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Silicon Valley Bank
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Pro Weekly: OpenAI’s Other Model
March 31, 2023
The Briefing
Google, OpenAI and the Coming Copyright Storm
March 30, 2023
Creator Economy
Gumroad Turns a Profit After Price Hike
March 30, 2023
Dealmaker
Startup Banks are in the Hot Seat
March 30, 2023
The Electric
The Electric: A Rift Over the Climate Law Bursts Into the Open
March 30, 2023
Crypto Global
Unpacking the Latest Binance Exodus; Infrastructure is Crypto’s Hottest Trend
March 29, 2023
The Weekend
How (and Where) VCs Take Their Coffee
March 25, 2023

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Briefings

Coinbase Hires Former Shopify Executive as Country Director
March 30, 2023
Circle’s USDC Outflows Exceed $10 Billion Since Crypto Bank Crisis
March 30, 2023
Virgin Orbit Lays Off 85% of Staff, Ceases Operations
March 30, 2023
ByteDance’s Founder Met With Walmart CEO Last Week
March 30, 2023
Block Responds to Short Seller’s Allegations of Fraud
March 30, 2023
Apple Delays Headset Production to Third Quarter
March 30, 2023
FTC Chair Refused Musk Request for a Meeting
March 30, 2023
Roku Lays Off 6% of Workforce
March 30, 2023
Meta to Allow European Users to Opt Out of Personalized Ads
March 30, 2023
Alphabet’s DeepMind and Google Brain Set Aside Rivalry, Target OpenAI
March 29, 2023
Startup Wiz Finds Critical Azure Flaw Tied to Bing Search
March 29, 2023
ByteDance Promoting Lemon8, New Community App in U.S.
March 29, 2023
Celebrities Complain Ahead of Planned Twitter Verification Changes
March 29, 2023

Subscriber comments

Jason Geater

on Silicon Valley’s Realtors, Like Its Bankers, Are Having a Tough Month

Shows just how much free money has artificially inflated assets prices (into the stratosphere) in the most highly-levered asset class. Exacerbate the issue by making said loans against fantasy VC valuations sounds like a recipe for success: ‘This founder has liquidity issues, but they have a billion in founder stock.…We’re going to ascribe value to that and give them a loan. We’re not like the boring banks who need a salary" This will certainly end well when all of the "unicorn" founder borrowers start defaulting on their mega-mansions.

Amber Hayes

on LinkedIn Faces Growing Complaints From Recruiters Over Rising Prices

Amber Hayes VP of recruiting, HR Operations and Mobility - Unity Technologies Totally agree. Their product has not improved, and prices continue to rise, significantly. We have partnered with seekout as the continued cost increases with LinkedIn are not sustainable in the long term.

Anshu Sharma

on Twitter Cuts Salesforce Bill 75% as More Buyers Scrutinize Software Spending

The $400 per year sounds like a lot for Slack. But when your employees each fully loaded cost is close to $250,000 - it’s a rounding error, especially if it makes them even 1% more productive.

Abed Agha

on What Creators on Meta Should Learn from News Publishers on Meta

I think the situation with publishers and creators differs for the following reasons: Creators are the users themselves and as the creator economy grows, so will the number of creators. I suspect the line that draws a distinction between a "creator" and a "user" will get very blurry in the future. In this context, ignoring creator demands = ignoring users; and this will inevitably lead to the decline of such platforms who do this. Equitability between platforms and creators is an important pillar to the advertising-led creator economy and so far YouTube is the only platform that has done it right and baked it in their business model. Meta already scaled their business model outside of creators, so sharing revenue with creators will cannibalize their existing revenue. TikTok should do it while they are still early in their monetization journey.

Arthur P. Johnson

Arthur P. Johnson

on At Patreon, Mismanagement Thwarts a Pandemic-Era Star

Excellent reporting by Paris Martineau, who plainly did not leave a rock unturned. This is such a sad state of affairs, as quite a number of my most cherished creators rely almost entirely on their Patreon-using supporters (including me!) to put food on their respective tables. I personally plan to investigate funding alternatives for each creator I support.

Joy Randels

on Okta Chief Revenue Officer Departs Amid Sales Shakeup

One of the biggest obstacles to overcome in an acquisition is integration. Whether it is technology, people, or processes, it is both an art and science to make an acquisition fully successful.

