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

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Recent Editions

Art by Clark Miller.

Market Research

The Anti-Apple Watches: Silicon Valley’s Other Status Timepieces Are Beautifully Analog

By Tim Stevens · Jan 6, 2023 1:00pm PST · 16 comments

Matt Kixmoeller is a watch guy. He’s owned dozens of timepieces, including Rolexes and Longines. But don’t ask him about smartwatches. “I bought each of the first three or four generations of Apple Watch, wore them for a few weeks and then returned them each time,” he said. “Another digital distraction to steal my... Matt Kixmoeller is a watch guy. He’s owned dozens of timepieces, including Rolexes and...

Art by Clark Miller.

Why the Long Face, Founder? The New Executive Coach Has Four Legs and a Mane

By Arielle Pardes · Jan 6, 2023 11:00am PST · 5 comments

Last year, Eurie Kim, a managing partner at Forerunner Ventures, took some of her portfolio founders on a field trip. They were going to spend the day at the Golden Gate Dairy Stables, a ranch in Marin County traversed by scenic trails with pristine views of the Northern California coastline. But Kim and the startup founders weren’t there... Last year, Eurie Kim, a managing partner at Forerunner Ventures, took some of her portfolio...

Art by Clark Miller. All photos courtesy Josh Wolfe/Lux Capital

Josh Wolfe’s War: The Lux Capital Founder Blazes a Controversial Path in Defense Tech

By Margaux MacColl · Jan 6, 2023 9:21am PST · 7 comments

Josh Wolfe arrived at a remote island in the Philippines by inflatable boat, surrounded by men with large guns. It was 2019 and the founding partner of the New York venture firm Lux Capital was on a very strange work trip. Over the course of two weeks, American soldiers escorted Wolfe through the Philippines, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and... Josh Wolfe arrived at a remote island in the Philippines by inflatable boat, surrounded by men...

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Gemini Kept Pushing Risky Accounts as Crypto Market Tumbled

By Aidan Ryan · Jan 6, 2023 6:00am PST · 1 comment

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. Photo by Bloomberg.

Why Gemini Kept Pushing Risky Accounts as Crypto Market Tumbled

By Aidan Ryan · Jan 6, 2023 6:00am PST · 1 comment

Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss started last year off with plans to go big with a risky type of crypto lending account. And they pushed ahead even as warning signs kept cropping up. In the early months of 2022, the twins told the crypto startup’s growth team to come up with a more aggressive plan to market the crypto... Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss started last year off with plans to go big with a...

Photo via Bloomberg.

Amazon’s Cuts Were Inevitable After Years of Excessive Spending

By Martin Peers · Jan 5, 2023 5:00pm PST · 2 comments

It’s a bleak moment for the retail sector. Today brought word that home goods chain Bed Bath & Beyond has “substantial doubt” about its “ability to continue as a going concern,” given how much money it has been losing. Another retailer, Everlane, is cutting 17% of its corporate staff, we scooped today. Meanwhile, Amazon on Wednesday said it... It’s a bleak moment for the retail sector. Today brought word that home goods chain Bed Bath...

Chronosphere CEO Martin Mao. Screenshot via YouTube.

Alphabet’s GV Backs Startup That Helps Cut Cloud Bills, Boosting Valuation to $1.6 Billion

By Amir Efrati and Kevin McLaughlin · Jan 5, 2023 4:50pm PST · 3 comments

Chronosphere, a startup that helps companies monitor their cloud-based applications and competes with publicly traded Datadog, has raised $100 million in funding from Alphabet's startup-investment arm, GV, and other investors, according to a person familiar with the deal, which hasn’t been previously reported. (Update, Jan. 13:... Chronosphere, a startup that helps companies monitor their cloud-based applications and competes...

Aleen Dreksler, CEO and co-founder of Betches Media. Photo: Claire Esparros

Creator Economy

‘We Cannot Control’ the Social Platforms: Instagram-Famous Betches Looks Beyond the Apps

By Kaya Yurieff · Jan 5, 2023 3:12pm PST

Betches Media started in 2011 as a blog focused on millennial women. As Instagram gained traction, its three co-founders—Aleen Dreksler, Jordana Abraham and Samantha Sage— shifted to building a presence on the app. That paid off in terms of followers, which now number more than 8 million on its main account. But the experience drove home a... Betches Media started in 2011 as a blog focused on millennial women. As Instagram gained...

