This week's startup news and trends were written by Senior Reporter and Equity co-hostNatasha Mascarenhas. You need to subscribe to get this.
Techies, it's prediction season. It is my favorite time of the year, not because I like to read threads or care about why the worst is still to come, but because it is nice to see.
Some of my favorite prediction pieces and threads have come from three different people.
Tech workers will return to in-person, five-day work weeks next year. Let me tell you why I think this is going to happen first.
The Great Resignation led to the shift in the power pendulum towards employees. The Great Resignation became the Great Reset due to changing macroeconomic conditions. Many have predicted that the wave of layoffs will get worse before it gets better, and recent rounds of cuts before the holidays proved that point.
In a lot of cases, the power is once again with the employer, which means that those who have wanted to bring people in the office since the first lock down may finally be able to do so. I don't think every founder and executive is colluding, but I think the domino effect is important. If your biggest competitor starts working from the office to boost productivity, you may feel tempted to as well; at the same time, if you are an early-stage startup that is lucky enough to be hiring, you can still get the upper edge on recruitment.
My perspective isn't just a hunch, it's what I'm hearing Some entrepreneurs say that they will bring back a mandatory in-person work culture in the new year because of the issues that are arising from remote work. There is a bit of reality and a bit of manifest. One founder told me over drinks and fancy snacks that they weren't worried about losing talent, because those who leave just because there's an in-person mandate weren't mission-driven to begin with
That's right, hm.
It is more complicated when you consider how in-person work impacts the immunocompromised and those with families and caretaking responsibilities. While I don't think the companies that were 100% distributed since day one will jump into buying offices, I think we'll see more companies than you think start with a hybrid approach
I am aware that all of you have thoughts on this, but you didn't shy away from telling me that on social media. There are some of my favorites there.
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— Haje
(@Haje) December 9, 2022
I wonder how all the distributed hiring done during the last couple of years will impact this –– will companies pay to relocate those folks back to where HQs are, or call it a financial win to have smaller office footprints? Only 30% of our team lives near an office, for example.
— Laurel Toney (@LaurelToney) December 9, 2022
I don't think so, not coming back!!
Instead of shifting to a "go to the office" paradigm, we should focus to a "accomplish objectives" paradigm, with work place and time flexibility.
— Miquel Plana (@mikeladion) December 9, 2022
They're pushing hard enough for it. Every LinkedIn "influence," VC, and "career coach" seems to be on the RTO train.
— Ryan Fitzgerald (@theonlyfitzhere) December 9, 2022
Stop talking about work chatter and talk about other work chatter. You can find me on Substack, where I post more of my work. In the rest of the newsletter, we will talk about open source and opinionated artificial intelligence.
The buzzy, attention-getting innovation of Artificial Intelligence is having another moment. Sarah Perez spotted the rise of artificial intelligence art apps all over the App Store, seemingly jumping off the success of Lensa Artificial Intelligence.
This is important because we are going to see a lot of flash-in-the-pan stars in the coming months. Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI, and he helped build the chatgtp. He made a good point when describing the technology, but I believe it can be scaled to all of the sector.
It's a mistake to rely on it for anything important right now, it's a preview of progress, and we have a lot of work to do on robustness and truthfulness.
Paul Sawers is one of the most thoughtful writers I know, and you will get what I am talking about if you read his latest article. He walks through some of the recurring themes in the current state of the company.
This is a key excerpt.
What if Twitter decided to go all-in on open source? Not just a recommendation algorithm or a protocol, but the whole shooting match — codebase, clients ‘n all? It would certainly be a Herculean undertaking, particularly with everything else going on at Twitter right now.
It would also be an almost unprecedented move to see a $44 billion private company open its entire codebase to the world’s masses. That’s not to say that it couldn’t ever happen though, as Musk has form in making radical moves. Eight years ago Musk ripped up the patent playbook when he pledged that Tesla wouldn’t sue any company that infringed any of its patents “in good faith.” At the time, Musk said it was all about expediting electric car adoption and the infrastructure required (e.g., charging stations), an ethos that is broadly aligned with that of open source.
The image is from TechCrunch.
Here are some of the gift guides that the staff put together.
The image is from TechCrunch.
It was seen on a website.
Is it aviruses that has been released into the wild?
Sam Bankman- Fried has been arrested.
Komodo Health has cut staff as the CFO leaves.
Microsoft is buying a company.
What are investors looking for in the years to come?
It was seen on a website.
It makes sense for Getaround.
Now, okay? More startup acquisitions are on the way.
There are lots of reasons to be excited about Canada.
When a VC inquires about your startup's valuation, how to respond.
What amount of money should you raise for your company?
We made it to the end of our chat about the plot twist of the year. The past year didn't go by fast. Every day on the tech news beat felt important and complex in a way that has shaped the way I see this world. It is still a work in progress, but I think it was the year in which I finally found the right source, trust and networks to realize that tech is not all rainbows and butterflies.
There were some career highlights for me this year, from interviewing Kevin Hart to getting in fights with millionaires. I gave a window into a community-based company letting down its community after writing about the difficulties of rebuilding a startup. After laughing at how full circle tech is, I found my predictions aging very quickly. Equity Wednesday is a show that tries to answer one big question at a time, instead of all the questions at once.
It has never been more popular than it is now, with tens of thousands of you reading it every week.
I've never been more interested in how power and capital work. Thanks to all of you, from the ones who read and amplify our stories, to the ones that help nudging us to rocks waiting to flip over, to the ones that tell us what angle we missed. I never have enough words of gratitude for my team at TechCrunch.
I'm going to be out of the office until the new year, and I'm going to drink cocoa, sneak some chili and eat my mom's chana dal. When we are back, let's talk resolutions, okay?
I would love if you followed me elsewhere. natasha thereporter is on Substack, Mastodon andInstagram.
You say bye first? It's not really a serious thing. Alright, bye.
It's N.
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