Good morning! I’m Karyne Levy, managing editor of TechCrunch+, and I’m very excited to be right here.
We’ve obtained fairly a lineup for you at the moment, starting with some key moments from the Sam Bankman-Fried trial. Our reporter Jacquelyn Melinek has been on the courthouse day by day; you’ll be able to try our protection of the trial right here.
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This week, Caroline Ellison, ex-CEO of Alameda Analysis and SBF’s former girlfriend, took the stand. She defined how she cooked the books to make Alameda’s funds look rather a lot cleaner than they really have been. “We have been in a foul scenario,” is how she aptly put it.
Thanks for studying!
Karyne
Ask Sophie: Can a bootstrapping solo founder get an O-1A?
Picture Credit: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch
I’m a solo founder who’s bootstrapping my startup to the purpose of traction earlier than I even think about elevating funding. It sounds such as you want VC funding to get an O-1A — is that true? Is it even attainable for me to contemplate getting an O-1A at this stage?
— Daring Bootstrapper
More cash received’t repair your failing startup — right here’s get traders to again a pivot
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In case your startup isn’t seeing the sort of traction or progress that you simply anticipate, typically one of the best ways ahead is to really take a detour and see if there’s another want you’ll be able to fulfill.
“If your organization isn’t seeing robust progress with prospects keen to make use of the product and share it with others, it is perhaps time to pivot the corporate in a brand new path,” says Sarah Leary, a enterprise accomplice at Uncommon Ventures.
Leary’s recommendation is materials, as a result of she’s pulled off a profitable pivot earlier than: She co-founded Fanbase, a website for followers of various sports activities to congregate and share data over a community. However when that concept didn’t scale, the crew shortly pivoted and began Nextdoor.
Leary lays out 5 actionable ideas that may assist founders contemplating a pivot to do it appropriately, and get their traders on board with the brand new plan.
We requested 52 founders whether or not occasions are helpful or a waste of time
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Occasions could be a nice useful resource for founders: You get to community, be taught what’s happening in your business, get a learn of the market, discover prospects and a lot extra.
However are they actually price all the cash and energy, to not point out the time you would in any other case be spending really constructing your startup?
To seek out out, Rebecca Szkutak requested founders how they really feel about founder-focused occasions, what they discover helpful about them and what they suppose makes them a colossal waste of time.
Deal Dive: The way forward for social media is vertical
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Social media could be very completely different at the moment from what it was simply 5 years in the past. Leaving out what’s occurred to X, previously Twitter (nobody may have predicted that), disinformation is now as frequent as memes, dialogue is extra partisan than ever, and it’s exhausting to keep away from suggestions (they’re really advertisements) all over the place.
So it’s not stunning that individuals are flocking to extra centered communities that cater to their pursuits or provides them a spot to really feel secure in an web that’s more and more hateful and divisive.
“Why would somebody from a marginalized group scroll by means of irrelevant content material, hate and bots to seek out their neighborhood when there’s already a devoted house elsewhere?” writes Rebecca Szkutak.
“For social media traders, it’s probably the long run riches can be within the niches.”
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Zendesk emerges from final yr’s turbulence with robust outlook
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Zendesk didn’t look so scorching on the finish of 2022: It rejected a $17 billion takeover bid, and its personal traders rejected a $4.1 billion provide to purchase SurveyMonkey — all in the identical month. However with a brand new CEO on the helm, the current (and the long run) is wanting higher and higher.
Bedrock Vitality thinks the answer to decarbonizing skyscrapers is 1,500 ft underground
Picture Credit: Yongyuan Dai / Getty Photos
One among my favourite items of local weather tech is a warmth pump, which is no less than thrice extra environment friendly than conventional heating. I don’t have one in my dwelling, however after a yr of massive climate occasions within the Bay Space, and astronomical heating payments, warmth pumps are wanting higher and higher. However what about greater buildings? Bedrock Vitality is betting that underground warmth pumps, generally known as geothermal warmth pumps, may assist decarbonize heating and cooling for big buildings across the nation.
