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☆ Airbnb's Brian Chesky avoids 1-on-1 meetings so he doesn't have to play 'therapist.' Here's how to run one effectively.
▼ + stars: | 2024-12-02 | by ( Geoff Weiss | Tim Paradis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

AdvertisementBrian Chesky and Nvidia's Jensen Huang avoid one-on-one meetings with subordinates. "You become like their therapist," Chesky told Fortune. Yet one person who studies meetings said making an employee feel heard can have "amazing" outcomes. Meetings are the main way Airbnb's Brian Chesky gets work done. Although he has many direct reports, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also prefers to skip one-on-one meetings.

Persons: Brian Chesky, Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Chesky, they're, Fortune, Jensen Huang, Huang, Steven G, who's, Rogelberg, Aditya Agarwal, Agarwal Organizations: Nvidia, Stripe, University of North Locations: University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Learn moreWe just entered the holiday season, and the Madewell Cyber Monday sale is already the gift that keeps on giving. During the Madewell Cyber Monday Event, you can snag up to 50% off nearly everything using the code MADEBETTER. View at MadewellCyber Monday deals on Madewell accessoriesMadewell The Sling Crossbody Bag $59.00 $118.00 Save 50% This spacious leather sling is comfortable and convenient. View at Madewell What we like Check mark icon A check mark. View at MadewellMadewell Cyber Monday FAQsDoes Madewell ever have a sale?

Persons: Madewell, French terry that’s, Tee, You'll, hemming Organizations: Business, Madewell Locations: Madewell, French

☆ Databricks closes in on multibillion funding round at $55 billion valuation to help employees cash out
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-26 | by ( Kate Rooney | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

San Francisco-based Databricks is raising at least another $5 billion in its latest funding round — though it could raise up to $8 billion given the round is ongoing — according to several sources who asked not to be named because the discussions were private. The latest raise would value the company at $55 billion and could top the largest round of the year by OpenAI. The latest funding is designed to help Databricks employees sell shares, a source said. One source said the funding round makes Databricks' highly anticipated public debut less urgent. This summer, it acquired MosaicML, a $1.3 billion software startup that focuses on large language models that can churn out natural-sounding text.

Persons: Ali Ghodsi, Databricks, OpenAI, Andreessen Horowitz, Baillie Gifford, Snowflake, Ghodsi Organizations: Databricks Inc, Bloomberg Technology, CNBC, OpenAI, Walgreens, Nvidia, Capital, Fidelity, Insight Partners, Tiger Global Locations: San Francisco

☆ This chart shows how crazy-fast the value of Elon Musk's xAI has grown in 16 months
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-21 | by ( Ana Altchek | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

AdvertisementElon Musk's AI startup xAI has been valued at a reported $50 billion 16 months after its founding. One of his other companies, his artificial intelligence startup xAI, has catapulted from launch just 16 months ago into an AI company now worth a reported $50 billion. Related Video How Elon Musk makes and spends his billionsThe chart below helps put that meteoric rise into perspective. How does that $50 billion valuation compare to the competition? It took OpenAI, last valued at $157 billion in October, around 9 years to pass the $50 billion milestone, according to PitchBook.

Persons: OpenAI, Elon Musk, — Organizations: Elon, SpaceX Locations: xAI

The best Madewell Black Friday dealsMadewell The Sling Crossbody Bag $82.60 $118.00 Save 30% This spacious leather sling is comfortable and convenient. View at Madewell What we like Check mark icon A check mark. High-quality leatherCheck mark icon A check mark. Can be worn day to nightCheck mark icon A check mark. View at MadewellFAQs about the Madewell Black Friday EventIs Black Friday a good time to shop at Madewell?

Persons: onTaylor Swift, Madewell, French terry that’s, You'll, hemming Organizations: Business, Madewell Locations: French

☆ Cathie Wood's Ark pitches mom-and-pop investors on exposure to Elon Musk's startups
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-19 | by ( Melia Russell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

AdvertisementIn an email to subscribers, Ark Invest highlighted its exposure to Elon Musk's private companies. Its venture fund includes stakes in SpaceX, X, and xAI, totaling nearly 15% of net assets. Ark Invest hyped Musk's influence with Donald Trump, saying his companies could also benefit. SpaceX was Ark Venture Fund's largest holding, with about 13% of assets, worth an estimated $8.7 million. In a recent interview, Winton illuminated the factors that drove Ark's investments in Musk's companies.

