Week 2 of the Sam Bankman-Fried trial wraps up

Good morning! I’m Karyne Levy, managing editor of TechCrunch+, and I’m very excited to be right here.

We’ve bought fairly a lineup for you as we speak, starting with some key moments from the Sam Bankman-Fried trial. Our reporter Jacquelyn Melinek has been on the courthouse day by day; you possibly can try our protection of the trial right here.

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This week, Caroline Ellison, ex-CEO of Alameda Analysis and SBF’s former girlfriend, took the stand. She defined how she cooked the books to make Alameda’s funds look loads cleaner than they really had been. “We had been in a nasty state of affairs,” is how she aptly put it.

Thanks for studying!

Karyne

@karynelevy

Ask Sophie: Can a bootstrapping solo founder get an O-1A?

I’m a solo founder who’s bootstrapping my startup to the purpose of traction earlier than I even take into account elevating funding. It sounds such as you want VC funding to get an O-1A — is that true? Is it even potential for me to think about getting an O-1A at this stage?

 — Daring Bootstrapper

Extra money gained’t repair your failing startup — right here’s the right way to get traders to again a pivot

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In case your startup isn’t seeing the type of traction or progress that you just anticipate, typically the easiest way ahead is to really take a detour and see if there’s another want you possibly can fulfill.

“If your organization isn’t seeing sturdy progress with clients keen to make use of the product and share it with others, it could be time to pivot the corporate in a brand new course,” says Sarah Leary, a enterprise accomplice at Uncommon Ventures.

Leary’s recommendation is materials, as a result of she’s pulled off a profitable pivot earlier than: She co-founded Fanbase, a website for followers of various sports activities to congregate and share data over a community. However when that concept didn’t scale, the crew rapidly pivoted and began Nextdoor.

Leary lays out 5 actionable ideas that may assist founders contemplating a pivot to do it appropriately, and get their traders on board with the brand new plan.

We requested 52 founders whether or not occasions are helpful or a waste of time

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Occasions could be a nice useful resource for founders: You get to community, study what’s happening in your trade, get a learn of the market, discover clients and a lot extra.

However are they actually price all the cash and energy, to not point out the time you might in any other case be spending truly constructing your startup?

To seek out out, Rebecca Szkutak requested founders how they really feel about founder-focused occasions, what they discover helpful about them and what they assume makes them a colossal waste of time.

Deal Dive: The way forward for social media is vertical

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Social media may be very completely different as we speak from what it was simply 5 years in the past. Leaving out what’s occurred to X, previously Twitter (nobody may have predicted that), disinformation is now as frequent as memes, dialogue is extra partisan than ever, and it’s laborious to keep away from suggestions (they’re truly adverts) in all places.

So it’s not stunning that persons are flocking to extra centered communities that cater to their pursuits or provides them a spot to really feel secure in an web that’s more and more hateful and divisive.

“Why would somebody from a marginalized group scroll by irrelevant content material, hate and bots to seek out their group when there’s already a devoted area elsewhere?” writes Rebecca Szkutak.

“For social media traders, it’s possible the longer term riches will likely be within the niches.”

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Zendesk emerges from final yr’s turbulence with sturdy outlook

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Zendesk didn’t look so sizzling on the finish of 2022: It rejected a $17 billion takeover bid, and its personal traders rejected a $4.1 billion provide to purchase SurveyMonkey — all in the identical month. However with a brand new CEO on the helm, the current (and the longer term) is wanting higher and higher.

Bedrock Power thinks the answer to decarbonizing skyscrapers is 1,500 toes underground

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Considered one of my favourite items of local weather tech is a warmth pump, which is no less than 3 times extra environment friendly than conventional heating. I don’t have one in my dwelling, however after a yr of massive climate occasions within the Bay Space, and astronomical heating payments, warmth pumps are wanting higher and higher. However what about larger buildings? Bedrock Power is betting that underground warmth pumps, referred to as geothermal warmth pumps, may assist decarbonize heating and cooling for big buildings across the nation.