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everything you need to read this week by @stephthefounder (September 8th)

Author

Steph Mui
September 08, 2025

The goal is to be the best weekly newsletter to be the most succinct + fun way to learn about 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!

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these kinds weeks are the ones that make me feel thankful to no longer be an investment banker — 6 companies are going public!!! my heart goes out to all the analysts working over over overtime this week (esp the ones at goldman - you go glen coco!!) but as a non-investment banker-but-remaining-finance-nerd at heart who purely gets to speculate, i’m excited 🤓 

i have a breakdown of klarna going out later on ig/tt, and I think this week will be telling specifically to answer the question: does profitability matter?? both klarna and gemini are riding the waves of hot (especially fintech) IPOs in recent months, but most (this year) have been profitable (something that investors have been scrutinizing extra given all the… craziness… unpredictability…. unhinged-ness…. that’s been going on this year). both klarna/gemini are unprofitable, and i’m curious to see which will prevail - the streak of the hot fintech IPOs or the fear we’re in a(n unprofitable) bubble 🤷🏻‍♀️

//

and speaking of people getting rich via exits, openai announced they’re increasing their secondary sale to $10B+ (still at a $500B valuation)

this has me thinking… what is the incentive for companies to go public anymore?? it used to be to access capital + give employees/investors liquidity, but if there’s private demand (like in the case of openai… and other hot companies spacex/databricks etc), will this just exacerbate the delay and dearth of IPOs more (and/or create an adverse selection problem in public markets?? 🫠 meltdown for a different day)

💰 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.

And now you can easily earn some cold hard cash 💰: you can now use PINpoint (a fun product my company has been building) to earn $$ (anywhere from $5K to $30K) for successfully referring people to top startups. The brilliant part about this is:

1) you don’t even need to know the person who’s ultimately hired - if you post a link on LinkedIn and the algorithm shows it to someone who ultimately clicks the link and is hired, you get the $$$ 😏 

2) all of these companies are great and highly respected, so your friend (or random person who saw your post) will also thank you 😉 win win

(PS are you a founder or do you work at a cool startup that’s hiring? reply back with the name so we can give you guys a shout!)

This week’s featured companies:

  1. Exa: Instead of building search for people, Exa is building it for AI agents—an API that delivers ad-free, full-page results in under 450 ms with custom filters and no data retention. The company just closed an $85M Series B at a $700M valuation, led by Benchmark

    1. Job openings can be found here

  2. Orchard Robotics: Using tractor-mounted cameras and AI, Orchard helps fruit growers monitor crop health, forecast yields, and optimize fertilization in real time. Already in use on some of the largest US apple and grape farms, the startup just raised a $22M Series A led by Quiet Capital and Shine Capital to expand into more specialty crops

    1. Job openings can be found here

  3. The Browser Company: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company (the creators of Arc and Dia) for $610 million (in cash!!). Their aim? To transform the browser into a productivity tool that understands context, connects dots across SaaS apps, and integrates AI directly into your workflow. Interesting news on the back of Google’s news that it isn’t being forced to divest Chrome, but it is barred from any more exclusive search contracts (another data point emphasizing the power of the browser)

    1. Job openings can be found here

Some bonus companies that were also funded last week:

  • Mistral (open-source LLMs & AI tools) 🤖 → €2B raise (Job openings here)

  • You.com (AI-powered app APIs) 💻 → $150M Series C (Job openings here)

  • Augment (AI logistics automation) 🚚 → $85M Series A (Job openings here)

  • Kapital (LatAm banking software) 💳 → $86M raise (Job openings here)

  • Charm Therapeutics (cancer drug discovery) 🧬 → $80M Series B (Job openings here)

  • Shift5 (OT security for fleets) 🛡️ → $75M Series C (Job openings here)

  • Lead Bank (fintech banking services) 🏦 → $70M raise (Job openings here)

  • ID.me (digital identity verification) 🆔 → $65M Series E (Job openings here)

  • LayerX (AI back-office automation) 📋 → $100M Series B (Job openings here)

  • Anthropic (makers of Claude) 🤖 → $13B raised at $183B valuation 🤯 (Job openings here)

🤓 Best things to read instead of doomscrolling

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

  1. Most people’s life satisfaction matches their personality traits (ResearchGate) — ✨fascinating✨ large-scale study showing that happiness isn’t random: your personality is one of the strongest predictors of how satisfied you’ll be with life. I especially found the chart in the photo (from the paper, showing correlations between certain traits and high / low life satisfaction) really interesting. A good reminder of how the way you see yourself shapes your life.

  2. Everything You’ve Been Told About Burnout Is Wrong by Blake Scholl — burnout isn’t about working too hard, it’s about chasing goals too distant to feel real. The fix isn’t rest, it’s believable milestones inside your “gratification window.” Echoes Sam Altman (from his interview on Uncapped Podcast): “I was told, and I thought for a long time, that you get burned out from working too hard… what I’ve found is that burnout actually comes from failing and things not working.”

  3. Face it: you’re a crazy person by Adam Mastroianni — Every job is unglamorous up close; happiness comes from picking the flavor of “crazy” that matches ✨you✨. Reminiscent of the Naval quote — “The way to get rich is to play your specific knowledge, your unique skill set, and your passions. When you combine those, no one can compete with you because it’s uniquely yours.”

