Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,

A crypto memecoin issued by Donald Trump topped $13bn in market cap within two days after launch. Industry party videos didn’t go viral on TikTok, though, which went dark in the US for around 12 hours after its ban came into effect and was targeted by the incoming President to be lifted again on his first day. If you ever wondered if your Netflix subscription is too expensive, just go watch the news - real life seems like an episode of the Simpsons. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.

🫶🏼 Melanie & Christian

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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party

Synthesia raises at a $2.1bn valuation

AI communications platform Synthesia completed a Series D funding round at a $2.1bn valuation, raising $180m from investors. The round underscores how the London-based firm has established itself as one of the most promising AI-native startups in Europe, driving forward its edge in creating digital avatars.

TikTok and Elon Musk

Under increasing pressure from the US government, Chinese TikTok owner Bytedance is reported to consider a partial sell to Elon Musk. With China being a significant market for carmaker Tesla, Musk has a strong incentive to be friendly with the Chinese government - a characteristic making him attractive to the Chinese.

What do you meme?

Food for thought

More regulations incoming

A number of important EU regulations will come into force this year - not all necessarily a burden. While the EU AI Act has been heavily criticised, incoming regulation on data sharing possibilities and a harmonization of the Single Market give reason for hope. Will things be better than expected?

Will SaaS vanish?

Software used to eat the world. With AI, users and companies will be able to build their own software more easily and at lower cost. Is the entire $273bn SaaS market about to vanish, being replaced by hyper-custom AI apps and agents?

Do not believe your competition

We’ve all been there - the competitor Demo you sneaked into and told a story so much better than your own vision could ever be. April Dunford wrote this transparent piece about how to focus on your own values and not get distracted by an apparent edge of your competition which may all just be a sales' lie…

What’s up this week?

Switzerland

AI House Davos during World Economic Forum, 20-24 January [Program]
→ We will be there today and tomorrow - Let us know if you’re around!

Online 

Swiss Startup Association: Scalability: what happens when you grow from 5 to 50 employees?, 21 January 12pm CET [Register here]
SiftedTalks: Pivot or persevere: How to find (and maintain) product-market fit, 22 January 1pm CET [Register here]

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Smart hack

Any Financing round needs a Data Room - they can kill you when approached the wrong way. Sam Merchant from Forward Pursuit put together this straight forward and ready-to-use template to kickstart building your own.

One good read

Big ideas in Tech 2025

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

Sales Internship [📍Zurich], HR Tech, PastaHR [Apply]
WerkstudentIn im Bereich Sales und Customer Success [📍München], advastore, Logistics [Apply]
People Operations Working Student [📍Cologne], HR Tech, DeepL [Apply]

Customer Success

Customer Success Manager - German Speaking [📍London], AI communications, Synthesia [Apply]

HR & Finance

HR Generalist [📍Paris], Gaming, Sorare [Apply]
People Operations Specialist [📍Berlin] AI infrastructure, Aiven [Apply]

Marketing & Comms

Senior Product Marketing Manager [📍UK], Human Resource Platform, HiBob [Apply]
Senior Paid Marketing Strategist (EMEA) [📍Remote, EMEA], SaaS, Typeform [Apply]
Writer [📍Europe], SaaS, Linear [Apply]
Marketing Manager [📍Munich], Transportation, carwow [Apply]

Sales

Business Development Manager [📍Zurich], Robotics, mimic [Apply]
Regional Director, Enterprise Sales (DACH) [📍Remote, Germany], Cybersecurity, Wiz [Apply]
Global Head of Sales [📍Remote, Germany], Cleantech, Annea [Apply]

Strategy & Ops

Managing Director [📍Bern], Startup Ecosystem, Impact Hub Bern [Apply, Hiring manager]
Strategy & Operations (Crypto Derivates) [📍Remote], Fintech, Revolut [Apply]
Product Ops Manager [📍Remote Europe], Transportation, cargo.one [Apply]

Product & Tech

Team Lead - Goodnotes for Work [📍Remote], Productivity App, GoodNotes [Apply]
Product Manager [📍Berlin], Sustainability Software, AMCS [Apply]

Final words — take what you need