Gm and happy 4th of July! In honor of the holiday, we’re making this the “fours” edition of Homescreen:

• Four trends to watch

• Four great resources

• Four stats

• And some special fours trivia

Hope you enjoy!

TRENDS

Four trends from H1

Here are the four biggest storylines that dominated the news cycle in the first half of the year.

The spread of “contagion” in crypto

The trend: For a supposedly decentralized ecosystem, crypto is a whole lot more interconnected than most people realized. The collapse of Terra led to Celsius, CoinFLEX, Voyager, and a host of other lending platforms freezing customer funds. Weeks later, millions of users still can’t access their money and are demanding answers. Then the hedge fund Three Arrows Capital went bankrupt and nearly brought down a multitude of other institutions that had loaned them money like BlockFi, Voyager, and Genesis.

Looking ahead: Through it all, Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX have been doling out credit lines to stem the contagion “even if it is at a loss to ourselves,” in order to help the industry survive.

The deluge of layoffs

The trend: Tech layoffs massively accelerated in the first half of the year, rising from 5,718 workers laid off in April to 27,164 in June according to True Up’s layoff tracker. It’s not just layoffs either: in June Coinbase rescinded job offers from about 300 incoming hires. Companies aren’t giving specific reasons for layoffs any more. Klarna laid off 700 employees in May citing vague “macro and geopolitical factors.”

Looking ahead: It’s been an ugly few months, but one potential bright spot is the fact that startup layoffs seemed to peak in May per the Layoffs.FYI tracker. Obviously, that figure is bad, but it's actually not as grim as the same period during 2020 which helps to put things in perspective.

Plunging private valuations

The trend: Early in June, we wrote about how Europe’s most valuable startup, Klarna, was looking to raise fresh capital at a $30 billion valuation, a 30% drop from its previous round. Slowing post-pandemic growth and the broader economic environment were cited as reasons for the valuation haircut. Since then, Klarna’s desperation for new cash caught up to them: On Friday, the WSJ reported Klarna is raising $650 million at a $6.5 billion valuation, a huge drop from its $45.6 valuation this time last year.

Looking ahead: Companies that benefitted from last year's red-hot fundraising market have the cash on hand to weather the storm, but plunging valuations across the board are acting as a wet blanket for any companies looking to raise in the coming months.

The war over health data

The trend: After the Supreme court made the monumental decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, attention turned to the role location data may play in the enforcement of new regulations. A worst-case scenario quickly came true: Some data brokers like SafeGraph have already started selling information on patients who visit clinics that provide abortions.

Looking ahead: Accelerated by the pandemic, technology's role in public health is only growing. In May, newly released documents showed the CDC had also tracked millions of phones to see if people were following Covid lockdown orders. In a post-Roe v Wade world, the discourse is only growing more important.

CLICKS

Four most-clicked links from Founders Corner

These puppies attracted more than 3,000 clicks between them. Enjoy.

📚 The Startup Library aggregates hundreds of tools and resources a founder needs to build their company

🗣 9 essential things to get across when pitching VCs

🛠 A toolkit on how to navigate down markets from Sequoia

❌ 10 common mistakes founders make marketing their startups

STATS

Four stats to impress your friends with

Feel free to bust these out at your Fourth of July BBQ.

The number of ride-share and delivery drivers using Teslas jumped 186% in May compared to last year as gas prices hit historic highs.

Khaby Lame dethroned Charli D’Amelio as the world’s most popular TikToker with over 142.7 million followers.

Americans over the age of 50 produce a whopping 78% of the political content on Twitter, despite only making up 24% of American users on the platform.

Stanford has produced the most funded startup founders since 2021 with 460 across both undergraduate and MBA students. Harvard is a distant second at 399.

TRIVIA

Today’s trivia is half startup-themed, half 4th of July-themed, but 100% a good time.

1. There are 4 companies that start with the letter A in the top 25 most valuable US companies. Can you name them?

1. Which President(s) died on the 4th of July?

1. What was the estimated population of the United States on July 4, 1776?

1. What is the 4th most valuable startup in the world?

TRIVIA ANSWER

1. Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, Abbvie

2. Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died on July 4, 1826, within five hours of each other.

3. 2.5 million

4. Stripe ($95 billion)