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☆ VCs are rushing to meet with former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati in hopes of funding a new company
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-30 | by ( Sri Muppidi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Mira Murati announced her departure from OpenAI last week. In an X post, Murati wrote, "I'm stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration." AdvertisementVenture capitalists are clamoring to meet with Mira Murati, the former CTO of OpenAI, as Silicon Valley expects her to start her own company soon. In a X post, Murati announced her departure from OpenAI last week. Murati wrote, "My six-and-half years with the OpenAI team have been an extraordinary privilege…There's never an ideal time to step away from a place one cherishes, yet this moment feels right."

Persons: Mira Murati, OpenAI, Murati, Ilya Sutskever, —, … There's, Andrej Karpathy, Anthropic, Dario Amodei, Aravind Srinivas, Sam Altman, Mira, Bob McGrew, Barret Zoph, –, Altman, Wojciech Zaremba, Zaremba Organizations: Service, Venture, Business, OpenAI, Eureka Labs, San, supercomputing, Tesla, Microsoft, Altman, Reuters Locations: Silicon, OpenAI, San Francisco

☆ OpenAI has 2 years to transition to a for-profit company. Here are 6 key things it will need to do in that time.
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-29 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

OpenAI is transitioning to a for-profit company so it can raise billions more in funding. The company has operated under a nonprofit board since its launch, adding a for-profit arm in 2019. Almost a year later, many of those who disagreed with Altman's approach are gone, and OpenAI is transitioning into a fully for-profit company. There are several complex steps the company will need to take to make this change in under two years. AdvertisementAltman's equityUnder the new structure, Altman is set to get equity in the company.

Persons: —, OpenAI, Sam Altman, Alexander Reid, Altman, It'll, Jill Horwitz, Greg Brockman Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Nvidia, Wall Street, UCLA, Elon Musk Locations: OpenAI, Delaware

☆ Anthropic's comms chief mocks OpenAI after cofounder's bizarre tweet about jacuzzis and the Middle Ages
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-27 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

An Anthropic executive jumped at the opportunity to mock OpenAI in response. AdvertisementTech rivalries are always a hot topic on X, and on Friday, an Anthropic executive couldn't help but take a jab at OpenAI. OpenAI cofounder Wojciech Zaremba took to X on Friday to wax poetic about the latest high-profile departures. He likened the exits of Murati, Zoph, and McGrew to children dying in the Middle Ages. Just hours later she wrote on X, "Happy to report that Anthropic's co-founders all still merrily work at the company.

Persons: OpenAI, Mira Murati, Bob McGrew, —, Sam Altman, Altman, Barret Zoph, Wojciech Zaremba, Zaremba, McGrew, Sasha de Marigny, Anthropic, Anthropic's, Anthropic’s, — Sasha de Marigny, John Schulman Organizations: Service, OpenAI Locations: Murati

☆ Sam Altman is way more interested in AI's next chapter than upheaval at OpenAI
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-26 | by ( Tom Carter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewSam Altman might be facing upheaval at OpenAI, but that isn't stopping him from discussing his grand plans for the company's next stage. 'Better everything'"The two trends I'm most excited about for the next couple of decades are abundant intelligence and abundant energy," Altman told the audience. The growth, the increase in quality of life we can have in the world — better sustainability, better education, better healthcare, better everything," he added. AdvertisementIt's not the first time Altman has talked up the glorious future that AI — and by extension, OpenAI — may usher in. AdvertisementAltman has previously called for massive investment in AI infrastructure, warning that making AI technology widespread would require "lots of energy and chips."

Persons: —, Sam Altman, Altman, Mira Murati, Murati, John Elkann, cofounders Ilya Sutskever, John Schulman, Elon Musk, OpenAI, Altman's Organizations: Service, Italian Tech, Business, Google, Elon, Bloomberg, Energy Locations: OpenAI, Italy

☆ OpenAI has 4 big challenges it needs to conquer in its quest for AI dominance
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-26 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

OpenAI bleeds C-suite executivesAs OpenAI chases a massive fundraising round, the startup continues to deal with a staff exodus. The nonprofit side of OpenAI will still exist and have a minority stake in the for-profit company, the sources told Reuters. "Given the ambitions of OpenAI, a non-profit structure has been too constraining. AdvertisementThe debate over whether OpenAI should be a for-profit company has been a bone of contention for one very vocal tech industry bigwig — Elon Musk. Park, the corporate law expert, told BI that the for-profit governance structure could also leave OpenAI vulnerable to greater government scrutiny.

