Productivity hacks are overrated, says a16z VC who sold his own startup for $1.25B
What’s the secret to success? It isn’t any of the trends that so many founders in Silicon Valley subscribe to, a16z's Martin Casado says. © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.
Read moreVCs on how to ‘survive and thrive’ after a down round
Founders hope that their startups continually raise larger funding rounds at escalating valuations. But unexpected challenges, such as a global health crisis or a sudden surge in interest rates, can have a significant impact on a company’s ability to maintain its valuations. Some of these startups may have to resort
Read moreMurder trial for tech exec Bob Lee enters next phase
Roughly 19 months after the fatal stabbing of tech exec Bob Lee in San Francisco attracted the nation’s attention, the trial of the man accused of killing him, tech entrepreneur and consultant Nima Momeni, will soon enter its next phrase. It should be riveting, if the prosecution’s newly wrapped case
Read moreOpenAI loses another lead safety researcher, Lilian Weng
Another one of OpenAI’s lead safety researchers, Lilian Weng, announced on Friday she is departing the startup. Weng served as VP of research and safety since August, and before that, was the head of the OpenAI’s safety systems team. In a post on X, Weng said that “after 7 years
Read moreUpwind, an Israeli cloud cybersecurity startup, is raising $100M at a $850-900M valuation, say sources
Cybersecurity continues to command a lot of attention from enterprises looking for better protection from malicious hackers, and VCs want in on the action. In the latest example, TechCrunch has learned and confirmed that Upwind — a specialist in assessing and securing cloud infrastructure — is closing in on a
Read moreChatGPT told 2M people to get their election news elsewhere — and rejected 250K deepfakes
Now that the election is over, the dissection can begin. As this is the first election in which AI chatbots played a significant part of voters’ information diets, even approximate numbers are interesting to think about. For instance, OpenAI has stated that it told around 2 million users of ChatGPT
Read moreBenchmark, Index, others are in a wild unsolicited bidding war over Anysphere, maker of Cursor
There isn’t a shortage of AI-powered coding assistance startups. They include Augment, Codeium, Magic, and Poolside. However, Cursor has become one of the most popular. Its developer, Anysphere, has seen its revenue grow from $4 million annualized recurring revenue (ARR) in April to $4 million a month as of last
Read more‘Whatever you want Ben’: Inside Ben Horowitz’s cozy relationship with the Las Vegas Police Department
When Skydio, a young maker of drones in San Mateo, California, sent a customer proposal in 2023 to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, its chief of staff, Mike Gennaro, forwarded the email to VC Ben Horowitz. “Which deployment are you looking to do?” Horowitz wrote back. “Whatever you want,
Read moreWhat does Trump’s election mean for the TikTok ban?
As TikTok stares down an impending federal ban, Donald Trump’s win in the presidential election could be a lifeline. It’s a plot twist for the embattled, Chinese-owned social media company. During Trump’s last presidency, the president-elect had been the one to initiate the calls to ban TikTok, which only petered
Read moreMonarch Tractor lays off 10% in restructuring towards software and licensing AV tech
Monarch Tractor has laid off around 10% of its workforce as part of a restructuring that will see it prioritize non-agricultural customers, license its autonomous technology, and boost sales of its AI-powered farm management software, TechCrunch has learned. Around 35 employees were cut this week by the Livermore, California-based autonomous
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