Startup founders are being pushed to move faster than ever, using AI while facing tighter funding, rising infrastructure costs, and more pressure to show real traction early. Cloud credits, access to GPUs, and foundation models have made it easier to get started, but those early infrastructure choices can have unforeseen consequences once startups move beyon ... Show More
Yesterday
Why creators are ditching ad revenue for chocolate bars and fintech acquisitions
The creator economy is evolving fast, and ad revenue alone isn't cutting it anymore. YouTubers are launching product lines, acquiring startups, and building actual business empires. Even MrBeast's company bought fintech startup Step, and his chocolate business is outearning his m ... Show More
33m 5s
Feb 13
AI burnout, billion-dollar bets, and Silicon Valley's Epstein problem
AI companies have been hemorrhaging talent the past few weeks. Half of xAI’s founding team has left the company — some on their own, others through “restructuring” — while OpenAI is facing its own shakeups, from the disbanding of its mission alignment team to the firing of a poli ... Show More
39m 11s
Aug 2024
Venture returns, recovering startups, and VC conflicts | E1995
<p>This Week in Startups is brought to you by…</p>
<p>Coda. Coda empowers your startup by bringing words, tables, and teams together. Strategize, plan, and track goals effectively with all your valuable data in one place. Go to <a href="https://www.Coda.io/twist">https://www.Coda ... Show More
1h 27m
Sep 2025
$46B of hard truths from Ben Horowitz: Why founders fail and why you need to run toward fear (a16z co-founder)
Ben Horowitz is the co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, Silicon Valley’s largest and most influential venture capital firm, with over $46B in committed capital across multiple funds. He took Loudcloud public with just $2 million in revenue (dubbed “the IPO from hell”), sold it for ... Show More
1h 37m
Aug 2025
The state of VC within software and AI startups – with Peter Walker
Brought to You By:• WorkOS — The modern identity platform for B2B SaaS.• Statsig — The unified platform for flags, analytics, experiments, and more.• Sonar — Code quality and code security for ALL code.—In this episode of The Pragmatic Engineer, I sit down with Peter Walker ... Show More
1h 19m
Sep 2024
24 Steps to Launch a Start-Up
Many people aspire to entrepreneurship. But Bill Aulet, who has advised founders for decades, warns that it remains a high-risk endeavor. In this episode, he outlines concrete steps anyone can take to get a new venture off the ground — including intrapreneurs within large organiz ... Show More
28m 46s
Sep 2025
What We Can Learn from Failure with Ami Colé Founder, Diarrha N’Diaye
What does it really take to build a brand from scratch — and what happens when you have to close the doors? In this candid conversation, Emma sits down with Diarrha N’Diaye, founder of the beloved beauty brand Ami Colé, to talk about the highs of launching a cult-favorite company ... Show More
1h 43m
Feb 2025
20VC: Affirm Max Levchin on Why Grading Talent by Letter (A or B) is Total BS | How to Create a Culture of Post Mortems and Writing | Why You Should Only Study Failure Not Success & The Biggest Surprises Scaling to $18.7BN Market Cap
<p dir="ltr">Max Levchin is one of the great founders and technologists of our time. As the Founder and CEO of Affirm, he has built am $18.7BN monster in the buy no pay later space. Prior to Affirm he was one of the original co-founders of PayPal. Max is also the co-founder and C ... Show More
1h 2m
Apr 2025
Microsoft for Startups: The benefits of the cyber startup ecosystem. [Special Edition]
Welcome to the Microsoft for Startups Spotlight, brought to you by N2K CyberWire and Microsoft. In this episode, we are shining a light on innovation, ambition, and the tech trailblazers building the future right from the startup trenches. This episode is part of our exclusive RS ... Show More
1h 12m