DCG's CEO, Barry Silbert. Photo by Bloomberg.

Genesis Parent Company DCG Shutters Its Wealth Management Division

By Kate Clark · Jan 5, 2023 2:58pm PST · 1 comment

DCG's CEO, Barry Silbert. Photo by Bloomberg.

Genesis Parent Company DCG Shutters Its Wealth Management Division

By Kate Clark · Jan 5, 2023 2:58pm PST · 1 comment

Digital Currency Group, the parent company of crypto broker Genesis and the publication CoinDesk, has shut down its wealth management subsidiary HQ Digital, according to a memo shared with one of its customers. HQ—yet another piece of collateral damage in the FTX implosion—ceased operations Jan. 2, according to the memo. Digital Currency Group, the parent company of crypto broker Genesis and the publication CoinDesk,...

Photo by Bloomberg.

Everlane Slashes 17% of Corporate Employees, Cuts Store Staff

By Ann Gehan · Jan 5, 2023 2:17pm PST · 1 comment

Sustainable clothing brand Everlane is the latest direct-to-consumer company to slash jobs as the sector grapples with declining e-commerce sales volumes and rising digital marketing costs. The company announced the cuts internally on Wednesday via an email message and a companywide Zoom meeting, saying they would affect around 17% of... Sustainable clothing brand Everlane is the latest direct-to-consumer company to slash jobs as the...

Photo via Bloomberg

Insight’s New Fund & VC’s Worsening Diversity Problem

By Kate Clark · Jan 5, 2023 1:58pm PST · 2 comments

New efforts to back minority entrepreneurs and fund managers are relatively few and far between these days, especially compared to 2020, when heavyweights such as SoftBank, Andreessen Horowitz and Google launched specialized funds to support underrepresented founders. One outlier is Insight Partners, which is planning to raise over $100... New efforts to back minority entrepreneurs and fund managers are relatively few and far between...

Tiger Global founder Chase Coleman III. Photo: Bloomberg

Why Tiger Global Reneged on Commitments to Fund Other VC Firms

By Kate Clark · Jan 5, 2023 12:48pm PST · 6 comments

A year ago, leaders at Tiger Global Management committed $1 billion of their personal capital to back dozens of venture capital funds that invest in the youngest startups. It was an aggressive new effort meant to increase the hedge fund’s access to promising companies after the market for more mature tech startups—where most of its... A year ago, leaders at Tiger Global Management committed $1 billion of their personal capital to...

Elon Musk. Photo by Getty Images.

Musk Lays Off Twitter Engineers Working on Advertising, As Ad Revenue Shrinks

By Erin Woo · Jan 5, 2023 10:31am PST

Elon Musk. Photo by Getty Images.

Musk Lays Off Twitter Engineers Working on Advertising, As Ad Revenue Shrinks

By Erin Woo · Jan 5, 2023 10:31am PST

Twitter laid off about 40 data scientists and engineers working on advertising late Wednesday night in what amounted to at least the third round of cuts since mid-December, according to a person with direct knowledge of the layoffs. The layoffs targeted areas that Twitter’s leadership considers to be failing, such as the ads product, and... Twitter laid off about 40 data scientists and engineers working on advertising late Wednesday...

CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Photo by Bloomberg.

Inside Meta, New Global Power Hubs Force Leaders to Rewire How they Work

By Sylvia Varnham O'Regan · Jan 5, 2023 6:00am PST · 2 comments

In December 2021, Meta Platforms’ most senior executives gathered at CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s property on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, for a dayslong retreat to discuss planning and strategy. One of the subjects that came up was how to better schedule meetings to take account of the fact that many senior executives were spread around... In December 2021, Meta Platforms’ most senior executives gathered at CEO Mark...

Helen Dixon, data protection commissioner of the Irish Data Protection Commission for the Briefing. Photo via Bloomberg.

Meta’s Targeted Ads Are Dealt Yet Another Regulatory Blow

By Martin Peers · Jan 4, 2023 5:01pm PST

When it comes to the fines European regulators are imposing on big tech companies, it’s easy to lose track. Take today’s decision by the Irish Data Protection Commission, imposing fines totaling more than $400 million against Meta Platforms for breaching European rules with targeted advertising. This is on top of several other cases against Meta... When it comes to the fines European regulators are imposing on big tech companies, it’s easy to...

