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OpenAI’s Hidden Weapon: Ex-Google EngineersRead Now

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The Briefing
Iger’s Disney Fix-It Plan Has Something for Everyone
Feb. 8, 2023
Crypto Global
Robinhood’s Post-FTX Bump Turned Out to Be Short Lived
Feb. 8, 2023
Creator Economy
Reddit’s Ad Gains Could Mean More Cash for Creators
Feb. 8, 2023
The Weekend
Silicon Valley's Latest Invention: The Supplement Stack
Feb. 4, 2023
Dealmaker
A New Bubble Is Forming for AI Startups, But Don’t Expect a Crypto-like Pop
Feb. 2, 2023

Partners

Briefings

SpaceX to Conduct Key Engine Test on Mars Rocket on Thursday
Feb. 8, 2023
Alphabet’s Verily Appoints Biotech Executive As CFO
Feb. 8, 2023
Francisco Partners Nears $1.7 Billion Deal for Sumo Logic
Feb. 8, 2023
Iger Announces Layoffs as Disney Grapples With Streaming Losses
Feb. 8, 2023
Affirm Cuts 19% of Staff, Pulls the Plug on Crypto Service
Feb. 8, 2023
Robinhood Reports 5% Jump in Revenue, Plans Share Buyback From Bankman-Fried
Feb. 8, 2023
Former Salesforce Co-CEO to Launch AI Startup With Google Veteran
Feb. 8, 2023
Treasury Warns of Cloud Computing’s Risks to Financial Industry
Feb. 8, 2023
Amazon Adds Sports Gambling Channel to Free Streaming Service
Feb. 8, 2023
Uber’s Ride Hailing Business Shows Strong Recovery
Feb. 8, 2023
NYT Co’s Digital Ad Revenues Weaken in Q4
Feb. 8, 2023
UK Regulator Warns it May Block Microsoft-Activision Deal
Feb. 8, 2023
Meta Beginning Effort to Trim Managerial Ranks
Feb. 7, 2023
Zoom Lays Off 15% of Staff, CEO and Execs to Take Pay Cut
Feb. 7, 2023
Microsoft Shows Off AI-Powered Bing Search Engine, Web Browser
Feb. 7, 2023

Subscriber comments

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.

Claire Enders

on Musk May Have Found a Hardcore Leader for Twitter

It’s surprising that any leader gets a kick out of bilking employees, suppliers and almost everyone they might have a legal contract with. Simply because of Musk’s misjudgement on acquiring the company for $44 billion on a whim. Nothing like this Twitter situation would be allowed in the EU.

Nicholas West

on Everything Must Go: The Inside Story of a Startup’s Sudden, Agonizing Collapse

This really captures the insanity that one experiences building a startup. It’s much easier to sit on the sidelines and offer an opinion on why something went wrong than to calculate the nearly incalculable, sequence a million strategic decisions, allocate effectively, fight fires, lead a group of complex humans and ultimately get lucky along the way. That’s a tough business.

Hemant Uchil

on ‘Incredible Alpha’: Orlando Bravo Wants to Buy Your Company

One of the best reads on the The Information. Take a bow Abram Brown! I have always wondered about the Thoma Bravo growth story after they took up one of our competitors. Their strategy makes so much sense. Keep a low profile, deliver good, steady returns during good times, and even through a downturn if they don’t get too ambitious.

Latest Articles

Elon Musk. Photo by Bloomberg.

Exclusive

Musk Tells Twitter Staff to Pause Development Amid Outage

By Erin Woo · Feb. 8, 2023 3:11 PM PST

Elon Musk told employees on Wednesday afternoon to pause feature development as Twitter staff worked to solve an outage that left users unable to tweet or send and read direct messages for more than an hour. ...

Image: Elon Musk. Photo by Bloomberg.

Alexis Ohanian. Photo by AP.

venture capital

Alexis Ohanian Venture Fund Plots $776 Million in New Funds

By Kate Clark · Feb. 8, 2023 12:26 PM PST

Seven Seven Six, the venture capital fund launched by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in 2020, plans to raise $776 million for two new funds, according to investment documents viewed by The Information. The planned fundraising is more than 50% bigger than what it raised last year and will test investor appetite for bigger funds during a tough... Seven Seven Six, the venture capital fund launched by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in 2020,...

