Tech and startups: 1st April 2025

• Mercury Financial doubled its valuation to $3.5 billion after raising $300 million, expanding its fintech platform for startups with tools like cash flow analytics and automated banking operations.
• Island secured $250 million in Series E funding, reaching a $4.8 billion valuation for its secure enterprise browser that offers features like application access control and enhanced security management.
• AI-driven security startup Hakimo raised $10.5M to launch AI Operator, an autonomous security agent using computer vision and generative AI to monitor threats in real-time, offering businesses substantial savings compared to traditional security.
• Venture capital-backed defense startups like Skydio and Anduril Industries are disrupting the traditional military industry with AI and autonomous systems, challenging established manufacturers and redefining warfare strategies.
• YC-backed Taxo raised $5M for its AI 'reasoning engine' that enhances healthcare administration efficiency by reducing paperwork for doctors, achieving a 98% prior authorization approval rate.
• Manny Medina's new startup, Paid, raised €10 million to help AI agentic companies profitably price their bots, addressing challenges in billing and measuring performance.
• Pre-revenue startup valuation focuses on future potential rather than past performance, using market research and technical due diligence to map cash flow assumptions and build investor conviction.
• Latin America's VC landscape is thriving with significant growth in funding, especially in fintech and AI, driven by unique regulatory challenges and the importance of strategic partnerships.

jwz: Unpopularity Contest (avdi.codes, 2025-03-27). Avdi Grimm critiques Hacker News, likening it to a support platform for venture capitalists and their negative influence, urging readers to consider alternatives instead of contributing to this ecosystem

None (dbushell.com, 2025-03-26). Netlify engineer Eduardo Bouças critiques Next.js, highlighting concerns about React's legacy issues and Vercel's closed ecosystem, leading David Bushell to advise caution towards Next.js and Vercel products

Vibe-free SvelteKit for Fun and Profit (dbushell.com, 2025-03-28). A web developer creates a custom accounting app using SvelteKit, Bun, SQLite, and Drizzle. The project features task management, invoicing, and a unique tech stack, while also maintaining a critique of Discord's closed community structure

Unpopularity Contest (jwz.org, 2025-03-27). Jwz expresses discontent with being ranked on Hacker News while criticizing its culture, particularly its ties to venture capitalism and the influence of figures like Garry Tan

The commoditization trap: why software needs community to thrive (pepicrft.me, 2025-03-31). Software commoditizes quickly, making community-driven ecosystems vital for sustainability. Tools like Supabase, CI suites, and concepts like economic moats and open-source dynamics illustrate the challenges and strategies for enduring relevance in the market

My job doesn't need to exist? (birchtree.me, 2025-03-27). Matt Birchler discusses the necessity of product management roles and the impact weak links in product, design, or engineering can have on team dynamics and product quality

Retrospective Performance Reviews (tidyfirst.substack.com, 2025-03-28). Proposes retrospective performance reviews as a better alternative to traditional reviews that predict impact and individual contributions, emphasizing teamwork and collaboration with tools like Unblocked for current project context

229. "Tech Goes Hardcore" ... Again. (hardcoresoftware.learningbyshipping.com, 2025-03-25). The tech industry is revisiting efficiency with a focus on return-to-office policies, meritocracy, and cost-cutting, echoing past cycles in company culture, notably the competition over employee perks and benefits

Project ownership (equity and equity) (seths.blog, 2025-03-25). Silicon Valley's equity culture often leaves deserving individuals without ownership, as stock options frequently fail. Tying bonuses to outcomes can provide more effective alignment and reflect true contributions

No, we’re not a startup — and that’s fine (werd.io, 2025-03-25). The article discusses the distinction between working in large organizations and the true startup experience, emphasizing focus on user needs, rapid iteration, and the challenges of corporate culture in fostering innovation

Link Post - I'm an American software developer and the "broligarchs" don't speak for me (ldstephens.net, 2025-03-25). An American software developer expresses concern about the negative influence of Big Tech 'bros' in culture, emphasizing that they do not represent him or many others in the tech community

Stacked against us (jappieklooster.nl, 2025-03-26). A Haskell coaching experience faced challenges with over-engineering and poor management, ultimately leading to a productive turnaround through simpler code practices and improved monitoring while utilizing tools like SAP and TypeScript