Persons: Elon, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Brett Winton, Elon Musk's, Ark, xAI, Trump, Musk, He's, Winton Organizations: Ark Invest, SpaceX, Ark, Elon, Invest, ARK Venture Fund, Ark Venture, Trump megadonor, Trump's, Winton Locations: Elon, United States

☆ Silicon Valley's General Catalyst makes first investment into Saudi Arabia through fintech Lean Technologies
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-11 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Silicon Valley venture capital firm General Catalyst has made its first investment in Saudi Arabia through fintech startup Lean Technologies, which just closed a Series B round worth $67.5 million. General Catalyst has $30 billion in assets under management and has backed major U.S. tech companies like Snap , Stripe and AirBnb . Lean Technologies' fundraising round also saw participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Stanley Druckenmiller's Duquesne Family Office, and Arbor Ventures, among others, bringing the Riyadh-based firm's total funding to over $100 million to date, according to a Sunday statement from the company. For three of those investors — General Catalyst, Stanley Druckenmiller and Bain Capital — this investment is their first in the kingdom. "If you look at the region's growth over the last three to five years, it's been phenomenal, but there is still so much more room for growth."

Persons: Catalyst, Stanley Druckenmiller's, Stanley Druckenmiller, Hisham Al, Falih, it's Organizations: Lean Technologies, Bain Capital Ventures, Stanley, Stanley Druckenmiller's Duquesne Family Office, Arbor Ventures, Bain Capital, CNBC Locations: Silicon, Saudi Arabia, U.S, Riyadh, Saudi

☆ I tried 13 of Trader Joe's specialty raviolis and ranked them from worst to best
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-04 | by ( Savanna Swain-Wilson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

I reviewed all of Trader Joe's refrigerated ravioli that I could find and ranked them. So I made it my mission to try all of the refrigerated ravioli I could find at Trader Joe's and rank them from worst to best. Trader Joe's porcini-mushroom-and-truffle ravioli was packed with a rich flavor that may not be for everyoneThis ravioli even smelled like mushrooms. After trying it for the first time last year, it quickly became one of my favorite foods at Trader Joe's. WINNER: This cacio-e-pepe ravioli might be one of the best pasta products Trader Joe's has ever createdI love Trader Joe's cacio-e-pepe ravioli.

Persons: Parmigiano, pepe ravioli, Joe's, —, Wilson, you'll, Parmigiano Reggiano, Wilson Arugula, It's, it's, I'm, Boyardee, grandma, Wilson I'm, there's, ravioli, Savanna, I've, e pepe, pepe, pecorino Organizations: Service, KFC, Wilson Locations: Italy, Savanna, Joe's

☆ Generative A.I. Made All My Decisions for a Week. Here's What Happened.
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-01 | by ( Kashmir Hill | Hang Do Thi Duc | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Decisions I would normally agonize over, like travel logistics or whether to scuttle dinner plans because my mother-in-law wants to visit, A.I. Letting your mother-in-law cook can be a great idea, especially if she enjoys it and it gives you a break. And it made good decisions, such as advising me to be nice to my mother-in-law and accept her offer to cook for us. (Generative A.I. Just as we’ve outsourced our sense of direction to mapping apps, and our ability to recall facts to search engines, this explosion of A.I.

Persons: ChatGPT, I’d, couldn’t, Taupe ”, Chive, didn’t, Ms, Jang, ”, Judith Donath, Harvard’s Berkman Klein, “, it’s, Donath Organizations: Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center, chum, The New York Times, OpenAI, Microsoft Locations: A.I, Olive, OpenAI

