Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,

Soccer dominates our lives and UEFA's revenue. UEFA is set to rake in over €2 billion from these four weeks of madness, with €1.45 billion from TV ads alone. They're awarding €331 million in prize money to the winning teams—nice margins! Meanwhile, we normies keep hustling. Let's dive into today's edition.

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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail beach party

Profitability is still the cool kid

Two years ago, the stock market crash shifted the focus from growth-at-all-costs to profitability, leading to 140k tech layoffs in 2022 world-wide and paused expansions. Now, European scaleups like Revolut, Monzo, Starling Bank, Klarna, Kry, and Vinted announce profits, with Checkout.com, GoCardless and Lydia close behind. This is great news for employees with stock options and founders, as profitable companies thrive better on public markets and rely less on investors.

OpenAI’s data breach are a good wake up call

Last week, the New York Times revealed that hackers breached OpenAI's internal messaging in 2023. Though they only accessed a few developer chats on Slack, this incident highlights a crucial point: AI companies, holding vast amounts of valuable data, are prime targets for future security breaches.

How to hire the best performing teams for real?

Silicon Valley is divided over DEI (diversity, equality, and inclusion) versus MEI (merit, excellence, and intelligence), sparked by Scale AI's Alexandr Wang's tweet. Wang criticized DEI initiatives, advocating for a merit-based approach, supported by Elon Musk and Brian Armstrong. Critics argue this ignores structural biases and highlight that diverse teams perform better. While U.S. discussions should be taken with a grain of salt when applying them to Europe, it's still an important and interesting debate.

A world of memes

Food for thought

Data is king - in business as in soccer

Me or my company - the social media dilemma

Would you let your boss manage your social media? More workers are now posting on behalf of their employers through "employee advocacy programs," sharing positive company news on personal profiles. These programs are great for startups too as they are cost-effective, leveraging employees as authentic influencers. However, blending personal and professional online presence can be risky, leading to perceived inauthenticity. How are you navigating this thin line?

The best multiples for your exit

Valuation multiples are key to assessing a company's value, varying by growth stage, industry, and deal size. As an entrepreneur you should understand these differences for effective fundraising or exits. Aligning with industry standards attracts investors and boosts valuations. Dealroom published a new guide helping anyone to navigate this: 

Mark your calendar

Germany

Emerge X Antler Munich EdTech meet up in Munich, for any founder in the EdTech / Future of Work space, 9 July [Register]

UK

Sifted networking drinks: AI vs. employees in London, 9 July [Register]
Turing Fest in Edinburgh, 9-10 July [Program]

The best way to get covered in outlets like TechCrunch is to build relationships with reporters—they're humans just like you. This week, if you're in London, seize the chance to network with TechCrunch's Senior Reporter Dominic-Madori Davis. She’s available to meet founders over coffee, so reach out via DM. This could be your ticket to standout coverage in your next funding round. 👀

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Smart hack

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Why not use custom AI, trained on top pitch decks, to challenge and refine your pitch before an investor sees it?

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Join the entrepreneurial journey

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

Internships

Business Intern / Founder’s Associate [📍Zurich], B2B SaaS (E-commerce), Lynks [Apply]
Founder Associate - Business Development Manager [📍Zurich], Robotics, mimic  [Apply]
Internship Investment Operations [📍Munich], B2B SaaS, Scalable Capital [Apply]

Customer Success

Senior Customer Success Manager [📍Remote], B2B (Payroll), Deel [Apply]
Enterprise Customer Success Manager DACH [📍Remote], Translation Software, DeepL [Apply]
Customer Success Manager, [📍Remote, Germany], B2B SaaS (Operations), Spryker [Apply]
Customer Success Manager, [📍Munich], E-commerce, Advastore [Apply]

HR & Finance

Senior People Partner[📍London], Climate, Sylvera [Apply]
Finance and Controlling Manager[📍Zurich], Aviation, Wingtra [Apply]

Marketing & Comms

Europe Product and Partner Communications [📍London], AI, OpenAI [Apply]
Marketing Manager [📍Berlin], Recruiting/ Marketplace, Medwing [Apply]

Product

Product Manager [📍Gothenburg, Sweden], Healthcare, Meela [Apply]
Director of Product [📍Remote], B2B SaaS (Payroll), Remote [Apply]

Sales

Senior Account Executive [📍London], AI, Jua [Apply]
Managing Director Germany [📍Berlin], Services, Helpling [Apply]
Sales Development Representative [📍Remote, Germany], B2B SaaS (Automation), Askui [Apply]
Regional Director [📍Remote, Germany], B2B SaaS (Infrastructure), MongoDB [Apply]

Talk to you next week! In the meantime, we see you on LinkedIn, X and Insta!

🫶 Melanie & Christian

Each week, a lot of work goes into the Follow the Gradient project to help you navigate this crazy jungle called entrepreneurship. Help us grow this community and we’ll make sure that you or your project gets a shoutout in the weekly newsletter!