Discord layoffs: Chat app lets 40 workers go as company focuses on 'long-term growth'

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Friday, August 04, 2023

Today's top story involves some discord at Discord, where 4% of the company's staff were laid off. Get the scoop. Meanwhile, the internet, and the devices that use it, don't secure themselves. Meet the person who does — Window Snyder. And remember a few days ago when India said it was going to impose restrictions on the import of certain electronics? Well, today that decision has been delayed. Find out why. Image Credits: Discord

More top reads Bye bye, Cortana: Microsoft kills Cortana in Windows as it focuses on next-gen AI. Breaking 1 billion: Apple is celebrating after its services business now has over 1 billion subscribers. Stepping down: Nikola's CEO Michael Lohscheller steps down and will be replaced by chairman. Meanwhile, the company finally gets enough shareholder support to issue more shares. E=mcSalesforce: The Salesforce Einstein Studio lets you bring your own model, starting with Amazon SageMaker. Coming soon to TikTok in Europe: A "For You" feed without the TikTok algorithm. Still going . . . down: AWS revenue growth dropped to 12% in Q2, but the company remains optimistic about its cloud business. Sort of off the hook: The SEC concluded its investigation into Better.com, but didn't recommend enforcement action at this time. That's not the end of the story. Mastodon in the spotlight: Stomp brings a fully functional Mastodon app to your Apple Watch. This one or that one: Spotify has a new product to help software development teams with A/B testing. The Japanese equivalent of OpenAI: SoftBank launches SB Intuitions, which is building LLMs and generative AI in Japanese. Like Crunchbase, but for web3: EdgeIn launches with what it hopes is a faster, community-driven database for builders in web3. Still picking up the pieces: Another health data management company confirms that the personal data of 1.7 million Oregon residents was accessed by MOVEit hackers. Concentrate and ask again: Six startup founders gaze into a future-of-work crystal ball. (TC+) We have a lot to learn indeed: The U.S. could learn a lot from how the U.K. is crafting DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policy for venture capital. (TC+) Four more for your Friday: AI chip startup Tenstorrent lands $100M investment from Hyundai and Samsung AI is going 4-dimensional Amazon Music teams up with Bandsintown to let fans shop merch from popular artists Unpacking the end of Luko's solo journey in insurtech (TC+) Image Credits: ymgerman / Getty Images

Pitch Deck Teardown: SquadTrip's $1.5M pre-seed deck For our 60th Pitch Deck Teardown, travel-planning startup SquadTrip shared the unredacted $1.5 million pre-seed deck that helped the company secure a $6 million valuation: Cover slide "Where it all started" slide Problem impact slide Problem details slide Solution slide Market size and target audience slide Go-to-market slide Traction slide Business and pricing model slide Competition slide Team slide Ask and use of funds slide Summary slide Appendix cover slide Appendix I: Hiring roadmap slide Appendix II: Product roadmap slide Appendix III: Sales and marketing roadmap slide Appendix IV: Revenue projections slide TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription. Read More Image Credits: SquadTrip

Get your TechCrunch fix IRL. Join us at Disrupt 2023 in San Francisco this September to immerse yourself in all things startup. From headline interviews to intimate roundtables to a jam-packed startup expo floor, there's something for everyone at Disrupt. Save up to $600 when you buy your pass now through August 11, and save 15% on top of that with promo code DC. Learn more. Read More

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Researchers hack Tesla's infotainment system to unlock paid features like FSD and heated seats

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall Thursday, August 03, 2023

Today's top story is a doozy. A group of researchers have found a way to hack, or what they call "jailbreak," the hardware in a Tesla to get free in-car feature upgrades. Find out how. Speaking of Tesla, the first "range inflation" lawsuit against the electric automaker was filed. Get the scoop. There was a lot going on in India today. First, the country is restricting imports of laptops, tablets and other personal computers. Then its IT ministry resurrected a data privacy bill following an abrupt pullback last year. And finally, Xiaomi said "bye bye bye" to India's Play Store and removed its Mi Music app. Find out more. Meanwhile, Lula, which aims to be the "Stripe for insurance," got a little bit of its own operations-related insurance by securing $35.5 million. Read more. And Warner Bros. Discovery said it lost 1.8 million subscribers amid its Max rebrand. My guess? Those of a certain age preferred the HBO brand. Read on to find out. Image Credits: veriflow.net under a license. (Image has been modified)

More top reads Does a future with AI scare you?: That's what Haje Jan Kamps is asking in his newest TechCrunch+ article that shows just how well artificial intelligence is changing video. (TC+) All the news that's fit to post: The Agence France-Presse news agency sued Elon Musk's X for refusing to enter into news reuse payment talks. Hacked off: Russia-backed hackers used Microsoft Teams to breach government agencies. Stepping on the brakes: XPeng's head of autonomous driving quits and is rumored to have joined Nvidia. Did they call you?: The U.S. Federal Communications Commission means business. The agency fined a robocaller a record $300 million after blocking billions of their scam calls. No one in the driver's seat: Waymo is bringing its robotaxi service to Austin. Give me some of that green: Emtech will advance its regtech and CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) stack solutions following a $4 million round led by Matrix Partners India. Testing the public markets: TikTok competitor Triller files to go public, and the S-1 is quite telling. Just kidding: Kenya may not ban Worldcoin after all . . . if everyone comes to a mutual agreement. Back in prehistoric times…: Datasaur lets you build a model automatically from a set of labels. Here's what’s going on with your favorite social apps: Let's start off with Pinterest, which beat its second-quarter earnings estimate and is celebrating its partnership progress with Amazon. And over on Instagram, a new feature protects users from unwanted images and videos in DMs. What a tangled web we CoreWeave: Get out the Scrooge McDuck–sized vault. CoreWeave, a company providing cloud infrastructure for AI training, secures a $2.3 billion loan. Developers still like crypto: Fewer venture capital checks are being written to crypto companies and there's those pesky regulatory issues, but developers haven't written off the space. (TC+) Much ado about Nothing: Nothing will launch earbuds and a smartwatch under its new budget line, CMF. IPO will we see one this year?: Yes, it’s just August, but we know how time flies, so now's the time to ponder if we will see any IPOs happening this year. Perhaps Triller? See above. (TC+) Image Credits: Lightricks

From the "pod" files In this week’s episode of Chain Reaction, Jacquelyn sits down with Jesse Pollak, lead for Base and head of protocols at Coinbase. Coinbase, which is the second largest crypto exchange by trading volume, launched Base, an Ethereum-focused layer-2 blockchain, in February. The platform was in testnet, which is a test phase of the blockchain network, until mid-July, when it launched its mainnet, the fully live version of a blockchain on the main network (hence the name: mainnet), to developers. Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

Operational and finance tips for early-stage startups in a tough market Laying off employees during a downturn will only get a startup so far. Unfortunately, many founders don’t even consider paring back on operational and financial expenses until it’s too late. When it comes to extending cash on hand, everything from canceling subscriptions to “a hard pivot” must be on the table, says Ben Boissevain, founder of Ascento Capital. “If a company has a limited runway, pursue multiple corporate finance options simultaneously. Do not pursue the next VC round, run out of money, and then try to pursue M&A,” he says, since “the process requires at least six months.” TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription. Read More Image Credits: VisualField / Getty Images

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