Daily Edition · Page 8

THE DAILY INDEX

Technology, AI, software, security, crypto and business

HEADLINES & TRENDS

TLDR Founders

SIGNS OF LIFE IN UNICORN-LAND

The unicorn market has split into rockets and zombies, with no middle ground left. Out of 1,609 unicorns worth $6.2 trillion, winners like Databricks ($100 billion valuation, 50% growth) and Supabase (jumping from $900 million to $5 billion) are staying private to keep the spoils for themselves, while 28% aren't growing at all and over half fail basic financial health checks. The best companies are avoiding IPOs because they're growing so fast they don't need public money, while the zombies have nowhere to go but down.

996 IS REAL, AND IT'S BECOMING COMMON

Ramp's data shows the "996" workweek, a 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six-day-a-week schedule, is becoming prevalent in San Francisco, affecting multiple sectors beyond just tech. This shift creates intense competition, demanding faster product development and heightened responsiveness, especially for B2B companies. Leaders must decide whether to adopt 996, focus on efficiency, target different markets, or innovate hybrid models to maintain a competitive edge.

WHY RETENTION IS SO HARD FOR NEW TECH PRODUCTS

You might think fixing retention at a startup works like it does at big companies - run A/B tests, optimize onboarding, and send more notifications. However, that's attacking the wrong problem entirely. The truth is that bad retention means you built something people don't want, and no amount of optimization changes that. If your day-one retention is 10% instead of 40%, you need a complete pivot - redesign the home screen, change the core loop, and target different users. The only path to good retention is building something people already need to use frequently, then making it genuinely better than what exists.

USAGE BASED MODELS: WHY THEY SUCK AS A CUSTOMER

Software companies sold us on usage-based pricing with a simple promise - pay only for what you use. In practice, you buy a year's worth of cloud credits for $100,000, use only $50,000, then discover those unused credits disappear unless you spend another $100,000 next year. One founder called it "infrastructure hostage-taking" after going through exactly this. You ask to pay less since you're using less, they say no, and your unused credits become leverage for them to force a renewal.

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