Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

A Dev's Week-Long Marketing Experiment: From Code to Social Media

2025-09-21

A developer of a fitness app, Lagree Buddy, challenged himself to focus solely on marketing for a week to promote his app. He tried various strategies, including social media posting, cold emailing fitness studios and trainers, and attending a class by Sebastian Lagree. While the numbers didn't immediately show improvement, he forged connections with Lagreeing at Home and Sebastian Lagree himself, gaining valuable feedback and laying the groundwork for future marketing efforts. The experiment revealed that marketing is far harder than he anticipated, but also opened doors that code alone couldn't.

(www.pixelpusher.club)

Startup app marketing social media marketing developer startup

SEC Drops Fraud Case Against Nikola Founder Trevor Milton After Presidential Pardon

2025-09-19

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has dropped its fraud case against Nikola founder and former CEO Trevor Milton following a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. Milton, previously convicted of securities fraud and sentenced to four years in prison, had his conviction overturned by the pardon. He claims he was subjected to five years of false accusations from the media, prosecutors, former Nikola executives, and short sellers. Despite the pardon, Milton is seeking $69 million in legal fees from Nikola, which is currently in bankruptcy, a demand the company rejects.

(eletric-vehicles.com)

Startup Trevor Milton Securities Fraud

Slack Extorts Nonprofit: 11 Years of Partnership, Overnight Betrayal?

2025-09-18

Hack Club, an 11-year-old nonprofit providing coding education to teens, used Slack for communication for years. Slack suddenly demanded a massive fee increase ($50,000 upfront, $200,000 annually), threatening to shut down their workspace and delete all history if they refused. This caused significant disruption, forcing Hack Club to urgently migrate to Mattermost. The incident sparked debate about how large tech companies treat nonprofits and highlights the importance of data ownership.

(skyfall.dev)

Startup

Robinhood Launches Fund to Give Retail Investors Access to Private Startups

2025-09-16

Robinhood filed an application with the SEC to launch "Robinhood Ventures Fund I," a publicly traded fund offering retail investors access to pre-IPO startups. The fund plans to invest in sectors like aerospace & defense, AI, fintech, robotics, and enterprise/consumer software. This move aims to address the inequality in access to private market gains currently enjoyed primarily by accredited investors. However, Robinhood's previous attempt at offering access to private companies through 'tokenized' stocks faced criticism for misleading marketing. The new fund employs a more traditional mutual fund structure, with specifics and launch date yet to be revealed.

(techcrunch.com)

Startup Retail Investing

The $10 Chargeback That Cost $43.95: A SaaS Nightmare

2025-09-15

A SaaS company shares its frustrating experience with chargebacks. Despite proactive measures like pre-subscription notifications and easy cancellation options, customers still initiate disputes. The problem isn't just the lost revenue; even winning a dispute incurs fees, making small chargebacks disproportionately costly. The author details a $10 charge that resulted in a $43.95 loss, highlighting the unfairness of the system where banks often side with cardholders regardless of evidence. The company's efforts to fight disputes are questioned due to the lack of responsiveness and effectiveness from both banks and payment processors.

(medium.com)

Startup chargebacks payment disputes

Trump's Tax Plan Unexpectedly Reshapes the Creator Economy

2025-09-11

A provision in President Trump's tax plan has inadvertently reshaped the creator economy. The US Treasury Department now allows digital content creators (podcasters, social media influencers, streamers, etc.) to deduct tip income up to a certain limit. This could significantly alter how creators generate revenue, potentially leading platforms to more prominently feature tipping options. The policy reflects the rise of the creator economy and may incentivize more individuals to join the content creation field.

(www.hollywoodreporter.com)

Startup digital content creators

From Magician to Founder: The Buildkite Story

2025-09-08

This interview features Keith Pitt, co-founder of Buildkite, a successful devtools company. He shares his journey from side project to exit, highlighting challenges faced along the way, including early bootstrapping, securing funding, managing a growing team, and evolving product philosophy. Pitt emphasizes cash flow management, the perils of high initial valuations, and the importance of maintaining a long-term vision when dealing with VCs. His story culminates in Buildkite's sale and the launch of Unreasonable Magic, a new venture focused on enhancing the programmer experience with AI coding tools, focusing on fulfilling work rather than just productivity.

(www.valleyofdoubt.com)

Startup

The Epic Collapse of a Business Partnership: The Sriracha Saga

2025-09-07

A 28-year partnership between California farmer Craig Underwood and Huy Fong Foods founder David Tran imploded over a disagreement regarding the 2017 chili pepper payment. Underwood was Huy Fong's sole chili supplier, and Tran's sriracha sauce was a global phenomenon, resulting in an incredibly close relationship. The fallout saw Tran's factory severely hampered by supply shortages, while Underwood faced financial ruin, each accusing the other of malicious intent. Underwood won the subsequent lawsuit, but both suffered massive losses, leading to sriracha shortages and the rise of competitors. This epic business collapse highlights the critical role of trust in long-term partnerships and underscores the management and risk-control deficiencies of rapidly expanding businesses.

