everything you need to read this week by @stephthefounder's (April 28)

Welcome!!! To all the people who have DM’d or commented about how annoying it is to not be able to click the links from my posts, thank you for peer pressuring me to finally put this together 🙃

(I’m using this as an excuse to resurrect my old newsletter, “demystifying VC”, so if you’re a) confused why you’re getting this - you likely signed up for my old newsletter at some point, and/or b) if you’re a new subscriber aka the vast majority of you and if you’re a current or aspiring founder/investor, feel free to read my old educational posts about VC/fundraising/angel investing here.)

The goal is to be the best weekly newsletter to summarize all the best things you need to know across tech, startups, VC, etc, sent out every Monday. (and at the minimum, it will include the links I post about every week on instagram!). Feedback (and a better/more creative newsletter name than the boring one I have now) always welcome! Please reply here x

💰 Companies that will make you a millionaire

Every week I highlight a few of my favorite startups that I personally think are really promising. They’ve typically received funding that week + are hiring, and occasionally I’ll include some special bonus ones.

This week’s companies:

1. Northwood (Space):

   1. founded by Bridgit Mendler (former Disney star, Harvard Law grad + MIT PhD), they're on a mission to make satellite communications faster and more accessible. Their big idea is to mass-produce high-tech ground stations that act like a "data highway" between Earth and space, helping satellites send and receive data much more efficiently. Raised $30M Series A; backed by great investors like Founders Fund and Andreessen Horowitz.

   2. Job openings can be found here

2. Listen Labs:

   1. an SF-based startup that runs thousands of voice and video interviews simultaneously, turning customer feedback into clear, actionable reports and presentations in just hours. Backed by Sequoia Capital with $27 million in funding, their platform is already helping big names like Microsoft and Canva get fast, deep insights by automating the entire customer research process.

   2. Job openings can be found here

3. Nourish:

   1. a New York-based startup that’s on a mission to make it easier for people to eat well and manage chronic conditions by connecting them with registered dietitians through a virtual, insurance-covered platform. They just raised a massive $70 million Series B round led by J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners, pushing their total funding to $115 million and valuing them at over a billion dollars (!). They’re the largest registered dietician network in the US now.

   2. Job openings can be found here

🤓 Best things to read instead of doomscrolling

The best things I’ve read every week, listed and summarized here:

1. Theory of Change by Aaron Schwartz - If you struggle with feeling like you want to do or accomplish more but can’t or feel stuck, this is a great essay on a different way of thinking about change vs action.

2. Impact, agency, and taste by Ben Kuhn - Complements the first article well. Author reflects on what makes his best teammates stand out (he’s on the technical staff at anthropic, the makers behind Claude valued at $60B+ recently). He argues it’s a combination of agency + taste (proactiveness + intuition).

3. Egypt in the Dentist’s Chair by Alaa Al Aswany - From 2013 but incredibly relevant to today re power, agency, oppression etc. No synopsis will do this justice - just read it (ty for the rec @mattprusak!).

4. Sequoia’s ‘The Always-On Economy’ - Thinking about how AI will enable a 24/7 world (if anyone else read ‘’Meditations for Mortals’’, a book I recommended a few weeks ago, I’d be extra curious what you think of this!).

📱 Everything you may have missed in tech/startup news

(This week’s is taken from our team’s PIN newsletter - a really great weekly newsletter that our head of content puts together for more in-depth reading lists + news summaries every week. If you’re interested in more tech/startup news, subscribe here!)

• Yale considers private equity stake sales amid funding turmoil. Yale is weighing the sale of up to $6 billion in private equity holdings as weak returns and political pressure squeeze its $41 billion endowment. Despite continuing to back private equity, the school is exploring options to boost liquidity after one of the lowest investment performances in the Ivy League.

• Why OpenAI wanted to buy Cursor but opted for the fast-growing Windsurf. Cursor, the AI coding tool from Anysphere, is growing too fast to sell. With revenue doubling every two months, the company turned down OpenAI's offer. Instead, OpenAI made a $3 billion bid for Windsurf, another fast-growing coding startup, as it looks to stay competitive in developer tools

• Adam Neumann’s Flow raises over $100M at $2.5B valuation. Adam Neumann, the controversial co-founder and ousted CEO of WeWork, has once again captured the attention of Silicon Valley and Wall Street. His new venture, Flow, a residential real estate startup, has raised over $100 million in a Series B funding round, bringing the company’s valuation to approximately $2.5 billion.

• Columbia student suspended over interview cheating tool raises $5.3M to ‘cheat on everything’. Two former Columbia students raised $5.3 million for Cluely, an AI startup that lets users cheat on interviews, exams, and sales calls using a hidden browser tool. After getting suspended for their original version, the founders dropped out and scaled the product into a profitable, controversial business

🤪 Just because

aka random things that I found interesting enough to screenshot or take a picture of last week