Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,

Haily Bieber sold her make-up brand Rhode skin for $1bn. At an age of 28, there will be ample time for her to make use of the money. In a different age group, RyanAir CEO Michael O’Leary will be able to share some best practices. As of last week, he hit his $100m bonus target. They both will soon be able to fly private. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.

🫶🏼 Melanie & Christian

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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party

EU unveils bold plan to stop startup brain drain

The EU’s new startup strategy pledges to unify business rules across member states and slash red tape, aiming to keep scaleups from fleeing to the US. A fresh Scaleup Europe Fund is set to back deeptech sectors like AI and semiconductors starting 2026. With nearly 30 proposals and a talent visa push, Brussels seeks to put muscle behind its ambitions.

TechCrunch exits Europe

TechCrunch has shuttered its European ops, laying off long-time staff and ending over a decade of early-stage startup coverage that helped propel names like Revolut and Vinted. Industry voices called the retreat a “gut punch,” blaming new owner Regent for axing international reporting. With its exit, founders fear losing vital visibility among U.S. investors.

What do you meme?

Food for thought

SEO out, GEO in?

Search has been shifting away from classic browsing engines like Google towards LLM platforms, like ChatGPT or Perplexity. In this super insightful essay, VC firm a16z lays out that online visibility will not be about SEO anymore. The new field to win: Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). Will your brand be named by an LLM when people chat with it?

Tech hub Portugal losing steam?

Portugal worked hard to position itself as Europe’s next go-to tech hub. Recently, criticism on deeper, structural problems has emerged. Michael Jackson picked up on the recent challenges being encountered by the community. Anyone with first hand experience out there?

Are exits really exits?

The pressure in startupland to claim success is enormous. Often, we only hear success stories, “exits” being one of them. Guillaume Moubeche shared this critical post on the behind-the-scenes of many exits…

For an insider look on how a VC works, listen to our conversation with VC investor Henrik here.

Make your pivot into AI?

Should I be getting into AI now? How can I best position my career for an AI future? These are questions many of us are asking themselves. Sequoia’s VP Talent Zoe Jervier Hewitt shared her best practices in this insightful piece.

Events happening this week

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

Do you like what we do at Follow the Gradient? Help us grow this community and share a like and add a comment to our LinkedIn post that just went live:

Smart hack

Hiring top talents is tough. It is especially tough to identify the right ones for scaling phases, and keep hiring them as your organisation then scales. Revolut founder Nik Storonski new VC Quantum Light shared the Revolut Recruiting Playbook, an a highly valuable guide on hiring for excellence. The main takeaway’s

• Prioritise hiring ambitious, junior problem-solvers who thrive in dynamic environments, over "corporate" profiles

• Three interviews beyond skills set the best candidates apart: problem-solving, bar raiser for values & achievements, and people mgmt. & hiring for leadership

• Build a sales-like recruitment team with cash-based performance bonuses based on quarterly quotas and scale it as your hiring needs grow

One good read

The VC industry needs a geopolitical reboot

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

Finance & Operations Intern [📍Zurich], Drones, Voliro [Apply, Hiring manager]
Operations & Strategy Intern [📍Berlin], Fintech, bunch [Apply]
Werkstudent/in Finance & People Administration [📍Hamburg], Mobility SaaS, Wunder Mobility [Apply]

Customer Success

Customer Success Manager [📍Remote, Germany], Data, Marketlogic [Apply]
Enterprise Customer Success Manager [📍Remote, Europe], Sustainability SaaS, One Click LCA [Apply]

Marketing & Comms

Lead Brand & Digital Designer [📍Zurich], Car, Carvolution [Apply]
Social Media & Community Manager [📍Remote, Stockholm, Europe], Sports, Goals [Apply]

Sales

Sales Director [📍Remote, Germany], Sports Technology Platform, Catapult [Apply]
Account Manager [📍Remote], React UI, Mui [Apply]

Product & Tech

Director of Product Growth [📍Remote, Berlin], Ad Automation Platform, Creatopy [Apply]
Principal Growth Product Manager [📍Remote, Germany], Healthtech, Oviva [Apply]
Product Manager (Mobile Apps) [📍Remote], Growth consulting, Whitespectre [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!