Persons: —, OpenAI, Mira Murati, Sam Altman's, Murati, Barret Zoph, Bob McGrew, Altman, Greg Brockman, Wojciech Zaremba, Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, John Schulman, Peter Deng, Sutskever, James, I'd, Slack, Gene Munster, She's, Mira, — Elon, Musk, Gary Marcus, Marcus, Musk's, Mark Zuckerberg, xAI, Sam Altman, Munster Organizations: Service, Technology, Business, Microsoft, Nvidia, Wired, University of California, OpenAI, Bloomberg, Deepwater Asset Management, Reuters, Intelligence, Guardian, Meta Locations: It's, OpenAI, Los Angeles

☆ The OpenAI talent exodus has become the joke of the moment in tech world
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-26 | by ( Sarah Gray | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Sutskever announced his departure from OpenAI in May and launched his own AI startup focused on safety. Of the 11 cofounders of OpenAI from 2015, only Altman, Brockman (who, again, is on leave), and Wojciech Zaremba remain. Daniel Kokotajlo and William Saunders, who previously worked on OpenAI's governance and safety teams, respectively, left OpenAI in the first half of 2023. AdvertisementAdditionally, OpenAI cofounder John Schulman left in August to join OpenAI rival Anthropic — where Leike also landed. On Wednesday, Meta announced that Meta AI is on track to be "the most used AI assistant in the world."

Persons: —, Mira Murati, Sam Altman, There's, OpenAI, Airbnb, KugtVv9o6N, Matt Turck, Altman, Murati, Ilya Sutskever, Greg Brockman, Brockman, Sutskever, Sam, Madeline, PnRxZSbGgx — sophie, Bob McGrew, Barret Zoph, Sarah Friar, Jakub Pachocki, Brad Lightcap, Kevin Weil, Wojciech Zaremba, Elon Musk, Musk, Jan Leike, Daniel Kokotajlo, William Saunders, John Schulman, Anthropic, Leike, Andrej Karpathy, Kokotajlo, Fortune Organizations: Service, Bloomberg, Business, Wired, OpenAI, —, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Nvidia, Reuters Locations: OpenAI, Slack, —

☆ How 3 friends without any hospitality experience started renting out over 400 tiny homes in remote locations around the world
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-20 | by ( Erin Liam | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

An early obstacleWith no experience in architecture or building, their first roadblock was figuring out how to build a tiny house. Developing their tiny houses into a profit-sharing businessAfter garnering attention from local media, the team started to receive inquiries on how to purchase tiny houses, Chia said. AdvertisementIn 2023, they set up tiny houses in SingaporeThe tiny house movement encourages minimalistic and sustainable living. Each tiny house is placed in natureBig Tiny's tiny house in Lake Stella, New Zealand. Big TinySeven years on, Big Tiny has placed more than 400 tiny houses in more than 10 countries worldwide, from Taiwan to Europe and Australia.

Persons: Adrian Chia's, Dave Ng, he'd, Dave, Chia, Ng, — Chia, Adrian Chia, Jeff Yeo, Yeo, Big Tiny, Lazarus, Tiny Organizations: Service, Business, Big, Sentosa Development Corporation, Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry, BI, Lake Stella Locations: Melbourne, Singapore, Chia's, Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Germany, Lazarus, Southern, Lake Stella , New Zealand, Taiwan, Europe, New Zealand, Christchurch, Yilan

☆ 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

☆ I stayed in a $290-a-night glamping tent off the coast of Singapore to put the 'slow living' lifestyle to the test
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-18 | by ( Erin Liam | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

But on a three-day trip to Lazarus Island, a small island five miles from Singapore, I was forced to slow down. During the pandemic, they chanced upon a government initiative to promote sustainable tourism on Lazarus Island. Lee and Wong ended up winning a three-year tender to open Into the Woods on Lazarus Island in March 2023. With nowhere to eat on the island, guests can cook their own meals or pack food. Erin Liam/ Business InsiderWhen I returned from my trip, the cofounders told me they could not build en-suite toilets due to cost and time constraints.

