📣 Headlines

• Global venture funding stayed hot as November megarounds hit a three-year high, led by AI deals, even while analysts debated whether AI is becoming a bubble dominated by a handful of Big Tech players.

• At AWS re:Invent, Amazon unveiled new Trainium3 chips, Nova models and on-premise AI Factories that integrate Nvidia Blackwell GPUs and Bedrock/SageMaker services as part of a broader push for end-to-end AI infrastructure announced across its re:Invent 2025 product lineup.

• Facing intensifying competition from Google’s Gemini, OpenAI reportedly declared a strategic code red and refocused on improving core ChatGPT products, while also acquiring AI tooling provider Neptune to tighten its model-training telemetry and workflows.

• China’s DeepSeek unveiled its new R2 model, raising the prospect of another global AI shake-up in 2026 and intensifying U.S.-China rivalry over open-source models, compute access and export controls.

• SpaceX is reportedly seeking an 800 billion dollar valuation ahead of a possible 2026 IPO and secondary share sale, underpinned by Starlink’s growing revenue and long-term expectations for its Starship program.

• After initially ordering OEMs to preload its Sanchar Saathi cyber-safety app on all smartphones to track fraud and device IMEIs, India’s government quickly scrapped the mandate amid privacy concerns and industry backlash, underscoring ongoing tensions around digital policy in a key growth market.

• Meta is cutting budgets and staff for its metaverse-focused Reality Labs unit as it pivots resources toward AI-powered glasses and wearables and has hired longtime Apple design head Alan Dye to lead a new studio blending design, fashion and AI experiences, signaling a strategic reset of its hardware ambitions.

• Early-stage AI infrastructure startups raised fresh capital, with Antioch securing 4.25 million dollars in pre-seed funding to accelerate autonomous robot testing via cloud-based digital twins and Curvestone AI raising 4 million dollars to bring no-code, audit-ready agentic automation to regulated industries.

🔧 Company Engineering Blogs

Getting from tested to battle-tested (blog​.janestreet​.com). Jane Street details Aria testing, Antithesis end-to-end chaos testing, and lessons from battle-testing distributed systems using OCaml-centric tooling

The Hidden Cost of Convenience: Rethinking Old ORM Patterns for Scale (eng​.wealthfront​.com). Wealthfront rewrites an old ORM-heavy balance system using modern architecture to cut runtime and scale efficiently

How Agentforce Achieved 3–5x Faster Response Times While Solving Enterprise-Scale Architectural Complexity (engineering​.salesforce​.com). How Salesforce refactors deterministic and LLM tasks in Apex, reduces latency 75%, and deploys multi-brand Agentforce agents for tailored brand voice

Your stack, your rules: Introducing custom agents in GitHub Copilot for observability, IaC, and security (github​.blog). Partner-built Copilot agents extend observability, IaC, and security workflows across terminals, editors, and GitHub

Analyzing how SaaS platforms are shipping payments and finance products in days (stripe​.com). Embedded components let SaaS platforms ship payments and finance features quickly, with global onboarding, branding, and compliance benefits

🚀 Founder Perspectives

i work in tech but i hate everything big tech has become (varunraghu​.com). Bootstrap founder in the Bay Area critiques big tech, shares frustrations with ads, VC culture, and ethical concerns while aiming to build meaningful products

Why We Built LoopCentr: A Rails Tool for DJs Without the Subscription Tax (panasiti​.me). LoopCentr: a Rails-based tool for DJs to export clean vinyl videos without subscriptions, using credits instead of recurring payments

Unpacking the Vision of Jack Mallers: The Man Behind Strike’s Global Impact (cryptoresearch​.report). Explores Jack Mallers and Strike: Bitcoin, Lightning Network, open API, global financial inclusion, consumer branding, and strategies for athletes and developing markets

Will there ever be a worse time to start a startup? (benn​.substack​.com). Deflation fears, tech debt, and rapid AI tooling reshape startup timing, with Opus 4.5 and Cursor highlighting shifting productivity

💸 VC & Fundraising

Clouded Judgement 12.5.25 - Monopoly Money (cloudedjudgement​.substack​.com). Explores how inflated startup valuations create ‘monopoly money’ equity, distorting hiring and diluting long-term value for founders and employees

When your customer leads your Series A (antithesis​.com). Customer-led Series A: Jane Street backs Antithesis; culture, trust, and adaptive growth shape funding and hiring

Investir dans des startups : bullshit ou vraie opportunité ? (laveilledemareussite​.substack​.com). French guide on private equity access for retail investors via YC Venture and Fundora, outlining risks, costs, and opportunities

