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

Talon Metals workers examine nickel cores from the company's Tamarack mine in central Minnesota. Photo: Courtesy Talon Metals

The Electric: The Next Hurdle for a U.S. Battery Industry: Talent

By Steve LeVine · Sep 25, 2022 2:00pm PDT

For more than a year, automobile and battery manufacturers have fretted over a stark shortage of raw materials, and how that will prevent them from making all the electric vehicles they plan this decade. This week we look at another major bottleneck they are wrestling with: labor. The U.S. and Europe simply don't have enough people who know how... For more than a year, automobile and battery manufacturers have fretted over a stark shortage of...

Instacart CEO Fidji Simo. Photo by Bloomberg.

Instacart Cuts Staff, Curbs Hiring in Run-up to IPO

By Mark Matousek and Erin Woo · Sep 24, 2022 3:54pm PDT · 1 comment

Instacart has been letting go of staff, slowing hiring and curbing other expenses as it heads toward a public listing, when the grocery-delivery company will try to convince public investors that it can maintain its growth—and make a profit—as the economy slows. The San Francisco startup over the last two months has fired some of its... Instacart has been letting go of staff, slowing hiring and curbing other expenses as it heads...

Knocked Down, Dragged Out, and Laid Off

Knocked Down, Dragged Out, and Laid Off

By Jon Steinberg · Sep 24, 2022 7:00am PDT

Hi, welcome to your Weekend! It was a tough week (and month and quarter) for people in tech. And that goes double for folks who work in crypto, which has seen a calamitous drop from its pandemic-era heights.Many might feel a hint of schadenfreude about the humbling of crypto. Certainly, its leaders seem worthy of comeuppance, after pumping... Hi, welcome to your Weekend! It was a tough week (and month and quarter) for people in tech....

Ana Kirova courtesy of Feeld.

‘Monogamy Should Not Be the Default’: What a Dating App CEO and Her Tech Clientele Have in Common

By Annie Goldsmith · Sep 23, 2022 11:00am PDT · 6 comments

Ana Kirova courtesy of Feeld.

‘Monogamy Should Not Be the Default’: What a Dating App CEO and Her Tech Clientele Have in Common

By Annie Goldsmith · Sep 23, 2022 11:00am PDT · 6 comments

Ana Kirova is a frequent user of her own dating app—but not without complications. As CEO of Feeld, which describes itself as “a dating app for exploration, curiosity and pleasure,” Kirova never knows when to divulge her role at the company to potential matches. “Should I say it outright?” she asked rhetorically while sipping coffee earlier this... Ana Kirova is a frequent user of her own dating app—but not without complications. As CEO of...

Art by Clark Miller

‘What Am I Going to Do Now?’: Fired Crypto Workers Weigh Life After the Boom

By Margaux MacColl · Sep 23, 2022 9:00am PDT · 1 comment

On July 14, James Hu was sitting in his “fabulously expensive” apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He had just returned from the Soho offices of OpenSea, the non-fungible token marketplace, where he had been laid off from his job and locked out of his work computer. The event was not exactly a huge shock to Hu, who had watched mass crypto... On July 14, James Hu was sitting in his “fabulously expensive” apartment in Williamsburg,...

Illustration by Matheus Costa.

How Apple’s App Store Policies Squeeze NFT Startups

By Aidan Ryan · Sep 23, 2022 6:00am PDT · 2 comments

Non-fungible tokens, like much of the crypto world, are in regulators’ and lawmakers’ crosshairs. But NFT startups have been just as preoccupied with another rulemaker: Apple. With NFT volumes tanking along with the broader crypto market, marketplace startups could use a boost from using mobile apps to sell their wares. So far,... Non-fungible tokens, like much of the crypto world, are in regulators’ and lawmakers’...

Vlad Tenev. Photo by Bloomberg.

Robinhood Isn’t Out of the Woods Just Yet

By Akash Pasricha · Sep 22, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Vlad Tenev ought to be penning a very nicely worded thank-you card to SEC Chair Gary Gensler. The commission is throwing Tenev and his fellow Robinhoodies a much needed lifeline with its decision to not ban payment for order flow, the contentious practice brokerages like Robinhood rely on to make money, according to a Bloomberg report. ... Vlad Tenev ought to be penning a very nicely worded thank-you card to SEC Chair Gary Gensler. The...

