Good Morning! Goldman's CEO, David Solomon, wants you to know he hates the negative stories about how he's DJing and jet hopping too much - he says the attacks have turned him into a caricature. But, on the bright side, Solomon's predicting a Wall Street rebound if tech stocks perform. And even the biggest bear on Wall Street (at BNP) abandoned ship on his 11% S&P 500 drop prediction. Jobless claims are at their lowest level since February, and Tom Brady's tackling a new side gig as a strategic advisor for Delta Airlines.

If you are interested in getting in front of a smart, young audience of business leaders, bankers, investment professionals, policy influencers of over 500,000 people, then fill out this form, we’ll be in touch.

_{SQUEEZ OF THE DAY}

Startup Slide

Venture capitalists having a change of heart in 2023. Gone are the days when everyone was cutting fat checks. VCs got burned on larger bets, so they’re playing it safe. Many have decided to embrace startups in their infancy and make it rain with smaller-dollar bets.

Startups are not pleased with the newfound frugality. They're claiming they've hit a funding wall.

Series A funding is seen as a golden ticket to long-term growth in the VC space, and it’s a sign that a startup has evolved from a mere idea to a promising enterprise. Investors usually love Series A - they snag preferred shares at bargain prices.

it’s just gotten a lot harder for startups to get it. In 2018, half of startups that raised at least $1 million in seed funding made their way into Series A territory. Fast forward to 2021, and that figure plummeted to a mere 24%. And the class of 2022? A dismal 6%.

Takeaway: Is the correction in the VC market needed to give way to the next generation of great companies? Or will VC investors continue to make smaller, spread-out bets rather than concentrating on a few big ones? Time will tell, but it definitely hasn’t been feeling like 2021 in Silicon Valley recently.

_{CAPITAL PULSE}

Markets Rundown

Stocks closed lower as jobless claims data fuels rate jitters.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) WestRock ($WRK) +4% as the paper company nears a merger with Smurfit Kappa.

• (–) Seagate Technology ($STX) -11% after the hard disk company was downgraded by Barclays.

• (–) ChargePoint Holdings ($CHPT) -11% after the EV charging company missed on earnings.

Private Dealmaking

• Boston Metal, a sustainable steelmaking developer, raised $262 million 

• Apollo Therapeutics, a biotech startup, raised $226.5 million

• Nimbus Therapeutics, a drug discovery platform, raised $210 million

• Imbue, an AI research lab, raised $200 million 

• D-Matrix, a generative AI chip startup, raised $110 million

• Incentive, a biological software startup, raised $100 million

Get access to private deal flow here.

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_HEADLINES

Top Reads

• Private credit’s $10B win is bad for Wall Street (YF)

• Fourth FTX top executive to plead guilty ahead of SBF’s trial (CNN)

• AI darling’s stock plunge highlights increased Wall Street scrutiny over tech (YF)

• Brookfield mulls $2.5B sale of Atlantis in Bahamas (Reuters)

• Private equity sues to stop new transparency rules (Axios)

• Why China is turning into a liability for US companies (CNBC)

• The Middle East has become the world’s ATM (WSJ)

• Smurfit Kappa in talks with WestRock to create $20B paper giant (Reuters)

• The rise of the MBA novelist (WSJ)

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

A Thousand Brains

For all of neuroscience's advances, we've made little progress on its biggest question: How do simple cells in the brain create intelligence?

Jeff Hawkins and his team discovered that the brain uses maplike structures to build a model of the world—not just one model, but hundreds of thousands of models of everything we know.

This discovery allows Hawkins to answer important questions about how we perceive the world, why we have a sense of self, and the origin of high-level thought.

A Thousand Brains heralds a revolution in the understanding of intelligence. It is a big-think book, in every sense of the word.

“A bestselling author, neuroscientist, and computer engineer unveils a theory of intelligence that will revolutionize our understanding of the brain and the future of AI.”

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

Short Squeez Picks

• How building a framework can unleash your vision

• 5 proven steps for entrepreneurs to spark rapid growth

• 10 Cava menu items ranked worst to best

• 4 productive ways to use a work notebook

• The best new restaurants in NYC this fall

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Apple Stock Price

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_{DAILY ACUMEN}

Ultimate Goal

“Focusing on what matters requires continuous effort.

There is always something calling for your attention, pulling you away from what matters.

It might be a grammar mistake begging to be corrected, an expectation put on you by someone else, or even the gas station across town that's a few cents cheaper.

Individually, none of these things really distract you much, but as days turn to weeks, they become an anchor.

It's easy to overestimate the importance of winning the moment and underestimate how it can cost you the ultimate goal.

It's a daily battle to focus on your ultimate goal, not the quick wins that lead to nowhere you want to go.”

Source: Farnam Street

_{MEME-A-PALOOZA}

Memes of the Day