(fortune.com)

Startup business partnership sriracha

Offshore Companies and Nominee Shareholders: A High-Stakes Gamble

2025-09-07

The allure of offshore tax havens tempts many to use nominee shareholders, believing they can secretly control their companies. However, this is incredibly risky. Legally, control rests with the nominee, leaving the beneficial owner vulnerable. This article uses case studies to illustrate the potential legal pitfalls: nominees can dispose of company assets without restriction, leaving the true owner with little legal recourse. Unless you have absolute documentary control, you're betting your company's future on someone else's goodwill.

(johnnydoe.is)

Startup offshore companies nominee shareholders

Good Isn't Enough: Mastering the Four Pillars of Career Growth

2025-09-07

In today's competitive job market, technical skills alone are insufficient for career advancement. This article argues that career success hinges on a combination of technical proficiency, product thinking, project execution, and interpersonal skills. The author emphasizes seeking feedback, humility, and proactive engagement to accelerate growth. Crucially, the article highlights the importance of agency—high-agency individuals drive progress, while those with low agency wait for it. The key takeaway: deserving success through consistent effort and self-improvement.

(joshs.bearblog.dev)

Startup skill development

Listen Labs' Viral Growth Hack: A Tale of AI Collaboration and Optimization

2025-09-06

Listen Labs launched a viral marketing campaign with a cryptic billboard in San Francisco, leading to a complex optimization puzzle: simulating the entrance selection of Berlin's Berghain nightclub. This puzzle attracted 30,000 engineers, unexpectedly creating a massive distributed computing experiment. The author and his AI partner, Claude, participated, progressing from simple greedy algorithms to a Lagrangian multiplier-based RBCR algorithm, achieving impressive results. However, they also experienced the failure of deep learning models, ultimately learning that in problems with clear mathematical structure, simple principled algorithms often outperform complex machine learning models. The story showcases the immense potential of AI-assisted programming and the perfect blend of human insight and AI execution.

(www.nibzard.com)

Startup viral marketing

996 Work Culture: A Debate on Efficiency vs. Well-being

2025-09-06

This article reflects on the prevalent "996" work culture (9 AM to 9 PM, 6 days a week) in the tech industry. The author uses personal experience to argue that while loving work and occasional late nights are fine, this shouldn't be the foundation of company culture. Long hours negatively impact personal life and don't guarantee efficiency, often leading to burnout and reduced productivity. The author advocates for prioritizing employee well-being and avoiding the use of "996" as a measure of success.

(lucumr.pocoo.org)

Startup

NFL Star Saquon Barkley: Building an Empire Beyond Football Through Smart Investing

2025-09-05

NFL star Saquon Barkley isn't just cashing checks and smiling for the camera; he's building an empire. Driven by a unique financial paranoia stemming from childhood financial insecurity, he strategically invests his earnings, shunning typical athlete endorsements for equity in high-growth tech startups like Anthropic and Anduril. He actively participates in these companies' growth, going beyond a simple investment to become a true partner. Barkley's approach is a calculated risk, leveraging his platform and influence to secure significant returns, while prioritizing long-term stability for his family's future.

(www.readtheprofile.com)

Startup

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on Navigating Chaos, Embracing AI, and the Future of Finance

2025-09-04

Fortune's Leadership Next podcast features Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev. The interview reflects on Robinhood's history with GameStop and meme stocks, discusses how AI and crypto will reshape investing, and explores raising the next generation with investing knowledge. Tenev shares leadership lessons learned and how Robinhood adapted from the GameStop saga, expanding into wealth management, credit cards, crypto trading, and more. He believes investing will become increasingly crucial as AI impacts the workforce, and Robinhood aims to make investing accessible to all.

(fortune.com)

Startup Investing

Exclusive: Steve Ballmer on Microsoft, the Clippers, and Life

2025-09-02

This episode of the Acquired podcast features an in-depth conversation with Steve Ballmer, former CEO of Microsoft. He reflects on Microsoft's triumphs and setbacks, including its partnership with IBM, the rise of Windows, missed opportunities in mobile and search, and the success of Azure. Ballmer also shares his insights on enterprise software and how he built the LA Clippers into a winning team. The conversation covers business strategy, leadership, and personal reflection, making for a compelling listen.

