Tech and startups

• Endeavor Catalyst is raising $300M for its fifth fund targeting high-growth startups in emerging markets, while Coralogix became a unicorn with $115M funding and Nabla raised $70M for clinical AI automation.

• Nvidia has significantly increased investments in over 80 AI startups, participating in 49 rounds in 2024 alone, as AI autonomous agents emerge as the top 2025 trend for seed investment.

• The Crunchbase Unicorn Board now shows over 1,500 companies valued at $6 trillion, with an increasing backlog driven by a surge in unicorn creations post-2021 amid slower exits.

• Sequoia-backed Crosby launches as a new AI-powered law firm offering rapid contract-review services, while Birk Jernström launched Polar to help developers create one-person unicorns through a monetization platform.

• Strategic warrants are becoming roadblocks for SaaS companies, with long notification periods deterring buyers and strategic partner perceptions blocking collaboration opportunities.

• Finom raised €115M in Series C as the Amsterdam-based challenger bank focuses on SMB banking and AI-enabled accounting, highlighting continued European fintech growth.

• Amazon's Zoox aims to produce 10,000 robotaxis annually at its California facility, while Tesla's robotaxi pilot launches with human safety monitors amid regulatory scrutiny.

• Mesh was acquired by Romanian cybersecurity firm Bitdefender in a deal integrating dual-layered security for 41,000 clients, while IT.ie acquired Abacus Systems in a seven-figure deal.

How Salesforce Engineering Operationalized AI Productivity at Scale (engineering​.salesforce​.com). Salesforce Engineering integrates AI tools like Cursor, CodeGenie, and GitHub Copilot for enhanced productivity across six major engineering clouds, achieving over 90% adoption

GitHub Copilot Spaces: Bring the right context to every suggestion (github​.blog). GitHub Copilot Spaces enables customized coding assistance by bundling contextual knowledge into reusable 'spaces,' enhancing AI code suggestions based on team-specific workflows, coding styles, and documentation

Expert Generalists: first three characteristics (martinfowler​.com). As software evolves, the Expert Generalist emerges as a vital role, blending curiosity with customer-focus and collaboration, essential for navigating diverse technologies like Java and Python in modern development teams

In Praise of “Normal” Engineers (charity​.wtf). Exploring the importance of building '10x engineering teams' over individual '10x engineers,' emphasizing fast deploy cycles, observability, guard rails, and fostering team ownership in software development

What the CAP Theorem Teaches Us About Engineering Organizations (scorpil​.com). The CAP theorem illustrates trade-offs in software engineering among quality, velocity, and communication, emphasizing structured communication and efficient practices like PR reviews to balance these competing demands in distributed organizations

Distributed, Yet Focused - High-Impact Remote Teams (v01​.io). Explore the advantages of remote work through intentional culture, async communication, and clear expectations, emphasizing the importance of visibility versus productivity in high-impact distributed teams

Know Who To Ask (dontbreakprod​.com). Understanding who to ask for help in complex software systems can save time. Identify domain experts through documentation, Slack activity, or commit history, and leverage collaboration for improved problem-solving

10 takeaways from LDX3 2025 (sijobling​.com). LDX3 2025 provides vital insights on team health, effective metrics, quality reviews, structured onboarding, and the responsible use of AI tools like Claude and Copilot for engineering leaders

Beyond Code Tests: A Lead’s Guide to Building Cohesive Dev Teams (flyingwhilebuilding​.com). Building effective dev teams requires more than coding tests; it hinges on hiring processes aligned with real-world projects, focusing on code comprehension over creativity to enhance fit and team morale

Pure and impure software engineering (seangoedecke​.com). Exploring the contrast between pure and impure engineering, the article discusses how open-source projects align with pure work while tech company tasks demand faster, pragmatic solutions, impacting AI integration and engineering dynamics

7 moments that shaped Figma, as told by Dylan Field (figma​.com). Dylan Field reflects on pivotal moments in Figma's journey, from childhood acting to the Thiel Fellowship and the development of FigJam, highlighting tools like WebGL and lessons in community-driven design

Automattic Twenty (ma​.tt). Celebrating Automattic's 20th anniversary, Matt Mullenweg reflects on remote work, open source, AI's impact, and the importance of a long-term vision for building software and community

One Year at a Database Startup Called Neon (davidgomes​.com). David Gomes reflects on his year at Neon, implementing Neon RLS for Postgres security, building Neon Auth with Stack Auth, launching the Neon Data API, and the excitement of AI integration with MCP before joining Databricks