  4. Ali Abdaal (creator w/ 6.5M subscribers) interview on Moneywise — especially for those interested in becoming creators, this was the most transparent interview I’ve ever listened to about what the $ side looks like (especially for creators looking to go from 0 to brand deals to their own business). Secondly, as someone who hears most about VC exits and wealth, it’s interesting to hear a different perspective from someone who prioritizes businesses around consistent cash flow vs a large VC exit (and how that impacts his life, spending, etc).

📱 Everything you may have missed in tech/startup news

  1. Anthropic settles author lawsuit for $1.5B — biggest copyright recovery in U.S. history.: The settlement resolves disputes over copyrighted material used to train AI models, making it the largest copyright payout in American history. ($1.5B is objectively huge, but paltry in relation to its total funding of $30B+ including the $13B they just raised at a $180B+ valuation - I’m sure they’ll be fine 🤪 )

  2. Google dodges breakup but must end default search deals + share index with rivals: A federal judge ruled Google can no longer lock in default search deals with device makers and must share parts of its search index with competitors. The company can still pay for default placements, and Chrome and Android remain intact, aiming to boost competition without dismantling Google’s core services

  3. OpenAI unveils AI hiring platform to rival LinkedIn, with job matching + AI certifications: They’re launching the OpenAI Jobs Platform, set to debut mid-2026, using AI to connect employers with candidates who actually understand AI—from automation pros to prompt engineers

  4. Trump brother-backed “American Bitcoin” went public last week and surged 17%: The stock even spiked as much as 110% intraday before cooling off, thanks to its Nasdaq merger with Gryphon Digital Mining. The company is holding 2,400+ bitcoin and already eyeing a massive $2.1B equity raise to fuel its mining + treasury play

🤝  Cool things from this community

[new experiment!] every week I want to highlight cool projects, opportunities, fundings, etc from this community! these are free and are curated for things that are the most helpful/inspiring/interesting for other members of this group. for more context and to submit any cool projects etc, please see here! (they’ll be reviewed on a rolling basis every Sunday(ish))

(Please note a feature here is not an explicit endorsement unless specifically stated — I do light diligence but given time/resource constraints, am not doing rigorous diligence (so please do your own research before spending lots of time and money, etc.)

  1.  Cool opportunity for college students interested in VC / startups / consumer (from Fara at Anthos Capital!): Are you a college student obsessed with apps, marketplaces, or AI tools? Join the Anthos Consumer Lab (ACL) and turn your digital smarts into insights for VCs. We back founder-led, category-defining companies like GoPuff, Honey, Erewhon, and Super Coffee, and ACL connects cultural enthusiasts with our investment expertise. If you’re plugged into emerging consumer trends, apply here by Friday, September 19th. Questions? Email [email protected]

  2. CookImprov (a unique kind of cookbook) by Tucker Herbert launching Fall 2025: I love the premise of this cookbook! “Most cookbooks tell you what to make. Ours will teach you the framework for improvising so that you can create dishes you love with what you have on hand.”

  1. Jewelry that’s both beautiful and functional by Esti Zuroff: “I designed a bracelet to hold key fobs which many students and apartment residents use. Instead of using a telephone wire bracelet or pony hold now poeple can wear this bracelet! It is a fine piece of jewelry made of gold and silver.”

    This & my cell phone with Apple Pay and going out without a bag 🤌 dream

  1. Her Workplace is launching AI matching (for women x mentors/coaches/peers) by Marilynn Joyner: “Finding mentors, networking, accessing career resources can be so tough - especially for women. So we’ve created a product that helps women get matched to the people, resources, and opportunities that accelerate their career growth.”

🤪 Just because / for fun

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

  • last week i posted this video about saquon barkley recapping this excellent piece from The Profile — TLDR: saquon was making $30M but still investing in ✨equity✨ because “For Barkley, equity is a safeguard — a way to wrest back control from the injuries, draft picks, or franchise decisions that can derail a career overnight.”

    i continue to believe this is deeply misunderstood - celebrities are not starting brands for fun (usually). they’re doing it for $ (and specifically for $ that extends beyond them just trading their time).

    here are two more examples i stumbled upon this week 💀 every celebrity will have a brand in the future

  • story time: 5 months ago reese witherspoon liked my video about my favorite daily ai apps (perplexity, simple ai, vetted), and then this interview came out last week 🫠 i fear i’ve peaked

  • this video made me both laugh (its editing - bravo brut!) and cry (self evident) 💀

@brutamerica

Executives from leading tech companies attended a White House dinner on Thursday, where President Donald Trump met with key figures in the... See more

  • for anyone else who loves true crime, i stumbled upon this this weekend and spent my rainy sunday binging this + cleaning my apartment. i can’t believe i had never heard about it before (and besides it being about the Golden State Killer - fascinating case - I had no idea that Patton Oswald had finished the original book after his wife (the original author/a leading figure in the investigation) had passed away). Fascinating, beautiful, enthralling story all around. (Also I’m in deep need of a new show — if you have any recs, i’ll gladly take them!)

<3 until next week!

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