☆ Sam Altman’s Reddit stake now worth over $1 billion after post-earnings pop
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-29 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference on July 9, 2024 in Sun Valley, Idaho. Sam Altman, the controversial CEO of OpenAI, has a stake in social media company Reddit that's worth over $1 billion as of post-market trading on Tuesday. Altman controls roughly 12.2 million shares of Reddit, a company he first invested in over a decade ago. Reddit shares soared about 20% in extended trading after the compny reported better-than-expected quarterly results and issued an optimistic forecast. Top shareholders were forbidden from selling Reddit shares for six months during the "lockup period," which expired in September.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, OpenAI's, Y, Reddit, Condé, Altman didn't, OpenAI, WilmerHale, — CNBC's Ari Levy, Cramer Organizations: Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, Reddit, Condé Nast, Advance Magazine Publishers, Fidelity, OpenAI, CNBC Locations: Sun Valley , Idaho, Reddit's, Airbnb

☆ A payments startup hoping to take on Stripe and Square just raised $75 million with this pitch deck
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-24 | by ( Bianca Chan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Finix is a startup that works with merchants so they can accept and manage payments. On Thursday, it raised a $75 million Series C that included Lightspeed Ventures and Acrew Capital. AdvertisementSome of the industry's biggest fintech investors just backed an up-and-coming payments startup challenging Stripe and Square. The San Francisco-based startup raised $75 million in a Series C funding round, the company announced Thursday. AdvertisementFinix processes billions of dollars every month for tens of thousands of merchants, Serna said.

Persons: —, Richie Serna, Finix, Serna, " Serna Organizations: Lightspeed Ventures, Acrew, Service, Acrew Capital, Lightspeed Venture Partners Locations: San Francisco, Finix's, Serna

☆ Elad Gil raised $1 billion to invest in leading AI startups
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-24 | by ( Leena Rao | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

The serial entrepreneur and prolific startup investor Gil, who is part of Business Insider's 2024 AI Power List, has raised $1 billion , reportedly bringing his personal war chest to more than $2 billion , to deploy into AI startups. Gil, who invested early in Airbnb, Stripe, and Square, has backed some of the most notable AI startups, such as Harvey , Mistral, Pika , Magic, and Perplexity . Gil, a former operator at Twitter and Google, recently told Business Insider that he believed the "AI app layer" would start to crystalize this year, bringing the power of rapidly advancing foundation models to the masses. See Business Insider's full AI Power List

Persons: Gil, Harvey, Mistral Organizations: Twitter, Google, Business Locations: Airbnb

☆ 'Not everything in life is a conspiracy': Andy Kim rejects claim that he wore North Korean flag on his tie
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-17 | by ( Kimmy Yam | Kimmy Yam Is A Reporter For Nbc Asian America. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., slammed a Trump delegate for accusing him of wearing the North Korean flag on his tie during a New Jersey Senate debate this week. “Why is US Senate candidate Andy Kim wearing a North Korea flag on his tie tonight?” the delegate, Mike Crispi, wrote on X about Kim’s matchup Tuesday against Republican opponent Curtis Bashaw. … Why didn’t you wear an American flag tie?” Crispi said in the video, adding that the pattern resembled the North Korean and Costa Rican flags. “If elected, I’ll be first Korean American senator after 120 years of Koreans in America,” Kim wrote on social media. “Dear MAGA @MikeCrispi: That is not the North Korean flag,” Lieu wrote.

Persons: Andy Kim, Mike Crispi, Curtis Bashaw, Kim, ” Kim, Crispi, ”, ” Crispi, Dave Min, I’ll, ” Bashaw, Ted Lieu, “, MAGA, ” Lieu Organizations: Trump, Korean, New, New Jersey Senate, Republican, NBC News, NBC, Democrat, Police Locations: New Jersey, Korea, Asian American, North Korea, Costa Rican, United States of America, United States, Orange County , California, America, East Coast, Korean

☆ Delta unveiled a fresh cabin design as it modernizes aging planes amid further delays to new Boeing jets
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-16 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Delta Air Lines is set to update the cabins of its Boeing 757 and Airbus A350 jets. The 757s being updated are at least 20 years old as Delta waits on delayed new 737 jets. Courtesy of Delta Air LinesThe Max 10 is the largest version of Boeing's newest narrowbody jet, but is yet to be certified amid a difficult period for the embattled planemaker. Courtesy of Delta Air LinesIt will feature a "warmer and more modern color palette" that includes a red accent stripe and the airline's logo on seat tags, Delta said. Courtesy of Delta Air LinesIn Delta One, the airline's business class, the fabric seats are made from a lighter material that should help regulate a passenger's temperature.