The Rest of the Company Can’t Handle Agile (asktheuxer.com, 2025-03-28). Agile methodologies like Scrum face challenges as corporate structures struggle to adapt to unpredictable software development, leading to issues with coordination, planning, and stakeholder alignment across departments in larger organizations

My Book's Pre-Sale Just Barely Succeeded (mtlynch.io, 2025-03-31). The Kickstarter pre-sale for 'Refactoring English' raised $6,000 after initial struggles, aided by a popular blog post and community support, showcasing the importance of timing and audience engagement for writers

No Excuses: How to Build, Scale, and Win in Hard Tech (terraformindustries.wordpress.com, 2025-03-25). Hard tech startups must overcome the 'Valley of Death' by efficiently scaling production and demonstrating economic value. Successful companies prioritize execution, iterative development, and cost-effective manufacturing, as seen at Terraform Industries

Will My Tech Enshittify? How to tell... (optoutproject.net, 2025-03-27). Understand enshittification in tech products, assessing their likelihood to become user-unfriendly. Factors include funding sources, company structure, and relevant social groups influencing technology's evolution, particularly in startups and open source projects

Building Figma Slides with Noah Finer and Jonathan Kaufman (newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com, 2025-03-26). Figma engineers discuss turning Figma Slides from a hackathon project to a successful product, utilizing C++, TypeScript, WebAssembly, and EngCrit processes, overcoming challenges in multiplayer interactions and single-slide view implementation

A better way to plan, build, and ship products | Ryan Singer (creator of “Shape Up,” early employee at 37signals) (lennysnewsletter.com, 2025-03-30). Ryan Singer discusses the 'Shape Up' methodology for product development, focusing on appetite-driven planning, effective shaping sessions, and practical techniques for improving collaboration between teams

Bringing internal engineering projects to the world (leaddev.com, 2025-03-28). Pia Nilsson from Spotify discusses how to externalize impactful internal tools like Backstage, enhancing developer productivity while addressing challenges of alignment and fragmentation in autonomous engineering cultures

The Death of Product Development as We Know it (lg.substack.com, 2025-03-25). AI fundamentally reshapes product development, sidelining traditional team structures and documentation in favor of rapid prototyping and iteration, favoring individual contributors and fostering an experimental approach to problem-solving

Letter #274: Christina Cacioppo (2014) (aletteraday.substack.com, 2025-04-01). Christina Cacioppo shares insights on building products and learning programming, emphasizing persistence and practical tools like Python, Ruby, Heroku, and embracing the iterative nature of development in her personal journey

Joining a Startup Valued at 60x Revenue: Smart Move or Sucker’s Bet? (mostlymetrics.com, 2025-03-30). Evaluating a mid-level leadership role at a high-growth AI startup with a 60x revenue valuation involves assessing strike prices, revenue forecasts, dilution risk, and the potential for generational company success

State of the Private Markets (mostlymetrics.com, 2025-03-28). Explore insights on pre-IPO candidates including valuation shifts, rapid hiring trends, and notable acquisitions in tech markets, alongside analysis of companies like Stripe, OnlyFans, and Klarna

Observations from the 2025 Enterprise Tech 30 (tanayj.com, 2025-03-31). AI-native applications, agentic technology, and record fundraising trends highlight the evolving landscape of enterprise tech, with notable growth in application-focused companies and significant investment opportunities in 2025

A Return To Artisanal Venture (with Rex Woodbury) (investing101.substack.com, 2025-03-29). Rex Woodbury discusses building an authentic venture firm, the dangers of relying on AI for analysis in venture capital, and the importance of contrarian thinking over trend-driven investing

Tensions and opportunities for cybersecurity founders: considerations when building a security company (ventureinsecurity.net, 2025-03-26). Cybersecurity founders face unique challenges and opportunities in an evolving market, balancing time to value, moat development, differentiation, and speed to market for innovative tools like CSPM and AI-driven solutions

Clouded Judgement - 3.28.25 - The New AI Risk Curve (cloudedjudgement.substack.com, 2025-03-28). AI startups grow and fail quicker than traditional SaaS companies due to reduced startup barriers and competition. Tools like GitHub Copilot democratize engineering, creating rapid scaling but increasing risks of commoditization

