Good morning! I’m Karyne Levy, managing editor of TechCrunch+, and I’m very excited to be right here.
We’ve obtained fairly a lineup for you right now, starting with some key moments from the Sam Bankman-Fried trial. Our reporter Jacquelyn Melinek has been on the courthouse each day; you’ll be able to take a look at our protection of the trial right here.
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This week, Caroline Ellison, ex-CEO of Alameda Analysis and SBF’s former girlfriend, took the stand. She defined how she cooked the books to make Alameda’s funds look so much cleaner than they really have been. “We have been in a nasty state of affairs,” is how she aptly put it.
Thanks for studying!
Karyne
Ask Sophie: Can a bootstrapping solo founder get an O-1A?
Picture Credit: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch
I’m a solo founder who’s bootstrapping my startup to the purpose of traction earlier than I even think about elevating funding. It sounds such as you want VC funding to get an O-1A — is that true? Is it even doable for me to think about getting an O-1A at this stage?
— Daring Bootstrapper
Extra money gained’t repair your failing startup — right here’s how you can get traders to again a pivot
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In case your startup isn’t seeing the sort of traction or progress that you simply count on, typically one of the best ways ahead is to truly take a detour and see if there’s another want you’ll be able to fulfill.
“If your organization isn’t seeing sturdy progress with prospects keen to make use of the product and share it with others, it could be time to pivot the corporate in a brand new path,” says Sarah Leary, a enterprise accomplice at Uncommon Ventures.
Leary’s recommendation is materials, as a result of she’s pulled off a profitable pivot earlier than: She co-founded Fanbase, a web site for followers of various sports activities to congregate and share data over a community. However when that concept didn’t scale, the staff rapidly pivoted and began Nextdoor.
Leary lays out 5 actionable suggestions that may assist founders contemplating a pivot to do it accurately, and get their traders on board with the brand new plan.
We requested 52 founders whether or not occasions are helpful or a waste of time
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Occasions generally is a nice useful resource for founders: You get to community, be taught what’s occurring in your trade, get a learn of the market, discover prospects and a lot extra.
However are they actually price all the cash and energy, to not point out the time you could possibly in any other case be spending really constructing your startup?
To seek out out, Rebecca Szkutak requested founders how they really feel about founder-focused occasions, what they discover helpful about them and what they suppose makes them a colossal waste of time.
Deal Dive: The way forward for social media is vertical
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Social media may be very totally different right now from what it was simply 5 years in the past. Leaving out what’s occurred to X, previously Twitter (nobody may have predicted that), disinformation is now as widespread as memes, dialogue is extra partisan than ever, and it’s onerous to keep away from suggestions (they’re really adverts) all over the place.
So it’s not shocking that persons are flocking to extra targeted communities that cater to their pursuits or offers them a spot to really feel protected in an web that’s more and more hateful and divisive.
“Why would somebody from a marginalized group scroll by irrelevant content material, hate and bots to seek out their group when there’s already a devoted house elsewhere?” writes Rebecca Szkutak.
“For social media traders, it’s probably the long run riches shall be within the niches.”
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Zendesk emerges from final 12 months’s turbulence with sturdy outlook
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Zendesk didn’t look so scorching on the finish of 2022: It rejected a $17 billion takeover bid, and its personal traders rejected a $4.1 billion supply to purchase SurveyMonkey — all in the identical month. However with a brand new CEO on the helm, the current (and the long run) is wanting higher and higher.
Bedrock Power thinks the answer to decarbonizing skyscrapers is 1,500 toes underground
Picture Credit: Yongyuan Dai / Getty Photos
One in all my favourite items of local weather tech is a warmth pump, which is not less than thrice extra environment friendly than conventional heating. I don’t have one in my dwelling, however after a 12 months of massive climate occasions within the Bay Space, and astronomical heating payments, warmth pumps are wanting higher and higher. However what about greater buildings? Bedrock Power is betting that underground warmth pumps, referred to as geothermal warmth pumps, may assist decarbonize heating and cooling for big buildings across the nation.