The Toughest Decision: Firing Without Destroying Your Team ⚔️
Firing well protects trust, culture, and momentum. This guide shows how to act decisively while keeping relationships intact and the team focused.
No, AI Didn't Kill Product-Market Fit 🧠
Most myths about AI replacing product-market fit fall apart under scrutiny. The real shift is higher user expectations and the need for sharper execution. [Jeroen Coelen]
Paul Graham’s 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups, Revisited 🚫
A fresh take on Paul Graham’s list of startup killers. From hiring mistakes to chasing trends, these errors still sink founders today.
Trending News ⚡
Perplexity’s $34.5B Bid to Buy Google Chrome 💰
Perplexity made a $34.5B offer for Chrome in a bold power play. The bid puts them squarely in the fight to control the future of web browsing.
Co-founder of Elon Musk’s xAI Departs the Company 🚪
Igor Babuschkin is leaving xAI to start a VC firm focused on AI safety. His exit comes as xAI faces internal controversy over Grok’s outputs and content misuse. [TechCrunch]
Bullish Pops 89% on First Day of Trading, Riding Crypto Hype 📈
Crypto exchange Bullish jumped 89% in its NYSE debut, landing at a $10B market cap. The rally signals revived investor appetite for crypto-linked public offerings. [PitchBook]
Hanesbrands Sells to Canada’s Gildan for $2.2B 👕
Gildan is buying Hanesbrands in a $2.2B cash-and-stock deal. The move ends Hanes’ independence and could trigger regulatory scrutiny in apparel markets. [PitchBook]Banks Swipe Record Amount of Private Credit Loans as Leveraged Finance War Rolls On 💣
Banks refinanced $14B in private credit loans into syndicated markets last quarter. The record shift comes as they undercut direct lenders in a fight for deal flow. [PitchBook]
Meta’s AI Rules Let Bots Chat Sensually With Kids, Spread Medical Misinformation 🚨
A leaked Meta policy document shows chatbots flirting with minors, displaying bias, and sharing false health info. The revelations raise urgent ethical and legal concerns. [Reuters]
Oracle Strikes Deal to Offer Google’s Gemini AI via Cloud Apps ☁️
Oracle will integrate Google’s Gemini AI models into its cloud and business apps. Developers can access Gemini through Vertex AI using Oracle credits for payment. [Reuters]
Social Media Gems 💎
AI Disrupts Web Traffic: Users Click 47% Less With AI Summaries 🔍
Pew and Cloudflare data show AI summaries slash search link clicks by nearly half. AI crawlers scan heavily but send minimal traffic back to publishers.
Equity = Startup Success 💡
Sam Altman argues employee equity is essential for building strong startups. He calls out countries that restrict it, then wonder why their startup scenes struggle.
10 Realistic Startup Exit Options 🚪
Ivelina Dineva offers ten practical ways founders can cash out beyond IPOs. The list covers acquisitions, roll-ups, and other flexible exit strategies.
15+ Must-Read Enterprise AI Agent Playbooks 📚
Rakesh Gohel compiles leading AI Agent strategy resources from Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, AWS, and McKinsey. A ready-made reference for enterprise tech teams building AI systems.
10 Paul Graham Essays Every Founder Should Read 📚
Rubén Domínguez curates ten of Paul Graham’s most influential startup essays. These ideas helped shape companies like Airbnb, Stripe, Dropbox, and Reddit.
New Funds 💰
GoalVest closed the first tranche of its Venture Growth Fund II, aiming for a $50M target.
Hatteras Venture Partners raised over $200M across two healthcare-focused venture funds to support innovation in biotech and life sciences.
Scenius Capital launched a $20M fund-of-funds to invest in emerging managers and early-stage funds.
JMI Equity closed a $3.1B fund focused on software investments, marking one of its largest vehicles to date.
Immortal Dragons debuted a $40M fund targeting longevity and biotech startups pushing the boundaries of human healthspan.
Frachtis introduced its first-ever pre-seed crypto fund, supporting founders building foundational web3 infrastructure.
Acquisition.com rolled out ACQ Ventures to back scalable, high-margin service businesses under its media and investment umbrella.
500 Global launched a Sustainable Innovation Program, backed by Catalytic Partners, to support early-stage climate and impact startups.
Alumni Ventures unveiled an “AI First Fund” to invest in startups building and leveraging AI across industries.
1834 Ventures kicked off a $20M fund to invest in Tulane University-affiliated startups and broader entrepreneurial networks in Louisiana.
Portal Innovations raising a $100M venture fund to accelerate life sciences companies emerging from academic and incubator ecosystems.
Achmea launched a €250M private equity impact fund focused on ESG-aligned companies across Europe.
1435 Capital rolled out a $25M innovation fund targeting early-stage startups in New Jersey's tech and health sectors.
StartUpNV - Nevada Seed Fund announced a $10M pre-seed and seed-stage fund for Nevada-based startups building across key verticals.
Delphinus Venture Capital raised €80M as an evergreen fund for research-led startups across Europe.
That’s a wrap for this week.
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I’ve definitely seen how small missteps can snowball when running a business, and lists like this are a great reminder to pause and check if we’re guilty of any ourselves. According to CB Insights, 38% of startups fail because they run out of cash and 35% because there’s no market need (https://www.cbinsights.com/research/startup-failure-reasons-top/). Reading Paul Graham’s insights from this post alongside that stat really hammers it home.