(www.acquired.fm)

Startup Steve Ballmer

The Physics of Sales: From Push to Pull

2025-09-02

This article reveals a fundamental flaw in how many founders approach sales: the 'seller-push' mentality. By observing hundreds of sales calls, the author argues that successful sales aren't about convincing customers, but about helping them achieve their goals. The author introduces the 'buyer-pull' theory and lists 11 signals indicating a 'seller-push' approach. Changing this mindset is key to unlocking sales efficiency.

(howtogrow.substack.com)

Startup

VC's AI-Powered Summer Hack: Building a Knowledge Base from Scratch

2025-09-02

A venture capitalist spent his summer break building a knowledge base platform using AI tools. Starting with a blank page, he leveraged LLMs, Telegram bots, and various APIs (Supabase, Orq.ai, etc.) to create a system for aggregating information and extracting insights. He even used AI for UI design. While facing challenges with technical debt and AI limitations, he successfully built a functional prototype, gaining valuable experience in the process. The project aimed to improve efficiency, personalization, and collaboration within his firm.

(kevinkuipers.substack.com)

Startup VC Tech

Amazon's Leadership Principles: A Critical Examination

2025-09-01

This article offers a critical look at Amazon's leadership principles, particularly "Customer Obsession," "Ownership," and "Bias for Action." The author argues that Amazon overemphasizes speed and meeting superficial customer demands, neglecting true customer needs and long-term value. Regarding "Customer Obsession," the author criticizes Amazon's over-reliance on customer feedback rather than proactively developing potentially impactful technologies. On "Ownership," the author points to a lack of communication and collaboration within Amazon, with significant information silos between teams. Concerning "Bias for Action," the author believes Amazon overemphasizes speed at the expense of product quality and customer trust, advocating for a "bias for inaction" mechanism at senior engineering levels to ensure high standards before product launches.

(www.daemonology.net)

Startup

Crypto Utopia: Experimenting with Network States in Malaysia's Forest City

2025-09-01

In a repurposed hotel on a reclaimed island in Malaysia, crypto and tech entrepreneurs are conducting a real-life experiment: building new sovereign states from scratch. Network School, the brainchild of former Coinbase executive Balaji Srinivasan, attracts nearly 400 students learning coding, decentralized governance, and building crypto projects. The curriculum blends practical skills with ideological exploration, combining coding sprints with seminars on topics like the Meiji Restoration and Singapore's statecraft. Srinivasan's vision is to create "startup societies" defined by shared beliefs, not territory, and he sees the world as ripe for his brand of nation-state disruption, using Forest City as a testing ground for global rollout. Despite challenges, the project injects energy into Forest City, offering a unique case study in exploring future models of societal governance.

(www.latimes.com)

Startup network state startup society

My Failed Promotion: 3 Onboarding Mistakes That Cost Me a Year

2025-08-30

In 2021, the author switched from NCR to Splunk, aiming for a promotion. However, three years later, they remained in the same position. The article details three key mistakes: 1. Defining success based on hearsay rather than concrete facts and company metrics; 2. A rushed onboarding approach that disregarded the company culture, creating conflict with team members; and 3. Failure to effectively communicate progress and align with senior leadership. The author learned to focus on fundamental onboarding rather than immediate promotion. This provides valuable insight into navigating career transitions and building success in a new environment.

(people-work.io)

Startup onboarding

Thunder Compute: DevRel Engineer Wanted – Build the Future of Affordable GPU Cloud

2025-08-29

Thunder Compute, a rapidly growing seed-funded startup (approaching Series A), is hiring a DevRel Engineer. We're a small, highly effective team building the cheapest and easiest GPU cloud for developers. This role is fully owning DevRel – building community, creating demos and tutorials, gathering product feedback, and reporting directly to the CEO. High autonomy, high impact, and you'll help define our DevRel function from the ground up. Requires excellent writing, community building experience, and strong coding skills (Python preferred). GPU/AI experience a plus.

(www.ycombinator.com)

Startup GPU Cloud

From $20K to $35M: A Startup Founder's Bank Adventure

2025-08-28

A young founder opened a business account at Chase bank early in his startup journey. As his company raised multiple funding rounds (from $1M to $24M), he interacted with a bank manager, Alex, who repeatedly called to 'check in' on his account, leaving him bewildered. Eventually, the founder moved the company's funds to Silicon Valley Bank and closed the Chase account. A year later, he was recognized at a Chase branch in LA as the founder of HashiCorp, revealing that local Chase employees knew about his company's massive account activity and used it as an internal training case. Even more shockingly, his previously unclosed Chase account revealed fraud, requiring him to withdraw a $1M cashier's check to close it, a process filled with unexpected challenges. This story highlights the naivete of startup founders concerning banking and the inner workings of large banks.

(mitchellh.com)

Startup

The VC Bubble Bursts: A Looming Winter?

