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Will Switzerland become the leading DeepTech nation?
plus: Day 1 of a new era
Melanie Gabriel & Christian Woese
June 11, 2024 • Read time: 8 minutes
Dear hustlers, founders, operators and visionaries,
The European football championship is about to kick off this week, and it seems we will finally have something else to talk about at work besides AI, AI, AI. Before you get too excited: we have some gossip from one of AI’s hottest startups in today’s edition. Let’s jump right in.
PS: Has this e-mail been forwarded to you? Sign up here.
Your talk track for this week’s cocktail party
Apple presents a world where you open your phone, say stuff, it talks back and it truly knows you
At its annual developer conference WWDC, Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI to bring generative AI to its devices (which Apple being Apple calls Apple Intelligence). The news immediately triggered an earth quake in the tech world. Apple had struggled to catch up with AI for months and this move is seen as a try to break away. Yet, its positioning for privacy will come under scrutiny.
What we can say: If what Apple demoed yesterday turns out to work as expected, we are looking at the dawn of a new era in how we interact with computers. The impact on various startups and their now-diminished competitive edge cannot be overstated.
Humane recommends its users to stop using its AI Pin
It set out to revolutionise how we interact with phones, but now it looks like it will become a case study on how not to launch a product. Humane, the Silicon Valley startup that raised over 100 mio USD to build an AI Pin as your new phone, has now notified its users to “immediately” stop using it due to fire hazards. This comes after launching only in April this year and earning a video review from famous Youtube tech reviewer Marquees Brownlee titled “The Worst Product I've Ever Reviewed... For Now.”
CHF 50 billion for Switzerland with the goal to become the leading DeepTech nation
During the Swiss Economic Forum, UBS and Swisscom launched the DeepTech Nation Switzerland Foundation to invest CHF 50 billion (€51.5 billion) over the next 10 years in Swiss deep-tech startups, aiming to make Switzerland a leader in deep tech and create 100,000 jobs. While many praised the initiative, critics advised UBS and its partners to stay in their lanes and be more valuable as LPs. We'll be watching the outcome closely and keep you updated.
A world of memes
A tech company adding AI to its products… Click below to watch the full video.
Does AI always add value?
Food for thought
Robots as the usual pedestrians of the future?
The future is weird. More evidence.
— Robert Scoble (@Scobleizer)
3:45 PM • Jun 7, 2024
Remember back in the days when sending an email took like 5 min and 10 steps?
How to send an e-mail in 1984
— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes)
4:20 AM • Jun 9, 2024
The best people can start their own companies. How do you make them join your company instead?
Being super generous with early employee equity “is the single-most important thing to do in the first six months of a company.”
At Sun (Microsystems) “the total was something like 25-27% for the founders, an equal or slightly larger chunk for everybody else we would hire, and then investors had like 40% after the A round.”
Failure is the price of daring to go big
Mark your calendar
Austria
eCommerce Day in Vienna, 13 June [Program]
Germany
Hinterland of Things in Bielefeld, B2B, 13 June [Program]
Netherlands
Poland
Women in Tech Summit in Warsaw, 12-13 June [Program]
Romania
Bucharest Tech Week, 10-16 June [Program]
Spain
Digital Enterprise Show in Málaga, 10-13 June [Program]
UK
London Tech Week, 10-12 June in London [Program]
The AI Summit, 12-13 June in London [Program]
Did we miss an important event? Let us know by replying to this email.
How did you like this edition so far? |
Smart hack
Join the entrepreneurial journey
Are you ready to take your first steps into the startup ecosystem or seeking an exciting new opportunity? Here is a curated list of startup job openings across Europe for you to explore:
Internships
Junior Operations & Data Analyst [📍Berlin], B2B SaaS, Vanilla Steel [Apply]
Legal Working Student [📍Berlin], B2B SaaS, Contentful [Apply]
GTM Enablement Intern [📍Paris], B2B SaaS, AirCall [Apply]
Customer Success
Customer Success - Digital Adoption Strategist [📍Remote], B2B SaaS, DocuSign [Apply]
👀 Not a startup anymore but an interesting company: Lightspeed is looking for a Key Account Manager [📍Berlin], B2B SaaS, [Apply]
HR & Operations
Chief of Staff [📍Berlin], Gaming, Slay [Apply]
Country Manager, Payroll Operations - Italy [📍Remote, EMEA], B2B SaaS, Remote [Apply]
Team Lead Procurement Operations [📍Hybrid, Leipzig], E-commerce, Spread [Apply]
Marketing
Product Demo & Video Coordinator [📍Zurich], Entreprise Data & Automation, Scandit [Apply]
Paid Marketing Manager [📍Hybrid, France], Security, GitGuardian [Apply]
👀 Not a startup and not in Europe but an interesting job to show off your meme skills would be as Partner Manager, Content and Meme Pages for the Biden for President campaign [Apply]
Sales
Senior Account Executive [📍Remote, Sweden], Information Management, Opentext [Apply]
Account Executive France [📍Hybrid, Paris], LegalTech B2B SaaS, SeedLegals [Apply]
🫶 Melanie & Christian
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