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman. Art by Clark Miller. Photos by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

OpenAI’s Hidden Weapon: Ex-Google Engineers

By Jon Victor · Feb. 8, 2023 11:00 AM PST · 2 comments

As OpenAI’s web chatbot became a global sensation in recent months, artificial intelligence practitioners and investors have wondered how a seven-year-old startup beat Google to the punch. Google runs two of the world’s foremost AI research groups, yet a startup quickly developed a product, ChatGPT, that tens of millions of people... As OpenAI’s web chatbot became a global sensation in recent months, artificial intelligence...

Art by Shane Burke. Photos via Reddit/Shutterstock.

How Reddit Grew Its Ad Business, Bolstering IPO Hopes

By Isabelle Sarraf · Feb. 8, 2023 6:00 AM PST

While whiling away the hours on Call of Duty and other videogames, gamers love to chew on Kraft Singles. At least, that’s what research done by food giant Kraft Heinz implies. So to drive more sales of the individually wrapped pieces of processed cheese, Kraft Heinz targeted gaming interest groups on Reddit and launched an ad in the form... While whiling away the hours on Call of Duty and other videogames, gamers love to chew on Kraft...

Photo by Getty.

Fast-Delivery Startups Getir and Flink Held Merger Talks

By Maria Heeter and Erin Woo · Feb. 7, 2023 11:46 AM PST

Photo by Getty.

Fast-Delivery Startups Getir and Flink Held Merger Talks

By Maria Heeter and Erin Woo · Feb. 7, 2023 11:46 AM PST

Turkey-based fast-delivery firm Getir had preliminary talks late last year about merging with Flink, the Germany-based startup, in a sign that consolidation in the fast-delivery sector may have another round to go. Merging with Flink would strengthen Getir in Germany, where it expanded through last year’s acquisition of Gorillas. Flink... Turkey-based fast-delivery firm Getir had preliminary talks late last year about merging with...

Ben Schwerin. Photo: Getty

startups venture capital

Coatue Hires Snap Exec as New General Partner After String of Exits

By Kate Clark · Feb. 7, 2023 10:34 AM PST · 2 comments

Ben Schwerin, a senior vice president of content and partnerships at Snap who helps lead the company's TikTok competitor Spotlight, will join Coatue Management as a general partner, Schwerin told The Information. The new hire follows the departures of four general partners at the New York-based firm, including most recently David Cahn, chief... Ben Schwerin, a senior vice president of content and partnerships at Snap who helps lead the...

Hedge funds, pensions funds and even huge asset managers are outsourcing more and more of their trading. Photo by Bloomberg.

Where Did All the Traders Go? Investment Funds Lean on Outsourcing to Cut Costs

By Lauren Tara LaCapra · Feb. 7, 2023 7:11 AM PST · 1 comment

More and more investment funds are outsourcing their trading, a move that cuts costs and aims to boost returns but also poses risks for the funds’ portfolios and underlying investors. Once a niche Wall Street business that catered to young hedge funds, outsourced trading has now attracted mutual funds, pension funds and other asset... More and more investment funds are outsourcing their trading, a move that cuts costs and aims to...

Artwork by Clark Miller. Photo of SpaceX Starship by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images

Musk’s Long Road to Mars: How Poor Planning Dogged the Development of SpaceX Rocket

By Becky Peterson · Feb. 7, 2023 6:00 AM PST · 5 comments

Early last year, Elon Musk stood on a stage near the coast of Southern Texas with a 400-foot-tall stainless steel rocket made by his company, SpaceX, jutting up into the night sky behind him. That rocket was supposed to be the first of a powerful new class of space vehicles, known as Starship, that SpaceX was preparing to blast into orbit, part... Early last year, Elon Musk stood on a stage near the coast of Southern Texas with a 400-foot-tall...

Luke Voiles. Art: Shane Burke.

Pipe, a Lending Startup Backed By Benioff and Shopify, Nears CEO Appointment

By Maria Heeter and Erin Woo · Feb. 6, 2023 4:53 PM PST

Luke Voiles. Art: Shane Burke.