Picnic 10 years: 2020 — Sudo pick me a sandwich (blog​.picnic​.nl). In December 2020, Picnic faced challenges in automating its fulfillment center (FCA) using agile methodologies, facing a stark contrast to traditional waterfall project management while developing a modular monolith for warehouse management

LotR Episode 5 - Lessons from Shutting Down a Startup (pulse​.latio​.tech). Yoad Fekete discusses the lessons learned from the shutdown of Myrror Security, highlighting the challenges of market readiness and the importance of product-market fit in cybersecurity startups

Building for Belonging (adii​.me). After leaving Automattic, the author found clarity in building Ubundi, a venture studio focused on AI products in South Africa, emphasizing local collaboration and Ubuntu principles

I regret doing a waitlist… [week 18] (medium​.com/@bettercalljohn). John Martin reflects on building Talanoa, an email client designed to minimize noise, expressing regret over an ineffective waitlist strategy and highlighting development updates including new features and cold outreach efforts

Social Capital is now a Browserling customer! (catonmat​.net). Social Capital, a leading Silicon Valley VC, has become a customer of Browserling, a cross-browser testing service that ensures websites work across different browsers and provides a sandbox for safe link analysis

"Reproducing the conditions that made Sequoia’s hallways electric" (collabfund​.com). Tom McMurray discusses early investment strategies at Sequoia, focusing on pattern recognition, capital discipline, and Nvidia's pivotal chip specifications, while emphasizing collaboration in AI innovation at Collaborative Fund's new AIR accelerator

Fear and self-loathing in Silicon Valley (benn​.substack​.com). The YC Demo Day showcases emerging startups in Silicon Valley, with a focus on enterprise solutions, emphasizing the worth of pitches, and reflecting a turbulent world outside the incubator’s curated environment

A Fungible Worldview (investing101​.substack​.com). Cluely's controversial AI tool promotes 'cheating' in various contexts, sparking a debate on attention as currency in a venture capital landscape dominated by a16z’s scale and velocity philosophy

Look The Part (forwardthinking​.substack​.com). To raise venture capital, founders must demonstrate familiarity with insider culture, leveraging tools like Superhuman, Stripe Atlas, and Mercury to signal trustworthiness and expertise in the startup community

Building with the Public: Battle Testing Startup Economics with Grad Students (paragraph​.com). A real-time case study illustrating how launching the MuseKat startup involved AI tools and peer feedback from Columbia and NYU grad students to enhance the learning experience and examine unit economics

From Ephemeral Idea to Live SaaS Waitlist in 120 Minutes (chriis​.dev). Discover how to rapidly validate SaaS ideas in just 120 minutes using AI tools like ChatGPT, development frameworks such as Elixir and Phoenix, and automation techniques for efficient project execution

AI for Hedge Funds Tracker (magis​.substack​.com). The article tracks AI startups targeting hedge funds, covering criteria for inclusion and focusing on tools like deep research interfaces and Excel copilots, while categorizing based on fund backgrounds and product types

Posting into the void – with guardrails (yanirseroussi​.com). A LinkedIn post sparks an unexpected AI collaboration, leading to a project on GenAI Evals and implementing guardrails, demonstrating how posting can open doors to new opportunities in professional networks

Teleoperations era of software (akashbajwa​.co). Exploration of partial autonomy software and teleoperations highlights LLMs, the need for headless tooling, human-machine symbiosis, and agent builders redesigning technology for effective AI integration in critical tasks

Phoenix.new is Fly's entry into the prompt-driven app development space (simonwillison​.net). Phoenix.new by Fly empowers app development through prompt-driven coding with AI, featuring real-time interaction, SQLite support, and a browser-based IDE

So, is coding dead? (00f​.net). AI tools like SPARC and Roo Code transform coding into a collaborative effort, shifting the developer's role from coding to system architecture and strategy, highlighting the need for vision and teamwork

How a 91-year-old vibe coded a complex event management system using Claude and Replit | John Blackman (lennysnewsletter​.com). John Blackman, 91, built an event management system using Claude and Replit, requiring minimal coding experience and under $350 for his church

How to Vibe Code as a Senior Engineer (blog​.alexmaccaw​.com). Vibe coding leverages AI models like Claude Sonnet 4 and Gemini 2.5 Pro, enabling senior engineers to build software quickly using techniques like context management, scaffold setups, and effective prompting strategies

AI won't replace good engineers - it'll make them invaluable (kau​.sh). AI amplifies engineering skills, making seasoned engineers more valuable as they leverage tools like AI coding assistants, understanding that clean architecture and judgment are essential to navigate complex decisions in software development

