gm. Wednesday’s poll was too lit.

Got some wild answers like “Rich and famous: I’m an icon” and “Rich and anonymous like the daft punk guys”.

Shout-out to the person who said “I’m an icon”. You are my icon.

Ok, time for today’s poll.

FRESH POWDER

Looking at three startups that just raised. Congrats!

If you want to get your company in front of 19,500+ founders, investors, and operators, let us know! Contact [email protected] with any questions.

APPS

TikTok, but with $500,000 in cash prizes

TikTok is dropping more features than Drake when he promotes an album.

4 new features in the last week or two, I can’t keep up. This includes:

• TikTok Trivia

• Pay-to-view Toks

• Live Shopping (which is huge in China)

• New feeds for sports, fashion, gaming, and food

Let’s chat TikTok trivia for a moment.

The most addictive app in the world just added cash prizes. We’re so screwed.

The first question of “how scared is Meta?” has 3 possible answers

Ok, but srsly, TikTok seems like it’s too big to fail at this point.

But Capital’s Head of Marketing Dylan Abruscato has an interesting perspective. Previously working at viral app HQ Trivia, Abruscato thinks TikTok Trivia will fail because of the chosen trivia challenge: John Wick trivia.

“A big reason for churn at HQ was that players felt like it was too hard to win. I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t answer increasingly difficult John Wick-themed trivia questions,” Abruscato wrote.

Respectfully Dylan, I could quote every single line throughout all 17 John Wick movies. Ok, just kidding, I can’t name a single line.

Imo, they should’ve chosen a movie with a crazy fanbase like Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or Star Wars. But hey Keanu Reaves is cool too. Plus, they’re probably getting paid like crazy from Wick producers Lionsgate.

Regardless of TikTok Trivia’s success, this is a big win for the brand. While it’s getting debated at the highest levels of government, it’s partnering with the biggest movie studios in the world (which could be great for their creators).

It just makes me laugh. I was type of guy who laughed TikTok off as a “dumb trend” from 2020-2022 and I was clearly 1000% wrong.

Ok I’m done with this story, time to go watch TikTok until I fall asleep at 3 am and do it all again the next day.

AI

Eric Schmidt’s AI War Machine

Nobody debates that AI is the current moment. Whether it’s blowing minds, writing code, or lying its ass off, we can’t seem to get enough of our machine assistants/friends/future overlords.

One person enthralled by AI is former Google CEO and Alphabet Chair Eric Schmidt. Being the entrepreneur he is, he wants to get involved in the game. But not with a chatbot like everybody else. No, no, no, that’s not spicy enough for Mr. Schmidt.

An AI war machine though? That’s more like it.

Istari SZN

Now, before you get too worried about Terminators strolling down the street, just know that is not what Schmidt’s new startup Istari is building.

Instead, what Istari does is use AI to virtually assemble and test war machines in the Metaverse, with the goal being to advance the cause of the US military through some good old-fashioned tech innovation.

AI and the metaverse in one startup? Somebody go check Zuck’s pulse.

Military 🤝 Tech

Istari is the latest in an increasingly long line of defense-tech startups.

• AI-powered defense company Anduril raised $1.4B last December.

• AI-pilot developer Shield AI recently raised a $225 million Series E.

• Vannevar Labs raised a $75 million Series B in January.

VCs invested $7B into defense companies from January to October last year.

This is clearly a trend that is hot right now, and with the future of warfare seemingly evolving into drones and AI, it might not slow down anytime soon.

QUICK HITS

Seed Round

Stat: $1.8 Billion: How much Binance Stablecoin has been burned since the SEC brought the hammer down on them. Ouch.

Story we're watching: Elon says Twitter should be ready for a new CEO by the end of the year. Let us know your guess for who the next tribute will be.

Rabbit hole: AI Is Dreaming Up Drugs That No One Has Ever Seen (MIT)

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON

• Reddit has its eyes on going public.

• Apple pushed back the release of its MR headset to June.

• Tesla is finally opening up its charging stations to all EVs in the US.

• Google CEO Sundar Pichai is rallying the troops to the Bard frontlines.

GUESSTIMATE

How much has Reddit raised in total?

FUNDRAISING FRIDAY

“Raising funding is only weakly correlated to your success […] Don’t forget the only reason you’re fundraising is to make your business move faster” - Andrew Lee, Initialized Capital

LAYOFFS TRACKER

trueup.io/layoffs

Notable layoffs this week:

DigitalOcean: 200 people (11%)

Neon: 210 people (9%)

Wix: 370 people (6%)

 FOUNDERS CORNER

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

💼 Check out Reddit’s r/StartupResources for questions, convos, and databases on all things startups.

🦦 I just started using Otter AI’s free plan to auto-transcribe and summarize my meetings. No more scrambled-brain note-taking for me.

🔥 I worked for Greg Isenberg at his product studio. He’s a legit mastermind. Check out his piece on how to build an adventurous products people love.

GUESSTIMATE ANSWER

$1.3 billion. Business Insider reported that it’s likely to be worth less than its $15 billion valuation it reported in its 2021 IPO filings.