The Five-Second Landing Page Test🎯, The Rise of Front-Loaded Vesting💰, Founders’ Social Media Playbook📢
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Let’s get into it 👇
In-Depth Insights 🔍
Andrew Ng: Product Management Is the New Bottleneck ⚡
With AI reducing build times from months to weekends, coding isn’t the bottleneck anymore. The challenge now is rapid product decision-making, where customer empathy and fast feedback loops define success. [Business Insider]The Five-Second Landing Page Test 🖥️
Jeroen Coelen explains how testing your site with real users reveals whether your value proposition is clear. If visitors can’t understand your offering in seconds, buzzwords and design won’t save you. Clarity wins. [Jeroen Coelen]
The Rise of Front-Loaded Vesting 💰
Brian Nguyen explains why tech companies are moving away from traditional equity schedules to front-loaded models. The new approach boosts Year-1 pay and ties rewards to performance, reshaping retention incentives. [levels.fyi]
Building $200/Month AI Consumer Apps with A16Z’s Anish Acharya 💡
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Anish Acharya discusses how AI opens new opportunities for entrepreneurs to create high-value consumer apps, generating $200/month per user. He shares insights on future app models and monetization strategies. [Compound Podcast,Founders’ Social Media Playbook for Winning Investors 🎯
Early-stage VCs now use platforms like X and LinkedIn to evaluate cold emails, making founders’ online presence crucial. Content strategist Kane Kallaway shares how organic video and consistent posting grab investors' attention. [a16z speedrun]
Google Cloud Hits $54B ARR with AI Driving Unprecedented Growth💰
Google Cloud’s revenue surged 32% YoY to $54B ARR, fueled by AI workloads, Gemini adoption, and mega-deals. With a growing backlog of $106B, the company is set for long-term growth. [SaaStr]
Google Cuts 35% of Small-Team Managers 📉
Google has trimmed a third of managers overseeing small teams, shifting many back into contributor roles. This restructuring reflects Sundar Pichai’s push for leaner operations as AI investment scales. [CNBC]
Managing 20 AI Agents to Build a Product in a Week 🤖
Zach Wills shares eight rules from orchestrating 20 AI agents to ship a production-ready app. The shift from coding to system architecture highlights the importance of memory management and autonomy [zach wills]
Trending News ⚡
SNÖ Ventures Winds Down as Partners Go Solo ❄️
The Peter Thiel–backed Oslo VC is shutting down after a decade, with its three partners launching individual funds. Strong returns and portfolio momentum couldn’t overcome the strategic challenge of being both “too small and too big” in today’s venture landscape. [Sifted]AI Startups’ ARR Hype Masks Churn and Margin Risks ⚠️
Explosive ARR growth stories like Lovable’s leap to $100M in eight months are driving high valuations across Europe and the US. Investors caution that churn, customer stickiness, and thin margins could undermine the boom, echoing past fast-growth tech bubbles. [Sifted]
CrowdStrike Acquires Onum to Power Agentic SOC with Real-Time Data 🛡️
CrowdStrike will integrate Onum’s real-time telemetry into Falcon Next-Gen SIEM to boost speed, reduce storage costs, and enable AI-driven SOC automation. The move aims to solve legacy SIEM bottlenecks and deliver up to 70% faster incident response. [CrowdStrike Crowd]
Lakestar Raises $265M Continuation Fund Amid Exit Slowdown 💶
Revolut and Spotify backer Lakestar secured one of Europe’s largest continuation vehicles, anchored by Lexington Partners. The fund extends exposure to select high-performing portfolio companies, showing growing VC adoption of private equity-style liquidity tools. [Private Equity Insights]
ByteDance Hits $330B Valuation as Revenue Surpasses Meta 📱
TikTok owner ByteDance launches a $330B+ employee share buyback after Q2 revenue surged 25% to $48B, overtaking Meta’s sales. Political risks persist as Washington pressures ByteDance to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations. [Reuters]Lovable Draws $4B Valuation Offers Weeks After Unicorn Round 🦄
Stockholm-based AI vibe coding startup Lovable attracted unsolicited $4B funding bids shortly after its $1.8B unicorn round. Founder Anton Osika emphasizes product milestones over fundraising, with backing from Accel, Visionaries Club, and angel investors [sifted]Klarna Revives U.S. IPO at $13–14B Valuation 💳
Swedish fintech Klarna plans a U.S. IPO at a $13–14B valuation, raising nearly $1B. The valuation is far below its 2021 peak of $50B but supported by improving equity markets and 111M active customers. [Reuters]Rillet Raises $70M Series B from a16z and ICONIQ 💰