Abe Santos leads Underscore Talent’s new outdoor lifestyle division. Photo: Underscore Talent

Outdoors Creators Are Underserved and Ripe for Sponsorships

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 22, 2022 2:37pm PDT · 2 comments

Abe Santos leads Underscore Talent’s new outdoor lifestyle division. Photo: Underscore Talent

Creator Economy

Outdoors Creators Are Underserved and Ripe for Sponsorships

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 22, 2022 2:37pm PDT · 2 comments

Abe Santos isn’t your typical talent guru. He spent more than a decade as a detective and investigator working with the Los Angeles Police Department, Department of Homeland Security and FBI. In 2018, he joined Google’s investigations and threat division, where his job included investigations into data leaks and monitoring external threats to... Abe Santos isn’t your typical talent guru. He spent more than a decade as a detective and...

Patrick Collison. Photo by Getty Images.

Stripe’s Early Stock Awards Could Spur IPO Plans

By Kate Clark, Mark Matousek and Maria Heeter · Sep 22, 2022 2:00pm PDT · 4 comments

Stripe founders John and Patrick Collison have indicated the payments software pioneer, valued in its last fundraising at $95 billion, is in no rush to go public. And few tech firms want to test the whipsawed public stock markets. But a new listing could solve one looming problem for the 13-year-old startup: Stock awards to some of its earliest... Stripe founders John and Patrick Collison have indicated the payments software pioneer, valued in...

Art by Clark Miller

‘You Don’t Know This Nerd Is a Silent Killer’: A Raging Martial Arts Scene Finds a Home in Silicon Valley

By Arielle Pardes · Sep 22, 2022 12:46pm PDT · 4 comments

Few people have ever choked Mark Zuckerberg. Khai Wu is one of them. A professional fighter known as The Shadow, Wu has a black belt in jiujitsu and has been using it on the Facebook founder during private mixed martial arts training sessions the last several months. Their sparring bouts include an occasional down-on-the-mat Brazilian jiujitsu... Few people have ever choked Mark Zuckerberg. Khai Wu is one of them. A professional fighter known...

Photos by Bloomberg. Art by Mike Sullivan

ByteDance’s VR Unit Stumbles in Early Effort to Challenge Meta

By Juro Osawa · Sep 22, 2022 6:00am PDT

Zhang Yiming, founder of TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, has long had an ambition to follow in the footsteps of Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg and grab a piece of the nascent market for augmented and virtual reality. In 2020, the year Meta launched its Quest 2 VR headset, ByteDance engineers worked on a confidential internal project to... Zhang Yiming, founder of TikTok’s owner, ByteDance, has long had an ambition to follow in...

Robert Kyncl. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Kyncl’s Jump to Warner Music Says About Music’s Prospects

By Martin Peers · Sep 21, 2022 5:00pm PDT

Robert Kyncl. Photo by Bloomberg.

What Kyncl’s Jump to Warner Music Says About Music’s Prospects

By Martin Peers · Sep 21, 2022 5:00pm PDT

If Robert Kyncl’s career is an indication of which part of the entertainment industry is about to take off, then maybe we should put our life savings into a music company. Kyncl—who spent the past decade as a senior executive at the YouTube rocket ship and earlier worked at Netflix—was on Wednesday named CEO of Warner Music Group. Warner, owner... If Robert Kyncl’s career is an indication of which part of the entertainment industry is about to...

A New Milestone for The Information Opinion

A New Milestone for The Information Opinion

By Jessica E. Lessin · Sep 21, 2022 4:35pm PDT · 1 comment

This week marks the Infoversary of our Opinion Editor Jillian Goodman. That means that Opinion under Jillian is 1. That's a big deal, and I wanted to take a few moments to look back. We started Opinion because commentary in large publications had become predictable and boring. Our aim was simple: to "inform not... This week marks the Infoversary of our Opinion Editor Jillian Goodman. That means that...

