The one review you should never skip
Plus: How AI is turning the growth playbook upside down
· 840 words
Melanie Gabriel & Christian Woese
December 23, 2025 • Read time: 4 minutes
Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,
A Delaware court reinstated Elon Musk’s $56bn pay package after axing it in 2024. Looks like Christmas for him came early this year, though we’re sure there will be legal sequels. Meanwhile, former ComplYant founder Shiloh Luckey is under investigation for allegedly spending VC money on a lavish Caribbean wedding and Super Bowl tickets. This might be a good week to reread your expense policy. If none of that screams ‘festive cheer,’ our handpicked books and videos below are a far safer way to spend the holidays. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.
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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party
Lovable triples valuation to $6.6bn after explosive growth
Swedish AI coding startup Lovable raised $330m at a $6.6bn valuation, just five months after a $1.8bn Series A. The 2024-born company hit $100m ARR in eight months, then doubled it four months later. With Klarna, Uber, and Zendesk onboard, it now sees 100K+ new projects daily. Despite pressure to move to Silicon Valley, CEO Anton Osika says staying in Sweden paid off.
Yann LeCun seeks €3bn valuation for stealth AI startup
Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun is raising €500m for a new venture (Advanced Machine Intelligence Labs) targeting a €3bn pre-launch valuation. The Turing Award winner is bringing on Nabla CEO Alexandre LeBrun to lead the company, which aims to build AI systems that understand the physical world.
Oracle to lead TikTok US buyout in $14bn joint venture
TikTok is forming a US-based joint venture with Oracle, Silver Lake, and MGX, set to close by January 2026, in a long-awaited move to separate from ByteDance. The deal values TikTok US at $14bn, gives American investors majority control, and installs a US board, while ByteDance retains 19.9% and profits from licensing its algorithm.
Germany launches €130bn fund
Germany unveiled the Deutschlandfonds, a €130bn fund-of-funds designed to channel pension and private capital into energy, defence, and DeepTech. Anchored by a €30bn state guarantee, the fund targets SMEs and scale-ups starved for growth capital. It's a major play to plug funding gaps and revive industrial competitiveness.
What do you meme?
Food for thought
Is AI rewriting rules on growth?
Loveable’s Head of Growth Elena Verna’s podcast appearance at Lenny’s is a look into the future on how growth will look like in the AI era:
“The channels in which marketing right now works are changing quite a bit. […] When you’re talking about organic strategy, if you asked me that five years ago, I would have said: 'that’s SEO. […]'. If you ask me, what’s your organic marketing strategy right now To me, it’s all about social. What is my CEO posting? My team posting? What is my creator economy doing across all of the social platforms?”
Her episode is a gem for all things growth. We can wholeheartedly recommend it, find it here.
Ever higher and faster funding?
It seems certain to ever more people we are in bubble territory with AI. Either way, valuations are skyrocketing at breakneck speed…
Is LinkedIn changing the game?
LinkedIn is an important acquisition channel for many, but anecdotal evidence indicates reach has been dropping. Why? We liked this post diving deeper on the reasons and proposing direct action points to your posting behaviour. In times of AI algorithms reading your posts, is the classic Tuesday-before-noon post at the end of life?
Smart hack
From our Partners
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From us
We found Steve Schlafman’s Annual Life Review incredibly valuable for end-of-year reflection, especially if you want clarity instead of vague New Year’s resolutions.
Set the stage: block a few distraction-free sessions over a week, create a calm environment, and commit to being radically honest with yourself.
Plot moments & milestones: map out the key events, wins, failures, and changes from the past year to see what actually shaped it.
Reflect deeply: review successes, mistakes, relationships, and recurring themes to understand what helped you grow and what held you back.
Assess your life today: score key areas like health, career, money, relationships, and growth to spot imbalances that need attention.
Plan the year ahead: pick 2–3 clear priorities, define habits to start or stop, and translate insights into concrete next steps.
Melanie went deep on how she applies this framework every year in last year’s podcast episode, and we’ll revisit it again in this Thursday’s final podcast episode of the year.