2025-08-28

An analysis based on SEC Form D filings reveals an impending VC bubble burst. By tracking the number of Form Ds containing phrases like "Fund I", "Fund II", etc., the author shows that VC fund raising peaked in Q3 2022 before sharply declining. This is linked to the surge in VC funds during low-interest rate periods and the rise of "SPV-as-a-service" companies. The author predicts a significant decrease in available VC funding, driven by the typical 10-year lifespan of funds and a 2-4 year deployment period, now passing its peak. This coincides with the AI investment boom, leading to inflated valuations. The author concludes that future funding will drastically decrease, valuations will fall, many companies will struggle, and the AI hype cycle will cool.

(tj401.com)

Startup

A Bug That Saved a Company

2025-08-26

In 2002, Rogue Amoeba released the first version of Audio Hijack with a 15-day unlimited trial, hoping to attract customers. Sales were disappointing. However, a bug in version 1.6 accidentally limited the trial to 15 minutes of recording. Surprisingly, this stricter limitation dramatically increased sales, transforming Rogue Amoeba from a side project into a company employing over a dozen people. This fortunate mistake saved both Audio Hijack and the company itself.

(weblog.rogueamoeba.com)

Startup

The Limits of Remote Work: Why Companies Are Pushing for a Return to the Office

2025-08-25

Four years after the pandemic sent workers home, companies are increasingly demanding a return to the office. However, many employees value flexible work arrangements. A new book, "In Praise of the Office," argues the business case for in-office work. The authors highlight the low attendance rates and high management overhead associated with hybrid work models. Shifts in the labor market and changing CEO expectations are also driving this push. In-person work fosters collaboration, knowledge transfer, and social connections, while remote work can lead to unproductive meetings and social isolation. The authors advise new employees to prioritize in-office roles and remind employers that remote work requires significantly more management effort.

(finance.yahoo.com)

Startup

YC Backs Epic in Apple App Store Fee Fight

2025-08-25

Y Combinator filed an amicus brief supporting Epic Games' lawsuit against Apple, arguing that Apple's App Store fees (up to 30%) and anti-steering restrictions stifle startup growth. YC contends Apple's policies create insurmountable barriers to entry, hindering competition and innovation. They urge the court to uphold a previous ruling forcing Apple to allow developers to freely link to off-App Store purchase options without extra fees. This ruling has already spurred renewed investor interest in previously unviable app-based business models.

(www.macrumors.com)

Startup

Tech Nonprofits: Why Are They So Bad at Fundraising?

2025-08-21

The author, a regular philanthropist, observes that tech nonprofits are significantly worse at attracting donors than other types of charities. This post analyzes the shortcomings, highlighting the need for tech nonprofits to simplify donation processes (offering diverse methods like credit cards, DAFs, etc.), clearly communicate the impact of donations (detailing organizational goals, finances, project progress, and fund usage), and foster stronger human connection (proactively engaging with donors and building relationships). The author advocates for tech nonprofits to learn from successful models in other sectors to improve their fundraising efforts and achieve their missions.

(mitchellh.com)

Startup nonprofit donation

Y Combinator: The Unscalable Secrets to Startup Success

2025-08-16

Y Combinator shares its unconventional wisdom on startups: focus on "unscalable" actions early on, such as manually recruiting users, providing insanely great customer experiences, and focusing on niche markets. The article likens early-stage startups to building a fire— carefully nurturing the initial flames instead of aiming for immediate scalability. Manually acquiring early users and closely tracking their feedback allows rapid iteration and a strong user base. Even with an imperfect product, exceptional user experience can lead to success, far outweighing a perfect product with no users.

(paulgraham.com)

Startup

Zenobia Pay: Open Sourcing a Failed Payments Platform

2025-08-14

Two developers spent months and $20,000 building Zenobia Pay, aiming to replace high-fee card networks with bank transfers. Despite utilizing FedNow, they failed to gain traction, leading to the platform's open-source release. The project iterated through targeting SMBs, high-ticket items with fraud insurance, and finally, luxury goods with resale proof of purchase. Each iteration faced challenges, ultimately resulting in the project's abandonment. The authors detail their learnings and suggest future directions.

(zenobiapay.com)

Startup payments platform

The 5 Stages of SaaS Grief in the Age of AI

2025-08-10

This article outlines the five stages of SaaS companies' reactions to the disruptive wave of AI: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Many initially deny AI's threat, then become angry as competitors leverage AI, followed by attempts to add AI features (bargaining), leading to depression, and finally accepting that AI will reshape the industry, shifting to building outcome-oriented, AI-native solutions. The author argues that SaaS companies need to move from focusing on "how can we help humans do this better?" to "why do humans need to do this at all?" to survive and thrive in the AI era.

(arnon.dk)

Startup

Category: Startup