Persons: —, It's, Delta, Max, Guy Organizations: Delta Air Lines, Boeing, Airbus, Service, Air Lines, Delta Air Locations: New, Delta

☆ Stripe, Wise founders want a 'tech renaissance' in Europe to help region rival Silicon Valley
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-14 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Founders of some of Europe's largest technology unicorns on Monday backed an open letter calling for a "tech renaissance" fueled by the creation of a single pan-European entity to promote startups and innovation in the bloc. But because of that, our startup scene is fragmented," read the open letter, which was published Monday on a newly created website for the EU Inc initiative. This results in "stifled momentum, unrealized potential, and an artificial limit on our startups' chances of success." So-called 28th regimes are proposed legal frameworks within the EU that offer an alternative to member states' own national rules instead of replacing them. The new structure of EU Inc would "standardize investment processes, simplify cross-border operations, and create a unified employee stock options framework" to help European startups scale rapidly and attract more capital, according to a Monday press release.

Persons: Patrick Collison, Hinrikus, Eléonore Crespo, Ilkka Paananen, Miki Kuusi Organizations: EU Inc, Inc, EU, Wolt Locations: Europe, EU, Finnish

Fed rate cuts are likely to help push bitcoin and other risk assets higher, but some stablecoin issuers could suffer a hit to their revenue. Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC) dominate the market, making up 70% and 21%, respectively, according to CryptoQuant. "As rates begin to fall, that has a giant impact on their [profit and loss] and their bottom line." Stablecoins – cryptocurrencies that promise a fixed value peg to another asset, usually the U.S. dollar – are widely seen as crypto's killer app. Jeremy Allaire, CEO of USDC issuer Circle, told CNBC lower interest rates are "a very good thing" for the company because lower interest rates will likely increase investment and economic activity – which would benefit the company.

Persons: Bernstein, Kevin Lehtiniitty, they're, Wainwright, Kevin Dede, Jeremy Allaire, Allaire Organizations: U.S ., CNBC

☆ Italy’s hard-right government set to send sea migrants to Albania in bid to curb arrivals
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-09 | by ( Barbie Latza Nadeau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

However, the court’s decision is non-binding and Italy and Albania are not prohibited by the ruling from going forward with the plans. That’s all, very normal variations during construction.”A general view of the reception center for migrants in Shengjin, Albania, on June 4, 2024. If they do not qualify for asylum, they will be deported to “safe” countries, according to the agreement between Italy and Albania. The cost comes to around 7.5% of what Italy currently spends on its migrant reception centers, Meloni said in June, speaking alongside Rama. Other listed “safe countries” include Egypt, Tunisia and the Ivory Coast, citizens of which make up a large portion of arrivals.

Persons: Rome, It’s, Gjader –, Matteo Piantedosi, There’s, Florion Goga, Piantedosi, Giorgia, Keir Starmer, “, ” Meloni, Meloni, Starmer, Rama, ” Rama, Giorgia Meloni, Adnan Beci, ’ ”, Alketa Misja, ”, ” Gianfranco Schiavone, Schiavone Organizations: Rome CNN, European Union, Court, Justice, Reuters, CNN, United Nations, Refugees, UNHCR, Interior Ministry, Meloni, Amnesty, Italy's, Albania's, Edi, Getty, AP, Migration, United Nations ’ International Organization for Migration, Union Locations: Albania, Italy, European, Albanian, Shengjin, Gjader, Agrigento, Sicily, Catania, Malta, Greece, Spain, Libya, Tunisia, Meloni’s, Rome, Europe, AFP, Italian, Bangladesh, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Afghanistan, Syria, Lezhe, Refoulement, North, Denmark

☆ Anthropic's power players: Here are the 11 leaders helping shape the future of the Amazon-backed AI company
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-09 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

It's sought to position itself as the safer, more responsible AI company. She, along with her brother Dario, was part of the team that left OpenAI with the goal of creating a more responsible AI company. Krishna Rao, Chief Financial OfficerAs any emerging AI company can attest, conducting groundbreaking research isn't enough. In this role, he's building deep relationships with users and helping to turn Anthropic's research into a mass-market product. These capabilities are essential to Anthropic's positioning of itself as the safer AI company.

