The Briefing by Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

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The Briefing

By Martin Peers, Jessica Lessin and the team at The Information

Get smarter about the day’s news in tech, media and finance by following Silicon Valley’s most-read executive newsletter.

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Recent Editions

More or Less: Elon’s X Game and RIP Seed Investing

By Jessica E. Lessin · Jul 28, 2023 2:52pm PDT

Does Elon know what he’s doing? Is he just doing “sh— to stay in the news cycle?” This week, in More or Less, we debated Musk’s motivations for Twitter’s strange rebrand. And then things got a little heated as Sam posited that seed investing as we know it is over. That would certainly be a change for... Does Elon know what he’s doing? Is he just doing “sh— to stay in the news...

Art by Clark Miller. Photo of Lee By Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile for Collision via Getty Images

Elan Lee Wants to Explode More Than Kittens

By Janko Roettgers · Jul 28, 2023 8:46am PDT · 2 comments

Exploding Kittens CEO Elan Lee still remembers the exact moment when he realized that he had to quit his job at Microsoft. Back in 2014, when he was chief design officer for the company’s Xbox Entertainment Studios division, Lee was visiting his younger brother for a small family reunion, only to find his niece and nephew zoned out in... Exploding Kittens CEO Elan Lee still remembers the exact moment when he realized that he had to...

Tesla's Nevada Gigafactory. Photo by Tesla.

Pro Weekly: More Plans for Battery Gigafactories

By Kalley Huang · Jul 28, 2023 8:00am PDT

Welcome back!This week, we added two proposed factories for making electric vehicle batteries to The Information’s Gigafactory Database. The newest entrants include a plan by South Korea’s Samsung SDI and Chrysler parent Stellantis for a battery factory somewhere in the U.S., as well as a factory proposed by India’s Tata Group in Bridgwater,... Welcome back!This week, we added two proposed factories for making electric vehicle batteries to...

Art by Clark Miller

How Blind Became the App Silicon Valley Bosses Love to Hate

By Paris Martineau · Jul 28, 2023 6:00am PDT · 16 comments

Art by Clark Miller

How Blind Became the App Silicon Valley Bosses Love to Hate

By Paris Martineau · Jul 28, 2023 6:00am PDT · 16 comments

Alex Shin was pretty sure he’d just screwed up the deal. It was early 2021, and Shin was pitching a couple of investors from the venture capital arm of Cisco Systems on the idea of investing in Blind—an app used by millions of workers at tech companies and employers to anonymously gossip about compensation, the horrors of dating in... Alex Shin was pretty sure he’d just screwed up the deal. It was early 2021, and Shin was...

Margrethe Vestager, European Commission's Executive Vice-President who leads competition policy. Photo by Getty.

Europe's New Microsoft Probe Strikes a Familiar Chord

By Scott Thurm · Jul 27, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Microsoft, which has managed to keep its nose clean with antitrust regulators for more than a decade, is now back in their crosshairs. The European Commission Thursday said it had opened a formal probe of complaints that Microsoft is improperly tying its Teams collaboration software to its Microsoft 365 productivity suite. The Commission... Microsoft, which has managed to keep its nose clean with antitrust regulators for more than a...

Creator Economy

A Creator Creates a Digital Twin

By Alex Perry · Jul 27, 2023 1:25pm PDT

Social media creators have been exploring how they can use generative artificial intelligence to promote their personal brands, find inspiration and offload work. Giselle Ugarte, an online performance coach who has nearly 300,000 followers on TikTok, is testing whether the technology can help her with a particularly time-consuming task:... Social media creators have been exploring how they can use generative artificial intelligence to...

Sequoia Capital's Menlo Park, Calif. campus. Photo by Bloomberg via Getty.

Why VC’s Platform Teams Are on the Chopping Block

By Kate Clark · Jul 27, 2023 11:00am PDT · 6 comments

Shortly after the exit of five of its partners, Sequoia Capital let go of seven members of its in-house recruiting and talent team, sending a clear signal to other firms that it’s time to reevaluate the platform teams, which grew exceedingly large during the record bull run. Across VC, I suspect there are thousands of these platform employees—... Shortly after the exit of five of its partners, Sequoia Capital let go of seven members of its...

