Gm. Hey, Brett again!

Last month I told you about an email we’ve used to get founders in front of hundreds of investors so you can close your fundraise. We brought that email back last month and, thanks to so many of you signing up, we were able to make a bunch of intros.

So now we’re running it back. All you need to do is let us know if you’re raising and we’ll take care of the rest.

Founders - apply here to be included in that email.

Investors - to receive this email, sign up here.

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🏠 TECH

Down Goes Google

Epic Games is known for two things: developing Fortnite and suing Google and Apple over their app stores.

Fortnite is a huge W. The Apple lawsuit was a huge L. And the Google lawsuit…is a huge W.

To catch you up, Epic’s gripes with the big app stores are basically as follows:

• The big app stores take a fat cut of all in-app revenue.

• Epic absolutely can’t stand this, so they started to encourage Fortnite players to pay them directly for in-app purchases.

• Apple and Google responded by booting Fortnite out of the app stores.

• Thus, lawsuit.

As we mentioned before, that lawsuit didn’t go too well with Apple. However, things went better with the Google case because, frankly, the evidence was better:

• They had documents showing Google “financially incentivizing” other gaming companies not to develop rival app stores.

• Google got caught destroying so much evidence that the Judge swore he would investigate that on his own time.

• They had clear evidence that Google does not treat developers fairly and equally.

All of that led to an Epic win (pun intended), and now they are seeking the freedom for developers to develop their own internal app stores and billing systems. Google, obviously, does not want that to happen, so they are appealing the ruling.

So, where we go from here really depends on how the appeal goes. However, one thing is clear: the winds of antitrust action are beginning to blow. The regulators are on the prowl, and wins by private companies like Epic are definitely not going to tame those winds.

It’ll be interesting to see how big tech responds.

Down, Not Out: Who will win the appeal is anybody’s guess.

A Career Game-Changer

Sidebar is a leadership program for those who want to do more, do it better and do it faster. 📈

Imagine being able to tap into a small group of supportive peers (think Fortune 500 execs and innovative start-up CEOs) who have best-in-class experience in their industry for advice, new perspectives, and raw feedback to catalyze your professional growth. That’s Sidebar.

Their approach is focused around small peer groups, a tech-enabled platform, and an expert-led curriculum. Members say it’s like having their own Personal Board of Directors for their career.

Nothing will get you further in your career than learning from your peers — it’s a true competitive advantage. See what they mean at sidebar.com, and request an invitation to join.

🤝 THE LATEST IN…

TECH

• The Blue Origin comeback begins next week.

• iOS 17.2 is here with a new Journal app and spatial video recording.

• X’s ad sales aren’t doing too hot.

• Here are 2023’s top search trends and top apps. 

AI

• Microsoft is wading deeper into the small LLM waters.

• It also signed a historic alliance with the labor unions on AI.

• Mistral, fresh off a fat raise, released a model that generally outperforms Llama 2 70B and GPT-3.5.

• The brain reading future is growing ever closer.

SCIENCE

• TSMC may have won the 2nm chip race.

• Better start getting used to robot restaurants.

• We’re all going to be cyborgs one day.

• Gene editing is showing promise for lowering LDL cholesterol. 

CRYPTO

• KuCoin is out of New York.

• El Salvador’s Volcano Bonds coming to you as soon as Q1 2024.

• Google is getting ready for the spot bitcoin ETF.

• Trump dropped some more NFTs.

🏃‍♀️ QUICKIES

Raise: Liquid AI, a Boston, MA-based developer of domain-specific, and general-purpose AI systems powered by Liquid foundation models, emerged from stealth mode with $37.6M in seed funding.

Stat: $10B: TikTok’s total amount of consumer spending. It’s the first non-game app to reach this milestone.

Rabbit hole: Browsing The Eastern Side Of The Personal Web (Bikobatanari)

😂 WACKY AI WEDNESDAY

So close.

🛠️ FOUNDERS CORNER

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

🚀 It’s time to start building product-led experiences with visual workflows.

🍿 Come join the lead-magnet-as-a-service revolution. 

💯 Let Paigo take care of your billing for you.

💉 DOPAMINE HIT

Pro tio: come to Philly instead.

@alyssaarvotti

Not worth it. I was stuck in this crowd for about 15 minutes #fyp #foryou #boyfriend #xyzbca

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