startup

A digital breakdown of Silicon Valley goings-on; insights into the next big startups, tech entrepreneurs to watch and emerging trends in the startup space.

She Smiles on Cue, Can’t Walk, and Cost $57K — Why a Sex-Doll Maker’s Robot Is Now “Teaching” Native American Kids
The day they wheeled the robot named Sally into the classroom, nobody was quite ready to introduce her. She’s not ugly. Silicone skin, smooth. A brown wig that doesn’t quite fit—a small strip of wig net shows at the nape of her neck. She can blink. She can smile, though the timing of that smile is decided by an algorithm, not because someone told a bad joke, nor because a bird flew past the window. Her feet are bolted to a wheeled base. She can’t walk. She can only spin in place, like a mannequin mounted on a display stand. But the school district says she’s here to teach.
By Jin2 months ago in 01
Stop Asking “How Do I Make Money?” (The Real Answer Is Sitting Right Across From You)
The question itself is a signal worth observing. Who asks, “What kind of mindset do truly wealthy people have?” Saying “I want to learn” is being polite. More accurately: it’s someone curious about something they’ve never possessed. Because they’ve never actually felt money burning hot in their hands, never spent three consecutive sleepless nights staring at ledgers and calculating cash flow, they assume there must be some “switch,” and that once they find it, everything will change.
By Jin2 months ago in 01
Throw Away the Bestsellers: The One Rule That Actually Saves a Dying Startup
If your cash on hand can’t cover three more months, throw away that stack of startup bestsellers on your desk. Flywheel Effect. Second Curve. Organizational Capability Building. They’re all executioners in suits. They kill without drawing blood.
By Jin2 months ago in 01
What It's Actually Like Building an AI Startup in Australia Right Now
Ask any founder how their AI journey started and you'll rarely get a neat answer. For most of them, it wasn't a grand strategic pivot. It was a Tuesday afternoon, a mounting pile of admin, and someone finally saying, "there has to be a faster way to do this." That's the unglamorous truth behind most of the AI adoption happening across Australian startups today — less boardroom epiphany, more slow, practical necessity.
By Kate Brownell2 months ago in 01
Shin Jin-seo Beat the AI 2–1. So Why Are Researchers Calling It a Handicapped Exhibition?
A Victory Bounded by Parameters: Technical Analysis and Credibility Reflections on Shin Jin-seo’s Match Against KataGo In July 2026, Shin Jin-seo 9p defeated the open‑source Go AI KataGo by 2–1 in the “Strong Mathematics · Hankyung Shin‑KataGo” tournament. This was the first time in recent years that a top human player has beaten a leading AI in a public event. The match was played with a 20‑second per move time setting (byoyomi), carried a total prize of 250 million KRW (approximately 1.15 million RMB), and additionally awarded a Genesis G90 sedan to the winner.
By Jin2 months ago in 01
Yang Zhilin Went Back
The day Kimi K3 dropped, a post appeared on arXiv with a title of just four Chinese characters: “He went back.” No signature. But everyone knew who it meant.
By Jin2 months ago in 01
What Four CTOs Taught Me About Planning, Code, and the Business
I think I’m reasonably well placed to answer this one. Over the years, I’ve worked under four CTOs. Three of them made a real impact on me. The fourth, I didn’t learn much from — if anything, I nearly picked up some bad habits.
By Jin2 months ago in 01
The Night I Stopped Trusting Chatbots With My Research. AI-Generated.
Three years into freelance research work, I had a folder system that looked like a crime scene board: PDFs scattered across four cloud drives, browser tabs I was afraid to close, and a growing unease every time I pasted a client's private document into a public chatbot just to get a quick summary. I told myself it was fine. Everyone was doing it. Then a colleague asked me, quite casually, where our notes actually went after we hit enter. I realized I didn't have an honest answer, and that bothered me more than it should have.
By Evonne2 months ago in 01
This Guy Left DeepMind And Raised $55 Million Before He Had A Product
Andrew Dai's entire fundraising story sounds almost fake if you say it out loud. Leaves Google DeepMind. Starts a company. Raises $55 million at a $300 million valuation. Months later. No product yet.
By Mark Lim 2 months ago in 01
The $9.90 Startup
The eviction notice was the color of a Band-Aid. Jack had stared at it for three mornings in a row, drinking cold water from a Mason jar because he’d sold the coffee maker. His bank account sat at four hundred and thirty-seven dollars. The rent was twelve hundred. He didn’t have a business plan. He had a folding table from IKEA and a phone that buzzed occasionally with spam calls.
By Jin2 months ago in 01
Claude AI's Anthropic Just Got Beat by a Startup Nobody Had Heard of Last Year. AI-Generated.
China's Moonshot AI just proved the "12-month lag" theory might be dead on arrival There's a very specific kind of tech-world anxiety happening right now, and it's not about robots taking over.
By Eina Liban2 months ago in 01
I Let AI Write 10,000 Lines of Code a Day — Here’s What Broke Me
Evan Harris pushed his third cold brew off to the side of the monitor just as the Slack notification from a marketing account slid into view: “Two‑person garage team uses AI to crush a 200‑person outsourced team in three days.” He swiped open his phone, screenshotted it, and sent it to Maria with the caption: We could do that too.
By Jin2 months ago in 01