Building better code bots
Quick Hits
Asia ascent: India leaps China in phones.
Browser boost: Edge adds Copilot.
Chat launch: Dorsey launches Bitchat.
Chip shift: China v. U.S. escalates.
Code surge: 20M use GitHub Copilot.
Data leap: Stargate lands in Norway.
Public figures: Figma eyes $19B IPO.
Health sharing: U.S. unveils records system.
Model moment: Zhipu goes open source.
Social ban: Australia targets YouTube too.
Smart bot: Manus unveils research mode.
Study buddy: OpenAI launches student mode.
Founder Trends
In our 'Why Work Here' interviews with successful startups like Forage Ansa , Mesa , Train Fitness , and liblab one word kept coming up: ownership.
One founder told us they do the dishes at the office to show that no one’s above any kind of work. Another described how people jump on bugs because “it’s their baby.”
Curious engineers want to shape the product beyond their code. Designers take an interest in how the team grows. People collaborate with other teams because they care about the whole thing, not just their piece of it.
The founders made one thing clear. If ownership doesn't come with real autonomy, it isn't ownership; it's just extra work.
For job seekers: Ask how teams work together across roles. It tells you a lot about the culture.
For founders: Ownership only works when people have both real autonomy and real accountability.
For recruiters: Hire people who notice problems and take them on, not just those who finish assigned tasks.
Browse all our founder interviews on startup culture and team building here.
Startups Hiring Now
Ceros
Our mission is to inspire and unlock creativity through liberating technology
ecoATM Gazelle
Industry leader in personal device re-commerce, ready to scale!
Safety Cybersecurity
Building the world's first AI-powered Software Supply Chain Firewall
Ava Labs
Build the Internet of Finance
Hiring Tip: Share a 'What to expect' document with candidates.
"There should be no surprises."
Ruthie Goodell from Buoy Software maps out her entire interview process upfront. Timeline, steps, who they'll meet, and when they'll hear back.
Why this works: This courtesy to candidates builds accountability in hiring teams. For recruiters, it's essential to get their jobs done. For candidates, it provides a great first experience of your company's culture.
When you promise 72-hour turnarounds in writing, your hiring managers can't ignore it. When startups hit turbulence mid-process, she pauses and explains instead of going dark.
"You know what, we're going to pause this for a second. We've got some internal things happening. We were really excited about you."
Watch the full 'Ask a Recruiter' session on 'Bridging the Gap Between Hiring Team Expectations & Market Reality, Panel Discussion' here.
Next Thursday, August 7th at 4:00 pm EST: 'Ask a Recruiter Level the Playing Field: Self-Advocacy for All Job Seekers' with Jenna Pilja. Free - sign up here.
What we're reading
AI takes over search
AI platforms generate 1B+ referrals a month to the world’s top 1k websites—a 3-fold increase from last year.
Robotic funding surges
Robotics startups raised $6B+ so far this year, already passing last year's total.
Trending in tech: VC podcasts
More and more investors host podcasts, presenting opportunities to media savvy founders.
Building better code bots
AI data analyst startup Julius, a Y Combinator grad, landed $10M for natural language coding agents. “You can talk to the AI like you would talk to an analyst on your team, and the AI, like a human, would go run the code and do the analysis for you,” a founder says.
Hiring or looking for your next role in tech check out Wellfound at www.wellfound.com