Is Web3 Still Trending?; Polkadot’s Bold Statement

Is Web3 Still Trending?; Polkadot’s Bold Statement

By Aidan Ryan · Jan 4, 2023 2:30pm PST · 1 comment

With the industry in a definitive crypto winter (for more on the 2022 chaos, read Akash’s retelling in last week’s newsletter), one notable casualty has been the term Web3 itself. The buzzword, which refers to the vision of a third generation, decentralized internet, had spread like wildfire and came to serve as shorthand for describing... With the industry in a definitive crypto winter (for more on the 2022 chaos, read Akash’s...

Photos by Getty Images; Shutterstock. Art by Mike Sullivan

Four Ways the Creator Economy Will Change This Year

By Kaya Yurieff · Jan 4, 2023 2:18pm PST

Photos by Getty Images; Shutterstock. Art by Mike Sullivan

Creator Economy

Four Ways the Creator Economy Will Change This Year

By Kaya Yurieff · Jan 4, 2023 2:18pm PST

What will 2023 bring for the creator economy? For creators, I expect more opportunities to make money from offline businesses, but lower payouts as advertising rates fall. For the big apps, expect cool features like Netflix-style dubbing to become more popular. What will 2023 bring for the creator economy? For creators, I expect more opportunities to make...

T.J. Rodgers, executive chair of Enovix, at the company's Fremont, CA. headquarters. Photo: Courtesy Enovix

The Electric: Enovix Chair Tries to Calm Investors, But Company’s Stock Tanks

By Steve LeVine · Jan 4, 2023 1:09pm PST

T.J. Rodgers, executive chair of silicon battery developer Enovix, on Tuesday set out to reassure investors that the company had a path to scale up its promising technology. It didn’t work. On Wednesday, Enovix shares fell roughly 45% to an all-time low of $6.50 before recovering slightly later in the day. In all, shares have declined about 80%... T.J. Rodgers, executive chair of silicon battery developer Enovix, on Tuesday set out to reassure...

Art by Getty Images/Shane Burke.

Musk’s Server Cuts at Twitter Could Inspire Other CEOs

By Erin Woo and Aaron Holmes · Jan 4, 2023 12:41pm PST · 7 comments

Elon Musk has won plaudits in some quarters of Silicon Valley for slashing Twitter’s headcount and ending its remote-work policy. Now Musk’s latest target for cost cutting is drawing fresh attention from cost-conscious CEOs at companies across the globe. Since taking over Twitter just over two months ago, Musk has slashed... Elon Musk has won plaudits in some quarters of Silicon Valley for slashing Twitter’s...

Illustration by Matheus Costa

There Is So Much Tech Talent Up for Grabs Right Now

By Kirthiga Reddy · Jan 4, 2023 9:00am PST · 4 comments

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance—the five stages of grief. With more than 150,000 tech employees across the globe affected by layoffs last year alone, the cuts have hit wide and deep. For millennials and Gen Z, losing a job is a new experience. Those whose immigration status is tied to their employment know additional... Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance—the five stages of grief. With more...

Goldman Sachs' plan to scrap big pieces of its unprofitable digital bank, Marcus, is viewed as a warning sign by some tech workers in finance. Photo by Bloomberg.

Wall Street’s War for Tech Talent Is Cooling Off

By Lauren Tara LaCapra · Jan 4, 2023 6:00am PST

Goldman Sachs' plan to scrap big pieces of its unprofitable digital bank, Marcus, is viewed as a warning sign by some tech workers in finance. Photo by Bloomberg.

Wall Street’s War for Tech Talent Is Cooling Off

By Lauren Tara LaCapra · Jan 4, 2023 6:00am PST

Financial firms have spent years beefing up their rosters of tech workers, getting into bidding wars with the likes of Apple and Google for top coders, engineers and product developers. But with deal activity stalled and tech companies laying off workers by the thousands, Wall Street’s war with Silicon Valley over tech talent has cooled. ... Financial firms have spent years beefing up their rosters of tech workers, getting into bidding...