Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,

An AI influencer pocketed $24k in less than 48 hours through social media content. If you ever wondered whether you missed the train to go big on IG or TikTok, now is the time to build your digital twin. Profits are waiting. Speaking of which: OpenAI re-opened the Pandora’s box and sought to become a for-profit again - only to backtrack shortly after. Building a superintelligence isn’t cheap after all. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.

🫶🏼 Melanie & Christian

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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party

Apple accused of owing millions to developers

Apple may owe developers hundreds of millions after a judge ruled it defied a 2021 order allowing in-app links to cheaper, off-store purchases. The lawsuit, sparked by a win for Epic Games, accuses Apple of stifling competition and inflating commissions. The court called Apple’s actions a “willful violation.”

TikTok hit with €530m fine over data transfers to China

Ireland’s privacy watchdog slammed TikTok with a €530m fine for sending European user data to China and failing to disclose it. TikTok plans to appeal, calling the ruling a dangerous precedent despite its €12B EU data localization effort.

French AI star Mistral under fire for safety lapses

Mistral’s AI models are up to 60 times more likely to generate child exploitation or nuclear threat content than rivals from OpenAI or Anthropic, according to a Enkrypt AI report. The startup, valued at €5.8B, says it’s reviewing the findings and partnering with child safety org Thorn.

What do you meme?

Food for thought

Impressed by the pace?

A recent post of a Paris-native YC founder makes headlines these days: operating a startup in the Bay area brings Founders farther than in Europe. Different country, different pace. Do you agree?

How to do early stage product discovery in vertical AI?

Building vertical AI solutions poses a ton of challenges. And even more opportunities. Euclid Insights has summed up the most pressing points: Integrating with existing legacy systems is tough. Deep industry knowledge is key. Will it take decades for AI-native challengers to build a foothold?

Hiring AI agents only?

AI agents, not humans. Is this the future?

Events happening this week

We constantly update the 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

Getting the right people for the hustle you call startup is tough. We’ve heard this so many times on our podcast. Eléonore Crespo from Pigment layed out her way of recruiting the right minds: Being brutally honest upfront. She presents them a sh*tshow deck, with all the bad stuff that they are about to get into. The upside:

• The best people love it and she does not attract average

• She obtains clear signals for resilience vs. ego

• They get aligned from the beginning and do not sugarcoat

Bolt recently had a similar approach. No bs approach, we like!

One good read

Vibe coding is changing the way investors think about founders

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

Founder Associate [📍Berlin], AI, Merantix AI Campus [Apply, Hiring manager]
Community Engagement and Success Intern [📍Winterthur], Ecosystem, Swiss Startup Association [Apply, Hiring manager]
Internships - Digital Electronics [📍Munich], Space, The Exploration Company [Apply]
Software Engineer Intern/Co-op [📍London], AI, Cohere [Apply]

Customer Success

Strategic Customer Success Manager [📍Remote, Berlin], Climatech, carbmee [Apply]
Customer Success Manager [📍London], Product SaaS, Productboard [Apply]

HR & Finance

GTM Recruiter [📍Dublin], AI, Anthropic [Apply]
People Lead [📍Munich], SaaS, Tacto [Apply]

Marketing & Comms

Content & Community Coordinator [📍Zurich], Video, expeerly [Hiring manager] - we had a great chat with its founder Lea von Bidder on our podcast
(Senior) Product Marketing Manager [📍Munich], Supply Chain SaaS, Tacto [Apply]

Sales

VP, Field Sales DACH [📍Remote, Germany], Identity Management, Saviynt [Apply]
Regional Sales Director, DACH [📍Remote, Germany], Network Management, Forward Networks [Apply]

Strategy & Ops

GTM Engineer, Revenue Ops [📍Europe], HR, Remote [Apply]

Product & Tech

Product Manager - Taxes [📍Berlin, London, Tallinn], Fintech, Upvest [Apply]
Lead Deployment Strategist [📍Zurich], AI, EthonAI [Apply, Hiring manager]
Senior Product Designer | AI Team [📍Berlin], AI, n8n [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!