Photo: Bloomberg

Creator Economy

Twitch’s Gambling Problem; Kyncl’s Next Move

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 21, 2022 2:42pm PDT

While Twitch is best known as a home for gamers, livestreams of creators gambling and playing online slots games or poker have also proved popular. Last month, the slots category on Twitch soared to an estimated 50 million hours watched, a 66% jump year-over-year. “It has gone from a novelty to a mainstay," said Gil Hirsch, CEO of ... While Twitch is best known as a home for gamers, livestreams of creators gambling and playing...

Illustration by Josh Brill

Why China’s Startup Investors Depend on U.S. IPOs

By Ming Liao · Sep 21, 2022 9:00am PDT

China’s tech startups have received billions in private financing over the past two decades, with some of those companies going on to make warmly received public market debuts. In 2014, Alibaba had the largest initial public offering in history, raising $25 billion on the New York Stock Exchange. Bilibili, a youth-driven streaming giant,... China’s tech startups have received billions in private financing over the past two...

Debt Pitches Are in Vogue, but Not All Tech Startups Are Biting

By Maria Heeter and Aaron Holmes · Sep 21, 2022 6:00am PDT

Debt Pitches Are in Vogue, but Not All Tech Startups Are Biting

By Maria Heeter and Aaron Holmes · Sep 21, 2022 6:00am PDT

When bankers from Morgan Stanley pitched cloud security firm Wiz last month about raising money through an issue of convertible notes, Wiz could have become the latest startup to pursue a financing tool that’s suddenly in vogue. With the venture funding market much tougher nowadays, investors such as Coatue Management and Owl Rock Capital... When bankers from Morgan Stanley pitched cloud security firm Wiz last month about raising money...

Chamath Palihapitiya. Photo by Bloomberg.

Chamath’s Pullback is a Sign of What's to Come for SPACs

By Akash Pasricha · Sep 20, 2022 5:00pm PDT

The debate is done: the SPAC fad is over. Chamath Palihapitiya, one of the biggest promoters of special purpose acquisition companies in recent years, is shuttering two of his SPACs and will be returning the money to investors. Palihapitiya, who merged SPACs with businesses such as Virgin Galactic, Opendoor and SoFi, couldn’t find any attractive... The debate is done: the SPAC fad is over. Chamath Palihapitiya, one of the biggest promoters of...

Neal Mohan, YouTube's chief product officer. Photo: Bloomberg

Creator Economy

YouTube Ups Ante in Short-Form Video Wars

By Kaya Yurieff · Sep 20, 2022 3:01pm PDT

The creator wars spurred by TikTok’s explosive growth are heating up again. In the latest twist, YouTube confirmed it will share ad revenue with creators who generate videos for YouTube Shorts. The pitch may attract creators who haven’t seen as many opportunities to cash in on TikTok.At its “Made on YouTube” virtual event on Tuesday, the... The creator wars spurred by TikTok’s explosive growth are heating up again. In the latest twist,...

Art by Mike Sullivan

The Haziness in Microsoft’s Cloud Numbers

By Martin Peers · Sep 20, 2022 12:16pm PDT · 2 comments

Here’s a quick question for enterprise software acolytes out there: which tech giant is bigger in cloud, Microsoft or Amazon? It depends. Microsoft says total revenue for “Microsoft Cloud” was $91 billion in the year to June, which is significantly more than AWS’ $72 billion for the same 12-month period. But the... Here’s a quick question for enterprise software acolytes out there: which tech giant is...

Venture Firms’ $290 Billion ‘Dry Powder’ is About to Revive Startup Funding

By Kate Clark · Sep 20, 2022 6:00am PDT · 9 comments

Venture Firms’ $290 Billion ‘Dry Powder’ is About to Revive Startup Funding

By Kate Clark · Sep 20, 2022 6:00am PDT · 9 comments

Startup founders should expect a tidal wave of venture capital interest next year as a record level of dry powder pressures VC funds to step up their investment pace, according to a new analysis of these cash reserves. U.S. VC investors are sitting on $290 billion, including $162 billion reserved specifically for new investments, according to... Startup founders should expect a tidal wave of venture capital interest next year as a record...