Guide to Survive a Recession🧯, Founder-Led Growth Playbook📘, Revenue Comes Second⏳
If you're building, investing, or just trying to stay ahead of the curve, you're in the right place. Every week, we break down the latest insights, funding news, and founder-friendly gems—no fluff, just what matters. Plus, we track the freshest VC funds deploying capital so you know where the money’s moving.
Let’s get into it 👇
In-Depth Insights 🔍
How to Innovate When Nothing Is Defensible 🛡️
Forget moats. Great founders win with speed, storytelling, and relentless shipping. [Davide Ritorto]
How Most Founders Get Their Beachhead 🏖️
Step 1: Solve one painful problem for a niche audience. Step 2: Expand like wildfire. [Jeroen Coelen]
Founder-Led Growth Playbook 📘
Before you build a sales team, become the sales team. This playbook shows how.
When Churn Is the Model 🔁
High churn isn’t always failure, sometimes it is the strategy. [CJ Gustafson]Guide to Survive a Recession 🧯
Burn low. Move fast. This CFO-backed guide is your financial survival kit. [OnlyCFO]
Revenue Comes Second ⏳
Chasing dollars too early kills great products. Here’s why obsession > monetization (at first). [Yoni Rechtman]
Trending News
Figma Files for IPO After Adobe Deal Fail 📈
Figma quietly files to go public at a $12.5B valuation - plot twist unlocked. [Brody Ford]
Lyft Buys FreeNow for $199M in Euro Debut 🚕
Lyft enters Europe with a $199M FreeNow deal - Altman would call it “momentum.” [Ryan Browne]
Global Payments Grabs Worldpay in $24.25B Fintech Shakeup 💳
Global Payments is buying Worldpay for $24.25B in a major shakeup of the payments space.OpenAI launches “Flex” for slower, cheaper compute ⚙️
Not all AI needs to be fast - OpenAI’s new plan lets you trade speed for savings. [Kyle Wiggers]AI scoops 58% of global VC cash in Q1 💸
AI FOMO is peaking… startups pulled in $73.1B last quarter, with OpenAI alone snagging $40B. VCs are all-in, reality checks pending. [Jacob Robbins]
Figma to Lovable: lose the ‘Dev Mode’ or lawyer up ⚔️
Figma’s flexing its trademark muscles on Lovable’s “Dev Mode.” The AI upstart? Laughing it off - emoji and all. [Julie Bort]
Revolut dragged into Deel vs. Rippling fight 🔍
Two HR-tech giants are suing it out - and now Revolut’s caught in the crossfire. [Martin Coulter]
Judge: Google broke antitrust law in ad tech ⚖️
One ruling, one Goliath - a Google breakup might actually be on the table. [Rebecca Bellan]
Social Media Gems 💎
OpenAI plotting an X rival, powered by ChatGPT 🧠
OpenAI may build its own social network - turning a billion users into a first-party data goldmine. [Rich Holmes]
a16z Speedrun RFS: Game founders, take note 🎯
a16z believea a truly mass-market companion app has yet to be built and there will be many winners across different settings and use-cases.[
, ]OpenAI drops 34-page playbook on real AI agents 🤖
Forget basic chatbots - OpenAI’s new playbook shows how to build agents that think, act, and handle messy workflows like a pro. [Generative AI]
MCPs are having a moment 🔥
Model Compute Platforms are the new LLMs - learn the acronym now, or get left behind. [Manthan Patel]
AI x supercomputing = the next frontier 🧠
GenAI Works connects the dots on where compute meets intelligence - and where it’s going next. [Generative AI]
New Funds 💰
Founders Fund $4.6B says the next decacorns are already here - Founders is loading up.
Schwarzwald Capital vesta buys into the Schwarzwald thesis: patient capital, big upside.
ABC Impact $600M+ aimed at saving the world - climate, health, and inclusion get funded.
WND Ventures is ditching the old VC rulebook - founder-first or bust.
Precursor Ventures grabs $66M to keep spotting winners before they wear hoodies on panels.
ISAI & Capgemini Europe’s B2B game gets a boost - ISAI Cap II is here for SaaS and AI.
Symphonic Capital $13.5M to back precision medicine and life sciences that actually move the needle.
Eagle Freedom Fund $18M mission fund to fight trafficking - impact VC with teeth.
That’s a wrap for this week.
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