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GM! It’s Brett again. Last week, I had a pretty interesting conversation with an investor, and he told me the craziest stat. He had analyzed his entire portfolio and found that his top performing investments were in founders he had high conviction in regardless of the market.

Marc Andreessen reiterates the point in this video, saying, “90% of the [investment] decision” comes down to people. The best founders have two traits: Genius and Courage.

🏠 Tech

The Monopoly

So here's the deal: Last week the DOJ dropped their game plan for breaking up Google, and it's a doozy. They want Google to sell off Chrome - yeah, the browser that powers like 60% of web traffic.

Why Chrome specifically? DOJ says it's a "critical search access point" that Google uses to maintain its search monopoly. This follows that August ruling where Judge Mehta found Google illegally monopolizing search and search ads.

But Bloomberg analysts are calling this "extremely unlikely" - mainly because potential buyers like Amazon are dealing with their own antitrust issues.

The plan goes deeper: Ban exclusive search default agreements (including Google's multibillion-dollar deal with Apple), force Google to license both its search click data and search results to competitors, and require Android to be uncoupled from Google Search and Play Store. The DOJ says if these restrictions don't restore competition, more severe measures could follow.

Google's calling it "wildly overbroad" and claiming it'll wreck American tech leadership. Classic Big Tech defense playbook.

But here's where it gets spicy: While this is going down, word got out that OpenAI's thinking about building their own browser. Beyond exploring their own browser plans, analysts suggest they could be a potential Chrome buyer - it would give them both distribution and an ads business alongside their chatbot subscriptions. They've already hired some ex-Chrome folks like Ben Goodger and Darin Fisher.

Look, this is the biggest tech antitrust move since the Microsoft drama back in the day. Judge Mehta's got until next fall to decide what to do, but whatever happens, it's gonna reshape how we access the internet.

The big picture - This isn't just about breaking up a browser - it's about reshaping how tech giants control access to the internet. If DOJ succeeds, 2025 could mark the beginning of a more open, competitive digital landscape.

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🤝 THE LATEST IN…

TECH

• Threads is after Bluesky, released new custom feeds feature.

• Italy plans crackdown on database hacks.

• Microsoft will soon let you clone your voice for Teams meetings.

• Apple begins selling News ads directly.

AI

• Anthropic raised $4B from Amazon & makes AWS its ‘primary’ training partner.

• Gemini is at the top again.

• ChatGPT will soon have a live camera feature.

• Perplexity launched an AI-powered shopping assistant.

SCIENCE

• ChatGPT beat doctors at diagnosing medical conditions.

• NASA might have accidentally killed life on Mars.

• Science just leveled up in the fight against IBD and bowel cancer.

• Earpiece microphones could be used to listen for early signs of dementia.

CRYPTO

• UK to introduce comprehensive crypto regulations in 2025.

• Ethereum futures hit an all time high with $20B in open interest.

• Solana jumps 11% to reach all time high.

• Daily exchange trading volumes hit a 12 month high of $117B.

🏃‍♀️ QUICKIES

Raise: Minu, a financial wellness platform for employees, raised $30M in a Series B funding round to expand its benefits offerings and enhance financial and physical health tools for workers in Mexico.

Stat: $55 Billion. That's how much cyberattacks have cost British businesses in lost revenue over the past five years.

Rabbit Hole: The State of Generative AI in the Enterprise

🤩 MONDAY MOTIVATION

🛠️ FOUNDERS CORNER

The best resources we recently came across that will help you become a better founder, builder, or investor.

👨‍🚀 AutoFlow is your AI-powered QA

💬 AssemblyAI is a speech-to-Text API with superhuman accuracy

🤑 FormStory will never let you lose any lead

❓️ AI GENERATED OR NOT

Last week’s answer: If you guessed AI-generated… you were right.

🟩🟩🟩⬜️⬜️⬜️ Yeah (~52%)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Nope (~48%)

This was pretty close. Here’s the original.

This is an AI-generated portrait of Alan Turing, created by the humanoid artist Ai-Da Robot, sold at Sotheby's for over $1 million, marking a milestone in AI-driven art.

 👋 A Quick Note About Micro

Micro is a CRM that doesn't feel like homework and an email client that knows what matters. Simply put, it's an all-in-one productivity tool that organizes itself so you don't have to.

I built Micro with some friends because I was tired of getting guilt tripped for not hitting inbox 0 and having to bounce around between so many tools to do my job.

We're launching in 2025, but if you want early access, sign up for the waitlist at micro.so and respond to the confirmation email saying you came from Homescreen.

REACH 40K+ FOUNDERS, INVESTORS & OPERATORS

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