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Startup Instinct is raising funds at a $2.5 billion valuation for its AI assistant that manages email and other tasks, generating buzz across Silicon Valley. However, some early testers have flagged concerns about how the tool handles personal data and privacy.
Deep Cogito, a startup founded by former Google AI search employees, has raised $43 million in funding. The capital will support the company's mission of helping businesses develop their own specialized AI models rather than relying solely on third-party systems.
A go-to-market consultant who has worked with over 100 startups—including Temporal, Netlify, Pinecone, and Pydantic—argues that founders routinely fail to communicate in terms customers actually care about. The core prescription is deceptively simple: instead of pitching your product's features or vision, describe it using the language and priorities of the people you're trying to reach.
Don Yansen, an MIT-trained electrical engineer who retired to care for his wife, joined an MIT AgeLab study examining how older adults use technology in caregiving contexts. Hearing participants describe how frustrating and confusing modern devices could be, he decided to build a simpler alternative and founded a new company around it.
TechCrunch has narrowed down applicants for its November 4 Founder Summit in Boston to 11 finalists competing for four programming slots. The public can now vote on which sessions get added to the agenda, with submissions closing September 4. Topics include practical guidance for founders, such as building an events strategy without a dedicated team.
Harvard Business School has introduced HBS Foundry, an eight-week online entrepreneurship program priced at $699 that lets participants practice pitches and business conversations with AI video avatars of real faculty, including senior lecturer Jeff Bussgang. The course has already been piloted with more than 100 universities and guides users from refining a business idea through pitching investors and customers, combining course materials, AI tools and a peer community.
Billionaire investor Mark Cuban has publicly criticized California's Proposition 40, a proposed 5% wealth tax targeting billionaires. Cuban argues the measure would disproportionately harm startup founders whose net worth is tied up in illiquid company equity rather than cash, making it difficult for them to pay a tax based on paper wealth.
Startup Paddy Paper is producing toilet paper using rice straw, the leftover stalks from rice farming, instead of trees or bamboo. The approach aims to repurpose an agricultural byproduct that is often burned or discarded, turning it into a household paper product.
Presentation software company Gamma has acquired Lica, an Accel-backed startup that turned screenshots and recordings into branded marketing videos for e-commerce clients. Lica's co-founders, Priyaa Kalyanaraman and Purvanshi Mehta, will now lead a new design research division inside Gamma focused on visual communication and AI.
In a new essay, Paul Graham says Y Combinator's decades of experience selecting founders show that the best preparation for startup success is deep technical or creative skill, not a formal entrepreneurship curriculum. He argues universities should keep teaching subjects like computer science, engineering and molecular biology, since founders succeed by building products customers want, not by studying management or finance.
TechCrunch is selling Expo Hall exhibit tables for Disrupt 2026, taking place October 13-15 at San Francisco's Moscone West. Tables start at $12,500 and include a 6'x30" setup with furnishings, 10 event passes, lead-generation tools via the event app, press list access, and sponsor branding. The offer closes September 25 or once tables sell out, whichever happens first.
General Intuition, a New York startup building foundation models for AI agents that navigate space and time, is reportedly negotiating a new funding round at a $6 billion pre-money valuation. New backers reportedly include Valor Equity Partners, Point72 Ventures and Seven Seven Six, alongside existing investors Khosla Ventures and General Catalyst, just weeks after the company raised $320 million at a $2.3 billion valuation.