It’s Memorial Day here in the United States, which means that the flow of tech news is slower than normal. This might leave you feeling bereft, adrift without the usual 3,239 individual items that happen daily in startup land. But have no fear, for TechCrunch+ is here with a quick rewind of our work from May.
Consider this a roll call of some of our favorite journalism from the last few weeks, packaged in a simple format for your quick perusal and ingestion. To the lists!
- News you wished you had read 10 years ago: Haje has been a busy bee this month, writing about how to write the perfect cold email, how to hire early employees, how to get warm intros to investors (he’s hot then he’s cold, etc.), and even more on the warm intro front. We also have notes from a founder on how they bootstrapped to $40 million ARR and key metrics from an investor for cybersecurity product managers (cybersecurity is a topic Alex has been working on as well). Oh, and if you want to get your board meeting done in an hour, read this.
- We will never, ever shut up about AI: And you cannot stop us! First up, why aren’t AI-related venture numbers looking, well, bigger? After all AI is showing up in every boardroom in the technology world at once. Heck, even the crypto world is getting in on the AI race, at least on the Solana blockchain. It’s so busy that we have Ron writing about lightbulb moments!
- We asked, you answered: We spend a good portion of our time coming up with key questions for VCs and founders, hoping to parse what they are seeing and thinking about in key product areas. Sometimes we ask founders and CTOs about their approach to cloud selection. In May, we also asked investors about AI ethics, the future of psychedelic startups, what’s going on with venture debt and what VCs in South Korea are looking for in the next generation of startups.
- FTX is kaput, but crypto carries on: Want to get to know some bitcoin-focused startups? We got you covered. Pudgy Penguins is taking its blockchain-related work to the real world, and Coinbase is bringing its subscription service to Europe. On the geographic point, Coinbase is also not giving up on the Canadian market despite a general need for clearer crypto regulation around the word. Oh and major companies have yet to give up on their blockchain work.
- The Anna angle: Anna is a dynamo, so make sure that you don’t miss her May work on the developer experience, the U.K.’s hopes of becoming the next unicorn playground and the intersection of DevOps and generative AI.
- The planet is on fire, but some startups are trying real hard to find a bucket: Covering climate-change-related news can be a bummer. Doubly so when you find out that a good number of corporate ESG pledges are maybe, kinda, you know, bullshit. In better news, there are enough climate-focused startup funding rounds that we’re running roundups to keep up with the flow. Sadly for folks hoping that the planet will gather as one to combat dramatic changes to our home, women are being squeezed out of the venture picture and representation along other axes is also depressing. Closing our climate recap, want to know what a software-defined battery is?
- Pitch Deck Teardowns: This month we looked at decks from Ageras, Fibery and worked with Trulytell to craft the perfect pitch deck.
- Alex’s latest obsessions: How rising interest rates are proving a boon for fintech startups, including neobanks; the dull IPO market and why this offering won’t prove panacea; the space for startups in an AI war that seems fought today among the majors — and how generative AI and search are on a collision course; why insurtech startups are bucking their industry narrative; seed-stage valuations and why they are both Great News and a Cause for Concern; pessimism in fintech, the impact of ChatGPT on edtech, self-driving cars and why tech should really reconsider the union question.
We wrote a bunch of other stuff, but that’s a quick rundown of some of our favorites. We’re busy at TechCrunch+, so make sure that you are part of the crew and let’s keep going!