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 🔍
Everyone in tech has a take on Soham Parekh 🧑💻
Dubbed the Anna Delvey of Silicon Valley, Soham’s overemployment saga has founders torn between “grindset goals” and straight-up fraud. X is in full meltdown: memes, thinkpieces, and pitch decks with his name redacted. [Tech Crunch]Reinvention ≠ Optional 🔄
Jake Saper with a wake-up slap for pre-LLM founders: adapt or fade. Reinvention is the new retention, and denial is the fastest route to irrelevance.5 Books to Actually Ship AI in 2025 📚
Paul Iusztin drops a no-fluff syllabus for AI builders who care about real-world deployment, not LinkedIn threads. Prompt engineering to product-market fit. [Paul Iusztin]
The Great Differentiation 🎭
Packy McCormick breaks down why human is the new premium. In an era of AI sludge, high-effort authenticity is the ultimate flex. [Not Boring by Packy McCormick]The $1.4B Brand That Made Water a Personality 🧃
Liquid Death didn’t sell hydration. It sold rebellion. Why We Buy dissects how canned water became a billion-dollar brand through pure memetic judo. [CK Archive]How Granola Grows 📝
Adam Fishman reveals how Granola is scaling fast with AI notes, dead-simple UX, and zero hype. No flash. Just real traction, week after week. [Adam Fishman]6 Prompts to Unclog Your Marketing Brain 🧠
Kieran Flanagan distills world-class marketing wisdom into dead-simple prompts from legends like Feynman, Bezos, Musk, and more - just copy, tweak, and deploy. [Kieran Flanagan]
Trending News ⚡
Lovable is on a $2B tear 💥
Sweden’s new AI crush, Lovable, is raising $150M at a $2B valuation, after hitting $50M ARR in just six months. Their secret? Agent-powered app building, no devs required. [Tech Crunch]
Figma gears up for a $1.5B IPO 🚀
Figma’s S-1 just dropped - showing real profits, rapid growth, and IPO energy. If it lands, it’ll be one of 2025’s biggest tech exits (and a signal that design still sells in the age of AI). [Tech Crunch]
Grammarly buys Superhuman to go full AI 🤝
Grammarly acquires Superhuman to power next-gen AI agents in email, with plans to expand productivity across communication tools. [Tech Crunch]Palmer Luckey builds Erebor, the post-SVB crypto bank 🏦🪙
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey is back - this time with Erebor, a crypto-native bank for startups. Think FDIC meets Web3. A bold bet to fill the SVB-sized hole in the founder wallet. [Tom’s Hardware]Microsoft layoffs hit 15K in 2 months 🧍♂️
Another 9,000 Microsoft employees just got the axe - on top of 6,000 in May. That’s 15K cuts in 60 days. The AI pivot is real… and ruthless. [Wall Street Journal]
Klue trims 40% of its team to go all-in on AI 🤖
Facing pressure from ChatGPT and in-house AI tools, Klue’s cutting 40% of staff to double down on AI. Another SaaS company rewriting its script mid-game. [Beta Kit]Microsoft’s AI now diagnoses better than doctors 🩺
Meet MAI-DxO: Microsoft’s AI tool that nailed 80% diagnostic accuracy using real medical cases. Cheaper. Faster. Smarter. The white coat just got a new rival.
Social Media Gems 💎
Sam Altman doesn’t sugarcoat it 💡
A blunt truth every founder needs to hear - share your idea, get feedback, and stop hiding behind secrecy.
Google’s early numbers were ridiculous 💥
Ben Gilbert reminds us: Google hit $185M pretax income just four years after launch. Wild. Most startups are still picking fonts at that stage.
Bill Gates didn’t even listen to music 🎧
Michael Moritz drops a gem: Gates ran on pure focus. No headphones. No playlists. Just code, coffee, and tunnel vision.
AI isn’t killing SaaS moats - it’s fortifying them 🏰
Sequoia’s Konstantine Buhler says the real winners? Enterprise giants with trust, training, and C-suite access. AI is just adding horsepower.
10 founder tools that actually help ⚡
A toolkit founders actually use - from pitch deck templates to AI copilots and investor lists. No fluff. Just leverage.
New Funds 💰
Arāya Ventures dropped a $26.3M debut fund to back up to 60 pre-seed and seed startups shaping fintech, health, commerce, and the future of work.
Catalio Capital Management secured $400M+ for Fund IV, doubling down on cutting-edge biomedical breakthroughs.
AN Venture Partners landed $200M for its first fund, bridging U.S.–Japan biotech innovation at scale.
Alliance VC hit a €40M first close for its Nordic AI fund - eyes set on €100M to fuel the region’s deep tech scene.
Halogen Ventures closed Fund III at $30M to back women-led startups reinventing family, childcare, and everyday life.
Iron Key Capital rolled out a Web3-native investment club, tapping Nikolas Casagrande to chart the DeFi course.
Chang Robotics Fund quietly deployed capital into five robotics plays - think automation, sustainability, and health.
Recognize Partners closed a massive $1.7B Fund II to reshape tech services - AI in, legacy out.
That’s a wrap for this week.
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