Social media crisis era...

Hello. The mayor of Paris is making a loud exit from X, calling the platform a 'gigantic global sewer'

Also: UK ruling finds Adobe’s $20 billion purchase of Figma would harm innovation for software used by the vast majority of UK digital designers.

— James Xu-Johnson

Your pitch deck needs to be machine-readable

In the AI age, VCs are turning to bots to scan through pitch decks. To up your startup's chances, make your deck readable by these digital assistants. It's not rocket science — a few tweaks can go a long way.

Design meets functionality: Don't ditch your creative flair, but keep AI bots in the loop. From clear slide markers to readable fonts, find that sweet spot between wow-factor for humans and clarity for the machines.

Double impact, half the hassle: Balancing creativity and machine-readability isn't a headache. Simple tricks like using straightforward slide titles and actual text (bots can't handle fancy fonts) can make your deck a double delight for both VCs and their trusty AI sidekicks.

^{PRESENTED BY RYSE}

Last Chance to Invest in This Smart Home Startup

⌛ Time’s almost up… to invest in RYSE, the AI powered smart-home tech that’s disrupting the entire smart shades industry.

Retail distribution has been the main driver behind the success and billion dollar exits of the biggest smart home products, and RYSE is currently rolling out in 100+ Best Buy stores.

Backed by prominent Venture Capitalists, including support received from the Canadian Shark Tank, they’ve opened their doors to retail investors, but only for 3 more days. 

The opportunity to become a shareholder in their company closes this week, but you can still invest at only $1.25/share before their name becomes known nationwide.

Reports indicate that early investors in Nest (Smart Thermostat) earned a 20X return at their $3.2B acquisition. 

What if you had the opportunity to invest before they launched into retail, would you?

Learn how to invest in RYSE here - 2 days left.

4 top headlines 💬

X major losses: X faces a potential loss of up to $75 million in advertising revenue by year-end as major brands, including Airbnb, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft, suspend or consider pausing their campaigns following owner Elon Musk's endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory, according to internal documents viewed by The New York Times.

Google search rankings: Google has launched tools for website owners, focusing on social media and discussion forums, to improve their content's visibility in search results, addressing concerns about AI-generated content and prioritizing firsthand perspectives; these tools include ProfilePage markup for creator information and DiscussionForumPosting markup to categorize conversations, reflecting Google's ongoing efforts to refine its ranking algorithm.

Instagram crisis era: Amidst Mark Zuckerberg's "Hot Zuck Summer," Instagram, now facing a scandal reminiscent of Facebook's election interference, grapples with the exposure of inappropriate content featuring children on its Reels feature, a lawsuit from 33 states regarding teen mental health warnings, and a revelation that sexually suggestive content is paired with ads for major brands, marking a sharp turn from the seemingly serene days for Meta and Zuckerberg, with advertisers like Match and Bumble pulling back in response to The Wall Street Journal's report.

3-day work week: Bill Gates envisions a potential three-day work week facilitated by artificial intelligence, suggesting a future where machines handle labor-intensive tasks, freeing up time for individuals, in contrast to concerns over job displacement by AI expressed by other tech leaders.

Reddit may be looking to go public in 2024

Bloomberg reports that Reddit is “holding talks with potential investors” about an IPO that could take place as early as the first quarter of next year.

The company filed a confidential S-1 with the SEC in late 2021 but hasn’t actually gone public yet. When I asked CEO Steve Huffman in June of this year about an IPO, he said that “it’s something we’d like to do someday.”

What startup founders need to know about AI heading into 2024…

Startups must add AI value beyond ChatGPT integration: One criticism of startups that claim the mantle of AI is that they are creating thin wrappers around other folk’s technology. This sort of platform risk is not new, but is a pertinent mental model in the OpenAI-era.

Speaking of platform risk, startups are learning the hard way that relying on OpenAI’s tech can burn them: Just as Apple took out a bunch of apps as it expanded the native functionality of iOS, OpenAI is going to chew up market space as it expands its own product remit. Startups will want to build far from its edges, perhaps, to avoid being eaten.

How to bootstrap an AI startup: While we have spoken with a host of AI-focused venture investors lately to get their take on what founders should do — and not do! — in the current market, not every startup needs external capital. You can always bootstrap. Even in the AI realm.

OpenAI’s crisis will sow the seeds of the next generation of AI startups: The upshot of the OpenAI mess is that there’s reason to think that we are seeing the formation of the next great cohort of startup founders; call it a mafia or merely a collection of former co-workers, but it’s clear that the OpenAI crew are unified in a manner that has us sitting up and taking note.

European startup funding halved

EU startup funding is set to fall to $42 billion in 2023, less than half of the previous year. Challenges include inflation, higher interest rates, and geopolitical uncertainties, especially impacting non-U.S. startups. Despite this, the report sees a potential silver lining in a healthier, albeit slower, growth curve when excluding 2021 and 2022. The European tech ecosystem has rebounded to a $3 trillion valuation, with declining crossover investors, fewer nine-figure funding rounds, and a shift towards climate tech over AI in investment trends.

Articles & links we dig

🎄 The Information’s top tech-adjacent gifts for 2023.

🛍 Shein confidentially files for U.S. IPO.

👀 Amazon now is being probed by the EU.

💌 People are ditching dating apps to find love on…Duolingo?

👩‍💻 OpenAI rivals move to exploit leadership turmoil.

🚀 The president of Lyft shares how she learned to trust her instincts — and the Taylor Swift song she listens to before difficult meetings.

🚗 Tesla sues Sweden’s postal agency as union fight escalates.