Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,

It’s been a hell of a week: Elon Musk went full sci-fi with the unveiling of robotic humanoids and robotaxis at a surreal Los Angeles event, while he also successfully completed the catching of its Starship upon landing. Meanwhile, WordPress’s founder is bringing more drama than your favorite Netflix show, as his all-out battle with WP Engine rages on. No one’s quite sure what it’s even about anymore, but one thing’s for sure: Tech never stops surprising us. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned!

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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party

Founders push for ‘EU Inc’ to revolutionize European startups

A coalition of Europe’s top founders and investors, including leaders from Personio, DeepL, and Seedcamp, have launched a petition calling for the creation of a unified pan-European startup entity—‘EU Inc.’ Their goal? To simplify scaling, standardize cross-border operations, and create a unified employee stock options framework. With support from influential figures like Ursula von der Leyen and Mario Draghi, this movement could remove bureaucratic barriers and bring much-needed agility to the European startup ecosystem. Founders, are you ready for EU Inc?

AI innovations sweep Nobel prizes

Demis Hassabis and John Jumper from DeepMind received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on the AI model AlphaFold, which revolutionizes protein structure prediction, accelerating research in drug development and disease diagnosis. Meanwhile, John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton (also known as the "Godfather of AI”) were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering contributions to artificial neural networks, foundational to modern machine learning systems like ChatGPT.

Is breaking up Google the right move?

Last Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice suggested breaking up Google’s $2tn empire—spanning Chrome, the Play Store, and Android—as a possible remedy for its monopolistic practices. While Google is facing multiple lawsuits, including over its dominance in online search, many argue that splitting the company up might miss the real issue. Instead of targeting its size, the focus should be on limiting Google's ability to entrench its power through exclusive deals that make it the default search engine. Would breaking up really solve anything, or is it just a misguided solution to a much more complex problem?

What do you meme?

Food for thought

Is privacy in public officially dead?

Two Harvard students created I-XRAY, a system that uses Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses and AI to instantly identify strangers in public, revealing personal details like phone numbers and addresses. By streaming video to Instagram and using facial recognition, they gained people's trust by pretending to know them. Though just a demo, the privacy concerns are real—this tool could easily be misused, raising questions about whether privacy in public still exists.

How to choose a startup to work for

If you don’t want to found but still work in a startup, finding the right fit might be tricky. Dan Hockenmaier's "Hierarchy of Needs" can help. Ask yourself:

• Stage: What level of risk are you comfortable with—early-stage chaos or later-stage stability?

• Team: Do you trust the founders and team to succeed?

• Metrics: Check growth, retention, and unit economics—are they healthy?

• Role: Does your role align with your strengths and the company’s needs?

• Compensation: Balance salary vs. equity—reflecting the company's stage and your impact.

Evaluate each step to find the right fit!

From Money Tigers to Höhle der Löwen: A global TV show

The original show kicked off in Japan in 2001 as "Money Tigers," and since then, the "Die Höhle der Löwen" format (as it’s known in Germany and Switzerland) has become a hit in over 50 countries. Now, the OMR podcast "Rabbit Hole" dives deep into the success of the German version – an entertaining audio documentary. We like!

Mark your calendar

France

dotAI conference in Paris, 17-18 October [Program]

Media opportunity: Sifted journalist Daphné Leprince-Ringuet will be there - get in touch with her.

Germany

eMove360° Future Mobility Conference in Munich, 15-17 October [Program]
HUG in Berlin, HR event, 17 October [Program]

Media opportunity: Sifted journalist Miriam Partington will attend. Drop her a line.

Netherlands

CES Unveiled in City, 15 October [Program]

Switzerland

LAUNCH in Oerlikon, Zurich, 18 October [Program]

Did we miss an important event? Let us know by replying to this email.

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

We’ve found Perplexity to be a game-changer for everyday questions and a great boost to traditional search engines (nope, they do not sponsor us, unfortunately). It’s especially handy when figuring out which journalists might cover your startup:

Note: You still need to double-check the names, but it's perfect for a quick media overview!

One good read

Guest article by Kim Scott, the bestseller author author of "Radical Candor” and former Google and Apple-Exec: ‘Founder Mode’ Explains the Rise of Trump in Silicon Valley

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

Founderful Campus Manager [📍Zurich], VC, Founderful [Apply]
Accounting Intern [📍Berlin], Mobility, Vay [Apply]
Internship – Business Development [📍Bern], EdTech, Brian [Apply]

Customer Success

Head of Customer Success EMEA [📍Zurich], HR Tech, Beekeeper [Apply]

Ops & Finance

Chief of Staff [📍Berlin], B2B SaaS, Shyftplan [Apply]
Production Operations Lead [📍Newcastle UK], Climate Tech, Sylvera [Apply]

Marketing & Comms

Content Creator [📍London], Food, SURREAL [Apply]
Product Marketing Manager [📍Paris or Palo Alto] , AI, Mistral [Apply]
Performance Marketing Manager - Apps [📍Berlin], Travel tech, omio [Apply]
Senior Director Product Marketing and Industry Solution Management [📍Zurich], Data capture, Scandit [Apply]
Head of Communications Southern Europe [📍Paris], AI, OpenAI [Apply]

Product & Strategy

Senior SaaS Product Manager [📍Germany Remote], e-Signing, Skribble [Apply]
Head of Product [📍Zurich], eCommerce, Digitec Galaxus [Apply, Hiring Manager]
Product Manager [📍Paris], AI, dessia [Apply]

Sales

Account Manager DACH [📍Hamburg], SaaS, funnel [Apply]
Enterprise Account Executive [📍Berlin], SaaS, Forter [Apply]
Account Executive, Enterprise [📍Berlin], FinTech, Stripe [Apply]

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

🫶 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!