Vertical AI Playbook🎯, 30 Lessons from 2025💡, AI Killed SaaS Margins💸
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.
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In-Depth Insights 🔍
Startup Wisdom Goldmine: 30 Lessons from 2025 💡
From Clay’s reverse demos to Levels’ founder staying in the code, this roundup captures the year’s best startup advice. It covers founder-led sales, AI product development, naming, and building resilience. [Review]
Financial Modeling Essentials for Founders 📊
Founders must prevent cash depletion by mastering revenue drivers, cost management, and non-operating factors. This ensures runway forecasting and fundraising readiness.
Vertical AI Playbook: Biggest Opportunity Since SaaS 🎯
Bessemer lays out a framework for building defensible Vertical AI products targeting the $3T professional services market. AI is shifting focus from IT budgets to labor budgets with major efficiency gains. [Bessemer Venture Partners]
Why Most People Can’t Handle Being Founders 🧠
Chris Tottman breaks down traits that separate founders from employees, from high energy and openness to low modesty and anxiety. Self-awareness is treated as a strategic advantage. [Chris Tottman]
AI Killed SaaS Margins: 5 Pricing Models 💸
Lago co-founder explains how AI companies face growth that costs money, collapsing traditional SaaS margins. The guide shows pricing strategies when top customers are also the most expensive. [Every]
The AI Design Playbook: 4 Frameworks Before You Ship 🎨
A former Amazon and Google design leader details when to use AI, common chat interface failures, transparency needs, and delegation-control balance. Proper application is critical for adoption. [Rupa Chaturvedi]
Mark Zuckerberg’s Executive Team Crisis 🔥
Ben Horowitz recalls advising Zuckerberg while he rebuilt his executive team twice. The experience shows why top CEOs must be exceptional students of people management. [Startup Archive]College Dropout Status Becomes a Startup Badge 🎓
In the AI boom, dropping out is a visible credential at Demo Days. Despite the trend, most successful founders still hold degrees. [TechCrunch]
25 Lessons from Solo Founders’ First Year 💪
Solo founders are achieving $1M ARR in months, showing high productivity is possible alone. Emotional support structures remain essential for long-term sustainability. [weisser]The Viral “Absolute Mode” ChatGPT Prompt 🔥
A single prompt turns ChatGPT into a blunt, high-signal assistant. It removes filler and soft language to match how investors and engineers reason.
Trending News ⚡
TSMC IP Theft Case Expands with New Charges ⚖️
Taiwanese prosecutors added charges against Tokyo Electron Taiwan and three individuals for stealing 14-nanometer semiconductor secrets. Authorities uncovered more trade secrets in cloud systems, seeking up to eight-year prison terms and NT$25 million in fines. [Reuters]
SaaStr Founder Replaces Sales Team with AI 🤖
Jason Lemkin trained 20 AI agents to replicate the work of a 10-person sales team with just 1.2 humans overseeing. The AI sent 70,000 hyper-personalized emails, matching revenue previously driven by 7,000 human emails. [Business Insider]
Samsung Expands Gemini AI Across Devices 📱
Samsung plans to double Gemini AI deployment to 800 million devices in 2026, integrating AI into all products and functions. Memory chip shortages could affect pricing and availability globally. [Reuters]Anthropic President Questions AGI Concept 🔮
Daniela Amodei said AGI benchmarks may be outdated as AI now outperforms humans in some tasks and lags in others. Claude can code at professional levels but struggles with basic human tasks, showing AGI is no longer a reliable measure. [Business Insider]NVIDIA Launches Alpamayo for Self-Driving Cars 🚗
Alpamayo is an open-source reasoning AI platform for autonomous vehicles with a 10-billion-parameter model. Mercedes-Benz CLA will be the first production car using Alpamayo-powered AI driving this year. [TechCrunch]OpenAI Debuts ChatGPT Health with Records Integration 🏥
ChatGPT Health connects medical records, Apple Health, and wellness apps for secure, personalized health guidance. It isolates conversations from foundation model training and integrates data from 2.2 million U.S. providers. [CNBC]
ARM Creates Physical AI Division for Robotics 🤖
ARM formed a new Physical AI unit combining automotive and robotics to target humanoid robots. Dedicated teams serve customers including Boston Dynamics and major automakers, aiming to boost labor productivity and GDP impact. [Reuters]Anthropic Pursues $10B Round at $350B Valuation 💰
The AI safety company is raising $10 billion, doubling its valuation to $350 billion. Coatue Management and GIC lead the round as Anthropic positions for a 2026 IPO and competes with OpenAI. [TechCrunch]Elon Musk’s xAI Commits $20B to Mississippi Data Center 🏭
xAI will build its third Memphis-area data center, MACROHARDRR, adding 2 gigawatts of computing power. The $20 billion investment is the largest private investment in Mississippi history. [Reuters]
Discord Files Confidential IPO in U.S. 🔔
The platform with 200 million monthly users filed confidentially for a U.S. IPO with Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. Previously valued at $15 billion, Discord could list as early as March 2026. [Reuters]
Fundraising?
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Social Media Gems 💎
Airbnb’s $30K Cereal Box Rescue Story 📦
In 2007, Airbnb founders sold limited-edition political cereal boxes for $40 each. The $30K they raised kept the company alive until Y Combinator acceptance.
96 Finance and Investing Books for 2026 📚
A curated reading list of 96 essential books covers finance and investing fundamentals. It helps investors sharpen strategy and deepen knowledge for the year ahead. [Noel Wieder]
Hidden Startup Job Resources Beyond LinkedIn 💼
Many startup roles never appear on LinkedIn. This list covers VC portfolio boards, newsletters, fellowships, and networks where top opportunities are posted. [Jordan Mazer]
Europe’s Unicorn Boom: 27 New in 2025 🦄
Europe produced 27 new unicorns in 2025, led by the UK, Germany, and Sweden. Companies span deep tech, AI, climate, and industrial sectors where execution drives results.
Uber’s Early Investors: $5K to $24M Returns 💰
Early Uber backers turned small bets into generational wealth, with $5K growing to $24M and $220K into $1.1B. The IPO at $80B showcases the power of early-stage bets.
Patrick Collison: Work Where Standards Are High ✨
Stripe’s CEO advises young founders to choose environments with high standards. Learning what excellence looks like provides mentorship advantage and sharpens judgment. [Jimmy]
New Funds 💰
BV Investment Partners closed Fund XII at $2.465B to continue investing in middle-market software and tech-enabled services companies.
Lux Capital closed its $1.5B ninth fund to double down on frontier science and deep tech.
AppWorks closed Fund IV at $386M to continue backing startups across Greater Southeast Asia.
Antler closed a $160M fund to back founders at day zero and scale early-stage investing at global volume.
January Capital raised a $130M Asia-Pacific fund focused on growth credit for scaling tech companies.
Xirius Ventures raising a $50M debut fund focused on early-stage venture bets.
Grit Road Partners announced its second fund to support Midwest agtech and food system innovation.
Striker Venture Partners launched a new U.S. fund committing millions to early-stage Israeli AI and cybersecurity startups.
That’s a wrap for this week.
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