Pipe, a Lending Startup Backed By Benioff and Shopify, Nears CEO Appointment

By Maria Heeter and Erin Woo · Feb. 6, 2023 4:53 PM PST

Pipe, one of a cluster of startups that found a niche in lending money to companies against their recurring revenues, is close to naming a new CEO to succeed co-founders Harry Hurst and Josh Mangel, who were co-CEOs until last fall, according to people familiar with the decision. Luke Voiles, an executive from payment app Block, has surfaced as... Pipe, one of a cluster of startups that found a niche in lending money to companies against their...

Elon Musk, right, last month. Photo by Getty.

Musk’s Twitter Has Just 180,000 U.S. Subscribers, Two Months After Launch

By Erin Woo · Feb. 6, 2023 1:16 PM PST · 5 comments

Around 180,000 people in the U.S. were paying for subscriptions to Twitter, including Twitter Blue, as of mid-January, or less than 0.2% of monthly active users, according to a document viewed by The Information. The tiny number signals the challenge Elon Musk faces in turning the subscription product into a major source of revenue. The U.S.... Around 180,000 people in the U.S. were paying for subscriptions to Twitter, including Twitter...

Barry Silbert, photo by Getty Images.

Genesis Creditors Agree to be Paid Back With Stock in Barry Silbert’s DCG

By Akash Pasricha and Aidan Ryan · Feb. 6, 2023 11:04 AM PST

To smooth things over with the customers who’d handed crypto lender Genesis billions, Barry Silbert is slowly dismantling his crypto empire. Silbert’s Digital Currency Group will issue more than $1 billion worth of new shares and look to go public by 2025 to help pay back creditors of its bankrupt Genesis subsidiary, in a... To smooth things over with the customers who’d handed crypto lender Genesis billions,...

Illustration by Shane Burke.

Let Section 230 Stay

By Karan Lala · Feb. 6, 2023 9:00 AM PST · 10 comments

Gonzalez v. Google, which the Supreme Court will hear this month, is the culmination of years of litigation. The action—a consolidation of lawsuits filed against Google, Twitter and Facebook—attempts to hold these platforms liable for their automated recommendation of content to users. Social media platforms are publishers, not... Gonzalez v. Google, which the Supreme Court will hear this month, is the culmination of years of...

John and Patrick Collison. Photos by Bloomberg.

Stripe Walks Tightrope to Stay Private. Could Other Firms Follow?

By Cory Weinberg, Maria Heeter and Becky Peterson · Feb. 6, 2023 6:00 AM PST · 1 comment

John and Patrick Collison. Photos by Bloomberg.

markets startups

Stripe Walks Tightrope to Stay Private. Could Other Firms Follow?

By Cory Weinberg, Maria Heeter and Becky Peterson · Feb. 6, 2023 6:00 AM PST · 1 comment

Thirteen years after starting Stripe, chief executive Patrick Collison is raising his company’s largest ever slug of cash from venture capitalists. And he plans to alter employees’ stock plans so the company can delay a public offering. Is this a sign that more tech firms will once again try to delay going public? Not necessarily.... Thirteen years after starting Stripe, chief executive Patrick Collison is raising his...

Art by Clark Miller.

‘We Just Have to Keep Winning’: A Sonos Executive With a Colorful History Goes to War Against Google

By Janko Roettgers · Feb. 4, 2023 7:00 AM PST · 6 comments

A few months into his job as chief legal officer of Sonos, Eddie Lazarus was ready to wage war. When Lazarus joined the audio hardware company in late 2018, it was facing growing competition from Amazon and Google. Both tech giants were selling cheap speakers capable of multiroom audio playback, a feature Sonos had pioneered on its devices... A few months into his job as chief legal officer of Sonos, Eddie Lazarus was ready to wage war. ...

A selection of AI-generated selfies (good ones on the left, duds on the right) of the author Zara Stone.

Market Research

Know Thy Selfie: A Journey Into the Uncanny Valley of AI-Generated Avatars

By Zara Stone · Feb. 3, 2023 12:00 PM PST · 3 comments

At 7 a.m. on August 22, 2022, Yaron Inger woke up to find his business irrevocably changed. The co-founder and chief technology officer of Lightricks, which develops Facetune and other popular media-editing apps, scrolled through his newsfeed, his eyes flicking from one image to another. While Inger slept, Stable Diffusion, an open-source... At 7 a.m. on August 22, 2022, Yaron Inger woke up to find his business irrevocably changed. The...

