Messages
11/22/2023
5 : 14
Tiger Global's Scott Shleifer Transitions to Advisory Role After Wild, Bumpy Ride
View in browser Top News Numerous outlets reported today that negotiations between the OpenAI board and its former CEO, Sam Altman, are ongoing. According to the New York Times, one "sticking
11/21/2023
7 : 4
Will he or won't he? Drama continues as Altman said to be weighing a return (still) to OpenAI
View in browser Top News The news since Friday has been all OpenAI, the hottest company of the year as of last week. Shortly after terminating Sam Altman as CEO, OpenAI's board reportedly
11/18/2023
8 : 4
OpenAI shoots from the hip -- and hits itself in the head
View in browser Man! If you can pull your attention away from trying to figure out what the hell just happened at OpenAI, we have a new StrictlyVC Download for you this week. Featuring Medha Agarwal
11/17/2023
7 : 34
Thrasio's bill comes due, a black market for ChatGPT Plus subscriptions, and an app to add a "touch of Dutch"
View in browser Top News Elon Musk endorsed an anti-Semitic conspiracy on X last night. In response, Facebook cofounder Dustin Moscovitz has called on Musk to resign "from everything." In
11/17/2023
3 : 15
Khosla's haul, Airbnb's acquisition, and a VC is ousted from his firm over Israel-Hamas-related rhetoric
View in browser We're really happy that so many of you (a) caught last week's mention of our first StrictlyVC event of 2024, happening January 24 and (b) reserved tickets already.:) We share
11/17/2023
2 : 55
Arrival's rocky road, a Starlink IPO, and Elon Musk and Jimmy Wales are at it again
View in browser Yesterday, we announced that Alex Blania, CEO and co-founder of Tools for Humanity, the company behind Worldcoin, is joining us for our first StrictlyVC evening of the new year in
11/14/2023
7 : 24
The newest new Slack CEO, devoted chat bots, and "overemployed" -- and getting away with it
View in browser Top News A witness in the Google antitrust trial today revealed that Google gives Apple a 36% cut of search ad revenue that comes from Safari. Since its launch, Donald's Trump's
11/11/2023
7 : 54
An Elon Musk biopic, a massive data breach in Maine, and why the IPO market has gone quiet again 😴
View in browser First and foremost, thank you, US veterans; we bow to you. Also, it is Friday, and that means (some Fridays?) that we have a StrictlyVC Download for you. This week, we talked with 01
11/10/2023
8 : 44
Meta returns to China, Snap restructures, and a look at Humane's highly hyped AI pin
View in browser Top News Mark Zuckerberg's Mandarin lessons really paid off. According to the WSJ, Meta has struck a preliminary deal to sell a new, lower-priced version of its virtual-reality
11/9/2023
7 : 14
Zeus goes bust, TikTok's latest matchmaking hack, and it's a bird! It's a plane! It's the world's largest aircraft
View in browser Top News Meta will require political campaigns to disclose whether their ads use AI. And speaking of Meta, newly released court documents suggest that CEO Mark Zuckerberg personally and
11/8/2023
5 : 54
Rivian's new vans plan, Google Bard's new feature, and Coatue reportedly slashes the value of its OpenSea bet by 90%
View in browser Top News A former Facebook engineering director testified today before the Senate Judiciary Committee that Meta's top executives (including CEO Mark Zuckerberg) ignored his warnings
11/7/2023
7 : 14
WeWork files for Chapter 11, a damning report about Cruise, and a fast look at the giant new fund of "solo GP" Elad Gil
View in browser We're beginning to map out our first StrictlyVC evening of 2024! Save the date or even grab your ticket. It's all happening January 24, a Wednesday night, at the beautiful San
11/4/2023
6 : 4
Massive layoffs at OpenSea, a strike averted at Klarna, and Musk teases the newest new thing
View in browser Friday. Top News Swedish BNPL fintech Klarna has narrowly dodged a strike. Elon Musk just tweeted that his AI company, xAI, will release its first product tomorrow. xAI hasn't
11/3/2023
6 : 44
Guilty on all counts, questions about Starlink, and Jeff Bezos ditches Seattle for Miami
View in browser Thursday! We've back from an annual media mixer in San Francisco that was last held on November 9, 2022 -- the very same day Binance walked away from a possible deal to acquire and
11/2/2023
6 : 24
A new generation of companies is moving up in San Francisco -- and taking over prime real estate in the process
View in browser Top News In closing arguments for FTX co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's fraud trial, the prosecution argued that Bankman-Fried built FTX on a "pyramid of deceit,
11/1/2023
6 : 54
WeWork's woes, Tesla's big win, and a spate of stock market listings has proven to be a "flop" for investors
View in browser 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃 Hope you had a spooky fun Halloween. 🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃 Top News WeWork will declare bankruptcy as early as next week, reports the WSJ. The outfit was famously, ingloriously, valued by
10/31/2023
6 : 4
Charlie Munger still thinks VCs are the worst. "To hell with them!"
View in browser Top News Google CEO Sundar Pichai appeared today at his company's anti-trust trial to defend Google's payments to Apple to secure its position as Apple's default search
10/28/2023
6 : 44
'Vintage' iPods, questionable British brands, and Humane's precarious relationship with its biggest outside backer
View in browser Hope you have a wonderful weekend.:) Also, a quick note that we are hiring at TechCrunch; we're especially eager to build out the team in San Francisco, so if you are -- or you know
10/27/2023
7 : 14
SBF whiffs, Stability AI shrinks, and Cruise hits the brakes on all of its driverless operations
View in browser Top News Amazon's revenue jumped 13% in the third quarter, blowing past analysts' expectations. Digital advertising continues to be a bright spot, observes CNBC, but growth at
10/26/2023
4 : 4
Morgan Stanley's Pick, SBF's big decision to testify, and a CEO spreads his own bad news
View in browser Top News Alphabet's share price fell 9.6% today on fears that Microsoft's earnings beat signals a changing of the guard in the cloud computing space. In what could be his