Art by Clark Miller

Keep Patent Trolls in Check

By Neil McGovern · Jul 27, 2023 9:14am PDT · 8 comments

Art by Clark Miller

Keep Patent Trolls in Check

By Neil McGovern · Jul 27, 2023 9:14am PDT · 8 comments

Many startups and tech nonprofits face legal harassment from patent holders that don’t make products but file lawsuits in the hopes of wringing settlements from businesses. These so-called patent trolls have been thorns in the side of small innovators for years. Now, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the agency that oversees the patent... Many startups and tech nonprofits face legal harassment from patent holders that don’t make...

Popsugar's Play/Ground 2023 event. Photo via YouTube/Digiday.

Digital Ads Remains Weak For Small Firms, Putting Spotlight on Events

By Alex Perry · Jul 27, 2023 8:00am PDT

How bad is the digital ad market? For small firms like BuzzFeed, Vox Media and Bustle Digital Group, digital ad revenue has shrunk so much that their best-performing ad business is now the one tied to live events. Media executives say sales of ad sponsorships tied to live events is outperforming the rest of the ad business, in part due to... How bad is the digital ad market? For small firms like BuzzFeed, Vox Media and Bustle Digital...

The skyline of Kuwait City. A Kuwaiti royal family member is reportedly backing a stealth cloud startup. Photo by Getty.

AI Agenda: The Mysterious AI Data-Center Startup Hiring From AWS, Azure, Meta

By Anissa Gardizy · Jul 27, 2023 7:00am PDT · 1 comment

Save the Date: Next Thursday, Aug. 3, join Aidan Gomez, co-founder and CEO of Cohere, an OpenAI rival valued at $2 billion, and Edo Liberty, founder and CEO of Pinecone, one of the hottest young AI infrastructure startups, for a live audio chat with subscribers. The CEOs will talk to AI Agenda author Stephanie Palazzolo and take your questions... Save the Date: Next Thursday, Aug. 3, join Aidan Gomez, co-founder and CEO of Cohere, an OpenAI...

CEO Jensen Huang Runs Nvidia With a Strong Hand

By Kevin McLaughlin · Jul 27, 2023 6:00am PDT · 4 comments

Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia, the chip designer powering the artificial intelligence boom, has a hand in nearly every aspect of the company’s day-to-day operations. That includes reviewing what sales representatives plan to say to relatively small potential customers, according to a current Nvidia manager with direct... Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO of Nvidia, the chip designer powering the artificial...

In New York in June, Tesla CEO Elon Musk meets with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: Indian PIB/Anadolu/Getty

The Electric: EV Makers Eye India as Their Next Big Market

By Steve LeVine · Jul 27, 2023 4:30am PDT

In New York in June, Tesla CEO Elon Musk meets with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: Indian PIB/Anadolu/Getty

The Electric: EV Makers Eye India as Their Next Big Market

By Steve LeVine · Jul 27, 2023 4:30am PDT

The world’s major automakers have announced plans to spend tens of billions of dollars on electric vehicle assembly plants, battery gigafactories and mining operations around the world. But they have largely shunned India. Though India is now tied as the world’s third-largest auto market, major carmakers have announced no EV or battery... The world’s major automakers have announced plans to spend tens of billions of dollars on...

Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by AP.

Meta’s Growth Rebounds, With Caveats

By Martin Peers · Jul 26, 2023 5:00pm PDT

Mark Zuckerberg’s long national nightmare may be over—at least regarding Meta Platforms’ time in Wall Street purgatory. The social media giant reported 11% topline growth for the second quarter Wednesday, outperforming its bigger digital ad rival Google in ad growth for the period. More importantly, Meta projected third quarter growth of as much... Mark Zuckerberg’s long national nightmare may be over—at least regarding Meta Platforms’ time in...