Syed Ashrafulla

Syed Ashrafulla

on The Best Little Unicorn in Texas: Jasper Was Winning the AI Race—Then ChatGPT Blew Up the Whole Game

Great story on how non-technical founders found a business fit for a platform technology. I don't think OpenAI can hold all (or many) of the verticals while keeping the horizontal ahead, so it makes sense that companies like Jasper will rise with the tide of conversational AI rather than drown in that tide. In the end, we as consumers need the engineering AND the product.

Latest Articles

Bakkt's team ringing the first trade bell at the New York Stock Exchange in 2018. Photo via NYSE.

Exclusive

Crypto Company Bakkt’s Make-or-Break Deal

By Aidan Ryan · March 31, 2023 6:01 AM PDT

The crypto industry is littered with the corpses of now-shuttered businesses. Among the survivors, at least so far, is Bakkt, a crypto company founded by New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange. But...

Image: Bakkt's team ringing the first trade bell at the New York Stock Exchange in 2018. Photo via NYSE.

Breaking Stories

Silicon Valley Bank
Follow our coverage of Silicon Valley Bank's Failure

Orlando Bravo, co-founder of Thoma Bravo LLC. Photo by Bloomberg.

Private Equity Firms’ Secret Weapon for Big Software Buyouts

By Rachel Graf · March 30, 2023 10:00 AM PDT · 7 comments

When Thoma Bravo was drawing up the financing of its $8 billion acquisition of Coupa Software last year, the private equity giant didn’t turn to a bank, and it didn’t get a traditional loan. Instead, it tapped a group of non-bank lenders including Sixth Street for a relatively obscure type of financing—one that has been making... When Thoma Bravo was drawing up the financing of its $8 billion acquisition of Coupa Software...

Art by Clark Miller.

The Layoff Contagion Is Hurting Us All

By Jeffrey Pfeffer · March 30, 2023 9:00 AM PDT · 12 comments

Alphabet. Salesforce. Microsoft. IBM. Zoom. Meta Platforms. Amazon. The list goes on. More than 300,000 people laid off just in technology, just in the past year, and the number keeps growing—Disney, Goldman Sachs, Philips, Boeing, Meta (again), Amazon (again), even McKinsey. Seems like everyone is joining the layoff bandwagon. Many,... Alphabet. Salesforce. Microsoft. IBM. Zoom. Meta Platforms. Amazon. The list goes on. More than...

Photos via Goldman Sachs, Elliott Management, Bloomberg, the Berkeley Forum, JPMorgan Chase, Sequoia, UC Berkeley and YouTube.

Meet The Information’s New Financial Power Brokers

By Rachel Graf, Lauren Tara LaCapra, Cory Weinberg, Michael Roddan, Maria Heeter and Kate Clark · March 30, 2023 6:00 AM PDT

Jamie Dimon won’t run JPMorgan Chase forever, and Marc Andreessen will one day give way to the next generation of investors. The Information has identified the bankers, executives and investors who could replace them by stepping into the upper echelons of the finance industry in the years to come. They are The Information’s New... Jamie Dimon won’t run JPMorgan Chase forever, and Marc Andreessen will one day give way to...

From left, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and Google Brain chief Jeff Dean. Photos by Getty, Bloomberg

Alphabet’s Google and DeepMind Pause Grudges, Join Forces to Chase OpenAI

By Jon Victor and Amir Efrati · March 29, 2023 4:19 PM PDT · 1 comment

From left, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and Google Brain chief Jeff Dean. Photos by Getty, Bloomberg

Alphabet’s Google and DeepMind Pause Grudges, Join Forces to Chase OpenAI

By Jon Victor and Amir Efrati · March 29, 2023 4:19 PM PDT · 1 comment

OpenAI’s success in overtaking Google with an artificial intelligence–powered chatbot has achieved what seemed impossible in the past: It has forced the two AI research teams within Google’s parent, Alphabet, to overcome years of intense rivalry to work together. Software engineers at Google’s Brain AI group are working... OpenAI’s success in overtaking Google with an artificial intelligence–powered chatbot...

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, co-founders of Gemini. Photo by Getty.

Gemini Preps Overseas Derivatives Exchange to Offer ‘Perpetual Futures’

By Akash Pasricha and Aidan Ryan · March 29, 2023 12:39 PM PDT

Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, has been gearing up to launch an international cryptocurrency derivatives exchange, according to two people familiar with the matter. The collapse of FTX, one of the top international exchanges with significant market share in derivatives trading, in November opened the door... Gemini, the crypto exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, has been gearing up to...

