Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,

Just when you think tech is wild, crypto raises the bar. Crypto founder Justin Sun ate a banana attached to an artwork which he bought for $6.2M last week (the banana was bought on the day before and cost 35 cents). Maybe it’s all just prep for his next NFT stunt. Meanwhile, the rest of us are busy solving actual problems. Follow the Gradient and stay tuned.

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Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party

A new German AI unicorn

Generative AI startup Black Forest Labs is closing in on a $200M funding round, setting its valuation north of $1B just four months after raising $31M in seed funding. Known for its cutting-edge text-to-image generation models (reportedly outperforming Midjourney), this new unicorn could shine a light on Europe’s AI ambitions.

Artists vs. OpenAI

OpenAI has pulled access to its text-to-video model, Sora, for a select group of artists after complaints about “art washing”. Sora, which can generate complex moving picture scenes, was announced earlier in the year and is currently in early-access testing. The situation highlights increasing rift between AI model developers and the creative community.

What do you meme?

Food for thought

More patents for Europe?

Europe falling behind on innovation has been the story of the last months. In some areas, this may be due to an outdated application of rules. Enter, the European Patent Office: its grant rates have been sharply low in international comparison in the field of Gen AI and neural networks.

No granny to prank

An AI impersonating your… grandma? Phone giant O2 has pulled off just that. In order to protect against fraudsters, the company has released Daisy - an AI designed to trick phone scammers into thinking they are talking to an actual target. We are waiting for the day where a “Fraudster AI” will be talking to a “Victim AI”…

Underexposed to venture capital?

While US pension funds channel some 1.9% of into venture capital, the allocation of their European peers is significantly lower, standing at around 0.007%. Access to capital has been named as one reason why moonshots like 11x relocated to the US. Europe: be bold!

AI eats the world

Tech analyst Benedict Evans rolls out a presentation each year to explore Tech trends. This year is all about the massive impact Generative AI will have on traditional software. Read here, or watch his presentation.

Mark your calendar

Denmark

Visionaries Tomorrow x Pale Blue Dot: Copenhagen Climate Dinner, Copenhagen, 11 December 6.30pm [Apply here]

Switzerland

Fuckup Nights, 10 December [Register]

UK

Women in FinTech Meet Up in London, 11 December 6pm [Register here]

Online 

SSA: Webinar: Unlocking Growth: Why Startups Should Embrace ESG for Sustainable Success, 3 December 12pm CEST [Register here]
SSA: Webinar: Finding Your Market: How Early-Stage Startups Can Validate Product-Market Fit, 4 December 12pm CEST [Register here]

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Smart hack

Early hires can make or break a company (more about this in this week’s podcast episode👀). After a long search and interviews, reference calls can feel like a formality, but asking the right questions - despite potential discomfort or legal concerns - can yield specific feedback to evaluate fit and address potential issues. Former Stripe COO put together eight questions that help you get the information you really need to hear:

From our partner

This week we’d like to share a resource* we personally trust to level up our own AI game:

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One good read

Can Europe build its first trillion-dollar start-up?

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

Internship in Operations [📍Berlin], Real Estate, Buena [Apply]
Data Automation Intern [📍Munich], SaaS, Tacto [Apply]
Intern, Strategy & Transformation analyst [📍Paris], B2B, Aircall [Apply]
Machine Learning Engineer Internship, TRL [📍EMEA Remote], AI, Hugging Face [Apply]
Intern Corporate Finance [📍Berlin] SaaS, Cloover [Apply]

Customer Success

Senior Customer Success Manager [📍Remote, Berlin, Munich], Conversational AI Platform, Parloa [Apply]
Global Success Manager - B2C [📍Paris], Marketplace, Vestiaire Collective [Apply]

HR & Finance

Talent Manager [📍Munich], Supply Chain Management, Tacto [Apply]

Marketing & Comms

Head of Investor Relations [📍Berlin or Munich], VC, World Fund [Apply, Hiring manager]
Marketing Designer [📍Amsterdam], TravelTech, Polarsteps [Apply, Hiring manager]
Brand Designer - FTC (Parental leave cover)

Sales

Sales Lead - Media & Entertainment [📍Remote], Market Research, Appinio [Apply]
Enterprise Account Manager [📍Remote], Cloud Operations, LocalStack [Apply]
Business Development Representative [📍Stockholm], Fintech, Antler [Apply]
Account Executive [📍London] AI, Kular [Apply]

Strategy & Ops

Strategy & Operations Manager - Ireland [📍City or Remote], Fintech, Revolut [Apply]

Product & Tech

Senior Product Owner [📍Remote], Crypto, IOG [Apply]
Senior Product Manager [📍Remote], ClimaTech, Cozero [Apply]
Head of Product - New Ventures [📍London] Fintech, Cleo [Apply]
Solution Engineer - Partner Enablement [📍Zurich], FinTech, BitPanda [Apply]

Final words — take what you need

Talk to you on Thursday - this time we’re talking about something that can make or break a company - stay tuned! In the meantime, let’s continue the discussion 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!