Persons: —, Ray Lee, Sam Wong, Lee, Wong, they've, Erin Liam, Mike Harlow, Scott Dunn, we're, Glamping, Hilton, Lazarus Organizations: Service, Business, AutoCamp, Hyatt Locations: Lazarus, Singapore, Australia

☆ Influencer app Node's $13 million sale shows how central tech and AI have become to talent management
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-17 | by ( Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Read previewThe talent-management agency Dulcedo Group acquired the influencer-marketing app Node in a July deal that valued the company at around $13 million, Node's cofounders told Business Insider. The deal shows how important tech products, including artificial-intelligence tools, have become in the talent and marketing industries. Founded in 2008 as an agency for more traditional media talent, Montreal-based Dulcedo Group has recently been on a buying spree, announcing in November it acquired creator talent agency Influence+All and PR firm Sundae Creative. Related storiesThe cofounders ultimately connected with Dulcedo Group, which put in an offer to acquire Node. Dulcedo Group was drawn to the company's technological expertise and roster of micro influencers, Faraji told BI.

Persons: —, Node's cofounders, Cofounders Armin Faraji, Mackenzie Dérival, Faraji, Stagwell, Dérival, they're, It's Organizations: Service, Dulcedo Group, Business, Publicis, Stagwell, Sundae Locations: Montreal, Dulcedo

☆ Inside $178 billion Man Group's Oxford gathering: Academic hotshots, internal rising stars, and $25 trillion in institutional capital
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-17 | by ( Bradley Saacks | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Go to newsletter preferencesSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewEven when compared to the impressive and lengthy history of the University of Oxford, this week's gathering at Trinity College is noteworthy. Academics, nerds, and rising starsThe speakers over the two-plus days are roughly half Man employees and half external invitees. The firm balances the external speakers — from finance and other disciplines — with a line-up of Man executives and internal rising stars who are working on something that ties into the overall theme. Oxford offers plenty of advantages for the firm's leadership to get to know the decision makers at these firms.

Persons: —, Tom Holland, Steven Desmyter, Milken, Desmyter, there's, Holland, Morgan Stanley, Clare Woodman, John Curtice, Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, Mike Lynch, Sumant Wahi, Vinayak Kumar, It's Organizations: Service, University of Oxford, Trinity College, Business, Ashmolean Museum, BBC, Morgan Stanley EMEA, Oxford, Oxford Man Institute, Union House Locations: British, Davos, Hawaii, Sydney, Sicilian, it's, Rhodes House, Trinity, New York, London, Dubai

☆ Sam Altman may be in his villain era, but no one seems to care
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-14 | by ( Madeline Berg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

As one VC partner told Business Insider at the time: "Sam is bigger than Taylor Swift." But the bigger you are, the faster the fall, and a few months later, things began to unravel. Others simply said Altman was overhyped, that he didn't have all the answers that the public and investors seemed to expect of him. Thanks to good old-fashioned capitalism, Altman and OpenAI have enjoyed business win after win and held their positions as the leaders in the aggressive AI race. "I thought Sam Altman did a really good job in the special," she told The Washington Post in a discussion about her TV program on artificial intelligence.

Persons: —, Sam Altman, Taylor Swift, Altman, Oscar, Scarlett Johansson, Johansson, Ilya Sutskever, Jan Leike, Leike, Anthropic —, Greg Brockman, OpenAI, Siri, Goldman Sachs, OpenAI fanboys, Wharton, Ethan Mollick, Anderson Cooper, Josh Kushner —, Oprah Winfrey Organizations: Service, OpenAI, Business, —, Leike, Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, tech's, o1, Washington Locations: OpenAI —, Valley

☆ Andreessen Horowitz just dealt a blow to tech's move-to-Miami movement
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-04 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewAndreessen Horowitz has reportedly given up on its Miami office after just two years in the space. "The firm is now virtual, but can materialize physically on command," Horowitz said at the time. Andreessen Horowitz did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment. VC investment in Miami also saw a huge decrease in 2023, dropping 70% to $2 billion, according to the Journal.

Persons: —, Andreessen Horowitz, cofounders, Ben Horowitz, Horowitz, Marc Andreessen, Keith Rabois, Rabois, Florida . Austin, Elon Musk, he'd Organizations: Service, Miami Beach, Bloomberg, Business, Miami, Street Journal, SpaceX Locations: Miami, Miami Beach, Miami Beach , New York City, Santa Monica, Francisco, California, San Francisco, Fort Lauderdale, Florida ., Austin, Texas

☆ Hollywood has a big problem with how people are watching TV these days
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-29 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

In today's big story, viewers are opting for free TV, and that's throwing a massive wrench in Hollywood's plans . AdvertisementBut first, what's on (free) TV? The big storyChanging channelsGetty Images; iStock; Natalie Ammari/BIIf the best things in life truly are free, Hollywood is about to learn a brutal lesson. But what's really caught people's attention over the past year has been "free, ad-supported TV" or FAST services. Figuring out how to make money from free TV is a big enough problem.