Art by Clark Miller

Layoff Uncertainty at Meta Makes 2023 a Year of Distraction

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · March 29, 2023 10:34 AM PDT

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has branded 2023 the “year of efficiency” for his employees. But rolling layoffs and restructuring aimed at streamlining the company are proving to be a major distraction for many anxious employees. Most of the 10,000 people to be laid off in the second round of cuts, announced two weeks ago,... Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg has branded 2023 the “year of efficiency” for his...

startups amazon

Satellite Internet Plans from SpaceX and Others Deserve a Pinch of Salt

By Becky Peterson · March 29, 2023 6:00 AM PDT

If satellite internet providers like SpaceX’s Starlink have their way, the skies are going to get a lot more crowded with their orbiting antennas in the coming years—so crowded that it’s worth exercising a bit more skepticism about how many will actually get off the ground. Just last Sunday, British internet company OneWeb... If satellite internet providers like SpaceX’s Starlink have their way, the skies are going...

Art by Clark Miller.

Don’t Build the Wrong Kind of AI Business

By Ben Parr · March 28, 2023 9:00 AM PDT · 12 comments

Art by Clark Miller.

Don’t Build the Wrong Kind of AI Business

By Ben Parr · March 28, 2023 9:00 AM PDT · 12 comments

At a catch-up coffee a few weeks ago, a founder friend asked me, “What AI thing should we build?” It was the third time that week a founder had asked me the same question. Generative artificial intelligence is 99% of the buzz in Silicon Valley right now. In just the last few weeks, Open AI released GPT-4, its most advanced language... At a catch-up coffee a few weeks ago, a founder friend asked me, “What AI thing should we...

Art by Clark Miller.

Crypto VCs Revert to What’s Safe: Blockchain’s Building Blocks

By Akash Pasricha · March 28, 2023 6:00 AM PDT · 1 comment

Mention the term “blockchain infrastructure” at a party and you’re likely to meet blank looks. Unless, that is, you’re hanging out with a group of crypto venture capitalists. As investors have pulled back from high-profile crypto names, unnerved by the collapse of firms like FTX, the appeal of crypto infrastructure, or... Mention the term “blockchain infrastructure” at a party and you’re likely to...

Packages move along a conveyor belt at an Amazon Fulfillment center in Robbinsville, N.J. Photo by Bloomberg.

e-commerce amazon

Amazon Starts Warning Customers About ‘Frequently Returned’ Items

By Theo Wayt and Ann Gehan · March 27, 2023 1:53 PM PDT

Amazon’s free and easy return policy for the vast majority of its items is a key part of its pitch to consumers, but a new feature the company is rolling out shows it’s trying to get customers to send purchases back less often. Amazon in recent months has started warning customers that an item they’re about to buy has been... Amazon’s free and easy return policy for the vast majority of its items is a key part of...

Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance. Photo by Getty.

7 Biggest Revelations About Binance From CFTC’s Explosive Lawsuit

By Aidan Ryan and Akash Pasricha · March 27, 2023 1:14 PM PDT · 2 comments

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued crypto exchange Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao, Monday for violating U.S. trading laws, the first major lawsuit from a U.S. agency against the world’s largest crypto exchange. The lawsuit alleges that Binance breached multiple laws by encouraging U.S.-based customers to use the trading... The Commodity Futures Trading Commission sued crypto exchange Binance and its CEO, Changpeng...

Art by Clark Miller.

The Streaming Business Model Is Hitting Its Half-Life

By Andrew A. Rosen · March 27, 2023 9:00 AM PDT · 11 comments

Art by Clark Miller.

entertainment media/telecom

The Streaming Business Model Is Hitting Its Half-Life

By Andrew A. Rosen · March 27, 2023 9:00 AM PDT · 11 comments

Sign up for Rosen’s newsletter, Parqor, part of The Information’s newsletter network. There is a big question lurking in the background of the media business’s ongoing production budget cuts, layoffs and general sense of struggle: What if the entertainment we love simply can't survive anymore—and what if... Sign up for Rosen’s newsletter, Parqor, part of The Information’s newsletter...

The People Who Make OpenAI Run Fast

By Jon Victor · March 27, 2023 7:00 AM PDT

Sam Altman has been the face of OpenAI as it quickly outmaneuvered rivals such as Google to launch cutting-edge artificial intelligence to the public. But the co-founder and CEO delegates broad authority to a handful of lieutenants who have managed its growing workforce, developed new software and integrated it with products made by Microsoft.... Sam Altman has been the face of OpenAI as it quickly outmaneuvered rivals such as Google to...

Signage outside of a Silicon Valley Bank branch in San Francisco. Photo by Bloomberg.