AI-native ERP startup Rillet raised $70M just 10 weeks after its $25M Series A, bringing total funding to $100M in under a year. Founded by ex-N26 leaders and accountants, Rillet is redefining enterprise finance with AI workflows, rapid close times, and lean scaling. [Rillet]
Netskope Files for IPO with $707M ARR and 33% Growth 🚀
Cloud security leader Netskope filed to go public reporting $707M ARR, 33% YoY growth, 118% NRR, and a swing from -42% to +3% operating cash flow margin in six months. With 30% of the Fortune 100 as clients, the IPO is expected at a $5.7B–$8.5B valuation. [SaaStr]
No-Code Website Builder Framer Hits $2B Valuation with $100M Series D 📈
Amsterdam-based Framer raised $100M led by Meritech and Atomico, doubling its valuation to $2B. With 500K+ MAUs, $50M ARR, and break-even operations, Framer targets $100M ARR next year while pushing enterprise adoption and analytics features. [TechCrunch]
Europe Mints 12 New Unicorns in H1 2025 🦄
Despite a quieter mega-round environment, 12 European startups crossed the $1B+ mark in early 2025. Unicorns span AI, defense/space, health/biotech, energy, security, and media, highlighting Europe’s diversification beyond fintech. [TechCrunch]
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How NFX Creates Unicorns: Inside Their Investment Playbook 🦄
NFX partner Anna Pinol shares how the firm has helped launch 25 unicorns. Learn about their investment strategies and the founder lessons behind building billion-dollar companies. [Compound Podcast]
AI Agents: Who Wins the 2030 Race? 🤖
The AI agent market is expected to more than double this year, reaching $13B. Companies like Cursor and Lovable are leading the charge, but the next 12 months will reveal which players are true agents versus API wrappers. [Steve Nouri]
Deep Tech Startups: Stuck in the Lab 📊
80% of European pre-seed hardware startups remain in the lab stage, despite investors underwriting risk earlier. The challenge remains finding market feedback while taking advantage of non-dilutive funding options. [Andreas Riegler]
Balaji Srinivasan’s Impact on Coinbase’s Leadership - CTO MODE ⚡
Balaji’s contrarian, disruptive style at Coinbase taught Brian Armstrong the value of embracing disagreement to drive results. Armstrong learned to focus on performance over popularity in his leadership approach. [Startup Archive]Why Tech Lowers Some Prices but Not Others 📉
Marc Andreessen explains why technology drives down prices in electronics but not in housing, healthcare, and education. He argues that expanding productivity gains into these sectors is key to reducing costs. [Andreessen Horowitz]The Math Behind LLMs 🔢
Eduardo Ordax unpacks the workings of transformers, tokens, attention, and softmax in LLMs like GPT and Claude. His explainer makes complex concepts easy to understand in just two minutes. [Eduardo Ordax]Are You Achieving Product-Market Fit? 🔍
Use the Startup Thermometer to evaluate the health of your product-market fit. This simple tool helps you make adjustments to stay on track toward success. [Jeroen Coelen]
Top 100 AI Apps of 2025 🎉
a16z’s latest list of top 100 consumer AI apps is out, showing which apps are leading the charge in global usage and innovation. This year’s ranking features unexpected top players in the AI space. [Olivia Moore]
New Funds 💰
Portfolia launched its Women’s Health Fund IV, continuing its focus on innovations improving women’s health and wellness.
Blankpage Capital announced the raise of its maiden venture fund, targeting early-stage investments.
71-70 Angels closed Fund I at $4M to back high-potential early-stage startups.
CapitalT held the first close of its second fund, doubling down on early-stage tech companies.
HLM Investment Partners preparing to raise its sixth fund, focusing on healthcare innovation.
SHIFT Invest completed the first close of Fund IV at €92M to invest in sustainability-focused ventures.
Ventures EU launched its first €30M fund, targeting early-stage European startups.
Crescent Capital prepping a massive $3B credit continuation fund to support portfolio company financings.
Eldridge Capital aiming to raise $1B for a new private equity financing fund.
Portfolia launching a $20M fund focused on women’s health innovation.
Temasek’s Seatown closed $612M in the first close of its third private credit fund.
FB Ventures launching Australia’s first VC fund of funds tailored for retail investors, marking a significant step in democratizing access to venture capital.
That’s a wrap for this week.
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Excellent post! The 100 top startups of the year was especially interesting