gm. Think you are having a bad day? Shares of Tesla fell more than 12% yesterday which represents a $125 billion loss in market cap for the EV maker and a personal loss of over $20 billion for the Musk man.

That also happens to be the same amount Musk promised to contribute to the Twitter deal.

Now that's ironic. 

FRESH POWDER

Looking at three funds that recently topped up their coffers. 

TWITTER 

So now what? 

Elon did the damn thing—Twitter's board accepted his $44 billion offer on Monday. But now that the weirdest dealmaking period of all time is behind us, what’s next for tech's newest power couple?

Here are four storylines we’re watching as the reign of Musk begins. 

1. Worsening economic conditions: Both the equity and bond markets are in a downturn, which is usually a good indicator that tough times are ahead. Tough times often lead to a pullback in advertising dollars as companies tighten their grip on their coin purses. Factor in the hefty interest payments Musk is on the hook for from his $26 billion debt financing deal and things could get ugly if Twitter’s revenue takes a hit. 

It could get to a point, as Martin Peers of The Information writes, where “economic conditions worsen so much that Musk decides to walk away.” 

2. Security and privacy battles: One of Elon’s stated goals for Twitter is to open source its algorithm in order build trust in the platform. But experts say that  open sourcing could lead to a host of issues; namely, it makes Twitter a big ol’ target for hackers who know have all the code laid out in front of them.  

Also, Elon’s goal of “authenticating all humans” has made some anonymous users a little nervous. Anonymity can be an important layer of safety when it comes to people speaking out against people in positions of power like political dissidents. 

3. Protection of free speech: Free speech has been the consistent drumbeat behind Elon’s campaign to own Twitter. But right now, his actual policies are still opaque. He has said he favors “timeouts” over bans and will try to “follow the laws” of each country, but the day Twitter makes an unpopular judgment call on a specific piece of content, the free speech utopia that Elon is selling may come crashing down. 

MEDIA

The Bachelor + web3 = $6 million

The decentralized media company, Mad Realities, has been a buzzy on Twitter for a while now. But on Monday, it broke out of the Twitterverse announcing a $6 million seed round led by Paradigm and Paris Hilton’s 11:11 Media. 

The deets

Mad Realities' first production that launched last month is called Proof of Love. It’s sort of a web3 take on The Bachelor where NFT holders get to vote and influence the outcomes of the show. 

• The vision: Even though Proof of Love’s most-watched episode only brought in around 7,000 viewers on YouTube, the grand plan for Mad Realities is to rethink the top-down media model in which studio executives control which content gets produced. 

Zoom out: Projects like Bored Ape Yacht Club are working to build web3 media empires with NFTs as the central IP. But Mad Realities is going a step further and rethinking the entire model of distribution and ownership. As Rex Woodbury of Index Ventures writes, “what if the next Star Wars isn’t created by George Lucas, but by a group of people on the internet?” Mad Realities wants to find out. 

QUICK HITS

Seed Round

Stat: After netting 175 million new downloads, TikTok was officially the world's most-downloaded app in Q1 of this year. It’s only the fifth app—and the first outside of Meta’s ecosystem—to ever reach that mark. TikTok has also had a stranglehold on the US app charts ever since people began to emerge from pandemic era lockdowns. In fact, the last app to usurp TikTok from its throne was Zoom in Q4 2020. Bad memories. 

TLDR: In the wake of Fast’s one-click melt down, its main competitor, Bolt and its outspoken founder, Ryan Breslow, did some fast and furious victory laps. But now, Bolt is being sued by its biggest customer for potentially lying about the efficacy of its technology and market penetration. (More here)

Rabbit hole: Why pessimism always sounds smart (The Roots of Progress)

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

• Ford has begun production on the F-150 lightning, its hugely anticipated electric pickup truck.

• Hawaiian became the first major airline to partner with SpaceX’s Starlink to provide free internet on flights.

• Reddit is allocating $1 million to fund projects created by the platform’s users.

• Alphabet reported earnings yesterday and had an ugly Q1, dragged down by YouTube’s disappointing quarter. 

• Microsoft did okay, though.

THREE HEADLINES AND A LIE

Only one of these headlines is real. The rest are made up. Can you spot which is which?

A. “Russia reportedly bungles staged arrest by mistaking SIM cards for ‘The Sims’”

B. “Domino’s under fire for sharing pizza topping data with police”

C. “Poll shows Zelensky leading 2024 U.S. Presidential race”

D. “Ontario vows to crack down on stunt driving unless you actually do something sick”

FOUNDERS CORNER

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

💩 The cultural meaning of shitposting

🎓 Incremental learning is the learning method you didn’t know you needed

🌎 Earth reviews is a funny review aggregator of pretty much everything that exists

THREE HEADLINES ANSWER

A. Russia really did mix up SIM cards and The Sims. Honest mistake.