Persons: Anthropic, It's, —, OpenAI's, Dario Amodei, Amodei, Dario, Daniela Amodei, She's, Jack Clark ,, Clark, Jared Kaplan, Kaplan, Chris Olah, Sam McCandlish, McCandlish, Tom Brown, Brown, Krishna Rao, Rao, Mike Krieger, São Paulo, Krieger, Claude, Brian Israel, it's, Brian, Sam Bowman, Bowman, Jan Leike Organizations: Service, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google, Princeton University, Hertz, Stanford University School of Medicine, sager, Bloomberg, Harvard, Johns Hopkins University, Research, Organization, Core Resources, Stanford University, Brandeis University, Core, Blackstone, Bain & Company, Anthropic, State Department, NASA Locations: OpenAI, Anthropic, Airbnb, São, Menlo Park, San Francisco, New York, Israel

☆ OpenAI's latest funding round could be a bargain or a bust for investors
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-03 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . The high-profile startup announced the closing of a $6.6 billion funding round that valued it at $157 billion. And more exits could be coming since OpenAI is reportedly working on allowing its employees to sell their shares in the company . Win McNamee and Didem Mente/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images; Jenny Chang-Rodriguez/InsiderIt's important to remember OpenAI's eye-popping valuation is just that … a valuation. Which gets us back to $157 billion OpenAI.

Persons: —, Elon Musk's, Josh Kushner's, Cathy Wood's, Chase, Here's, Mira Murati, Kevin Weil, Rob Price, OpenAI, Sam Altman, Win McNamee, Didem, Jenny Chang, Rodriguez, Brad Gerstner, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, Jordan Parker Erb, Milan Sehmbi, Amanda Yen Organizations: Business, Service, Elon, Elon Musk's SpaceX, Venture, Microsoft, Nvidia, Anadolu Agency, Getty, Big Tech Locations: Silicon Valley, New York, London

☆ Here's where OpenAI's 11 cofounders are now
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-03 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Most of OpenAI's cofounders have left the startup, with some going to rivals. Here's where all 11 of its cofounders are now and how many remain at the $157 billion company. Here's where all of the 11 cofounders are now. According to her LinkedIn profile, she used to work at Facebook as an AI research engineer before joining Stripe as a software engineer in 2016. OpenAI and none of its 11 cofounders immediately responded to Business Insider's requests for comment, made outside normal working hours.

Persons: it's, Sam Altman, —, OpenAI, Mira Murati, Barret Zoph, Bob McGrew, Ilya Sutskever, John Schulman, Anthropic, Jason Redmond, Altman, John Schulman Schulman, OpenAI's, Jan Leike, Schulman, Wojciech Zaremba Zaremba, Zaremba, Ekon, Musk, Ilya Sutskever Ilya Sutskever, JACK GUEZ, Getty Sutskever, Sustkever, Sustskever, Greg Brockman Brockman, he's, Kingma, Andrej Karpathy Andrej Karpathy, Karpathy, Vicki Cheung Cheung, Elon, Elon Musk, ALAIN JOCARD, Brockman, cofounding OpenAI, Pamela Vagata Vagata, Trevor Blackwell Blackwell, cofounders Organizations: Here's, Service, Getty, OpenAI's Superalignment, OpenAI, Inc, Google DeepMind, Anthropic, Tesla, San Francisco Chronicle, Hearst Newspapers, Getty Images Research, Eureka Labs, SpaceX, The Boring Company, Facebook Locations: AFP, OpenAI, cofounding, Pebblebed

☆ Klarna partners with fellow fintech Adyen to bring buy now, pay later into physical stores
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-26 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Jakub Porzycki | NurPhoto | Getty ImagesSwedish firm Klarna is partnering up with Dutch payments fintech Adyen to bring its popular buy now, pay later service into physical retail stores. Klarna will be included as an option across more than 450,000 Adyen payment terminals in brick-and-mortar locations as a result of the deal, according to the companies. Klarna's buy now, pay later, or BNPL, service allows users to spread the cost of their purchases over a period of interest-free installments. Earlier this year, Klarna sold Klarna Checkout, the company's online checkout solution for merchants. The recently elected U.K. Labour government is expected to set out plans for buy now, pay later regulation soon.

