Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,

Pope Leo XIV reflected on the dawn of AI when choosing his name: his predecessor, Leo XIII, led the Catholic community during the Industrial Revolution. AI is set to invade every corner of life, including music, where synthetic voices are warming up backstage. Thankfully, last weekend's Eurovision still featured good old human tones. Depending on your taste, that’s either a relief or a missed opportunity. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.

🫶🏼 Melanie & Christian

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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party

Crypto kidnapping attempts shock French Tech community

Three masked men tried to abduct the daughter and grandson of Paymium’s co-founder in broad daylight on a Paris street. They were fought off by the victims and passers-by, and the gang fled empty-handed. It’s the latest in a string of violent abduction attempts targeting France’s crypto elite, with previous victims held for ransom and even mutilated.

Y combinator’s latest request for startup is out

Y Combinator’s latest request for startups was released. Its main focus? AI! Surprise, surprise! In its new cohort the SF-based incubator is looking for full stack AI companies, design founders, AI for healthcare, AI personal assistants and AI for personal finance. As always, the list presents an interesting read into the future.

Klarna’s losses widen as US credit defaults rise

Klarna’s net loss more than doubled to $99M in Q1, driven by a 17% jump in credit losses in US consumer repayments. Despite a 13% revenue boost to $701M and 33% growth in its US business, the Swedish BNPL giant paused its planned IPO, citing economic uncertainty. AI-driven cost cuts helped trim expenses, but rising funding costs and macro headwinds pressure margins.

What do you meme?

Food for thought

Will you get rich by joining a startup?

Most likely not. You’re more likely to be made accept a pay cut and grind through harsher working hours. Why do it then? Laurent Decrue lays out how joining a startup can redefine your career path and offer learnings you get nowhere else. What’s your take: fed up or all in?

New AI pricing - outcome, not access

Some SaaS companies charge for access. Others for usage. The future pricing in the world of AI? Charging for outcomes. In this post, Kyle Poyar breaks down the shift in software pricing with the recent announcement of CRM giant Salesforce.

European devs: more productive than their US peers?

EU devs are now pushing more code than their US counterparts. From world-class education to rising Nordic hubs and a sharpened EU-first focus, the conditions are ripe. As Hakon Graesberg posts, this isn’t a blip. It’s a wave. Is Europe quietly becoming the new epicenter of innovation?

LLMs as the new Google inbound?

AI search is the new search. More and more people are using ChatGPT as their new Google. This is starting to show. Software company Tally shared how AI search models have become their largest acquisition channel.

Events happening this week

We constantly update the must-attend events for startups in Europe list.

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Smart hack

So many companies do not know their ICP (although they think they know it). Finding your ICP is tough and can be mind-boggling. Venture firm a16z has put out this hands-on framework to define and refine your ICP. Ask these five questions to your teams and collect their answers - they will bring your closer to the solution:

• Which of your current customers get the most out of your products or services?

• What traits do your best customers have in common?

• What recurring objections do you receive from past customers or lost opportunities?

• Which customers are easiest to upsell to and why?

• What do the customers of your closest competitors have in common (with each other)?

One good read

The European Way. A Blueprint for reclaiming our Digital Future.

Join the entrepreneurial journey

Are you ready to take your first steps into the startup ecosystem or seeking an exciting new opportunity? Below is a curated list of startup job openings across Europe for you to explore.

Internships

People & Office Internship [📍Ghent], Accounting, Silverfin [Apply]
R&D Intern [📍Zürich], Cleantech, Oxyle [Apply]
Founders Associate [📍Berlin] Healthtech, Ficus Health [Apply]
Growth & Go-to-Market (Intern) [📍Berlin] Cybersecurity, revel8 [Apply]

Customer Success

Head of Customer Success [📍Remote, Germany], Zero waste Platform, Sparetech [Apply]
Customer Success Manager [EMEA] [📍Remote, Europe], Workflow Automation, n8n [Apply]

HR & Finance

Head of People [📍Zurich], VC, redalpine [Apply, Hiring manager]

Marketing & Comms

Associate Director Paid Marketing [📍Berlin], Food, Hello Fresh [Apply, Hiring manager]
Senior Growth Analyst [📍Berlin], Fintech, Moss [Apply]
Senior Events Marketing Manager [📍London], Transportation, cargo.one [Apply]

Sales

Team Lead Sales Development [📍Remote, Germany], Real Estate SaaS, Casavi [Apply]
Account Manager - DACH [📍Hybrid, Barcelona], Supply Chain SaaS, Qualifyze [Apply]
Startup Partnerships [📍London], AI, Anthropic [Apply]

Strategy & Ops

Senior Revenue Operations Manager [📍London], FinTech, Codat [Apply]

Product & Tech

Founding Software Engineer [📍London], HR Tech, Dex [Apply, Hiring manager] - also check out our conversation with Paddy, Dex’ CEO and co-founder.
Senior Product Manager [📍Remote], Workplace Management Software, Deskbird [Apply]

Final words — take what you need

Stay connected and spread the word! If you found this newsletter insightful, why not share it with your network? Thanks for reading, and we look forward to bringing you even more insights in the next edition!