Why Your Company Valuation Really Does Not Matter Yet (wearefounders​.uk). Seed-stage valuation myths debunked; focus on runways, cap table, and long-term product value over flashy post-money numbers

Does valuation or ownership matter more to a seed VC? Yes. (hunterwalk​.com). Seed VC strategy: prioritize ownership over valuation; portfolio construction driven by price and fund size, with Homebrew’s approach and evergreen capital

How to Position a Bad Metric to Investors (dave-bailey​.com). How founders reframe weak metrics for fundraising by highlighting segments, improvements, and strategic trade-offs to engage investors

Data: Zombie VC Firms Walk Among Us (upstartsmedia​.com). Carta data shows 2021–2022 VC funds slowed deployment as LP checks shrink, signaling wary, maturing zombie firms

Announcing Our Investment in Built AI (workbench​.substack​.com). Built AI raises a $6M seed led by Work-Bench to modernize real estate investing with AI-powered underwriting and a unified platform

🏢 Hiring & Onboarding

Low-Fire Low-Hire Job Market, after Massive Overhiring by Big Tech & Others in 2021 & 2022 (wolfstreet​.com). Low-fire, low-hire job market after pandemic overhiring by Alphabet, Amazon; unemployment claims dip, Challenger cuts rise

From day one to first delivery: How we redesigned Nubank’s Engineering onboarding (building​.nubank​.com). Nubank engineering onboarding overhaul with real-world challenges, metrics, Clojure, Datomic, and guided 30-day milestones

Why Hiring Tech Talent Is Harder Than Ever? (blog​.codelitt​.com). Tech hiring complexities rise with AI-enabled hiring, emphasizing honesty, ownership, and technical depth across product and engineering teams

📈 Sales & Go-To-Market

Why your marketing isn't working (growthunhinged​.com). Growth insights on AI, PMF, SaaS exits, and OpenAI’s $500B path with Emily Kramer, Brian Balfour, Dave Kellogg, and CJ Gustafson

Maior case de empreendedorismo solo do Brasil. Conheça a Vencefy. (microsaas​.substack​.com). Case de empreendedorismo solo no Brasil: Rodrigo, Vencify, R$107k–R$120k MRR, LinkedIn, IA, White Label, N8N, VS Code

How I Screwed Up Sales Hiring (petewarden​.com). Lessons from a founder on why startup sales differ from enterprise sales, emphasizing BD, founder-led deals, and advisory support

An outbound playbook for 2025 (growthunhinged​.com). Outbound playbook for 2025 using AI-enhanced workflows, ICP scoring, TAM mapping, and multi-channel outreach

#119: How to ACTUALLY track SDR efficiency (with real metrics) (salesflo​.substack​.com). Tracking SDR efficiency with practical metrics and a quarterly dashboard; tools include Kondo for LinkedIn and a data-driven approach

Loud Isn't Enough (speedrun​.substack​.com). Marketing circus: Salesforce’s End of Software campaign against Siebel predicts cloud-era positioning and villain-led narratives

Nuitée: "Stripe for travel" (realisticoptimist​.io). Nuitée positions itself as the Stripe for travel, offering an API to plug hotel inventory and travel services for global clients

🧠 Product Strategy Craft

Objectives vs Goals vs Strategies: A Tactical Guide for Product Managers (aakashg​.com). Tactical guide for product managers on distinguishing objectives, goals, and strategies with frameworks like SMART and OKRs and real-world case studies

How a Vertical Product Value Team Shares Strategy and Tactics for One Product, Part 3 (jrothman​.com). Vertical Product Value Team clarifies strategy with cross-functional leadership to tackle evolving customer problems amid multiple product lines

A Practical Guide to Product Strategy Frameworks for Ambitious PMs (aakashg​.com). Practical product strategy frameworks (JTBD, Kano, SWOT) with RICE, OKRs, HEART, and portfolio tools for PM career growth

The Viability Trap (leadinginproduct​.com). Desirability vs. viability in product decisions; internal processes, ROI, and speed vs. cost, plus a simple framework for decision-making

Think learnings, not experiments (tomvandenberg​.substack​.com). Think learnings from generative research, sequential testing, metrics maps vs trees, and leadership tips for product teams and experimentation jobs

Extraordinary designers (adplist​.substack​.com). Founders should hire a generalist, product-minded designer early, evaluate thinking over aesthetics, and partner closely with growth metrics and constraints

🤖 AI Platforms & Devtools

DevFestMN 2025 (paul​.af). DevFestMN 2025 recap and volunteering experience, AI in the browser, Humns in the loop, and Lingowise AI demo notes

