Gm. The existence of 10x engineers implies there are .1x engineers. Watch out. đ
FRESH POWDER
Looking at three funds that recently topped up their coffers.
Hotz To The Rescue
For Elon and Twitter, desperate times call for desperate measures.
With staffing way down after Elonâs âwork-hard or get outâ ultimatum, Elon is bringing in some unlikely but supremely talented help.
That help is noted hacker and Elon frenemy, George Hotz.
Keep Your Friends CloseâŠ
Hotz and Elon go all the way back to 2015.
Back then, Hotz was a hot-shot hacker who claimed he could develop driver assistance software better than Tesla. Elon recognized his talent and was ready to bring him on to Tesla, but the deal fell through after Elon allegedly âkept changing the termsâ.
A big loss, but not one that Tesla found particularly devastating, as it was âextremely unlikelyâ that Hotz could beat out Tesla. To which Hotz said bet, watch me.
Hotz went on to found Comma.ai, which brings Tesla Autopilot-like functionality to other cars for the small price of $1,999, because $2000 wouldâve been too much. We donât know if Commas superior to Tesla, but we do know that itâs doing really well.
So well that Hotz now has some free time. Enough free time that he will spend the next 12 weeks working on fixing Twitter. According to his bio, he is now the most overqualified Twitter intern in history. Screw 10x engineers. He's an 1000x engineer.
Thank God, because the bird app has some bird flu right now.
Mission Twitter
Hotz is just one hire, but itâs a hire that offers a preview of Elonâs strategy.
Elon says Twitter is officially done with layoffs and ready to hire again. Judging by the fact that he has severely cut down on Twitterâs workforce, it appears that he is going to prioritize quality hires over quantity.
While many are scared of Twitter's new hardcore work ethic, there's plenty of people out there looking for the challenge of a lifetime.
Zuck is Resigning
Ok, the word is out that Zuck is resigning.
Meta, the once darling of Silicon Valley, is losing its fearless leader.
Zuck led Meta into VR and the metaverse â despite everyone warning him not to and his shareholders writing an open letter asking him to allocate his budget elsewhere.
With rumors flying that Zuck is resigning, everyone's assuming it's because he's admitted defeat. We don't think so.
7 Reasons Zuck is Resigning
- He tried the Quest for the first time and realized he gets motion sickness in VR.
- He made it to the hydrofoil championships. He pre-ordered 10 suntan lotion bottles.
- He wants to spend time with his family. Tom Brady disapproves.
- He met Balaji Srinivasan and was immediately crypto-pilled. Zuck is now joining Uniswap as an intern.
- He smoked weed with Joe Rogan and is opening up a marijuana dispensary selling his custom strain of Zuckerkush.
- He used TikTok and admitted defeat.
- He's starting a podcast! Tune in every Tuesday for I Don't Give a Zuck.
QUICK HITS
Seed Round
Stat: Amazonâs Alexa is absolutely bleeding money, with $10 billion in losses in 2022. Itâs a wonder why a popular and useful product is unable to make money, but thatâs just how it is sometimes.
Story weâre watching: Another black swan could soon be hitting crypto. Genesis, one of the largest crypto lending desks, is in deep trouble with a hole between $500 million and $1 billion. Bankruptcy is inevitable unless they raise new money. When it rains it pours.
Rabbit hole: See when words were first published in print (Merriam Webster)
WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON
- Itâs no secret that AI is better than us at games like Jeopardy and Chess. Whatever, at least we win games that require cooperation. YeahâŠnot anymore. Metaâs âCiceroâ AI is trouncing dudes at the game Diplomacy, which is lowkey scary.
- The new Avatar movie looks primed to be the most teched-up movie of all time.
- NFT marketplace Magic Eden is integrating with layer-2 blockchain Polygon to grow blockchain gaming. For those not in crypto, these are two of the biggest names in the NFT/gaming spaces, so it will be exciting to see what this partnership produces.
- The $8 blue checkmark is on indefinite pause. It was fun while it lasted.
THREE LIES AND A HEADLINE
News is so weird these days. Three of these headline are fake stories from The Onion while one is actually true. Can you spot the truth amongst the fakes?
A. Elon Muskâs Rules of âInsane Productivityâ That Were Sent To All Twitter Employees
B. Love Comes and Goes, but a Screenshot Is Forever
C. Tiffany Trump Charged Full Venue Price For Mar-A-Lago Wedding
D. Rihanna Admits She Just Uses Whatever Makeup On Sale At Walgreens
FOUNDERS CORNER
The best resources we came across that will help you become a better founder, builder, or investor.
đș Contrary GP Will Robbins wrote about Sequoia's leaked memo about YouTube
đ I found a business news aggregator called BizToc backed by Mark Cuban
âïž Just found an app called Montaigne where you can publish a blog straight from your Apple Notes. If you like the simplistic 90s-style blogs, check it out.
THREE HEADLINES ANSWER
B