GPT is writing the GitHub issues, Copilot is fixing them (philipotoole​.com). GPT writes GitHub issues while Copilot generates code, pushing rqlite's development to a new abstraction level, with AI managing tasks from issue creation to implementation, transforming software development practices

Make it yourself (blog​.dannycastonguay​.com). A concise guide to creating successful apps using AI, emphasizing hands-on development with platforms like lovable.dev, teamwork with affordable developers, and effective management strategies to ensure project success

Measuring Commercial Impact at Scale at Canva (canva​.dev). Canva's IMPACT app utilizes Snowflake, Streamlit, and Snowpark for scalable measurement of commercial impact, aiding decision-making across diverse experiments to optimize metrics like Monthly Active Users and Annual Recurring Revenue

From ChatGPT to Instagram to Uber: The quiet architect behind the world’s most popular products | Peter Deng (lennysnewsletter​.com). Peter Deng discusses insights from leading product teams at OpenAI, Instagram, Uber, and Facebook, focusing on human needs, hiring standards, data flywheels, and team dynamics for building successful tech products

Late Vs. Early Disappointment (mdalmijn​.com). Emphasizing early disappointment over late disappointment, the article stresses the importance of early integration in product management, highlighting its role in uncovering potential issues and avoiding complex, over-engineered solutions

Beware Sexy Projects (avivbenyosef​.com). Tech mastery can lead to a focus on trendy projects over impactful work, risking pseudo productivity. Teams should prioritize business needs and potential long-term benefits over excitement for new technologies like APIs

Docs First And The Definition Of Done (friendgineers​.rosenshein​.org). Explores the Docs First approach exemplified by Amazon, emphasizing the importance of narrative documents for efficient meetings and a user-centric focus in product development through press releases and FAQs

stats.store: Privacy-First Sparkle Analytics (steipete​.me). Peter Steinberger introduces stats.store, a modern, privacy-focused analytics backend for Sparkle, utilizing Next.js, Supabase, and AI tools, providing essential app usage statistics without compromising user privacy

Most Valuable When Least Visible | The Security Paradox (danielleheberling​.xyz). Security is crucial yet often overlooked during feature development. This blog discusses strategies to prioritize security, including proactive measures, stakeholder incentives, and community engagement for better practices in tech organizations

That Spreadsheet Running Your Operations: The Right Way to Replace It (flyingwhilebuilding​.com). Legacy spreadsheets can bottleneck growth and create chaos. Replace them effectively by defining problems, validating assumptions, and mapping requirements—essential steps that enhance success in software migration and development

The present, past and future of GitHub (newsletter​.pragmaticengineer​.com). Thomas Dohmke discusses GitHub's evolution from a Rails monolith to a remote-first company, its hiring of junior engineers, the impact of AI tools like Copilot on development, and Microsoft’s acquisition

Week 25, 2025 - 10x Teams (peterszasz​.com). Péter Szász discusses laying off junior developers in an efficiency-driven age, while also addressing the future of AI in engineering and the concept of LLM-optimized content formats

MCP challenges, atomic habits, platform teams vs central teams, and Accelerate capabilities💡 (refactoring​.fm). MCP challenges, atomic habits insights, platform teams versus central teams, and Accelerate capabilities discussed including DORA metrics and customer empathy

The Never Rewrite Podcast, Episode One Hundred Eight: Consolidating Tech Stacks – Is It Worth It? (shermanonsoftware​.com). This podcast episode explores the merits of consolidating or diversifying tech stacks, discussing impacts on business, engineering efficiency, and team dynamics for SaaS scaleups facing scaling challenges

Why don’t startups hire data teams? (medium​.datadriveninvestor​.com). Despite many startups being data-driven, initial hires predominantly focus on engineers, often delaying the recruitment of data teams until Series A-B, which complicates data management and decision-making

Officially a fractional software engineering leader (blog​.jimgrey​.net). Jim Grey announces his first gig as a fractional software engineering consultant, providing part-time support to clients, improving software engineering practices for startups and established companies while leveraging networking and content marketing

Ion Stoica, co-founder and executive chairman of Databricks, on how to turn research into real companies (foundationcapital​.com). Ion Stoica discusses research commercialization, creating impactful companies like Databricks, and developing AI technologies such as Apache Spark and Ray

We can just measure things (lucumr​.pocoo​.org). Armin Ronacher reflects on measuring developer productivity using programming agents, highlighting the challenges of inadequate tools and documentation, and the potential to assess code quality objectively

The 250k per Employee cultural KPI causing layoffs in tech (leahtharin​.com). The tech industry faces layoffs driven by a $250k per employee KPI, stressing the need for companies to balance revenue generation with workforce management amid a growing SaaS market and evolving business models

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