Follow along & see what’s new in Consumer, Creators & Community.

🔮Consumer: “The Vibe Code to Exit race”

• Pockets of opportunity: While the argument one whether there is a finite or infinite amount of opportunity is a philosophical one. But speed to market there is no question, the first usually wins. With the ability to vibe code a product / solution in a weekend the arms race is in which problems need solving now.

  • Insight to watch: If startups are able to reach profitability without scaling their engineering team, which more often than not is the main or first reason to bring on capital. It decreases needing venture dollars significantly, being self reliant and maintaining stronger equity positions.

  • Startup to watch: “Shlomo sold his 6-month-old, bootstrapped vibe-coding startup Base44 to Wix for $80 million, Wix announced Wednesday. And the deal was cash, Wix confirmed to TechCrunch. In its six months as a stand-alone company, Base44 reportedly grew to 250,000 users, hitting 10,000 users within its first three weeks.”

• Build or Buy: Legacy businesses are increasingly looking to build or buy startups to stay competitive in rapidly evolving markets and avoid disruption. Startups offer speed, innovation, and access to emerging technologies or consumer trends that larger corporations struggle to develop internally. It’s not just about growth, it’s about survival and relevance.

  • Insight to watch: “While funding slowed and the IPO market remained tepid, M&A activity increased. Startup acquisitions with disclosed prices totaled $24.7 billion in May, marking the second-highest monthly total since the start of 2024, Crunchbase data shows.”

  • Startup to watch: OpenAI went on an acquisition spree with deals to acquire Io for $6.5 billion and coding startup Windsurf for $3 billion.

Synthesis: “Solving Niche problems designed for calculated exits”

🤳🏼Creators: The next generation of startups, attention first.

• Cluely: “The team’s strength in distribution (the growth team is comprised of 7 people who have independently grown personal audiences of over 100,000 followers apiece) has driven impressive brand awareness and mindshare: within a few weeks of launch, Cluely generated meaningful consumer subscription revenue, boosted by viral campaigns and systematic user-generated content.” - A16z. It’s clear that both Cluely and Andreesen Horowitz understand that we’re now in an attention economy, so systematically creating content & planning for & around virality is not only an edge but becoming table stakes for startups.

  • Insight to watch: “Momentum as a moat” Cluely raised $15M in 10 weeks, proving that moving faster & louder is the key to relevancy.

• Series: The recently funded Yale startup Series in the ai social network space announced that they are doing a 2-week reality show set in the Hamptons with a $100,000 cash prize. They are selecting 12 interns with the largest social media presence to compete and inevitably create hype & virality & buzz.

  • Insight to watch: In just 4 days after announcing the reality show it’s gone viral on linkedin, tiktok and twitter. Making them the hottest startup not only to invest in but more competitive to intern/work at.

Synthesis: “Once you have attention, pivoting is easy”

🗓️ Community: IRL 7.1 - 7.6 & Tech Chicago Week

Insight to watch: My first official Tech Chicago Week event is now live, with more coming soon. All events will be posted here first & on socials later! Stay in the know.

🖼️Art Piece of the Week:

Let’s meet IRL?

Gratefully,

G.C