Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,

Fashion brand GAP’s latest marketing campaign went viral with girl group KATSEYE dancing in denim. Their new CEO, known for having brought back the Barbie brand from the shadows, seems to have pulled off a new stint. Crowdfunders of Revolut might be harder to convince as new customers. Their 645x return on an average 2k investment gives them a more than $1.2m payout. If we could just turn back time. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.

🫶🏼 Melanie & Christian

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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party

ElevenLabs eyes $6bn valuation in secondary share sale

Voice AI startup ElevenLabs is reportedly targeting a $6bn valuation in a secondary share sale. Backed by a16z, Sequoia, and Iconiq, the firm is riding a wave of VC Fomo sweeping Europe’s AI scene. European AI-native startups have already raised €6.6bn this year, with headline-grabbing rounds from Helsing, Isomorphic, Lovable, and Mistral.

Financial Times pulls the plug on The Next Web

The Financial Times is shutting down The Next Web’s events and media arms by the end of September, ending a 20-year run for one of Europe’s best-known tech conferences. Attendance has plummeted from 17,500 in 2019 to just 4,500 this year. TNW’s coworking business will survive, but the FT’s bet on media and events looks to have quietly fizzled.

ASML to lead $2B round for France’s Mistral AI at $11.7bn valuation

Chipmaking equipment maker ASML is pumping €1.3bn into Mistral AI’s €1.7bn raise, becoming its top shareholder and snagging a board seat in the process. The deal values Mistral at €10B pre-money - Europe’s most valuable AI startup to date. It also tightens ties between two EU tech heavyweights as Europe scrambles to curb dependence on U.S. and Chinese AI giants.

What do you meme?

Food for thought

New rules for B2B SaaS in Europe?

The EU Data Act comes into effect on September 12 and, as Sebastian Becker points out, contains a little known clause: Customers will be able to switch providers at any time. Compensation for the old contract is only applicable if explicitly stated.

Is this the death of revenue predictability in B2B SaaS?

Joachim van Erps has a differentiated view:
“But in reality, contracts were never the main source of lock-in. The real stickiness is in process lock-in: • integrations into core workflows • data formats and APIs • employee training and change management • the migration cost and risk no CFO takes lightly

That’s why companies rarely switch providers on a whim, even if the law now says they can”

What’s your take?

Where do the junior talents go?

AI has often been described as “your perfect intern”. Where do new school graduates start their careers then, if the AI is already there assisting the senior workers? A new study of Harvard University shows first indications of AI affecting junior positions more significantly than senior ones.

Are you posting for your clients or peers? Be honest!

If your LinkedIn posts gain traction, is this good for your business, or just your profile? This is the question Alex Smith poses in this thoughtful post. LinkedIn celebrates emotions and personal stories - but is a post which gets you Likes a post which gets you clients?

A six day work week?

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

From our Partners

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How Did Papaya Scale Support Without Hiring?

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From us

Asking the right questions to a candidate during an interview process is what everybody seeks to do. Yet finding the right ones is tough. Unicorn CEO Joel Hellermark of Sana collected this list of questions that his followership and founder peers told him they prefer to ask the most. The ones which caught our attention:

• Pick an area you know really well. Take 5 minutes to prepare and then teach me everything I should know about it.

• What distinguishes someone who is good from someone who is exceptional in your role?

• Tell me about a time you took unexpected initiative. Can you tell me about another?

• What is a piece of critical feedback you've received that was hard to hear?

• What is the most valuable lesson you've learned from a colleague?

One good read

Good Writing

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

Growth Marketing Intern [📍Remote, Berlin], Productivity, Superlist [Apply]
Software Engineer Working Student / Intern [📍Berlin], Software Platform, Taktile [Apply]
Founders Associate Intern [📍Berlin], HealthTech, Nelly [Apply]

Customer Success

Client Onboarding and Wealth Servicing Specialist [📍Baar, Zug], FinTech, Altoo [Apply, Hiring manager]
Senior Customer Success Manager, EMEA [📍Remote, Germany], Cybersecurity, Abnormal [Apply]
Customer Success Manager DACH [📍Remote, Germany], Logistics, Peripass [Apply]

Marketing & Comms

Paid Social Lead - Campaign Operations [📍Berlin], Food, HelloFresh [Apply]
Senior Social Media Conceptor in Elternzeitvertretung [📍Berlin] FinTech, Tomorrow [Hiring manager, Apply]
Growth Marketing Manager [📍London], Health Tech, Manual [Apply]
Head of Content [📍London], Martech, Fyxer.ai [Apply]
Head of Brand [📍Berlin] Health Tech, FORMEL SKIN [Apply]

Sales

Sales Team Lead, DACH Mid-Market [📍Remote, Germany], GTM Platform, Dealfront [Apply]
Business Development Team Lead [📍Munich], Fintech, Moss [Apply]

Strategy & Ops

VP Operations [📍London], HealthTech, Oviva [Apply, Hiring manager]*
Strategy & Growth Manager [📍Amsterdam], Payments, Mondu [Apply]

*check out our podcast conversation with their CEO & Co-founder, Kai on Scaling without Breaking

Product & Tech

Lead Deployment Strategist [📍Zurich], Manufacturing, Ethon AI [Apply, Hiring manager]
Director Product Management - Billing [📍Remote, Germany], OLAP database, ClickHouse [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!