Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:
Seed Funding In 2025 Broke Records Around Big Rounds And AI, With US Far In The Lead
The only real consistency about the asset class is it’s reliably volatile. Sectors in vogue one year are out a few quarters later. Angel syndicates must increasingly compete with venture big shots. And founders who secure the biggest rounds can’t assume more capital is en route.
I Reverse Engineered Claude’s Memory System, and Here’s What I Found! – Manthan
One notable difference from reverse-engineering ChatGPT: Claude was much more cooperative and transparent. It was easier to dig into the details because Claude was willing to share information about its internal structure, tools, and prompt format. This made the process significantly smoother compared to ChatGPT, which required more persistent prompting.
How Much Equity Can You Give to Employees Before It’s a Problem?
Stock-based comp is a “thing” everyone has an opinion on. The takes range from lazy (“add back the SBC and they’re not profitable!”) to tinfoil hat (“management is secretly enriching themselves!”) to genuinely confused about how dilution occurs.
Essential AI Integration Best Practices for Optimal Performance
If I can save 50% of my cost on this, I can do twice as much. That means twice as much value for my customers for the exact same price I would pay.
Six Big Bets · Jerry Liu
You don’t get to take unlimited big bets in a single lifetime. You get a small number of windows where risk tolerance, energy, capital, and conviction align.
What Is Nex Playground? This Year’s Hottest Toy Is Made by a Tech Startup You’ve Never Heard Of – WSJ
The toy that’s sold out in America’s biggest retailers and just topped Amazon’s charts on the busiest shopping day of the year was made by a tech startup that had absolutely no clue how to make a toy.
