brought to you with
✦
Today’s mix is peak tech-meets-chaos: Meta trims its AI dream team, OpenAI wants to replace Google, and a startup just raised $42M to fix government software that still thinks it’s 1999.
Meanwhile, your dog might soon have better GPS than your car.
Let’s dive in.
-😎
Catch the stand-up comment of today’s issue here:
✦
Six bullets of updates
🕶️ New mixed reality headset launches with a 3.5K display, native Netflix, and bundled Google services in the US and Korea.
🐶 Life360 launches a pet GPS tracker, aiming to help owners locate furry friends within 30 feet, powered by its new “Where’s My Pet” network.
⏲️ A new countdown aims to help users pause endless scrolling after 60 minutes in YouTube Shorts.
📸 All US newcomers must verify their identity with a video selfie to use Tinder, rolling out Face Check nationwide.
🕸️ Aiming to rival Google, OpenAI rolls out an AI-powered browser for smarter web searches and hands-free data gathering.
🤖 Open robotics models let machines ‘think’ in 3D using 50,000 hours of training data; could this spark an AI hardware boom?
✦
This Startup Wants to Make Government Software Suck Less
Photo by Yasser Mutwakil ياسر متوكل on Unsplash
David Sacks’ Craft led a $42M Series A for govtech startup Starbridge, with Owl, Commonweal, and Autotech joining. Total raised: $52M (including a $10M seed).
The platform corrals scattered public data and gives sales teams ranked scoring of buyers plus alerts on leadership changes and initiatives: fewer late‑night PDF spelunks.
Next up: an “integrated experience” so answers live in CRM, Slack, and sequencers. In a market with GovWin/GovSpend, Starbridge leans on AI workflows on top to compress cycles and expand govtech TAM. Agencies get more targeted pitches; incumbents face pressure to unbundle their data and UX.
✦
The REAL Cost of Letting ChatGPT Think
Is ChatGPT quietly rewiring your brain? 🧠 MIT researchers found that relying on AI can shrink critical thinking, memory, and even your ability to recall your own ideas. In this video, we break down the science, show what’s happening inside your head, and share how to use AI as a tool, without outsourcing your brain.
✦
AI for Founders. Grow what you built.
Founders don’t need another no-code tool — they need a cofounder that thinks and validates like one.
DeepSky’s AI Superagent runs market research, finds opportunities, and builds business plans in minutes — turning ideas into traction faster than ever.
✦
🚀 Entrepreneurs are piling into 10 segments; proven paths to seven figures for time, money, and momentum.
🎧 Great leaders make service a culture; one firm with near-zero turnover proved it, end to end, for real.
📉 In turbulence, winners protect margins and act before runway drops below 6 months to keep leverage.
SaaS Growth Calculator
A growth calculator that lets you forecast the impact of your ARPU (average revenue per user) and Churn Rate on the long-term potential of your subscription business.
✦
Meta Restructures AI Division With Major Workforce Reductions
Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash
Meta just cut ~600 roles in its AI org amid an ongoing AI reorg; after a summer talent raid that nabbed 50+ researchers from rivals. AI musical chairs, now with budget discipline.
Translation: a pivot from frontier R&D to shipping and margin defense. Expect centralized Llama teams, standardized infra, and PMs getting louder than PhDs.
Implications: richer talent pool for startups, cooler comp wars near term, and faster open‑source cadence if headcount tilts to productization. Risk: rising platform dependence as distribution and ads get bundled into AI features.
✦
How did we do?
