Welcome to Week in Review, our newsletter where we summarize many of the stories that came to TechCrunch in the last seven days.
The big thing this week, based on what people were reading most, were the details of a memo sent from Y Combinator to its portfolio founders.
As the markets continue to slide,YC is telling its portfolio founders that it’s time to batten down the hatches — cut costs, extend runway and get to a “default alive” state. “For those of you who have started your company within the last 5 years,” YC writes, “question what you believe to be the normal fundraising environment.”
Manish has the full 10-point email right here.
Besides more bad news about the markets, what else was going on?
Apple testing a foldable?: Is Apple tinkering with the idea of folding phones and/or tablets? Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple is testing E-Ink displays for the secondary display on an as-of-yet-unseen “future foldable”. As Brian points out, though, “there’s a big gulf between testing and releasing” — in other words, don’t be too surprised if this one never sees the light of day.
NHTSA probes Tesla crash: Earlier this month, a Tesla Model S “hit a curb and slammed into construction equipment”, killing three. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is now looking into the accident to determine if Tesla’s Autopilot system could’ve been involved.
The Justice Department says it will no longer prosecute hackers in good faith: After too long, the U. S. Department of Justice will no longer prosecute hackers in the future. The U. S. Department of Homeland Security is reassessing how it reviews hacking cases, stating for the first time categorically that “good religion security studies will not be uploaded” under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Haje on the new Cap of the Coca-Cola bottle: “When [Coca-Cola] sends out a touching press release, how amazing they are to throw a bottle cap where the cap remains in the bottle ‘for environmental reasons,'” Haje writes, “Sorry, my blood boils.
PayPal Ventures alumni launch a new fund: a few months after their split from PayPal Ventures, those 3 alumni had raised their own massive funds. Approach? Fintech and support for “startups that face the ‘biggest obstacles’ of the current monetary infrastructure: access, utility, flexibility and cost”.
We have a paid segment of our so-called TechCrunch. It costs a few euros a month and is full of very smart stuff!Starting this week, for example:
Solo or co-founder?: Are you starting a business. Do you do it alone or locate a co-founder?This is a question I’ve heard asked quite a bit every time I participated in a panel with venture capitalists or founders. In this article, DocSend co-founder (acquired through Dropbox in 2021) Russ Heddleston stores his thoughts.
Are startup layoffs accelerating? : It seems like we hear about new layoffs every day. How fast are start-up layoffs accelerating? Alex Wilhelm dives into the data.
Alleviate global lithium shortages: Lithium-ion batteries, as the call suggests, require lithium. But “today’s lithium mines hope to meet growing demand,” writes Tim De Chant. So where are we going to do things? Tim discusses some possible solutions.