SVB Is Sold, but Other Banks Are Already Filling Its Niche

By Michael Roddan · March 27, 2023 6:00 AM PDT · 3 comments

After a two-week auction process, Silicon Valley Bank has finally been sold to regional lender First Citizens Bank. But already, other banks have moved to replace SVB as the tech industry’s go-to bank. Among the firms moving quickly are SVB rival Western Alliance-owned Bridge Bank and JPMorgan Chase, as well as newer institutions Mercury... After a two-week auction process, Silicon Valley Bank has finally been sold to regional lender...

Elon Musk. Photo by Bloomberg.

Musk Puts $20 Billion Value on Twitter

By Erin Woo and Martin Peers · March 25, 2023 4:45 PM PDT · 3 comments

Elon Musk offered Twitter employees stock grants at a valuation of roughly $20 billion, said a person familiar with an email Musk sent to staff, less than half what he paid to buy the company. It was a concrete acknowledgment of how much Twitter’s value has dropped since the deal—but it is still well above public market valuation... Elon Musk offered Twitter employees stock grants at a valuation of roughly $20 billion, said a...

Art by Clark Miller.

An AI Researcher Tries to Build Good AI While Burning Down the Bad

By Margaux MacColl · March 25, 2023 7:05 AM PDT · 2 comments

Art by Clark Miller.

An AI Researcher Tries to Build Good AI While Burning Down the Bad

By Margaux MacColl · March 25, 2023 7:05 AM PDT · 2 comments

In the hours after Margaret Mitchell was fired by Google over email in February 2021, she ran to the bathroom and threw up. “I was just so terrified that I was never going to get a job in tech again, that my name had been scarlet lettered,” she told me over an hourlong Zoom this week, calling from her home outside Seattle. That was... In the hours after Margaret Mitchell was fired by Google over email in February 2021, she ran to...

Art by Clark Miller.

Market Research

e-commerce culture

The Skin-Tech Devices Helping Execs Beautify in a Hurry

By Aja Mangum · March 25, 2023 7:00 AM PDT · 3 comments

I’m always 29 at heart,” said Liyia Wu, CEO of ShopShops, a livestream shopping app for fashion, beauty and lifestyle products. But now that she’s actually over 40, Wu is searching for her fountain of youth. She’s one of the many time-starved executives navigating the crowded beauty tech marketplace, which did an... I’m always 29 at heart,” said Liyia Wu, CEO of ShopShops, a livestream shopping app...

A TikTok advertisement at Union Station in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Photo by Bloomberg.

TikTok Shifts Into Damage Control Mode

By Kaya Yurieff · March 24, 2023 3:27 PM PDT · 2 comments

TikTok and some companies that work with the popular app have shifted into damage control mode after a rancorous Congressional grilling of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew failed to allay lawmakers’ concerns that its Chinese parent, ByteDance, poses a national security risk. Golin, a major public relations firm that hires creators on behalf of... TikTok and some companies that work with the popular app have shifted into damage control mode...

Anu Aiyengar, global head of M&A at JPMorgan Chase, said potential sellers that have endured steep stock price drops are getting closer to coming back to the table. Photo by Bloomberg.

Dealmakers See M&A Targets in Tech When Slowdown Abates

By Cory Weinberg and Lauren Tara LaCapra · March 24, 2023 1:25 PM PDT · 2 comments

Dealmakers who gathered in New Orleans this week are hopeful that the prolonged deals freeze will thaw this year—and that the tech sector in particular holds plenty of companies ripe for acquisition. That may be a case of optimism transcending reality. On panels and in coffee chats at the annual Tulane Corporate Law Institute conference,... Dealmakers who gathered in New Orleans this week are hopeful that the prolonged deals freeze will...

Art by Clark Miller

Silicon Valley’s Realtors, Like Its Bankers, Are Having a Tough Month

By Zara Stone · March 24, 2023 12:00 PM PDT · 2 comments

Art by Clark Miller

Silicon Valley’s Realtors, Like Its Bankers, Are Having a Tough Month

By Zara Stone · March 24, 2023 12:00 PM PDT · 2 comments

In early March, Ken DeLeon, founder of DeLeon Realty, a Silicon Valley–based brokerage that sold more than $1 billion in homes in 2021, called one of his venture capitalist clients to discuss the purchase of a $20 million–plus megamansion. The client was flip-flopping between a cash offer and a loan. “First Republic Bank has a... In early March, Ken DeLeon, founder of DeLeon Realty, a Silicon Valley–based brokerage that...