Waymo launches curbside robotaxi at Phoenix airport, MrBeast’s launches an analytics platform

Top News

Autonomous vehicle operator, Waymo, launches curbside robotaxi pickup at Phoenix airport. - Link

Jagat, a location-based social network that focuses on real-life connections, surpasses 10M users globally. - Link

MrBeast’s analytics platform ViewStats is out in beta, enabling a detailed view of youtube channel stats for both creators and fans. - Link

Microsoft launches the basic Office suite on the Meta Quest store for free; all three apps run in a mixed-reality environment, and all Quest headsets are supported. - Link

Toy startup Curio launches three AI-powered plush toys, including a $99 one called Grok, that use OpenAI's tech to converse with kids and are voiced by Grimes. - Link

Instagram launches customizable ‘Add Yours’ templates, allowing users to make their own meme-able stories for followers to participate in. - Link

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Startup Funding

Udaan, B2B e-commerce startup helping merchants in Indian cities secure inventory from major brands has received $340M in new funding from the investment arm of the UK retail bank M&G. - Link

True Anomaly, a startup filling the gap in space situational awareness and defense operations, closed $100M in new funding led by Riot Ventures, with participation from Eclipse, ACME Capital, Menlo Ventures, Narya, 645 Ventures, Rocketship.vc, Champion Hill Ventures, and FiveNine Ventures. - Link

Product Demo & Launches

Taskade is an AI-enabled platform that allows users to craft projects and workflows, chat with documents, and gain insights by generating tasks and brainstorming ideas.

Simple Analytics is an AI-powered platform where users can chat with their analytics and get insights in real-time.

Advice of the Day

The Power of Shared Belief and Selective Hiring

Keith Rabois discusses the concept of a startup as a 'cult,' focusing on a shared, unique understanding of the world that others don't see. This secret belief or method forms the basis of a startup's competitive advantage, similar to Apple's secretive culture. The key in early-stage hiring is to find individuals who align with this vision and reinforce the company's culture, rather than diluting or changing it. - Link

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

E1865: Kruze COO, Scott Orn, joins Jason to discuss best practices for early-stage startups to prepare for and execute successful board meetings. The two dive into the reasons VCs want governance through board meetings, what should be in a full board packet, the formal things investors look for, and much more!

E1864: Jerry Colonna joins Jason in person in San Francisco for a philosophical dialogue about the search for meaning as an entrepreneur, drawing on their multi-decade friendship. They explore Jerry's personal journey from venture capitalist to founder coach, the challenges leaders face as startups evolve, how Jerry helps entrepreneurs transition from founder to CEO, and much more! - Watch

E1863: Steve Ruiz, Founder of tldraw, joins Jason, discussing the origins and business plan of tldraw, including the viral success of Make Real. The conversation delves into topics such as "Open Core," demos of tldraw and Make Real, exploring multi-modal AI responses, questioning the creation of consciousness in AI, and concluding with insights into the future potential and integration of tldraw across various AI models. - Watch

E1862: Sunny Madra joins Jason in a discussion covering topics such as Google NotebookLM, Bard's Gemini upgrade, Google's branding challenges, Ars Technica's experimental test bed, and the evaluation of Mixtral's 8x7B model. The conversation also includes Sunny's demonstrations of creating an AI influencer using the Juggernaut XL model in Google Colab and showcasing Magnific's powerful image upscaler. - Watch

E1861: Kevin O'Connor, traces his tech journey from DoubleClick to venture capitalism. Covering AI's transformative impact, startup evolution, and the challenges of convincing companies to use data, O'Connor provides insightful perspectives on successful entrepreneurship, remote work debates, and the current landscape of startup valuations and venture capital funds. - Watch

This Week in Startups Paid Partnerships

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