Business

Stanley 1913 has a plan for post-viral fameRead More

Venture capital powerhouse Sequoia Capital is preparing to invest in Anthropic, the AI startup best known for its Claude family of large language models, in one of the largest private funding rounds in tech this year. The deal is being led by Singapore’s GIC and U.S. investor Coatue, each contributing roughly $1.5 billion, as part of a planned raise of $25 billion or more at a staggering $350 billion valuation. This move stands out for two reasons: the size and speed of the valuation surge and the fact that Sequoia, already an investor in rival AI builders such as OpenAI…

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When the European Commission announced on 15th of January a €307.3 million funding call for AI and related tech under Horizon Europe earlier this year, the press materials presented it as a strategic push toward trustworthy AI and European digital autonomy. The funding targets trustworthy AI, data services, robotics, quantum, photonics, and what Brussels calls “open strategic autonomy.” Viewed in isolation, the number itself isn’t eye-popping. By global standards, where the private sector alone pours hundreds of billions into AI, €307 million is barely a rounding error. Yet this sum matters less for its scale and more for what it…

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We are story-processing creatures, and the most effective stories are often embodied in people. Living examples of the lesson we’re trying to learn and the posture we hope to model.

Heroes, mentors, martyrs, examples, icons, avatars, archetypes, and even villains.

Sometimes those people are fictional, living in an anecdote and refined to form a legend.

The leverage of media, though, has made history more powerful than any made-up story ever could be.

When we rehearse and amplify the story, we can’t help but make the person less real. The story has a purpose, and its purpose is to remind us of who we could be and how we move forward.

This is what saints do for us. This is why we put pictures on the wall or invoke the memories of the people who came before us.

Reminded of our heroes, we know we can improve. We can work harder for justice, find more compassion and show up as a contribution. We can look at the ordinary moments when someone chose to keep going and realize that choice is available to us as well.

There are so many extraordinary people who have come before. It’s on us to choose our heroes wisely and to do the hard work to honor the contributions they made. Even when it’s difficult and unpopular. Especially then.

Today is a fine day to consider who’s on our wall.

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Financial services advertising usually looks similar: warm and fuzzy portrayals of life’s milestones—births, graduations, weddings, retirement parties—all made better because someone had the sense to invest.  But no matter how […]Read More

Legislation and digital policy European Commission opens call for evidence on Open Digital Ecosystems Signal: The EU is preparing a structural shift toward open, interoperable digital infrastructure. This marks a move from regulating dominant platforms to actively shaping alternatives and reducing strategic dependency. DMA and DSA enter an enforcement-heavy phase in 2026 Signal: Europe’s digital laws have moved from principle to execution. Compliance, fines, litigation, and operational constraints are now the central risk factors for large technology companies in the EU. Intellectual property and market structure EUIPO reports record trademark and design filings in 2025 Signal: European technology and business…

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Celebrity gossip, fortune-telling and superstitions are the original forms of fake news, but now it’s increasingly widespread. In every field from science to world affairs, it’s troubling to see. People who are familiar with reality can’t understand why it’s popular–in a low-trust world, why would people engage with made-up noise disguised as information?

The irony is that it’s easier to trust fake news. It’s consistent, simplified, coherent and predictable, all the things that humans look for when we’re seeking solace.

The challenge for all of us is that while it’s easier to trust in the short run, it ultimately disappoints.

The trust we earn with complex and consistent analyses of reality takes more effort, but it’s worth more in the long run.

What sort of trust are you selling? And what are we buying?

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OpenAI’s decision to introduce advertisements inside ChatGPT for free users and its new $8 “Go” tier is already shaping up to be one of the most consequential pivots in generative AI’s short history. It’s not a simple business tweak. It’s a reframing of where digital intent, attention, and commercial influence intersect in an age where conversations increasingly replace search bars. OpenAI has not yet started showing ads in ChatGPT, but it plans to begin testing ads in the coming weeks. The first tests will target adult users in the United States on the Free tier and the new $8 ChatGPT…

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Until you look at the system.

Kevin Wilson wrote a great short story about the workers who have to sort the tiles that go into a Scrabble box. The hero is responsible for searching through the pile for the letter ‘q’. All day. On commission.

At this absurd level, it’s clear that the game isn’t made this way. They’d never produce all 26 letters, mix them up and then sort them. It pays to be thoughtful about the production process, so you simply make what you need in the first place.

But now, particularly with digital output, we’re doing it backwards. Making lots of stuff and then sorting it later. There’s very little cost to making more, and it’s getting more and more time-consuming to find what we’re looking for.

We’re replacing the magic of Google’s ability to sort through the miscellaneous with a new system based on simply making more, on demand.

Trust and attention remain the building blocks of brands and culture. We ignore this at our peril. There are no good shortcuts.

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Italian startup BizzyNow has launched an equity crowdfunding round on Mamacrowd to finance the next phase of its networking app, built around quick, in-person meetups it calls “Bizzy Moments.” The campaign targets €150k–€400k at a €3m pre-money valuation, with a €500 minimum ticket. BizzyNow says proceeds will support go-to-market validation, product upgrades, and the operational groundwork needed to scale. The problem BizzyNow solves Professional networking has a timing problem. The most valuable introductions often happen in the gaps: 40 minutes before a flight, a pause between conference sessions, an unscheduled evening in a new city, or the lull after a…

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