Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:
Intel will shut down its automotive business, lay off most of the department’s employees – oregonlive.com
“Intel plans to wind down the Intel architecture automotive business,” the company told employees Tuesday morning in a message viewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive. The company said it will fulfill existing commitments to customers but will lay off “most” employees working in Intel’s automotive group. [Editor: I remember writing about Intel’s open source mobile and automotive pursuits way back when. And it’s Intel’s work in automotive that motivated Jaguar Land Rover to establish a presence here.]
Future of Work: Leadership, Costs & Employee Experience
As more companies publicly define their stance on remote, in-person, or hybrid work models, leaders must critically assess the implications of their approach on company culture, employee retention, and overall growth. The key to success lies in intentional and strategic decision-making that aligns organizational goals with evolving workforce expectations.
0-$5M: How to Go From Random Wins to Repeatable Revenue
Those early wins can be dangerous — they create an illusion of a working sales motion when you’re still running on the fumes of founder hustle and lucky breaks. As both an early-stage investor here at First Round and a former go-to-market leader carrying my own quota back when Stripe was scaling fast, I’ve seen this movie too many times. Founders confuse their personal founder-led sales chops for a scalable sales process.
The Big Shift fireside chat with Dan Romero and Fred Wilson
The Big Shift fireside chat was recorded at FarCon nyc on May 2, 2025 with Farcaster co-founder Dan Romero interviewing Fred Wilson, legendary investor and co-founder of Union Square Ventures. FarCon is Farcaster’s annual event organized by the community for innovators, builders and network contributors.
iPhone customers upset by Apple Wallet ad pushing ‘F1’ movie | TechCrunch
Apple customers aren’t thrilled they’re getting an ad from the Apple Wallet app promoting the tech giant’s original film “F1 the Movie.” Across social media, iPhone owners are complaining that their Wallet app sent out a push notification offering a $10 discount at Fandango for anyone buying two or more tickets to the film.
A SoftBank-backed founder says startups and public companies need ‘fundamentally different people’
Johannes Reck, the founder and CEO of the SoftBank-backed travel startup GetYourGuide, says a different type of person will flourish in a startup versus a public company.
AI Slop: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)
John Oliver explains why you’ve been seeing more AI-generated content online, the harm it can do, and – sadly – why it is threatening his marriage. Do you hear us, cabbage Hulk? Stay the hell away from John’s cabbage wife.
New data highlights the race to build more empathetic language models | TechCrunch
Measuring AI progress has usually meant testing scientific knowledge or logical reasoning — but while the major benchmarks still focus on left-brain logic skills, there’s been a quiet push within AI companies to make models more emotionally intelligent. As foundation models compete on soft measures like user preference and “feeling the AGI,” having a good command of human emotions may be more important than hard analytic skills.
‘Massive productivity booster’: Seattle developers on how Cursor is changing the way they code – GeekWire
Pioneer Square Labs hosted the first-ever Cursor Seattle meetup on Tuesday, reflecting the rising popularity of fast-growing AI coding tools being adopted by programmers.
More Portland startup news