Persons: —, Natalie Ammari, upend, Insider's Lucia Moses, what's, Andy Kiersz, Fox's Tubi, Gen Z, that's, Jenny Chang, Rodriguez, cofounders, John Overdeck, David Siegel, Carter Lyons, Scott Hoffman, Warren Buffett's, Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett, Noah Berger, Chelsea Jia Feng, Jensen Huang, Alyssa Powell, Banks, Sam Altman's, Kamala Harris, Tim Walz's, Dana Bash, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, Milan Sehmbi, Amanda Yen Organizations: Service, Business, Tech, Hollywood, Nielsen, Netflix, Paramount, Pluto, Comcast, Warner Bros . Discovery, YouTube, Getty, Big Tech, Chelsea, Menlo Ventures, CNN Locations: Berkshire, A16z, New York, London

☆ Gen Z UTA execs' daily routines include everything from parties to pitch meetings. See their packed schedule.
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-29 | by ( Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewIn March, Ziad Ahmed and Shaina Zafar made headlines when they sold their marketing agency, Juv Consulting, to United Talent Agency. Juv was known among many US-based influencers and brands as the "go-to expert on Gen Z", one creator told Business Insider. This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. AdvertisementFor the first time, Ahmed and Zafar share a peek into their work schedules as they grow UTA's Next Gen.

Persons: —, Ziad Ahmed, Shaina Zafar, Juv, Ahmed, Zafar, , it's Organizations: Service, Juv Consulting, United Talent Agency, influencers, Business, UTA Locations: America

☆ Move over Hinge and Tinder, there's a new crop of dating apps. Meet the founders behind 11 startups sparking romance.
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-26 | by ( Sydney Bradley | Dan Latu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +17 min

AdvertisementJoshi's dating app, Friend of a Friend, has ads plastered around New York City. AdvertisementThe anti-swipersWhen setting out to build a dating app, swiping fatigue was top of mind for Vaish Sesetty and Cyrus Belsoi, the founders of the dating app Pique. AdvertisementLast year, Chernyak followed her frustration out of her legal career and launched the video-profile dating app Fast-Forward Dating App with two cofounders. AdvertisementThe Instagram DMsOne of the biggest dating apps isn't even a dating app — it's Instagram. Fast-Forward Dating App is a video-profile dating app where users answer five questions on camera with no edits or filters.

Persons: —, Forbes, who'd, Serena Kerrigan, Kerrigan, Rex Woodbury, Vaish Sesetty, Cyrus Belsoi, Belsoi, Karima Ben Abdelmalek, France who's, Abdelmalek, they've, Happn, Joe Feminella, Feminella, Hannah, Elle Wilson, Wilson, Danielle Dietzek, Julie Griggs, Fourplay, Nicole Fara Silver, Dietzek, Anushka Joshi, Friend, Joshi, Derek Lee, Lee, Boo, David Chang, Richard Chang, Katya Chernyak, Chernyak, Aeen Avini, Victoria Todis, Bumble, Nandini Mullaji, Mullaji, Chad DePue, who's, Jeremy Liew, Sitch, Alex Weitzman, hasn't, Weitzman, Amori, Tabitha, Ethan, Pique, Lieu Organizations: Service, Match, Business, Bradley, Microsoft, Daybreak Ventures, Amazon Web Services, Manna, New, Lightspeed Locations: New York City, York City, Paris, TikTok, Park, Brooklyn, France, singlehood, Victoria, Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Sitch

☆ Gen Z Is Fighting Loneliness With Social Events, Clubs, Dinner Parties
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-22 | by ( Eve Upton-Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

The next day after work, Nagel-Mayberry made her way to the run club's local meeting point. Kong started looking for chess clubs near her in Los Angeles, but they were all for older men or younger children. Now, roughly 300 people between 21 and 35 attend LA Chess Club each Thursday evening. According to Eventbrite, book-club listings were up 24% in 2023 from the prior year, and themed book clubs, such as queer book clubs, saw an 82% increase in attendance. "The first book club was on a Wednesday, so I wasn't able to go to my run club," she told me.

