How to improve your email campaigns
Plus: What 81k people think about AI
· 612 words
Christian Woese & Melanie Gabriel
March 24, 2026 • Read time: 3 minutes
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Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,
Elon Musk was found guilty in defrauding Twitter investors in his take-over bid in what is now X. What some call “move fast and break things”, others call illegal. Meanwhile, a YC startup whose founders features in Forbes 30 under 30 was accused of faking hundreds of customers. In startupland, not all things are what they appear to be. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.
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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party
Amazon acquires Zurich robotics startup for stair-climbing deliveries
Amazon acquired RIVR, a Zurich-based startup building a four-legged wheeled robot that can climb stairs to deliver packages. Jeff Bezos had previously invested in the company. The deal addresses a critical last-mile gap: most delivery robots can't navigate apartment buildings. RIVR's co-founder Marko Bjelonic built the tech to handle terrain no wheeled-only bot can reach.
The European Commission announces EU Inc.
The European Commission proposed EU Inc., its pan-European corporate structure that lets founders incorporate in under 48 hours, fully online, with no minimum capital. Instead of navigating 27 different legal frameworks, startups would operate under one set of rules across the single market.
What do you meme?
Food for thought
Is European tech's "bro era" back?
Sifted's Freya Pratty reports that “bro culture” has resurged in European tech. The data point that stings: 20VC published 144 episodes with only 7 featuring women. Sophie Winwood of Unlock VC warns that the language shift is signaling to people the industry isn't for them. Scaling Europe's Seb Johnson fired back, pointing out Sifted's own fundraise coverage features even fewer women founders.
Both sides raise uncomfortable truths. What is your take?
What do 81,000 people actually think about AI?
Anthropic interviewed 80,508 Claude users across 159 countries in 70 languages. The finding that stands out: What worries them most is unreliability and hallucinations, not job loss. Sub-Saharan Africa sees AI as the biggest opportunity lever. Western Europe remains the most cautious region.
We talked to Andreas Goeldi of b2venture about where AI is actually reshaping business models, and why Europe's caution might cost more than its ambition (Youtube / Spotify / Apple).
Smart hack
From our Partners
Your AI tools are only as good as your prompts.
Most people type short, lazy prompts because writing detailed ones takes forever. The result? Generic outputs.
Wispr Flow lets you speak your prompts instead of typing them. Talk through your thinking naturally - include context, constraints, examples - and Flow gives you clean text ready to paste. No filler words. No cleanup.
Works inside ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and every other AI tool you use. System-level integration means zero setup.
Millions of users worldwide. Teams at OpenAI, Vercel, and Clay use Flow daily. Now available on Mac, Windows, iPhone, and Android - free and unlimited on Android during launch.
From us
How do you maximize open rates across your email campaigns, no matter if in Marketing or Outbound? Beehiiv just dropped their State of Newsletters 2026 report, based on 28bn emails. Here's what actually moves the needle:
Best send times: 12 PM (42.87% open rate) and 11 AM (42.06%). Most people guess. Now you don't have to.
Best days: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays consistently outperform. Save weekend sends for testing only.
Niche is the strategy: Venture capital newsletters see 50.4% engagement. The tighter your focus, the stronger your pull.