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Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,

Hedge fund legend Michael Burry closed his fund arguing the AI-hyped stock market is disconnected from fundamentals. On the other end, Warren Buffet dropped his Apple shares and moved into Google making him a Top10 shareholder. As Jeff Bezos said: this may be the “good kind of bubble”. As long as ChatGPT will stick around to write our emails and performance reviews, we’re fine either way. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.

🫶🏼 Melanie & Christian

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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party

AI legend LeCun to exit Meta to launch rival startup

Yann LeCun, Meta’s longtime AI chief, is leaving to start his own venture focused on “world models”: AI systems that learn like humans. His exit follows a major AI shakeup at Meta, where Mark Zuckerberg has sidelined long-term research in favour of commercial tactics. Tensions reportedly escalated after LeCun began reporting to Scale AI’s Alexandr Wang, now leading Meta’s “superintelligence” push.

Vinted eyes €8bn valuation in secondary share sale talks

Vinted is in early talks to sell existing shares at a valuation near €8bn. The Lithuanian second-hand marketplace expects over €1bn in revenue this year, with profits up nearly 4x to €76.7m. It’s testing US expansion and diversifying into electronics and toys, aiming to make “second-hand first choice” globally.

What do you meme?

Food for thought

The era of mom-and-pop SaaS?

SaaS used to be about global domination, VC headlines and millions of ARR. As Elena Verna argues, the future will lie in niche purpose-built products that serve real communities. What Sam Altman called “fast fashion SaaS”, she refers to as “mom-and-pop SaaS”…

The impact of AI on startup hiring

Hiring at startups has been going down sizeably over the last few years. As Enzo Wälchli argues this is part of a broader trend of companies dialling back entry level jobs and junior roles. Where will all the new graduates go?

Stop paying yourself like a martyr

Founders love the mythology of sacrifice, but underpaying yourself for years quietly builds emotional debt. It can eventually turn your own company into something you resent. As James Routledge says, no one is stopping you from paying yourself fairly - just you. Respecting yourself is part of building a healthy business. How are things on your own founder pay?

Events happening this week

We constantly update this quarter’s must-attend events for startups in Europe list.

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Smart hack

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From us

Fundraising is tough and plays by its own rules. Getting intros to investors is a key part of the game, but how do you get noticed when you don’t know them personally? We loved this break-down of David Booth on what type of email pass the 2-second inbox scan test:

• Be specific on the reason you want an intro to someone. Include four bullet points. No more, no less.

• Each bullet is one sentence, maybe two. It is not a paragraph

  1. What does your company do, what problem are you trying to solve?

  2. What traction do you have, or how do you know it's working? Why is this notable?

  3. Who is your team, why are they the right people for the job? What notable past experiences do they have?

  4. What's your fundraise status - past & future plans?

One good read

Startups in the age of the endless video stream

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

Accounting Working Student [📍Frankfurt], Supply Chain Compliance, Qualifyze [Apply]
Founders Associate (GTM Org-Building) [📍Munich], Supply Chain, Tacto [Apply]
Internship Marketing [📍Stuttgart], Robotics, Sereact [Apply]
Founders Associate [📍London] Female Health Tech, Unfabled [Apply, Hiring manager]

Customer Success

Customer Project and Success Manager (DACH) [📍Remote, Germany], Healthtech, Founda [Apply]
Implementation Manager [📍Munich], IT Operating System, Deeploi [Apply]

Marketing & Comms

Director of Marketing [📍Berlin], API solutions , Spryker [Apply]
Senior Paid Search Manager [📍Munich], Health Tech, happybrush [Apply, Hiring manager]

Sales

Team Lead Business Development [📍Remote, Germany], Health, EGYM [Apply]
Regional Sales Director DACH [📍Remote, Germany], Cybersecurity, XM Cyber [Apply]

Strategy & Ops

Head of Strategy & Analytics [📍Remote, Germany], Hospitality, Numa [Apply]
Director of Strategy [📍Zurich] Health Tech, Oviva [Apply, Hiring manager] - if you haven’t yet, check out our conversation with Oviva’s cofounder & CEO Kai Eberhardt

Product & Tech

Senior Product Engineer, AI Platform [📍Berlin], Customer Service, Intercom [Apply]
Junior System and Controls Engineer / Drone Choreographer [📍Zurich], Robotics, Verity [Apply]
Senior Data Analyst [📍Europe, Remote], Health Tech, Neko Health [Apply, Hiring manager] - check out our conversation with their Chief People Officer Noa Perry-Reifer

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!