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THE DAILY INDEX

Technology, AI, software, security, crypto and business

HEADLINES & TRENDS

TLDR Founders

OPENAI LAUNCHES SORA 2 WITH NEW SOCIAL VIDEO APP

Sora 2 delivers more realistic, controllable videos with audio and a new TikTok-style app that lets users generate 10-second clips with consent-based cameo uploads. The system enforces guardrails—no public-figure use without permission, no explicit content, and shows notifications when your likeness is used. The app is invite-only in the US and Canada, but OpenAI plans further rollout and public access.

HOW DO GOOD PRODUCT METRICS LOOK LIKE IN 2025?

Your sales team and growth team are both optimizing for speed, yet you're still losing deals. New data shows why - top performers activate 69% of customers within one week because they ignore departmental boundaries. Most companies have sales perfecting their pitch while growth optimizes onboarding, but the fastest activation often requires mixing both. Maybe your differentiating feature works better as an interactive demo before the sales call, not during it. Maybe prospects need a brief demo, then product access, returning to sales only when ready.

GROWTH HACKING

Growth hacking, a term coined by Sean Ellis, focuses on driving rapid, measurable growth through data-driven experimentation and unconventional tactics. It emphasizes metrics like acquisition, activation, retention, revenue, and referral, using the AARRR funnel to prioritize efforts. Successful examples include Airbnb's Craigslist integration and Dropbox's referral loop, highlighting creative strategies that scale effectively. Growth hacking tools like SEO, social media, and A/B testing are crucial, but must avoid over-optimization, vanity metrics, and neglecting retention for sustainable growth.

FROM MANAGING PEOPLE TO MANAGING AI: HOW THE SAME LEADERSHIP SKILLS APPLY IN THE AGE OF AI

Julie Zhuo emphasizes how AI turns everyone into managers, requiring traditional management skills to handle AI agents effectively. Her "diagnose with data, treat with design" framework highlights balancing intuition and data in product development. Despite AI-driven hypergrowth leading to poor data infrastructure, this isn't a significant obstacle, according to Zhuo.

HOW TO MAKE AI WRITE LESS LIKE AI

A copywriter outsourced 100 blog posts to look like an agency, got paid in full, and then a week later, the client demanded every dollar back. The posts were grammatically perfect but strategically worthless. That failure taught him what most founders miss about AI - prompts don't matter if you're feeding it nothing. The fix is context engineering. Before writing anything, gather customer interviews, support tickets, and competitor messaging. Distill those into strategy documents like positioning canvases and messaging frameworks. Only after loading those as context do you start prompting. This works beyond copywriting - a founder prepping for a board meeting shouldn't ask AI for a deck but should first load market research and competitive analysis, then let AI build the narrative.

ALL EYES ON INFLATION

xAI launched grok-code-fast-1, expanding its tech demand due to its quick, cost-effective coding model. Microsoft introduced MAI-Voice-1 and MAI-1-preview to develop proprietary AI models, showing advancements beyond OpenAI's tech influence. Intel faces financial strain with a $3.2 billion quarterly loss as it retains its foundry business under government pressure. Alibaba's Cloud Intelligence Group grew 26% in Q2, with AI-related revenues soaring. Fusion tech is gaining traction with Commonwealth's $863 million Series B2 funding, backed by notable investors like Google and Nvidia.

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