Monetization Models for AI💰, The Great Decoupling🔍, VC Fund Scorecard 📊
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 🔍
Monetization Models for AI, Demystified💰
Hybrid pricing is taking over. Here's how to design subscription + usage models that don’t just look good on paper - but scale with your users. Choose the right metric. Bake it into your stack. Monetize like a pro. [m3ter Blog]
Different Kinds of Smart 🧠
Morgan Housel goes beyond IQ. Think storytelling, survival instincts, and the kind of wisdom you only get from losing a billion dollars. [Collab Fund]Microsoft’s Code Whisperer 💻
Meet Code Researcher: an autonomous agent that reads commit histories like bedtime stories and debugs complex systems with surgical memory. Think GPT meets Git. [Mark Tech Post]
The Half-Life of AI Agents ⏳
Toby Ord says agents don’t fail suddenly - they decay. Each task compounds risk like radioactive waste. Your AI's reliability? It might just have a timer on it. [arXiv]The Great Decoupling (or Why Your Clicks Are Down and Impressions Up) 🔍
AI Overviews are eating your traffic. Google’s showing more - but sending less. Here’s how to spot it and what to do next. [ahrefsblog]
Expert Generalists Are Having a Moment 🧑💻🧠📚🔄
Deep skill. Broad curiosity. Zero ego. Thoughtworks explains why hybrid minds - “expert generalists” - are the backbone of modern AI teams. [MartinFowler.com]
Q1 Public Cloud Earnings in 3 Charts 📊
ARR is cooling. Guidance is mid. But the strongest players? Still expanding. Jamin Ball breaks down what private SaaS founders should actually care about. [Jamin Ball]
Micromanagement Done Right 🧩
Startups that scale don’t avoid details - they obsess over the right ones. Leaders from Stripe, Apple, and Rippling explain how to micromanage without being that guy. [First Post]Why Buyers Don’t Buy (and How to Nudge Them) 🛒
Blame it on fear. Or regret. Or both. This breakdown of buyer psychology shows how to break hesitation loops with micro-conversions and confidence cues. [CK Archive]
The Exit-Ready Org 🧾
PE buyers don’t want stability. They want scalability. CJ Gustafson shows how to build a company that’s always ready to sell - without actually selling your soul. [CJ Gustafson]
Trending News ⚡
Swedish 'Vibe Coding' Startup Lovable in Talks for $1.5 B Valuation 🚀
Born just 20 months ago, Lovable is turning heads with “vibe coding” - its AI-powered way to build apps without code. Now it’s eyeing a $100M round at a $1.5B+ valuation, rocking $75M ARR. [Bloomberg]Meta Makes a $15 B Bet on Super‑Intelligent AI via Scale AI Stake 💰
Zuckerberg just made a $15B moonshot, scooping up 49% of Scale AI and its CEO Alexandr Wang to lead Meta’s new “superintelligence” unit. The goal? Leapfrog OpenAI and Google in reasoning-first AGI. [The Verge]
Tesla’s Robotaxi Launch in Austin Set for June 22 🚗
Tesla’s Robotaxi rollout begins Sunday in Austin - invite-only, with safety drivers on board. Musk is racing regulators to the finish line before new rules hit in September. [CNBC]
Waymo Rides Cost More Than Uber or Lyft - but Consumers Are Paying ✨
Waymo rides are ~35% pricier than Uber and Lyft - but clean cars, no tipping, and premium UX are winning over 250k riders a week. Luxury robotaxis are officially a thing. [TechCrunch]
Meta launches AI World Model V‑JEPA 2 for Robotics 🤖
Meta dropped a 1.2B-param “world model” that thinks in 3D and learns from video - unlocking smarter robots and self-driving tech. [Bay Area Times]OpenAI Warns Meta Offering $100 M Signing Bonuses 🧭
Sam Altman says Meta is handing out “crazy” $100M packages to poach top AI minds - a recruiting war straight out of Silicon Valley Hunger Games. [The Guardian]
Social Media Gems 💎
OpenAI CEO Just Torched Meta 🔥
Zero filters. OpenAI’s chief calls out Meta for chasing clout over craft - slamming its culture, innovation pipeline, and aggressive talent poaching. Brutal.Carta Drops Q1 VC Fund Scorecard 📊
TVPI, DPI, and fund velocity across 2,500+ U.S. firms. If you breathe venture, this is your new bedtime reading.
Seed 100: Early-Stage Avengers Assembled 🎯
The boldest seed investors of 2025 are here - and they’re backing what you’ll wish you thought of first.
YC Fumbled the GenAI Bag ❌
They backed hundreds. Not one GenAI unicorn. This teardown breaks down what went wrong - and what they missed.
Private Equity = GTM Cheat Code 📞
Smart SaaS GTM teams are skipping the line - leveraging PE networks for warm intros, co-selling power, and unfair distribution edges.
SaaS Growth Is Getting Expensive… and Dangerous 🚨
New data says it loud: most SaaS firms are renting growth, not earning it. CAC is up. Margins are down. Time to tighten the GTM belt.
New Funds 💰
Parkwalk and Northern Gritstone launch the £215M Northern Universities Venture Fund to support spinouts across northern UK universities.
Altitude Accelerator unveils a new investor fund to back early-stage tech ventures in Canada.
Lioncrest Ventures rolls out a $100M multi-strategy platform focusing on both equity and credit investments.
Med Fine Capital closes a new USD-denominated fund aimed at growth-stage healthcare startups.
JETRO and Coolwater Capital launch the second edition of their Emerging VC Fund Accelerator program to boost Japan’s startup ecosystem.
Realyze Ventures announces €50M first close for its debut healthtech-focused venture fund.
Biotope Ventures secures $5M in the first close of its second fund, targeting climate and biodiversity tech.
Orbit Capital launches €100M venture debt fund to power tech scaleups across Central and Eastern Europe.
That’s a wrap for this week.
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I like this compilation. I have picked my two favorites. Looking forward to diving into the AI monetization models. I feel hybrid pricing will be the way. Also the idea of this being an era of expert generalists—that's just fascinating for me personally! Thanks for putting this together.