GM! It’s Brett again. I recently reflected on my digital nomad life back in 2018 - while I'm grateful for it, I would never hire a digital nomad for a startup. The experience of constantly traveling totally rewired my relationship with work. It was impossible to grind when I was meeting so many happy people living simple lives.

Speaking of hiring, we're still looking for a founding full-stack engineer. We're offering $2K for referrals, so spread the word!

Let’s get to it.

China's going all-in on the humanoid robot game. The World Robot Conference in Beijing was buzzing with over 25 Chinese companies showing off their latest bots.

Tesla's Optimus was there too, but it was pretty much a solo act from the West.

China’s gunning to do for robots what they did with smartphones and EVs. We're talking Agibot, UBTECH, Galbot – names you might wanna keep an eye on.

Take Agibot, for instance – founded by Li Zhihui, a Huawei Technologies alumnus who aims to create humanoid robots rivalling Tesla's Optimus – unveiled 5 new humanoid robots.

This push isn't coming out of nowhere. According to data from the International Federation of Robotics, China's already crushing it with factory robot installations, far outpacing other major markets including the US and Japan. Now they're taking that expertise to humanoids.

They're backing this up with serious cash and policy. Beijing launched a $1.4B state-supported robotics fund in January, and Shanghai followed up in July with plans for a $1.4B fund focused on humanoid technology.

They aim to mass-produce these robots by 2025, leveraging its strong supply chains and government support.

The big picture: China's not just playing catch-up anymore. They're aiming to lead the pack in the next tech revolution. With government backing and a red-hot supply chain, they're setting the stage for a major shakeup in global robotics.

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Raise: Story, a blockchain-based IP tracking platform, raised $80M in a Series B funding round to build a system for managing content IP in the age of AI.

Stat: 730 acres. That's the amount of land owned by Marc Andreessen's family near the proposed California Forever utopia city in Solano County.

Rabbit Hole: Inside-out vs. outside-in: the adoption of new technologies (cdixon)

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

🧑🏻‍💻 Ellipsis automatically reviews code and fixes bugs on pull requests

📍 Mapify helps you transform overwhelming information into simple, clear mind maps.

🗃️ Snaplet helps you generate realistic seed data.

Last week’s answer: If you guessed AI-generated… you were wrong. Here’s the original.

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