🕶️ The Anti-Hustle Movement Is Here

Founders on the Edge — and Off the Clock

Author

Paula Echeverria
June 07, 2025

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This week, Silicon Valley’s most powerful men are in a slap fight, burnout is trending (again), and your coworker might soon be an AI voice trained to upsell floor mats.

Elsewhere: sleep tape is in, melatonin is out, micro-retirements are the new sabbaticals, and NY Tech Week turned into Mean Girls with venture funding.

Let’s get into it.

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Eleven bullets of updates

  1. 🗓️ Founders embrace 7-day grind. Some startup leaders now treat weekends as regular workdays, claiming it’s the only way to stay competitive in a “hyper-accelerated” tech landscape.

  2. 📣 X goes full partisan. A leaked pitch shows X courting right-wing influencers with paid perks and ad deals, while downplaying political content for general users

  3.  🤖 Anthropic draws a line. Co-founder Jared Kaplan says they cut access to Windsurf and won’t sell Claude to OpenAI, calling it “odd” to fuel a direct rival.

  4. 😴 Bye gummies, hello tape. Sleep-deprived millennials are ditching melatonin for mouth tape, swearing it helps them breathe better and wake up rested.

  5. 🕵️ Rippling vs. Deel escalates. Rippling now claims Deel ran a “criminal syndicate” and spied on at least four other competitors using fake identities

  6. 💼 Top jobs, no degree. From wind techs to cybersecurity analysts, these 10 “new collar” roles pay up to $100K+ without requiring a college diploma.

  7. ⚖️ Nikola founder ducks subpoena. Trevor Milton is fighting a legal demand from his bankrupt company’s creditors, who want answers on missing funds and misleading claims.

  8. 👩‍👧 Mom’s side hustle blows up. A former teacher turned her $1K Facebook group into a $275K/month business helping other moms monetize their skills.

  9. 📈 Circle’s IPO pops — The stablecoin giant soared 40% on its Nasdaq debut, reigniting hopes for other startups eyeing the long-frozen IPO window.

  10. 🔥 Burnout is breaking founders. A new report says purpose-driven entrepreneurs face faster burnout, but reframing stress and setting “bright lines” can help them stay in the game

  11. 🎉 a16z party invites spark drama . Partiful and a16z stirred backlash at NY Tech Week after exclusive events snubbed local founders and fueled clique complaints

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🥊 Musk vs. Trump — And the VCs Caught in the Crossfire

Trump called Elon Musk a “bullsh*t artist.” Musk responded by calling Trump a “dumbass.” Petty? Maybe. But the fallout is real and it’s hitting Silicon Valley right where it hurts: in its investor circles.

The two were once aligned, at least publicly. But after clashing over EV tax credits and broader federal policy, Musk has backed away from Washington. Trump, now fully back in power, has turned his attention to mocking Musk’s influence and making clear that loyalty matters. According to Wired, the feud is already forcing VCs to quietly choose sides; a risky move when your portfolio includes defense tech, AI, or anything dependent on federal funding.

What used to be a predictable political lane for Silicon Valley - socially liberal, fiscally conservative, regulation-averse; is splintering fast. Some investors are still quietly backing Trump, drawn by tax incentives and the promise of deregulation. Others are more uneasy, especially as Musk’s platform, X, has become a louder home for far-right voices. The New York Times reports that many in tech are watching Musk’s increasingly political moves with discomfort, even if few are willing to say so publicly.

And that discomfort has consequences. Defense startups are navigating uncertain terrain as federal contracts become politicized. AI founders are tracking signals on data policy and immigration. Even funding decisions are starting to reflect the growing ideological divide; a quiet realignment that could shape the next decade of innovation.

Silicon Valley doesn’t like to talk politics. But politics is now talking back and startups are no longer on the sidelines.

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Reddit Was Worthless—Until ChatGPT

Reddit: from a scrappy startup to the backbone of modern AI and the last real "town square" on the internet. Learn how a company once on the brink of irrelevance became a cultural phenomenon and a critical piece of AI's evolution. Dive into Reddit’s wild origin story, its unique community power, and how it's shaping the future of technology.

🕶️ Subscribe for more videos 🕶️ 

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2025 Nearshore Salary Benchmarks You Can Use

Stop hiring blind. CodersLink’s 2025 Tech Salaries Report uncovers verified pay, perks & churn risk for 40+ tech roles.

Trusted by Fortune 500 companies like Pinterest, Zapier & 150+ startups, it helps you price offers and hire faster.

Grab the data, then scale with our RPO & staffing solutions.

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These companies just raised money

  1. 💻 Cursors hits $9.9B. AI dev startup Anysphere just hit a $9.9B valuation and $500M+ ARR, riding demand for its code-native assistant, Cursor.

  2. 🛡️ Anduril raises $2.5B — The defense tech startup locked in $2.5B at a $30.5B valuation, with Founders Fund leading the mega-round to scale its military AI tools

  3. 🌍 PalmPay eyes $100M .The profitable African fintech is in talks to raise up to $100M as it expands beyond Nigeria into more competitive markets

  4. Treefera raised $32M Series B to scale its AI platform that tracks carbon impact across supply chains in real time

  5. 🤝 Ciroos raised $21M to build AI “coworkers” that can join Slack, track projects, and even take meetings for you

  6. 🤖 Tomas AI raised $19.3 million in a Series A round led by a16z, with participation from Storm Ventures and Weekday Fund.

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StartEngine’s $30M Surge — Own a Piece Before June 26

StartEngine is the investing platform providing exposure to pre-IPO companies like OpenAI, Perplexity, and Databricks.

After doubling their revenues YoY in 2024 ($23M to $48M), StartEngine’s now tripled first quarter revenue YoY to a record $30M, based on its unaudited Q1 2025 financials. Now you can join 45K+ shareholders across all offerings before this round closes next month.

Reg A+ via StartEngine Crowdfunding, Inc. No BD/intermediary involved. Investment is speculative, illiquid & high risk. See OC and Risks on page.

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Slidebean Revenue Data

Mistakes were made as we grew Slidebean, but those mistakes shaped the lessons that helped us thrive. The journey wasn’t just about surviving—it was about learning and evolving.

To give you an honest glimpse into what growth really looks like, we’re sharing our actual financial numbers from the formative years of Slidebean. Download them now and see the ups, downs, and everything in between that built the company we are today.

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🍃 The Rise of Micro-Retirement

You don’t need a yacht or a trust fund to quit your job, just a plan and maybe a little audacity. The “micro-retirement” movement is gaining traction, and it’s not just for influencers or crypto bros.

The idea is simple: save enough to take extended breaks between jobs, or step away from the grind entirely for a year or two, without waiting until you’re 65. It’s popular with burned-out professionals in high-stress fields like tech, where layoffs, existential fatigue, and cost-of-living pressures are making the traditional career ladder feel less appealing. According to Entrepreneur, some people are pulling the ripcord with less than $100K in the bank, choosing freedom now over compounding later.

For startup founders, it’s a reminder that work isn’t always the goal. Even in a culture obsessed with exits and equity, more people are starting to treat time as their most valuable asset.

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Startup Events and Deadlines

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