2024-10-23
Wow. a harrowing story about chatbots and teen suicide by @kevinroose — https://www.nytimes.com/...
New York Times
A mother plans to sue Character.AI after her 14-year-old son became obsessed with a chatbot before his suicide; Character.AI says it plans new safety features
The mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy says he became obsessed with a chatbot on Character.AI before his death. — THE SHIFT
2024-09-17
Tech companies led the way in terms of going remote first / hybrid because it allowed them to hire faster + cheaper and also get PR points for being flexible, worker-friendly, etc. (Also save $$ on their expensive offices.) The remote work thing became almost a religious belief for some and anyone pushing RTO was wrong and dumb. …
CNBC
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy tells staff to return to the office five days per week from January 2, 2025, citing the importance of the policy to the company's culture
Amazon orders employees back to the office five days a week Michael Grothaus / Fast Company : Amazon CEO Andy Jassy orders employees back to the office 5 days a week in one of the ...
2024-01-13
I guess I was one of the few people who liked Artifact. The social features were not great, but it filled a Nuzzel-shaped hole in my media diet, surfacing stories I might have otherwise missed. Bummer https://medium.com/...
Artifact News
Kevin Systrom says news sharing app Artifact will shut down, after concluding that “the market opportunity isn't big enough to warrant continued investment”
To our Artifact Users and Partners: — We've made the decision to wind down operations of the Artifact app.
2023-12-23
Ending the year with another story on my favorite topic: startup fraud. This one is dive into the fraud at billion-dollar company named HeadSpin. The founder has pled guilty and new filings show just how easy it was for him to pull off a wild array of false claims. ⤵️
New York Times
Court docs: how false claims and risky trades by HeadSpin's CEO and a lack of oversight by investors like GV and Iconiq Capital led to the startup's unraveling
Erin Griffith / New York Times :
2023-12-21
When Bird went public in 2021, you better believe they took advantage of the SPAC loophole where you can twist your numbers beyond recognition to look realllly good. 114% revenue growth! * *JK revenue actually fell 37% last year, that growth was an estimate for the end of next year!
Bloomberg
Miami-based Bird files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing $100M to $500M in liabilities; the NYSE began delisting the e-scooter rental company in September 2023
Flashback to 2019, just after WeWork's disastrous attempt to go public - the entire start-up world began questioning “growth at all costs” and started chasing a novel idea - profits! Bird's CEO lamented the pain of being an “ex-growth guy” https://www.nytimes.com/...
Bloomberg
Miami-based Bird files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, listing $100M to $500M in liabilities; the NYSE began delisting the e-scooter rental company in September 2023
Bird, the most classic startup of the late '10s, is bankrupt. This saga has everything: -funding frenzy from top investors (sequoia) -nonsense business model -desperation for it to be the next big thing ("micromobility") -reviled by many (scooters in the lake) -absurd valuation ($2.5bn) …
Bloomberg