TRW - Issue#60

Why humanity needs AI? / Dawn of a new startup era / Why generalists own the future / Is Venture Capital facing extinction? / How to model a VC fund

Sep 08, 2024

Hello there 👋

This is Edo, welcome to the 60th issue of ☕Tech Readings of the Week, the first one (also) on Substack!🎉

Every Sunday morning, I curate a digest of tech insights, from data-driven trends and expert opinions to startup wisdom. My goal? To help non-tech people and aspiring founders cut through the noise.

Whether you're an aspiring founder, a tech enthusiast eager to stay informed, or a manager aiming to stay ahead of the curve, TRW is your weekly tech compass.

Let's dive in! 🚀

In Today's Issue 👇

Why humanity needs AI?
The dawn of a new startup era
Why generalists own the future
Is Venture Capital facing extinction?
How to model a VC fund

Let's start this Sunday morning with a dose of optimism!

👓 Essays & articles

Intel Honesty - the rise and long-term decline of Intel, tracing its impact on shaping Silicon Valley and the global tech industry (Stratechery)
Why generalists own the future - in the age of AI, it’s better to know a little about a lot than a lot about a little (Every)
Bill Gates has a good feeling about AI - an interview with Bill Gates about AI, misinformation, and climate change (The Verge)
Why humanity needs AI - time is running out to solve the hard problem of humanity’s future: the limits to our knowledge (Exponential View)(€)
OpenAI searches for an answer to its copyright problems - why is OpenAI paying publishers if it already took their work? (The Verge)
Woolly mammoth 'de-extinction' is nearing reality, and we have no idea what happens next - scientists are getting very close to bringing a few iconic species, like woolly mammoths and dodos, back from extinction. That may not be a good thing (Live Science)
AI’s impact on elections is being overblown - and the focus on AI is distracting us from some deeper and longer-lasting threats to democracy (MIT Technology Review)(€)
How China’s internet police went from targeting bloggers to their followers - In recent months, followers of influential liberal bloggers have been interviewed by police as China widens its net of online surveillance (The Guardian)
The ultra-selfish gene - We now have the power to genetically modify entire species by inserting certain genes into them with brute force. Doing this to malaria-carrying mosquitoes could allow us to wipe out humanity’s most deadly killer (Work In Progress)
Marc Benioff has declared a ‘hard pivot’ to autonomous AI agents - will it be enough for Salesforce to thrive in the generative AI era? (Fortune)(€)
What will AI mean for economic inequality? - if we’re not careful, we could see widening gaps within countries and between them (MIT Technology Review)(€)

Found value here? Share ☕Tech Readings of the Week with a friend or a colleague!

The dawn of a new startup era - AI is a monumental, historical shift, but it’s much more similar to the wild 90s tech era than the startup-factory one, where tech-market fit hasn’t fully played out yet (Gian Segato)
How AI disrupts tech investing - a much harder world is coming, where making money will be much tougher for most, but much easier for a few. And one way to understand this process is as a continuation of what has been happening so far (Uncharted Territories)
The extinction of venture capital? - when you combine this data with the fact that 17% of venture funds make it to fund 4 and 44% of VC capital raised this year went to just 2 firms, my belief is that the consolidation and extinction of firms could unfortunately be far greater (Rick Zullo)
The future of AI is vertical - we explore how a new class of LLM-native applications are unlocking markets previously out of bounds for legacy SaaS — and the massive value creation already underway (@Bessemer Venture Partners)

📊 Reports & Data

Venture firms take a break in august - with lowest monthly funding in 2024 (Crunchbase)
Crypto VC Funds Report - the median fund size has increased in 2024, up 65.1% to $41.3 million. The rise of midsized crypto VC funds (worth $100 million to $500 million) reflects a strategic adaptation to market challenges (Pitchbook)

📚 Founder's Toolkit

TRW's collection of free fundraising resources for founders!

How to model a venture capital fund - creating a financial model for your fund allows you to detail your thesis and strategy in quantitative terms (OpenVC)
The Subscription Value Loop: A framework for growing consumer subscription businesses - including case studies, templates, and 10 proven growth tactics from top consumer subscription apps like Duolingo, Spotify, Tinder, and Calm (Lenny's Newsletter)
“The MVP/ICP Handshake”: How to move from founder-led to AE-led sales - you’re ready to hire your first AEs when you have an Ideal Customer Profile that “shakes hands” with your Minimum Viable Product (Bain Ventures)
What a great investor can do for you - how Paul Graham contributed to Airbnb (Hugo Rauch)