Software Gets A New Layer (wreflection​.com). OS AI layer discussed as the next shift; Amazon, Apple, Google, ByteDance, and Perplexity highlighted with apps, devices, and policy impacts

An Interview with Atlassian CEO Mike Cannon-Brookes About Atlassian and AI (stratechery​.com). Atlassian co-founders Jira and Confluence, open source impact, self-serve growth, enterprise GTM, and AI trajectory with Mike Cannon-Brookes

300K Subs Special: How I Write AI Made Simple. (artificialintelligencemadesimple​.com). Open-source AI community founder explains writing process, phase-driven growth, no-ads philosophy, and bridging research, engineering, finance for 300K subscribers

Anthropic Bought Bun: Devtools Just Became AI Infrastructure (nibzard​.com). Anthropic buys Bun, redefining devtools as core AI infrastructure for agent-driven software

🌍 Platforms & Governance

The Fediverse and Content Creation: Monetization (deadsuperhero​.com). Monetization in the Fediverse: CrowdBucks, Circle privileges, Premium Users, Bonfire, Bandwagon, Mitra, and CrowdBucks integration concepts

Digital suveränitet på amerikanska villkor (carlheath​.se). EU fines X for transparency breaches; US/EU political narratives clash over digital platform regulation and sovereignty

Book review: Enshittification, by Cory Doctorow (earthbound​.report). Enshittification of platforms like Facebook, Netflix, Amazon, Google, Uber; solutions include antitrust, interoperability, worker bargaining, and federated social media

Trustworthy software through non-profits? (more-magic​.net). Explores non-profit governance for trustworthy software, comparing FOSS, volunteer projects, and SaaS models across GitHub, Codeberg, and Mozilla

You can't legislate serendipity (werd​.io). Europe’s alternative tech vision needs community and intentional serendipity, not just compliance and top-down standards

🧑‍🏭 Engineering Careers & Leadership

Mitul meritocrației în corporații: o poveste reală (derapaje​.ro). Insider story despre meritocrație în corporații, schimbări de metodologie SAFe, politici de promovare și consecințe asupra echipelor IT

The great engineer hiring paradox (leaddev​.com). Tech hiring paradox: steady software jobs amid grim prospects, rising skill bar, AI talent demand, and evolving candidate filters

LeadDev StaffPlus 2025: My Top Takeaways (technology​.doximity​.com). StaffPlus NY highlights: egoless leadership, uplifting teammates, pre-mortems, and collaboration across teams at LeadDev conference

34 days to 50: Notes to Self (TML's Version) (makeitbetter​.substack​.com). Waking before dawn, reflections on brand, leadership, and living to work vs. working to live in a cross between dream-driven future visions and startup notes

Telling STAR Stories (loki​.ws). STAR stories for interviewing and performance notes, with a CTO at Axios using Elixir/Phoenix and GraphQL, plus practical note-taking tools

My Advice For Engineers and Engineering Leaders to Get a New Role Faster (newsletter​.eng-leadership​.com). Practical steps for engineers and engineering leaders to land a new role faster using credibility, networking, tailored applications, and interview prep

I ignore the spotlight as a staff engineer (lalitm​.com). Staff Engineer at Google argues for long-term infrastructure stewardship over flashy, external-facing spotlight projects

📊 Product Case Studies

The Green Superman (visitmy​.website). Weeknotes on product vs technology split, user research, and planning for a 2026 beta, with Segway analogy and 'Photoshop in the browser' pivot

A Product Data Scientist’s Take on LinkedIn Games After 500 Days of Play (towardsdatascience​.com). Product data science lens on LinkedIn Games: retention, experiments, multi-armed bandits, and network effects

Analyzing how SaaS platforms are shipping payments and finance products in days (stripe​.com). Embedded components let SaaS platforms ship payments and finance features quickly, with global onboarding, branding, and compliance benefits

The Pre-Viral Economy (protein​.xyz). Polymarket turns collective gut-feelings into probabilistic signals about next epoch-shaping trends and micro-aesthetics

🏗️ Building Robust Systems

Stop Looking for Silver Bullets and Start Looking at Your Context (yanivpreiss​.com). Context over universal methods: tailored trade-offs in architecture, teams, and culture for startups and scale-ups

Scaling by "delegation" isn't good enough (longform​.asmartbear​.com). Why true scaling comes from building teams that are better than you, not simply delegating tasks away

The Hidden Cost of Convenience: Rethinking Old ORM Patterns for Scale (eng​.wealthfront​.com). Wealthfront rewrites an old ORM-heavy balance system using modern architecture to cut runtime and scale efficiently

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