Startup Stash - No Interns, But Basic Money & Beds 🛏️

Ever since the Tokyo Summer Olympics (held in 2021), the media has dubbed the beds in the athletes' villages as “anti-sex” beds because of their seemingly flimsy cardboard bases. But here's the lowdown: they're far from flimsy and can support up to 600 pounds. Irish gymnast Rhys McClenaghan even proved their sturdiness by jumping on one.

The beds are made by Airweave, a Japanese company founded by engineer Motokuni Takaoka. Back in 2008 Airweave started supplying mattress toppers for the Japanese teams. Now, they make all the beds for both the Olympics and Paralympics. For the Paris Games, that’s 16,000 beds.

So what’s the story behind these beds and why are they used in the Olympics? 

• The mattresses are created by the same resin fiber used in fishing lines. The insides are composed of food-grade plastic that looks like a clear fibrous web.
• Each bed has three customizable mattress pads that range from soft to extra firm, allowing athletes to tailor their sleep surface to their needs. According to Brett Thornton, Airweave’s COO, the mattress, being 90% air, stays cool and helps sleepers stay in deeper sleep because they don’t sink in like with memory foam.
• Post-games, the cardboard platforms are recycled, and the plastic mattresses are cleaned and donated.

Thanks to all the media hullaballoo in the Japanese Olympics, Airweave has become a big name globally. They’re now planning their US market entry with a flagship store in Los Angeles in early 2025, just in time for the city's 2028 Olympics.

Ambitious and credit-hungry students must be boggled by the decline in internships this year — major companies aim to cut costs by scaling back their summer programs. The Financial Times reported that Goldman Sachs reduced its intake of undergrad interns by 200, while JPMorgan decreased its class of '24 analysts by 10%, equating to 600 fewer interns. And it's not just the big banks making headlines; Tesla faced backlash in May for retracting summer internship offers just weeks before the start date. 

Even Bloomberg reported that some key industries are cooling down on internships, with postings in tech down 14% and financial services down 13% in May. 

Similarly, Nick Bunker from the Indeed Hiring Lab noted that while early 2024 saw a rise in job listings for internships compared to 2019, the numbers have significantly dropped since February, falling below 2022 and 2023 levels. 

Reasons? There could be several. This could indicate a growing shift away from internships, as part of downsizing efforts. Or it could simply be a post-pandemic adjustment in numbers. 

Either way, the reduced postings are intensifying competition. For instance, Goldman Sachs received over 315,000 applications for approximately 2,700 summer analyst positions in 2024, making it more competitive than securing a spot at Harvard.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently wrapped up the largest basic income study in the U.S., providing low-income residents with $1,000 monthly for three years. This comes at a time when AI and the future of work are fueling conversations about basic income programs.

The Study Breakdown:

• The experiment involved 3,000 residents from Texas and Illinois with annual incomes under $28,000.
• 1,000 participants received $1,000 monthly.
• A control group of 2,000 received $50 monthly.

Spending Patterns: Participants who received $1,000 monthly spent about $310 more each month, mainly on rent, food, and transportation. They also tended to help others financially. 

Other Findings: The study noted a 20% drop in problematic drinking, greater control over living situations, and the opportunity for participants to pursue new fields or wait for better job opportunities. While stress and food insecurity initially decreased, these benefits faded over time, proving that cash alone can't solve chronic health issues or high housing costs.

Why It Matters: Altman is interested in how basic income might work in a future where AI potentially replaces many jobs. However, the study showed that basic income isn't a cure-all for poverty and faces significant pushback. If AI doesn't eliminate jobs as predicted, tying basic income to AI advancements might hinder its feasibility. Economists suggest tax credits for low-income workers as a potentially better solution.

🫷Do Not Use My Content - Conde Nast sent a cease-and-desist letter to AI search engine Perplexity, demanding that it stop using content from the media company’s publications in its search results.

🛡️ Marvelous Protection - A twice-yearly injection offers 100% protection against HIV and AID, per a recent study. 

🧑‍💼 We Work Best Alone - It seems humans and AI complete the average task better when they aren't working together, per an MIT analysis of 74 experiments on collaboration work. 

🤝 Somewhat Friends - The vexing problem of the "Medium Friend". Why having acquaintances is better than having close friends.  

😨 An Excuse For Firing People - 25% of bosses reportedly expected that return-to-office mandates would lead to a "voluntary turnover” from employees quitting, according to a new survey.