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When TikTok blinks, charts move—and betting against Elon is now a business model. A single power issue at a U.S. data center can ripple across millions of users, while Tesla’s missed timelines turn execution risk into something traders can price in real time. At the same moment, startups are rewarded less for vision than for traction: AI valuations double, servers get “tapped out,” and policy drama becomes a growth channel.
Video pick: The Trap of Credit Cards is NOT the Interest Rate
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Seven bullets of updates
🎬 Training video AI startup’s valuation doubles to $4B after a $200M raise, just one year after its last round.
🏠 Despite $32B in funding, proptech mostly made middlemen prettier, not redundant; the real estate revolution may come from honesty, not code.
🚗 Tesla ends Autopilot and locks lane-keeping behind a $99/month fee, as NTSB investigates Waymo’s safety issues.
🏭 Industrial AI startup secures $5M to help factories drive real savings at scale with its "nervous system" software.
🌦️ New AI models could boost weather forecast accuracy by 30%—no supercomputer required.
🔊 Apple boosts AirTag volume and lets users find trackers up to 60 feet away—twice the previous range.
⚡ Recent TikTok glitches traced to a US data center power issue following US entity spin-out, affecting millions of users.
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When TikTok blinks, charts move
Photo by Aaron Weiss on Unsplash
TikTok’s U.S. ownership drama is pushing users to shop around, and at least one small social app is benefiting. In a matter of days, it jumped to #12 overall and #2 in Social on iOS, reaching about 140,000 installs after a 2,850% download spike. The team is small, scaling fast, and already feeling the strain, with servers reportedly “tapped out”.
The pitch: an “impartial” social network for text, photos, and video, built around anti-shadowban messaging. Early U.S. traction (~75k users) suggests policy chaos can create real acquisition tailwinds. What comes next is the real test—retention, creator economics, moderation at scale, and whether TikTok’s disruption actually sticks.
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The Trap of Credit Cards is NOT the Interest Rate
Everyone’s worried about credit card interest rates. But the real trap? It’s hiding in plain sight—with every single swipe. This episode uncovers how Visa and Mastercard quietly built a duopoly that acts like a private tax on every transaction—funding flashy rewards for some, and pushing millions into debt. From spam mail in the 50s to $1.2 trillion in credit card balances today, we break down the infrastructure, the lawsuits, and the lobbying that keeps it all going.
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A founder’s guide to scaling globally
Build and scale a remote-first company with confidence.
This guide helps founders navigate global hiring, compliance, payroll, compensation, and culture, with a practical roadmap to grow internationally without losing speed or control.
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🔄 In 2026, founders ditch rigid plans for adaptive budgets with 6 moves to pivot faster and protect runway.
🌪️ In market whiplash, adapt fast, communicate clearly, refocus before instability—and ask 3 questions to steer.
📈 Beyond $5M, master systems, focus, and cadence to turn growth into repeatable, resilient scale that compounds.
AI Pitch Deck Reviewer
Slidebean has been helping startups craft pitch decks for over 10 years.
We recently built an AI Pitch Deck Review tool, that processes the text and visuals on your presentation, and provides actionable feedback on the story, potential missing items, and recommendations on how to improve each slide.
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Betting against Elon is now a business model
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Prediction markets have turned missed tech promises into profit opportunities. Skeptics are now betting against big unveilings—and winning—by wagering that ambitious timelines won’t hold. One trader reportedly made $36,000 across 12 bets by fading Elon Musk’s predictions, including Tesla’s missed December 31 deadline for Full Self-Driving.
As a result, Musk has become one of the most actively traded figures on these platforms (53 markets on Polymarket, 46 on Kalshi). The bigger takeaway isn’t about Musk—it’s about credibility. Execution risk is now being priced in real time. Bold promises don’t just generate headlines anymore; they create tradable odds. For founders, “under-promise and over-deliver” is no longer just good PR advice—it’s becoming a strategy the market actively rewards.
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Startup Events and Deadlines
TOMORROW! Crash Course on Startup Fundraising with Caya (Slidebean CEO) l Jan 28 l Webinar
Crash Course in Financial Modeling l Jan 29 l Webinar
Startmate l Jan 31 l Accelerator deadline