everything to read instead of doomscroll this week by @stephthefounder (March 16)
The best succinct + fun weekly newsletter to learn about all the best things you need to know across tech, startups, VC, AI, etc, sent out every Monday. (and at the minimum, it will include the links I post about every week on instagram!). Feedback? Things I should add? Respond back here or comment below x
The founder of Uber, Travis Kalanick, is back with a new company!! That is not the cool part (even though it is cool). What I think is especially cool is this little gem at the end of his “Vision” section
Yes we are not all billionaire repeat founders, but I do think there’s something to learn from “become deeply self aware and when the right thing comes, you will know it. If you know yourself… your work soulmate will reveal itself.”
Something I’ve been thinking about a LOT lately is how much happier I am with my career lately compared to even a few years ago. It’s not because I’m working less (I’m not) or because I’m making more money (I’m not lol), but because I feel like I’m getting closer to finding my “work soulmate.”
For a while I couldn’t be honest with myself about what I actually wanted (vs what I thought I should want because of well-intentioned pressures from family or a desire to fit into what society’s view of success was) and I see now that caused the majority of my discontent.
I’m not fully there (I still experience FOMO and an over-commitment issue and lots of other things like everyone else 😬) but I feel closer to that work soulmate - what I imagine is harmony and excitement to keep doing the thing (even if there are obstacles and lots of hard things every day).
Wishing us all to find our ~work soulmates~ (and actually kinda excited to see where Travis Kalanick takes this next venture)
💰 Companies that will make you a millionaire
Every week I highlight a few of my favorite startups that I personally think are really promising. They’ve typically received funding that week + are hiring, and occasionally I’ll include some special bonus ones.
And now you can easily earn some cold hard cash 💰: you can now use PINpoint (a fun product my company has been building) to earn $$ (anywhere from $5K to $30K) for successfully referring people to top startups. The brilliant part about this is:
you don’t even need to know the person who’s ultimately hired - if you post a link on LinkedIn and the algorithm shows it to someone who ultimately clicks the link and is hired, you get the $$$ 😏
all of these companies are great and highly respected, so your friend (or random person who saw your post) will also thank you 😉 win win
(PS are you a founder or do you work at a cool startup that’s hiring? reply back with the name so we can give you guys a shout!)
This week’s featured companies:
AMI Labs: a startup founded by Yann LeCun building AI “world models” designed to help machines understand and reason about the physical world. The company raised $1.3B at a $3.5B pre-money valuation, with backing from Cathay Innovation, Greycroft, Hiro Capital, HV Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Tim and Rosemary Berners-Lee, Jim Breyer, Mark Cuban, and Eric Schmidt.
Job openings can be found here
Mind Robotics: developing AI-powered factory robots designed to automate manufacturing tasks across production lines. The company raised $500M at a $2B post-money valuation in a round co-led by Accel and Andreessen Horowitz.
Job openings can be found here
Replit: An online platform that lets developers build and deploy software using AI-assisted coding tools. The company raised a $400M Series D at a $9B valuation led by Georgian Partners, with participation from G Squared, Prysm Capital, Coatue, Andreessen Horowitz, Craft Ventures, Y Combinator, Accenture Ventures, Okta Ventures, Databricks Ventures, Shaquille O’Neal, and Jared Leto.
Job openings can be found here
Some bonus companies that were also funded last week:
Science Corp. (brain-computer vision implants) 🧠 → $230M Series C (Job openings here)
Legora (AI platform for legal work) ⚖️ → $550M Series D (Job openings here)
Juicebox (AI recruiting platform) 🎯 → $80M Series B (Job openings here)
Slide (Business continuity + disaster recovery) 🛡️ → $70M Series B (Job openings here)
ZyG (AI demand prediction for e-commerce) 📦 → $58M Seed (Job openings here)
Axiom Trust (AI for trust document processing) 📜 → $11.8M Pre-Seed (Job openings here)
AgentMail (email platform built for AI agents) 📧 → $6M Seed (Job openings here)
Taya (AI necklace for voice note reflection) 🎙️ → $5M Seed (Job openings here)
🤓 Best things to read instead of doomscrolling
The best things I’ve read every week, listed and summarized here:
what does extreme wealth do to the brain? - the section on the “eight steps” ((1) a shift in how the person sees themselves. Wealth changes not just what a person can buy but what they feel entitled to want. Then comes….(3) an echo chamber forms and the wealthy person is surrounded by people whose status and income depend on keeping them happy. Bad news stops arriving. As a result, (4) tribal instincts take over and outsiders are viewed with suspicion and contempt….The final stage is (8) moral distortion.” was interesting. i also like the author’s insight “So maybe wealth isn’t transformative; it’s an amplifier.”
building a million dollar business with openclaw - i ignore most “omg i made a million dollars online” type of content because most of it is garbage, but i really liked this episode + found it inspiring to learn about the capabilities + limitations of autonomous AI agents in a way that felt honest and optimistic but not hype-y. i’ve been inspired (new series coming soon 👀)
a dog dad saves his senior dog from cancer using chatgpt - if you saw my earlier recommendation about Sid Sijbrandij (founder of Gitlab) using AI to discover his own cancer treatment you’ll love this story too
AI vs Human writing - who’s better? By the NYT - this was hard for me I’m ngl. I got a preference for human writing but my preference on individual questions was not super strong
📱 Everything you may have missed in tech/startup news
All the most important things that happened last week, from intellectual to guilty pleasure and optimistic to cringe:
Pokemon Go players were actually collecting data 💀: i feel like we all knew this subconsciously but needless to say the value of data is now even more valuable than ever before
Meta is announcing a ~20% layoff: the myth of “security” in big established companies is so overblown. There’s never been a better time to bet on yourself!
Google Maps got an upgrade!! The Google flywheel continues as evidenced by Google Maps 🤝 Gemini. I have not tried this yet but as someone who depends on Google Maps for everything from navigation to bookmarking places (embarrassing- don’t judge me too much), I’m excited
In a fascinating move, Meta acquired Moltbook (the social network for AI agents)
🤝 Cool things from this community
[new experiment!] every week I want to highlight cool projects, opportunities, fundings, etc from this community! these are free and are curated for things that are the most helpful/inspiring/interesting for other members of this group. for more context and to submit any cool projects etc, please see here! (they’ll be reviewed on a rolling basis every Sunday(ish))
(Please note a feature here is not an explicit endorsement unless specifically stated — I do light diligence but given time/resource constraints, am not doing rigorous diligence (so please do your own research before spending lots of time and money, etc.)
If you’re a founder/creator/entrepreneur looking for community + an inspiring work space in NYC, join Verci! (I’m a member and it fills my cup. I feel both motivated and energized every time I go.)
Verci just opened a new floor at their new flatiron space and are looking for two more teams to join. They have a few small offices and desks available - if interested in learning more, check out the website (verci.com/satellite) or book a call hereCoChef by Jayesh Gupta: a cool new kitchen tool to help people be better chefs (i immediately signed up for the waitlist)
DeltaMemory by Shreejit Sen: Fastest Cognitive Memory for AI agents (as someone dealing with this now in my makeshift openclaw setup, I’m intrigued)
Past Present Phuture by Peretz Cohen: for anyone navigating a career pivot or just want to reflect on their path to date. This is a platform with tools to empower you in your career where each of the web applications focuses on building a distinct career muscle
🤪 Just because / for fun
aka random things that I found interesting enough to screenshot or take a picture of last week
a fascinating study a friend (h/t chris!) sent to me about how apparently learning how to read comes at the cost of being able to recognize faces 🤪
and more shiba content 🥲
<3 until next week!