Persons: Jakub Porzycki, Klarna, David Sykes, Alexa von Bismarck, Adyen, Sebastian Siemiatkowski, BNPL, Tulip Siddiq Organizations: NurPhoto, Getty, Klarna, Adyen, EMEA, Alexa, CNBC, Labour, Conservative Locations: Amsterdam, Europe, North America, Australia, Swedish

☆ It looks like Sam Altman will get richer off of OpenAI after all
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-25 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewOpenAI is working to revamp its business structure so that it's no longer controlled by a nonprofit board, according to a new report. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. The company has been controlled until now by the nonprofit board — a relic of its original launch as a nonprofit in 2015. The company is seeking to remove a cap on returns for investors, sources told Reuters. "Feels part of the necessary normalization of OpenAI into a regular corporate structure, which paves the way to an IPO."

Persons: —, Sam Altman, OpenAI, Altman, Altman hasn't, he's, OpenAI didn't, Ilya Sutskever, Jan Leike, Greg Brockman, Mira Murati, Matt Turck, who's, Ada Organizations: Service, —, Business, Reuters, Street, Senate, Busines Locations: OpenAI

Some fans at rival schools have welcomed the Bears by mocking them as far-left radicals online, bringing the culture wars to the already scorched-earth digital battlefield of college football memes. “By taking it on from a satirical lens, I think it let a lot of Cal fans take ownership of that label and allow us to embrace it on our own terms. And simultaneously, it pokes fun at how other fans across the country have historically perceived the university." Cal fans embraced a “Calgorithm” challenge by taking to social media to support just about every hot-button issue that’d boil the blood of any conservative culture warrior. Le, the Cal fan, said he’s hopeful the football-fueled meme culture war could lead fans to better understand each other.

Persons: Cal’s, Miles Goodman, he’d, ” Goodman, “, ”, Nam, MAGA, Le, ” Le, Cal Organizations: UC Berkeley’s Golden Bears, Atlantic Coast Conference, Bears, Auburn, NBC, Cal, FSU, Florida State Seminoles Locations: Berkeley , California, Florida

☆ DryMerge aims to link your apps in one place. Here's the 8-page pitch deck its Gen Z founders used to raise $2.2 million.
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-19 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Edward Frazer and Sam Brashears have built software together since fourth grade, and that's exactly what they'll start with if you're a venture capitalist listening to their pitch for funding. The two 22-year-old cofounders and longtime friends started developing the API integration software known as DryMerge last year. "Sam and I have spent more time with each other than anyone else except probably our families, so we're just really, really good friends." When evaluating team risk, VCs also look for whether the co-founders can build the product the way they envision it. Here's the eight-page pitch deck that Frazer and Brashears used to secure their $2.2 million seed round for DryMerge.

Persons: Edward Frazer, Sam Brashears, Frazer, Slack, DryMerge, Sam, Brashears, VCs, they've Organizations: Service, Business, Garage Capital, Goodwater, Ritual, Yale University, University of Wisconsin Locations: Madison

☆ Jensen Huang's 14-hour days and workaholic lifestyle helped him turn Nvidia into an AI powerhouse
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-12 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

He told last year's New York Times DealBook Summit: "I don't wake up proud and confident — I wake up worried and concerned." That's because Nvidia almost went bankrupt in the late 1990s — a memory he says is hard to shake off. Huang works holidays but finds it relaxingNvidia CEO Jensen Huang. On the "20VC" podcast in March, Tangen said Huang told him, "'Nicolai, there is hard work and then there's insanely hard work.'" When I'm not working, I'm thinking about working, and when I'm working, I'm working.

Persons: —, Jensen Huang, Huang, Mohd Rasfan, Huang doesn't, Nicolai Tangen, Tangen, Nicolai, I'm, David Solomon, Goldman Sachs, Huang's, Michael M, That's Organizations: Service, Nvidia, Financial Times, Business, New York Times DealBook, Microsoft, Apple, Getty, Norges Bank Investment Management, Technology Conference, Stripe's Sessions, Big Tech, CNN, Forbes, Stripe Sessions, Stanford School of Business, Stanford University Locations: AFP

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