Persons: Julia Nagel, Mayberry, Nagel, I've, Sheila Liming, Zers, Gen, Z, Michelle Kong, Kong, livestreaming, hankering, Liming, —, we're, Ben Bradbury, Eventbrite, Maya Aristimuño, aren't, Casa, Gen Zers, Mills Organizations: Electric Athletic Club, Friendship, Gallup, American Survey Center, LA Chess, Maristi Creative, Soho, GGA Partners, Soho House Locations: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, New York, Vicente, Soho

☆ I'm a VC in the world's fastest-growing major economy. I look for 5 traits in first-time founders.
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-20 | by ( Shubhangi Goel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Read previewThis as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Rajiv Srivatsa, a partner at Antler India, a pre-seed venture capital firm based in Bengaluru. I'm a partner at Antler India, an early-stage venture capital fund. The classic Antler model includes running a cohort of individuals who are transitioning from being employees to startup founders. Ambition and scale: The venture capital industry does not work if you want small outcomes. We look for complements and see pair-ups between one person with a technical background and one person with business acumen.

Persons: —, Rajiv Srivatsa, I've, They're, it's, they've Organizations: Service, Business Locations: India, Bengaluru

☆ Airbnb's ongoing battle with hotels for travelers has taken a noticeable turn
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-13 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Go to newsletter preferencesSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. In today's big story, Airbnb said its struggles are tied to consumers spending less, but it's also because they're opting for hotels instead . The big storyPlenty of vacancyiStock; Rebecca Zisser/BIAirbnb took a noticeable step back in its ongoing battle with hotels. But Airbnb's struggles are also a product of travelers opting for hotels instead , writes Business Insider's Dan Latu. The death of the so-called millennial lifestyle subsidy — for which Airbnb was a key player — resulted in consumers rethinking things.

Persons: —, Airbnb, it's, let's, Rebecca Zisser, Execs, Airbnb's, Dan Latu, haven't, Jenny Chang, Rodriguez, Bloomberg it's, BI Bank of America isn't, Nicolás Ortega, Nate Silver, Chelsea Jia Feng, Alexander, Tal, Oren Alexander, Musk, Trump, Elon Musk's, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock Organizations: Service, Apple, Business, Bloomberg, Getty, BI Bank of America, Viking, Israel, BI, Apple Intelligence, Trump, X, Florida Gov, Google Locations: Iran, New York, London

☆ Why $48 billion Viking Global is focused on its talent pipeline
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-12 | by ( Bradley Saacks | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Read previewViking Global — the $48 billion Tiger Cub launched in 1999 — has had to replace talented people many times throughout its 25 years of existence. AdvertisementA person close to the manager told Business Insider that the manager decided to be "proactive instead of reactive" in hiring analysts for its investing teams. Viking traditionally had hired analysts after they'd spent two years in banking and another two in private equity. The person close to the firm said that underneath Walsh, portfolio manager Previn Mankodi has been promoted to deputy CIO, and Scott Zinober and Hani Sabbagh have each been bumped up to senior portfolio manager.

Persons: —, Brian Olson, David Ott, Andreas Halvorsen, Dan Sundheim, Ben Jacobs, Ning Jin, he's, they'd, Matt Sharp, Justin Walsh, Walsh, Previn Mankodi, Scott Zinober, Hani Sabbagh Organizations: Service, Tiger Cub, Business, Viking, Suvretta Locations: Suvretta Capital, Viking, China, India, France, Korea

☆ First came the accusations of rape. Now 3 owners of the Alexander brothers' beleaguered brokerage firm are jumping ship.
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-12 | by ( Daniel Geiger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

At the center were cofounders Tal and Oren Alexander, sibling dealmakers who were known for selling some of the country's most exclusive and expensive homes. But accusations of rape against the brothers in recent months have resulted in an existential crisis for the company. An attorney for Tal Alexander has sought to dismiss the case against him. In the immediate aftermath of the accusations, the brothers announced they would take a leave from Official. Official has used the brokerage services company Side to provide it with back office support and to hold its brokers' licenses.