Photo via Shutterstock

Creator Economy

Meta Eyes AI Tools for Connecting Creators and Fans

By Kaya Yurieff · Jul 26, 2023 3:45pm PDT

Meta Platforms is considering artificial intelligence products that help creators connect with their fans, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on an earnings call on Wednesday. Zuckerberg sees a variety of uses for AI agents, or chatbots, including for creators and businesses. “There are going to be a handful of experiences around helping people... Meta Platforms is considering artificial intelligence products that help creators connect with...

Photo by Getty.

Sequoia, Lightspeed Fund AI Startups in Frenzied Back-to-Back Deals

By Kate Clark and Natasha Mascarenhas · Jul 26, 2023 1:15pm PDT · 5 comments

Foundry Technologies, a startup that plans to rent servers to companies to run artificial intelligence software, is in talks to raise money at a valuation of $350 million, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter. That might not sound surprising except for the fact Foundry was valued at around $50 million in its seed round... Foundry Technologies, a startup that plans to rent servers to companies to run artificial...

Photo by Getty.

Shein Makes an Aggressive Pitch to Woo U.S. Amazon Sellers

By Ann Gehan and Theo Wayt · Jul 26, 2023 12:37pm PDT

Photo by Getty.

Shein Makes an Aggressive Pitch to Woo U.S. Amazon Sellers

By Ann Gehan and Theo Wayt · Jul 26, 2023 12:37pm PDT

The world’s most valuable private e-commerce company is coming for Amazon on its home turf. Shein, the Singapore-based fast-fashion giant most recently valued in May at $66 billion, has won over millions of American shoppers by shipping $4 crop tops and $8 jeans directly from China. Now it’s pushing further into incumbents’... The world’s most valuable private e-commerce company is coming for Amazon on its home turf....

An OpenAI exhibit at Tel Aviv University on June 5. Photo by Getty.

OpenAI Hires Former Microsoft Lawyer to Oversee Publisher Negotiations

By Alex Perry and Nick Wingfield · Jul 26, 2023 11:59am PDT

OpenAI has hired a onetime Microsoft intellectual property lawyer, Tom Rubin, to oversee products, policy and partnerships, the company confirmed. His hiring means OpenAI has an intellectual property specialist in charge of negotiating deals with news publishers to license use of their material in training large-language models that run ChatGPT.... OpenAI has hired a onetime Microsoft intellectual property lawyer, Tom Rubin, to oversee...

Sam Altman at the Allen & Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 11. Photo by Getty.

How Sam Altman’s Worldcoin Engineered Its Token Launch

By Aidan Ryan · Jul 26, 2023 9:23am PDT · 2 comments

A lot of ink has been spilled about Sam Altman’s controversial crypto startup Worldcoin and the two million people who have had their eyeballs scanned to gain access to tokens. But an overlooked part of Worldcoin’s token launch is what it’s doing to promote trading of its new tokens.On Monday, Worldcoin sent 43 million worldcoins to people who... A lot of ink has been spilled about Sam Altman’s controversial crypto startup Worldcoin and the...

Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, testifies on July 25. Photo by Getty.

Capitol Hill Stumps Anthropic on its Google Relationship

By Stephanie Palazzolo · Jul 26, 2023 7:15am PDT · 1 comment

Capitol Hill may not have the best reputation when it comes to being tech-savvy. One may recall Senator Orrin Hatch’s infamous question to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about how Facebook stays free (which a smirking Zuckerberg responded to with, “Senator, we run ads”).But it was a different story during yesterday’s Senate hearing on artificial... Capitol Hill may not have the best reputation when it comes to being tech-savvy. One may recall ...

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photo by Getty

Inside TikTok CEO’s Plan to Play Offense

By Erin Woo and Juro Osawa · Jul 26, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew. Photo by Getty

Inside TikTok CEO’s Plan to Play Offense

By Erin Woo and Juro Osawa · Jul 26, 2023 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

When the public face of TikTok’s management in the U.S.—V Pappas, TikTok’s chief operating officer—announced their departure last month, it marked the biggest shake-up in the top ranks of the popular short-form video app since its CEO, Shou Zi Chew, took over the job two years ago. To people inside TikTok, though, it... When the public face of TikTok’s management in the U.S.—V Pappas, TikTok’s...