Steve Jobs: Don't start a Startup💡, the Software Decline💀, Mark Zuckerberg’s Hiring Rule👥

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. 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 👇

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Free AI Hiring Kit (Actually Free)

Before we dive in, we built something with Notion for early-stage founders hiring their first team.

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If you’re hiring engineers, operators, or GTM roles this year, this actually helps.

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In-Depth Insights 🔍

• The Cold Email Format That Got Mark Cuban to Invest 📧
  Winning cold emails prove relevance, traction, and clarity within seconds. A real case study shows how precision targeting turned a cold message into an investment. [Chris Tottman]

• Dario Amodei’s 2017 AI Safety Framework Shapes Today’s AGI Race 🧠
  Long before AGI was mainstream, Dario outlined concrete safety risks that now drive real product decisions. His work explains why Anthropic prioritizes controlled capability over raw speed as models gain autonomy.

  

• 2,500+ Active Angel Investors Who Fund AI and SaaS Startups 💰
  A manually curated database of angels who wrote checks in the last 12 months across AI and SaaS. It helps founders skip slow VC cycles and connect directly with operators who move fast.

• The Five Minute Investor Readiness Assessment Framework ⏱️
  This tool maps your metrics against 2026 stage benchmarks to reveal fundraising gaps. It helps founders avoid pitching too early by focusing on what actually needs fixing first. [Chris Tottman]

• Clawdbot Turns Your Mac Mini Into a Self Hosted AI Employee 🖥️
  An open source agent that runs continuously on your own hardware and integrates with major messaging tools. With proper setup, it maintains long term context and executes tasks autonomously within clear boundaries.

  

• SaaS Business Model Faces Existential Threat From AI Disruption 💀
  AI is undercutting legacy SaaS workflows before many companies reach profitability. Investors are shifting capital toward resilient models with real unit economics instead of growth promises. [Charles-Henry Monchau, CFA, CMT, CAIA]

  

• How Ramp Outpaced Brex to Become the $32B Market Leader 🏆
  Ramp won by pairing experienced founders with high slope talent and relentless product execution. Disciplined risk management and serving mainstream businesses unlocked massive scale and efficiency. [Sri Batchu🇺🇸]

  

• Free AI Powered Hiring System for Early-Stage Startups 💼
  A Notion based hiring toolkit that combines AI guidance with frameworks from top VCs to help founders hire their first team fast. It includes automated workflows, templates, partner credits, and an AI agent trained on early hiring best practices.

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Trending News ⚡

• ChatGPT Now Cites Elon Musk’s Controversial Grokipedia 🤖
  ChatGPT has begun referencing Grokipedia on obscure topics despite the platform’s reputation for factual errors and ideological bias. OpenAI avoids it on debunked subjects, but the citations raise questions about sourcing standards across AI models. [TechCrunch]

• Bank of America Struggles to Deploy Nvidia’s Advanced AI Systems 🏦
  Internal emails show Bank of America likened Nvidia’s AI Factory rollout to giving mechanics a Formula 1 car without training. The case highlights how regulated industries lack MLOps talent and infrastructure readiness for frontier AI systems. [Business Insider]

  

• Meta Tests Premium Subscriptions Across Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp 📱
  Meta plans new paid tiers offering productivity tools, AI features, and deeper integrations beyond Meta Verified. The move targets everyday users as Meta pushes to diversify revenue through subscriptions. [TechCrunch]

  

• India and European Union Close Landmark Free Trade Agreement 🤝
  India finalized a long-awaited free trade deal with the EU covering a market of 2 billion people. The agreement helps offset US tariff pressure but does not fully replace India’s trade surplus with America. [CNBC]

  

• Sam Altman Takes Subtle Jab at Mark Zuckerberg’s Masculinity Comments🥊
  Altman told OpenAI staff the company avoided chasing trends like masculine corporate culture. The comment underscores growing rivalry between OpenAI and Meta as they compete aggressively for AI talent. [Business Insider]

  

• Amazon Settles Returns Policy Lawsuit for Over $1 Billion Total 📦
  Amazon agreed to a settlement exceeding $1 billion over claims it failed to properly refund returned items. The company denies wrongdoing but acknowledged process gaps affecting a subset of customer returns. [TechCrunch]