Avoid overloading your platform engineers (learnings.aleixmorgadas.dev, 2025-03-28). Strategies to prevent cognitive overload among platform engineers include enabling work, upskilling teams, and fostering collaboration to enhance productivity and engagement without overwhelming them with excessive responsibilities

Staying in Software Dev? Best be able to just do things! (compositecode.blog, 2025-03-28). The future in software development demands adaptability, breaking down problems, and understanding product and engineering roles. Embrace the Product Engineer position to thrive amidst industry changes and technological advancements

The Shift Left Data Manifesto (dataproducts.substack.com, 2025-03-26). Chad Sanderson discusses the need for a shift-left approach in data management, emphasizing federated data governance through data contracts, DevOps, and proactive ownership among data producers, platforms, and consumers in software engineering teams

What Does It Take to Land a $200K+ Job in Tech? (vinvashishta.substack.com, 2025-03-30). Landing a $200K+ tech job requires strong data, AI, and product management skills, with increased emphasis on effective communication and strategic value assessment for internal and external stakeholders

Learning From My Tech Career Failures As A Software Engineer (peopleofcolorintech.com, 2025-03-31). Anthony D. Mays reflects on his tech career failures, emphasizing the importance of applying computer science knowledge, networking, and practicing unit testing and code reviews to enhance professional growth

I'm Leaving Sentry (lucumr.pocoo.org, 2025-03-31). Armin Ronacher announces his departure from Sentry after a decade, reflecting on growth milestones, technical achievements like Open Source SDKs, and the personal impact of the company on his life

Things I learnt in the last three months while job-hunting in the Bay Area (blog.viditb.com, 2025-03-31). Vidit Bhargava's three-month job hunt in the Bay Area highlights lessons on design roles in emerging tech and showcases his expertise in apps for Apple platforms and human interface design

10 Years of Engineering Ladders (skamille.medium.com/10-years-of-engineering-ladders-329d309000cd, 2025-03-26). Camille Fournier reflects on a decade of engineering career ladders, sharing insights on their evolution, impact on the tech industry, and advice for crafting effective frameworks for organizational structures

Monki Gras 2025: What I’ve Learned by Building to Last (alexwlchan.net, 2025-03-28). A software developer shares insights from Monki Gras 2025, emphasizing long-lasting systems, the importance of people skills, and lessons learned from experiences at Metaswitch and Wellcome Collection regarding the challenges of software development

There is no Vibe Engineering (serce.me, 2025-03-31). The concept of 'Vibe Coding,' introduced by Andrej Karpathy, is explored, emphasizing distinctions between coding and engineering, and raising concerns about the limitations of AI in software system development

Why is everything so scalable? (stavros.io, 2025-04-01). Scalable architectures often stem from a misunderstanding of complexity. Developers mistakenly prioritize scalability technologies like AWS, microservices, and Kubernetes over essential business needs, leading to costly and convoluted systems with limited ROI

Betteridge's Law of Software Engineering Specialness (buttondown.com, 2025-03-26). Betteridge's Law of Software Engineering suggests that questions about software's uniqueness often have negative answers, with insights into technical debt, hacks, and the nature of engineering across disciplines

AI-Assisted Engineering: My 2025 Substack Recap (addyosmani.com, 2025-03-28). Addy Osmani's recap highlights key themes in AI-assisted engineering, including the 70% problem, Model Context Protocol, Cline for AI engineering, and strategies for future-proofing software careers in an AI-driven landscape

The Agent Network — Dharmesh Shah (latent.space, 2025-03-28). Dharmesh Shah discusses hybrid teams of humans and AI agents, emphasizing the shift from Results as a Service (RaaS) to Work as a Service (WaaS), and the importance of memory and authentication in AI systems

How to win in the AI era: Ship a feature every week, embrace technical debt, ruthlessly cut scope, and create magic your competitors can't copy | Gaurav Misra (CEO and co-founder of Captions) (lennysnewsletter.com, 2025-03-27). Gaurav Misra shares strategies for thriving in the AI era, emphasizing weekly feature delivery, managing technical debt, and prioritizing customer complaints to innovate and outpace competitors in product development