Gm. Maybe those tweets are right. It rlly is about the friends we make along the way.

FRESH POWDER

Looking at three funds that recently topped up their coffers.

VENTURE CAPITAL  

American Dynamism?

Lately, "American Dynamism" has been popping up a lot on my timeline.

It's a term coined by a16z to denote American companies that support the national interest. These are companies that are assisting — and often replacing — the national government's responsibilities.

"Startups have begun usurping the responsibilities of governments at breathtaking pace," wrote Katherine Boyle. Think SpaceX, Anduril, and the countless health-tech companies that could've (should've) been offered by the government.

Because of the various cross-party inefficiencies within the government, it's our jobs as the nerds in tech to build the future of America.

The American Dynamism 50

Yesterday, a16z released The American Dynamism 50, a collection of 50 US-based companies kickstarting American renewal.

Categories and companies included:

• Agriculture

• Aviation & Space

• Construction & Housing

• Defense & Public Safety

• Education & Community

• Energy & Materials

• GovTech

• Labor

• Manufacturing & Robots

• Transportation & Logistics.

Give a16z's guide a quick brief look-through and you'll see America is actually kicking more ass than you realize.

What American Industries Were Missing?

I felt like a16z missed a few of America's biggest and best industries.

1. Hot Dog Eating Contests

2. July 4th Fireworks

3. TikTok Creators

4. Bets Against Tom Brady

5. Parade Float Manufacturing

6. I🖤NYC Stores in Times Square

7. Paparazzi and Tabloids

8. Independent Coffee Shops That Charge More But You Feel Better Going Because They're Not Starbucks (But The Coffee Sucks So You Wish You Went to Starbucks)

9. Las Vegas Weddings

10. Marvel Movies

I will be writing a16z a strongly worded DM to ask them why these were not included.

COMMUNITY

Tech 🤝 Making Friends

As Gen Z grows up and moves into the real world, they are discovering a brutal truth: It’s hard to make adult friends.

And it has been especially hard for Gen Z.

Whether it be due to the pandemic, social media, hustle culture, or something else, Gen Z is by far the loneliest generation to date, with 73% reporting feeling lonely at least monthly.

Tech might’ve contributed to this loneliness epidemic, but now, a new wave of startups is leading the charge on fixing it.

The New Wave Of Social Tech

There were 43 funding rounds for VC-backed dating companies last year, with the vast majority of these deals being angel, pre-seed, and seed rounds.

Yesterday, a particularly interesting startup named 222 announced their raise.

222's Gen Z co-founders, Keyan Kazemian, Danial Hashemi, and Arman Roshannai, came up with the idea after hosting friend-of-friend meet-ups in Kazemians backyard.

At first glance, this doesn’t sound particularly inspiring. A lot of people host backyard dinners. Why were these so special?

And this makes sense.

Gen Z is starved for social connections after a brutal pandemic.

The twist of these dinners is that the guest lists were curated by a psychological exam and machine learning. It sounds like a plot of a Black Mirror episode, but in reality, it resulted in deeper and more meaningful connections for all involved.

222 takes this idea and scales it. People go to the website, answer 30 personal questions, and are then algorithmically matched with like-minded people and events.

Basically, 222 takes the guesswork out of meeting new friends.

Whether it’s through a dating app, Launch House's community events, or friend-making tech like 222, the social tech wave is one to keep an eye on.

QUICK HITS

Seed Round

Stat: Berkshire Hathaway took a $4.1 billion stake in Taiwan Semiconductor, the world’s largest chip manufacturer. Does this mean the chip bear market is over?

Story we're watching: The UK tech startup community is at war with the government over the government’s desire to anoint Barclays Bank as the sole curator and promoter of British startups. The tech community wants Tech Nation to continue in the role, and is backed by big UK names like Brent Hoberman (Chairman of Founders Forum), Taavet Hinrikus (Chairman of Wise), and Tessa Clarke (CEO of OLIO).

Rabbit hole: The Definitive Thread on FTX (Jason Choi)

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

• Northwestern business school is waiving standardized test scores for recently laid off techies. Ligma and Johnson chose to chill with Elon instead.

• The New York Times ran a really weird puff piece on SBF, whose father has written articles for the NYT. We're not saying that a phone call was made, but we're not saying it wasn't.

• WhatsApp’s head of India Abhijit Bose and Meta’s India public policy head Rajiv Aggarwal have both left the company. Meta India chief Ajit Mohan also recently jumped ship to Snap. You have to start wondering what’s going on with Meta in India.

• Some madman just bought Steve Jobs's old sandals for $200,000. I almost threw up imagining the smell. Wait, nope, I did just throw up.

THREE LIES AND A HEADLINE

A. What Elon Musk Told Twitter Employees During His First Company Meeting

B. Study Shows Money Can Buy Happiness For Households Earning Up to $123,000

C. Like Sleeping on the Job? Make $400,000 a Year Snoozing on TikTok

D. Shanghai Disney Requires Negative Covid Test For Guests To Leave

LAYOFFS TRACKER

Notable layoffs this week

Cloudinary: 40 people (8%)

Twitter: 4,400 (80% of contractors)

Amazon: ~10,000 people (~3%)

FOUNDERS CORNER

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

🔨 Lenny Rachitsky interviewed Yuhki Yamashita, Chief Product Officer at Figma, on how Figma builds product.

🎥 Kristen Hawley from ad agency Bullish Studio drops 8 tips on filming vertical videos.

🎙 Chamath hits the Lex Fridman podcast for a 3 hour pod. Perf for lindy walks.

THREE HEADLINES ANSWER

C.