The Daily Index — Friday, July 28, 2023 · TLDR Index

HEADLINES & TRENDS

TLDR Founders

TLDR Founders

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We’d be remiss if we didn’t bring your attention to the latest rate hike, and more importantly, the specter of future increases. Some say we’re bouncing off this recession, with markets still hot and inflation not cooling. All of these factors affect your company’s ability to scale and raise money.

reuters.com · 4 min

TLDR Founders

SEQUOIA’S PULLING BACK ON CRYPTO

Sequoia Capital has cut the size of its cryptocurrency fund by more than 65%, from $585 million to $200 million. Talk about a pivot. We assume this is all going into AI, right?

coindesk.com · 2 min

TLDR Founders

PARTNER PETER SPECHT

It isn’t the heady days of 2021 (“shut up and take my money!”), but there are glimmers of hope out there. This exhaustive review of current data on each stage of investing is a must read if you’re headed out to raise this Fall.

saastr.com · 7 min

TLDR Founders

MY FAVORITE INTERVIEW QUESTION

I like to ask my team if the person they are recommending to hire would pass the “airport test” - if you were stuck in an airport for the next 8 hours, would you be psyched to chat with this person? I like Matt Blumberg’s approach as well though.

startupceo.com · 3 min

TLDR Founders

RAISING PRICES FOR YOUR PRODUCT: SHOULD YOU DO IT? IF SO, HOW?

With just about every major SaaS provider raising their prices, should you take the plunge? Quick read on the things you’ll want to think through before doing so, as well as tips on how to test and roll it out.

entrepreneurshandbook.co · 6 min

TLDR Founders

FROM FIVE TO 50: HOW TO HIRE AT YOUR EARLY-STAGE STARTUP

It never hurts to study up on early-stage hiring especially in a post-AI, post-pandemic world. This is a great read that breaks down the 5-to-50 hiring tricks of the trade.

sifted.eu · 5 min

TLDR Founders

BUILDING A SECOND BRAIN USING AI

I’m an active Notion user, largely for curating interesting reads, infographics, and thoughts. In this article, Azeem Azhar unpacks how you can use AI to level up your research skills and turn Notion into a valuable database where you can store knowledge and more easily spot thematic connections and patterns.

exponentialview.co · 7 min

TLDR Founders

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You never know, but the formula is pretty clear if/when you get acquired. Jason from SaaStr walks us through what to expect.

saastr.com · 2 min

TLDR Founders

A16Z EXPLORES WHETHER AI WILL UNLOCK PERSONAL FINANCE MANAGEMENT

We’re increasingly seeing more people want to take control of their finances. Fees charged by financial advisors, funds, and wealth managers, and valuable leaps in money tech, are encouraging people to go it alone when it comes to personal finance. Is there an opportunity for AI to take the wheel on this trend?

a16z.com · 4 min

TLDR Founders

DON’T DO IT FOR THE MONEY

Marc Randolph lays out why he thinks founders shouldn’t be focused on “getting rich” but instead should be focused on solving hard problems with amazing people. What do you want to spend your time on really once your basic needs are met?

marcrandolph.com · 5 min

TLDR Founders

16 LESSONS I LEARNED FROM STUDYING THE $700M BRAND LIQUID DEATH

Canned water? C’mon. You wouldn’t think of canned water as a massive business, but Mike Cessario leveraged some (what are now) obvious tricks to bootstrap his now ubiquitous canned water brand.

entrepreneurshandbook.co · 8 min

TLDR Founders

EUROPEAN BIOTECH FUND RAISES $400M

Within all the AI hype, it’s nice to see biotech getting a spotlight.

biopharmadive.com · 2 min