We're done when Meta says we're done

Top News

• Meta will speak with you now: In the future, if you stop talking with Meta AI, it may decide to try and restart the conversation, Business Insider reports. Per documents, the goal of the AI effort is to “provide value for users and ultimately help to improve re-engagement and user retention.” That’s business speak for improve our internal numbers and make our AI spend appear more ROI-positive. Engagement hacking, in the AI era? I suppose some ideas do, in fact, never die.

• EU AI pushes back on EU AI policy: Dozens of prominent EU technology executives and business leaders asked the EU to implement a two-year “stop clock” on the upcoming AI Act “before key obligations enter into force, in order to allow both for reasonable implementation by companies, and for further simplification of the new rules.” Given that the EU is working to bolster its local industries, and constituent nations like France want to become AI powers, the tech companies might actually get their way here. So much for EU being a permanent backwater!

• ChatGPT (media) blues: If you watch TWiST, you know that we love using tools like Anthropic’s Claude. Not only do we use AI tools at times to help scare up information we need before the show, we lean on the same services to bring us real-time information while taping. Lots of folks do the same. And major search engines are retooling their offerings to answer questions, instead of sending users to other sites. SimilarWeb reports that, as Google has expanded its AI answer service in search, the share of queries that don’t involve users leaving the portal has risen, and traffic to news sites has fallen accordingly. Viva la Claude and ChatGPT and other AI and search tools. But if you are in the news game, things just keep getting harder.

TWiST500

Programming note: The TWiST500 newsletter is off tomorrow for an American holiday.

As we get our hands on Q3 data from the world of venture capital, and work to wrap the final additions to the TWiST500, let’s take a small detour today to look at two exits. Or, at least, hoped-for exits.

First, Olo is going private. The restaurant tech company went public back in March of 2021 at $25 per share. Initially, the company traded higher on the back of quick revenue growth and a history of profitability. (I covered its road to IPO here, back in the day.)

But after trading as high as $45 per share in 2021, shares of Olo declined to the single-digits in 2022, where they have been stuck ever since. Olo remained a healthy enough company — 21% growth in its most recent quarter, lots of cash, and slim yet positive net income — but investors either preferred to bet on Toast.

The news today is that Thoma Bravo is going to buy Olo for $10.25 per share, a self-reported 65% premium to its value (before news of the deal leaked). For Olo, it’s a letdown of an outcome. I expected the company’s public life to go a different direction, truth be told, but it’s a deal involving a technology company, so it’s good enough news for folks watching exit markets with anxiety in their eyes.

Then there’s Ambiq, which is going public. The company — which first raised known outside capital back in 2010 — attracted funding from DFJ, Kleiner Perkins, and others during its life. Focused on very low-power chips for AI use cases at the edge, Ambiq doesn’t look too impressive on paper today. Its revenue growth in the first quarter was anemic, the company is small by public-company standards — its run rate is around the $60 million mark — and it loses money.

But if you look a bit deeper into its results, there’s something here to chew on. In Q1 2024, revenues from China were 50% of the company. In the first quarter of 2025? Just 6%. So, the company effectively turned over half its sales when it decided to back away from the Chinese market.

Mix in that fact with Ambiq having a product that could see growing demand, so long as AI-empowered hardware is a real market in the future, from a pretty low base. Sure, Ambiq looks like a risky wager, but wouldn’t we rather see more public companies of varying maturity and risk than fewer with no drama whatsoever?

Have a lovely Fourth! — Alex

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This Week in Startups

E2147: Alex hosts another blockbuster panel of insiders, with Astasia Myers from Felicis, Matt Turck of First Mark Capital, and D.A. Wallach from Time BioVentures joining for a deep-dive on the biotech Great Depression, the post-Q2 startup landscape, revenue durability and product market fit in AI, supporting founders from academia, innovations in fertility and pre-natal treatments, and much much more.

E2146: Jason’s away, but Alex is hosting founders from not just one or two but FOUR of our favorite startups! First up, Grammerly CEO Shishir Mehrotra AND Superhuman founder Rahul Vohra join together to talk about their companies coming together, and how they plan to use AI to reshape the future of work. PLUS Manu Sharma from data labeling innovators LabelBox AND Jeff Cardenas from humanoid robot startup Apptronik. Now that’s a packed show!

E2145: In a special TWiST, recorded during Jason’s trip to Singapore, he chats with entrepreneur and investor Balaji Srinivasan about The Network School and his wider vision for an internet-native, decentralized society. Is the future going to be “sharp societies” creating civilizations united by shared values rather than physical boundaries? MAYBE!

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LAUNCH Accelerator

We’re hosting an in-person Demo Day for LA34 in SF on July 16 from 9a-12p PT, the latest cohort from Jason Calacanis’ Accelerator.

If you are an early-stage investor and interested in attending, please reach out to [email protected].

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Need a flexible living and working environment in San Francisco? This thoughtfully designed loft-style residence at 787 Bryant St., the heart of the vibrant SOMA district and the city’s creative hub, is now available for rent or purchase. Check the listing for more details.

Founder University

Applications are open for Founder University Cohort 11, a 12-week remote pre-accelerator program tailored towards navigating early-startup practices, building an MVP, and growing traction. Submit your application at Founder University— Cohort 10 will kick off Summer 2025!

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