Art by Mike Sullivan.

Genesis Creditors Could Miss Out on Recent Crypto Rally

By Akash Pasricha and Aidan Ryan · Feb. 3, 2023 10:35 AM PST · 3 comments

Crypto prices have risen since parts of crypto lender Genesis filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy last month, lifting the value of customers’ crypto assets stuck in Genesis accounts. That’s not necessarily good news for Genesis’ creditors, however. Creditors are worried that any repayments they get from the bankruptcy will be made... Crypto prices have risen since parts of crypto lender Genesis filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy...

The supplement stacks of 11 founders and investors. Photos courtesy of subjects.

The Supplement Stacks: All the Pills, Powders and Potions Filling Tech’s Kitchen Counters

By Annie Goldsmith and Margaux MacColl · Feb. 3, 2023 9:00 AM PST · 6 comments

The supplement stacks of 11 founders and investors. Photos courtesy of subjects.

The Supplement Stacks: All the Pills, Powders and Potions Filling Tech’s Kitchen Counters

By Annie Goldsmith and Margaux MacColl · Feb. 3, 2023 9:00 AM PST · 6 comments

When Courtney Reum wakes up in his Los Angeles home, it’s time to freeze, shake and dangle upside down. The co-founder of venture firm M13 takes a dip in his cold plunge—shocking his system awake—before stepping onto his Bulletproof vibration plate, which shakes him, getting his blood flowing. His morning routine crescendos... When Courtney Reum wakes up in his Los Angeles home, it’s time to freeze, shake and dangle...

Amazon executive chairman Jeff Bezos. Art by Mike Sullivan

e-commerce amazon

How Amazon’s Bricks-and-Mortar Dreams Hit a Wall

By Theo Wayt and Nick Wingfield · Feb. 3, 2023 6:09 AM PST · 2 comments

If Amazon’s ambitious vision for becoming a power in bricks-and-mortar retail had gone to plan, last month would have been a big milestone for the company. As recently as late 2021, Amazon had set January 2023 as the target date for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its first ever big-box store. It would have been a bit smaller than a Target... If Amazon’s ambitious vision for becoming a power in bricks-and-mortar retail had gone to...

Photo Illustration by Shane Burke. Photos by Getty and Shutterstock

Musk’s Twitter Scores Super Bowl Deals, a Boon for Struggling Ad Business

By Erin Woo · Feb. 2, 2023 3:16 PM PST

After weeks of turmoil and layoffs, Twitter’s sales team in recent weeks has reorganized to focus more on big advertisers and launch new ad products, such as its recently released digital confetti. Now Twitter faces its biggest sales test since Elon Musk took over the company: Super Bowl Sunday, historically Twitter’s... After weeks of turmoil and layoffs, Twitter’s sales team in recent weeks has reorganized to...

Illustration by Clark Miller.

Stop Paying People So Much

By Marcus Ryu · Feb. 2, 2023 9:00 AM PST · 42 comments

Every startup leadership team wrestles with the trade-offs between growth and profitability. This is fitting and ever shall be. What teams don’t reflect on sufficiently is how a flawed compensation philosophy can make those trade-offs far more painful than they could be. As a former entrepreneur, I know that every venture relies on the... Every startup leadership team wrestles with the trade-offs between growth and profitability. This...

Verily headquarters in San Francisco. Photo by AP.

Revenues Rise at Alphabet’s Biggest ‘Other Bet’ But So Do Losses

By Jon Victor · Feb. 2, 2023 6:00 AM PST · 2 comments

Verily headquarters in San Francisco. Photo by AP.

Revenues Rise at Alphabet’s Biggest ‘Other Bet’ But So Do Losses

By Jon Victor · Feb. 2, 2023 6:00 AM PST · 2 comments

Verily, by far the biggest Alphabet unit by revenue after Google, continues to post heavy losses, according to previously undisclosed financial information. The results show just how far Verily is from standing on its own—a key goal of the Alphabet corporate structure created in 2015. Revenue at Verily, which tries to apply data... Verily, by far the biggest Alphabet unit by revenue after Google, continues to post heavy losses,...