🕶️ Silicon Valley’s new flex: burnout

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Seven bullets of updates

1. 🧑‍⚖️ Trump unveils an AI agenda focused on “patriotic” tech, scrapping bias audits and framing fairness tools as censorship in disguise.

2. 💻 Google Cloud, Python, and Linux top the list of in-demand IT skills, with affordable certs that promise a career boost without a CS degree.

3. 🦄 Swedish startup Lovable rockets to $100M ARR in 8 months, riding the hype of AI-powered “vibe coding” tools and a lean 45-person team.

4. 🔬 European deep tech startups face a funding squeeze, as VCs shy away from long R&D cycles—new EU initiatives aim to bridge the gap with public capital.

5. 💡 A founder rescued his cash-burning signage startup by ditching big clients, slashing overhead, and doubling down on boring-but-scalable systems.

6. 🥓 A couple’s weekend hobby making charcuterie boards turned into a $4M business, powered by viral TikToks, custom kits, and DIY-obsessed millennials.

7. 👴 The “Silver Tsunami” is opening doors for young founders, as retiring boomers sell profitable small businesses ready for a tech-savvy refresh.

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🏃‍♂️ Hustle Harder, Die Faster

Silicon Valley’s latest productivity hack is just labor abuse with better branding.

The “996” schedule, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, was once infamous in China for overworking employees to the point of protest and, in some tragic cases, death. Now it’s trending in U.S. startups, especially in AI, where founders are reviving it like it’s a bold innovation rather than a human rights violation with a LinkedIn post.

Founders are offering equity bumps, catered meals, and a front-row seat to burnout in exchange for your soul. One startup warns applicants not to apply unless they're excited to work 70+ hours a week. Another is screening candidates based on their willingness to adopt this grindset as a lifestyle. Somewhere between Kobe Bryant quotes and Elon Musk ultimatums, we forgot that building a unicorn shouldn't require becoming a martyr.

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NEVER make an MBA your co-founder

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These companies just raised money

1. 🎬 Hypernatural raises $9.5M to build AI-generated video creators for brands, aiming to scale content production without studios, actors, or camera crews.

2. 💬 Gupshup raises $60M in equity and debt to expand its AI messaging platform, though the round leaves its unicorn status in question.

3. 🍓 Tric Robotics raised $5.5M to scale its UV-light robots, which reduce pesticide use on strawberries and are already deployed across U.S. farms.

4. 🌱 NetZeroNitrogen emerges from stealth with $1.6M to replace synthetic fertilizer using bacteria that capture nitrogen naturally from the air.

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🧠 Mind > Mouse

Meta’s latest wearable reads your intentions and it might just beat the implants at their own game.

While Neuralink is still drilling into skulls, Meta quietly built a wristband that can move a cursor with nothing but a twitch of thought. Powered by EMG sensors and a massive AI dataset, the device detects what your hand wants to do before it actually moves. It’s like predictive text for your nervous system, minus the brain surgery.

Behind this breakthrough is Ctrl Labs, a neuroscience startup Meta acquired in 2019. After years in stealth, they’re now showing off a tech that feels like sci-fi but is shockingly close to market. Startups like Synchron and Thalmic tried and stalled; Meta might finally bring gesture control and brain–machine interfaces into the mainstream, no scalpels required.

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Startup Events and Deadlines

1. TODAY! Slidebean’s Crash Course in Financial Modeling l Jul 24 l Online

2. Startupbootcamp | Energy & Sustainability | Deadline: Aug 10 | South Africa

3. Startupbootcamp | Health & LifeScience | Deadline: Aug 10 | Netherlands

4. New York Venture Summit | 9, 10 Sept | NYC

5. Antler Canada | Deadline: Sept 29 | Canada

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