Founders ride AI acqui-hire wave | Newsletter

Quick Hits

AI ambition: ByteDance expands U.S. AI team.

AI play: India wants $200B in investments by 2028.

Code continuity: OpenClaw goes open source.

Fashion buy: eBay buys Etsy’s Depop for $1.2B.

Figma fortune: Shares soar on AI growth.

HQ shuffle: Palantir ditches Denver for Miami.

Model upgrade: Anthropic unveils Sonnet 4.6.

Snap chat: Subscribers surge to 25M, revenue hits $1B.

Ticket trick: SeatGeek joins Spotify to sell concert tickets.

Vision division: Apple develops AI-powered eyewear.

Company Spotlight:

Founder Tip: AI turned non-technical roles technical overnight — build products that can pivot with the market.

Daniele Grassi at General Assembly trained software engineers through bootcamps. Then HR started calling. Then legal teams. Then executives. None of them wanted to code — they wanted to understand AI.

GA didn't defend the old model. They built programs from three hours to 400 hours and created role-specific AI training. They shifted from consumer payments to employer funding. When the market moved, the product moved with it.

Adaptable products outlast fixed ones. The companies that survive rebuild their model instead of protecting what used to work.

They're hiring! See their open roles here.

🎥 Watch the full interview on YouTube | Listen on Spotify

Startups Hiring Now

Jump

The Unified Fan Experience Platform: A New Model for Modern Sports

See 5 open roles

Eight Sleep

Designed to help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep

See 52 open roles

Tatari

Buy and measure ads for brands across linear & streaming TV

See 62 open roles

Faire

The future is local

See 57 open roles

Job Search Tip: Get interview rejection feedback by contacting the recruiter directly.

Those rejection emails aren't about you. They're about keeping the ATS organized.

Jenna Pilja, Senior GTM Recruiter at Akeyless, spent 14+ years in talent acquisition at companies like Google and LinkedIn. The recruiter who interviewed you is a real person with actual insight into what happened. Most will respond if you ask for feedback directly. Some can't share details because of legal policies, but plenty will.

Watch the full 'Ask a Recruiter' interview here.

What We’re Reading

Reddit broadens appeal

Reddit is growing and expanding its reach as a safe space amid a sea of AI slop. "We had this reputation of being gamers and tech guys… but now we're very gender balanced and very strong with Gen Z women,” says an exec.

Founders ride AI acqui-hire wave

From 2020 to 2025, thousands of AI teams were acquired, highlighting a strategic shift in tech hiring.

Students shift to AI majors

Students are drifting away from general computer science but are increasingly drawn to AI-specific majors and courses.

Open source AI takes center stage

Indian AI lab Sarvam launched new models, including text-to-speech and vision systems at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi.

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