Babylon Micro-Farms brings vertical farming to K-12 classes, Amazon teams with recycling robot firm to track package waste

Top News

Babylon Micro-Farms is bringing vertical farming to K-12 classes. - Link

Amazon is announcing an investment through its Climate Pledge Fund to implement technology from robotics startup, Glacier, to track package waste. - Link

a16z expects to raise $6.5B to $7B for a master-feeder fund, closing in early April; 50% would go to its fourth growth fund and 10% to its gaming fund. - Link

Salesforce releases Einstein 1 Studio, letting developers customize its Salesforce Einstein Copilot assistant, released in beta last week, at TrailblazerDX. - Link

k-ID launches a solution that helps game developers comply with ever-changing child safety regulations. - Link

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Advice of the Day

Mechanisms to Support Truth-Telling

Jeff Bezos emphasizes the importance of truth-telling in high-performing organizations. Truths are often uncomfortable and can lead to defensiveness, but they are crucial for success. Bezos stresses the need for mechanisms and a culture that encourages open communication. This involves acknowledging the difficulty in facing uncomfortable truths and reinforcing that it's okay to feel uneasy about it. Teams should create an environment where everyone can voice their opinions and overrule more senior members. He also notes that powerful truths are not always data-driven; they can be based on hunches or intuition. - Link

Startup Demo of the Day:

CleanMy®Phone is an app that declutters and organizes a user’s phone gallery. The app identifies duplicates and unnecessary screenshots, organizes images into folders, safeguards sensitive photos, and performs network checks to ensure security.

Founder University is a 12-week pre-accelerator program run by Jason/LAUNCH for builder founders. We're investing $25k in 20-30 companies from Cohort 7. Apply at founder.university/letsbuild.

This Week in Startups

E1909: Lon Harris and Jason do a business breakdown on the movie "Moneyball." They discuss how Oakland A's unconventional, data-driven approach to assembling a baseball team reflects paradigm shifts similar to those in startups versus incumbents, emphasizing the importance of adaptability, first-principle thinking, and commitment. - Watch

E1908: Shyam Sankar of Palantir discusses the transformation in Silicon Valley's view on defence technology, highlighting Palantir's origins post-9/11 and its contributions to national security, including preventing terrorist attacks. They delve into the evolution and significance of defense technologies such as Palentir's Gotham Platform, the role of AI and robotics, and the impact of large language models and radio frequency (RF) in modern warfare. - Watch

E1907: David Weisburd, Erik Torenberg, Guy Perelmuter, and Jason, discuss leaked VC returns from Sequoia Capital and Union Square Ventures, bearish signs in the startup employment market, the emergence of the first one-person unicorn, and the return of founders and investors to San Francisco. - Watch

E1906: David Clark joins Jason to discuss VenCap's investment strategies and analyze over 500 investments. They delve into the criteria for success in VC, examining data from 12K companies and the concept of the power law. Key topics include the selection of top-performing investments, the benefits of long-term company investment, challenges faced with seed managers, and selling strategies. - Watch

E1905: In this "Ask Jason" episode, questions range from the relevance of a fintech degree for joining startups to strategies for pre-VC survival and the timing of fundraising. Other questions include the pitfalls of incorrect pivoting, whether to focus on deep relationships with a few customers or to target a broader base, and common mistakes by first-time founders. - Watch

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