Persons: —, cofounders Tal, Oren Alexander, dealmakers, Nicole Oge, Richard Jordan, Andrew Wachtfogel, Alexander, Tal, Oren, Oge, Richard, Andrew, Alon Alexander, Alon, Tal Alexander, James Cinque, Nicole, Tyrone McKillen Organizations: Service, Partners, Business, The New York Times, Gabbana Locations: Oge, The, The Raleigh, Miami Beach, Los Angeles

☆ The startup landscape for deals is drastically changing
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-12 | by ( Dan Defrancesco | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In today's big story, we're looking at how the startup landscape is drastically changing thanks to the entrance of private-equity firms and the rise of acquihires . Private equity is filling the gap left by a frozen IPO market and corporates unwilling or unable to cut deals, writes Business Insider's Melia Russell. Perhaps most importantly, a PE deal means equity holders get cash immediately, unlike an IPO that has some holding periods. Acquihires where the brains behind buzzy AI startups sell themselves (instead of the entire company) to bigger players are in vogue, writes BI's Ben Bergman and Sri Muppidi. Depreciation costs to massive GPU chip investments pose a huge risk for AI companies .

Persons: —, You've, Alyssa Powell, Insider's Melia Russell, shivers, Samantha Lee, BI's Ben Bergman, Sri, acquihires, they'll, VCs, it's, Taylor Swift, Tyler Le, Fisker, Zuck, Elon Musk's, Mark Zuckerberg, Jenny Chang, Rodriguez, Biden, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Dan DeFrancesco, Jordan Parker Erb, Hallam Bullock, Amanda Yen Organizations: Service, Business, SV Getty, Tech, guardrails, Character.AI, Getty, UBS, Mega, Revenue Locations: Europe, New York, London

☆ Here's why the creator of Gmail thinks Google fell behind in the AI arms race
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-11 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

But Google's AI rollouts have been anything but groundbreaking. Its new AI search feature, AI Overviews, promised to deliver neat, AI-generated summaries with Google search results. That's when its focus shifted to preserving its monopoly over search, Buchheit said. AdvertisementThat's not just Buchheit's analysis; it's something Page and Brin noted in their seminal 1998 paper introducing Google. With Google, however, their goal was to "provide high-quality search results over a rapidly growing World Wide Web."

Persons: —, Google's cofounders, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Paul Buchheit, Bard, Buchheit, Sundar Pichai, there's, That's, Brin Organizations: Service, Gmail, Business, Google

☆ 'These are not normal;' A new type of dealmaking for AI startups is rattling Silicon Valley
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-10 | by ( Ben Bergman | Sri Muppidi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Google unnerved Silicon Valley last week when it agreed to pay $2.5 billion to license Character.AI's technology, hire its two superstar cofounders and 20 percent of employees. The deal came after AI developers Adept and Inflection both effectively sold themselves to Amazon and Microsoft, respectively, in recent months. It was only last year Character.AI raised $150 million in venture funding, which valued the company at $850 million. Its appeal as a chatbot that uses AI to make virtual characters that interact with users seems decidedly niche. Related storiesMost of the founders and investors Business Insider spoke to for this story say Google has little interest in Character.AI's actual product.

Persons: cofounders, Brent Queener, Kyle Sanford, Character.AI, Iris Sun, Noam Shazeer, Daniel De Freitas, Jack Selby, Peter Thiel's, Steve Brotman, Shazeer, De Freitas, PitchBook's Sanford, they're, Roy Bahat, Arvind Jain, Cameron Lester, Lester Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Bonfire Ventures, Business, Apple, Big Tech, AZ, Biden Administration, Federal Trade Commission, Department of Justice, Alpha Partners, FTC, DOJ, New York Times, Google, Madrona Venture, Bloomberg Beta, Jefferies

☆ Work Culture at the Gates Foundation: Bill Gates Was Domineering, Inspired Fear
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-09 | by ( Anupreeta Das | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Every year, Bill Gates — and, until she left, Melinda French Gates — would hold multiple meetings with executives of the Gates Foundation to approve plans and budgets, and review strategies. For many, the meeting might be the only direct opportunity to interact with, and impress, Gates and French Gates. AdvertisementGates and French Gates followed the presentations closely, usually saving questions for the end. The former couple sought to maintain a professional relationship, giving themselves at least two years to see if they could work together, with the understanding that French Gates would leave if they couldn't. One former senior employee compared the style of discussion to the Socratic method, often used in law schools by professors who push students to reasoning through dialogue.

Persons: Bill Gates —, Melinda French Gates, Gates, Louis XIV, —, opprobrium, Gates —, Bill Gates, Simon, It's, Melinda weren't, hasn't, Warren Buffett —, outargue Gates, seethed, Anupreeta Das Organizations: Gates Foundation, Business, Employees, Avid Reader Press, Simon & Schuster, Inc, HBO, Microsoft Locations: French Gates, Versailles, Gates

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