• Elon Musk and VC Vinod Khosla Exchange Public Insults Over Racism Accusations 🎭
  Vinod Khosla accused Musk of promoting racism and urged employees to leave Musk-led companies. Musk responded with personal insults, escalating the feud publicly on X. [Business Insider]

  

• Anthropic Doubles Fundraising Target to $20 Billion at $350B Valuation 💰
  Anthropic increased its funding round amid intense investor demand, valuing the company at $350 billion. The raise follows a $13 billion round last year and fuels IPO speculation. [TechCrunch]

• Anthropic CEO Warns AI Will Cause Unprecedented Job Market Disruption ⚠️
  Dario Amodei warned AI could simultaneously disrupt multiple white-collar sectors, limiting worker mobility. He called for government intervention as debate continues over the scale of AI-driven job losses. [CNBC]

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Fundraising?

If you’re raising a round, Luis Llorens and The Founders Corner can help. We gather startup fundraising data and share it with our audience of 300k+ investors and startup operators. Fill out this form and we’ll will do our best to connect you with the right investors! 🚀

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Social Media Gems 💎

• Garry Tan’s Career-Defining Moment Rejecting Peter Thiel’s Palantir Offer 🎯
  Peter Thiel invited Garry Tan to leave Microsoft and co-found Palantir at its earliest stage. Turning it down shaped his path toward Y Combinator and a very different kind of influence. [Hampton]

• FBI Negotiation Tactics Transformed Into AI Planning Prompts 🎯🤝💬🧠
  Chris Voss planned conversations in advance by structuring emotions, not arguments. These AI prompts help founders design tough discussions before stakes and pressure cloud judgment.

  

• Mark Zuckerberg’s Hiring Rule: Only Hire People You’d Work For 👥
  Zuckerberg filters candidates by asking if he would work for them himself. This standard compounds culture quality when applied consistently across every level of the org. [Startup Archive]

• Pre-Seed Valuations Reflect Founder Hype Over Business Metrics 📊
  Pre-seed SAFE caps range wildly with little connection to traction or revenue. Founder pedigree and narrative now price rounds more than actual business fundamentals. [Peter Walker]

  

• Peter Thiel: Ideas Matter More Than Money in a Zero-Rate World 💭
  Thiel argues capital is abundant while actionable ideas are scarce. Negative interest rates prove money without vision leads to hoarding, not innovation. [Jawwwn]

• Clawdbot Open-Source Agent Runs Continuously on Your Hardware ⚡
  Clawdbot is a self-hosted AI agent that runs nonstop on personal hardware. It offers persistent context and real actions but requires technical setup and security awareness.

  

• Steve Jobs’ Startup Philosophy Demands Irresistible Internal Pull 💡
  Jobs believed founders should only start companies they feel compelled to build. The real motivation is conviction, not money, certainty, or external validation.

  

• Japanese Self-Sizing Shoe Pod Eliminates Inventory Through Custom Manufacturing 👟
  Automated kiosks scan feet and 3D-print shoes on demand with zero inventory. The model reduces waste and enables mass customization while raising trust and scale questions.

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New Funds 💰

• Obvious Ventures closed its fifth core VC fund at $360M to invest in early-stage companies across climate, health, and economic resilience.

• Voyager Ventures raised $275M for Fund II to back early-stage foundational and industrial technology startups.

• Daphni final close of a €260M venture fund focused on deeptech and science-driven startups in Europe.

• Basis Set Ventures closed Fund IV at $250M to support early-stage software and technically led companies.

• 2150 closed its second €210M VC fund to invest in climate-focused urban and built-environment technologies.

• Epidarex Capital held the first close of Fund IV at over $145M targeting early-stage life sciences and biotech ventures.

• The Footprint Firm closed a €76M debut VC fund backing sustainability and climate-driven startups.

• Orion Industrial Ventures closed a $43M maiden venture fund focused on industrial and infrastructure technologies.

• Navam Capital launched its first $34.3M VC fund to support early-stage deeptech startups.

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That’s a wrap for this week.

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