Good Morning! Twitter rival, Threads got off to a great start yesterday, with 10 million users signing up for the app in its first seven hours. The market has been a little sleepy after the Fourth of July. But the Fed stirred the pot yesterday, hinting at more rate hikes down the road, but at a slower pace.

Netflix’s password-sharing crackdown is starting to impress even bearish Wall Street analysts and boost confidence in the company. And it’s not just tech - a wide range of stocks, including Walmart and GM, are hitting 52-week highs. This week has already set two records for the Earth’s hottest day since records began. And two authors sued OpenAI, alleging that ChatGPT was trained on their books without consent.

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}

Farewell, Funding

As you enjoy some time this holiday week, you might be reminiscing of a simpler time when startups raised billions of dollars for the craziest ideas, from robotic pizza-makers to dating apps for cats. 2021 might have been the year where you could secure funding for any crazy idea - venture-backed startups raised $384 billion in capital just two years ago.

But if the first half of the year is any indication, 2023 is shaping up to be the year startups throw in the towel. Take Zume, the robotic pizza maker once valued at $2.25 billion that announced it’s winding down operations last month. And some big-time startups like Plastiq and Goldfinch Bio, both once valued at over $500 million, have suffered the same fate.

How did startups fall from grace so quickly? With higher interest rates, it’s gotten difficult and expensive to secure fresh capital from investors. And with the IPO market drying up, it’s harder to go public.

Some business models that investors used to salivate over are just no longer sustainable.

Takeaway: Investors used to joke that the market would eventually self-regulate - founders would no longer be able to secure hundreds of millions of dollars for crappy ideas. And looks like we finally got there. The latest quarterly data shows the yearly internal rate of return for venture firms hit a low of -7%, the lowest rate since 2009.

_{CAPITAL PULSE}

Markets Rundown

Stocks posted a modest loss after Fed minutes.

Movers & Shakers

• (+) C3.ai ($AI) +7% as investors are bullish on AI.

• (+) Meta ($META) +3% over the news of the Threads platform.

• (–) Las Vegas Sands ($LVS) -6% after a tough day for casino stocks.

Private Dealmaking

• Brookfield Reinsurance bought American Equity Investment Life for $4.3 billion 

• Blackstone sold Ulterra Drilling Technologies, an oilfield equipment seller, to Patterson-UTI Energy for $800 million 

• CADDi, a procurement solutions provider, raised $89 million

• Neko Health, a preventative care startup co-founded by Spotify CEO, raised $65 million 

• Clerk, an identity simplification tools platform, raised $30 million

• Dougs, a French accounting startup, raised $27 million

_{SPONSORED BY BUENA FE}

Investing in Tequila Isn’t Just For Celebrities

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last two years, it certainly seems as if every celebrity has their own tequila company. Tequila has been on an unstoppable rise in popularity, and the excitement just keeps on flowing.

But that's not all. The other cool kid on the block is spirit-based ready-to-drink (RTD) products. Remember the splash White Claw and Truly made? Well, now folks are getting savvy and swapping these beer-cousins for higher quality spirit-based drinks.

So, here's where Buena Fé comes in, riding this wave with its organic, tequila-based RTDs. But get this - they're not playing around with any second-rate mixto tequila. No sir, Buena Fé's all about the real deal - 100% agave tequila.

These guys hit the scene in 2022 and have already made a splash in 12 states, scoring deals with major chains like Albertsons and Total Wine. Their impressive leadership team includes the former President of Mike's Hard Lemonade.

Buena Fé is inviting you to join the party and be a part of their growth and expansion. They're raising capital through crowdfunding, so you can become a proud owner of a tequila company*, and receive some excellent perks (including their I’m not a celebrity but I do own a Tequila company tee).

Unleash your inner celebrity and own a tequila company today.

_HEADLINES

Top Reads

• America’s retirees are investing like 30-year-olds (WSJ)

• Blackstone announces major asset liquidations as REIT redemptions continue (YF)

• The private equity machine will be tough to unjam (BB)

• Ghost of Silicon Valley Bank turns up in Italy (Reuters)

• Why airline stocks are up even as disruptions mount (CNBC)

• Airbnb’s Chesky’s plan to avoid becoming Ivory Tower CEO (Fortune)

• Private equity’s fundraising woes aren’t over yet (II)

• Bank of England warns lenders over private equity exposures (Reuters)

• $19 billion in trade stranded in Canadian waters (CNBC)

• Avoid private equity stocks as rates rise, JPMorgan analysts say (BB)

_{BOOK OF THE DAY}

The Power Code

New York Times bestselling authors Katty Kay and Claire Shipman are on a mission to reclaim power for women.

In the wake of sweeping changes in the way we work, the veteran journalists challenge pre­conceived notions of what power is and what it’s good for, along with the insidious, mostly hidden structures of the status quo that hold women back.

What started as a straightforward examination of best practices has become a manifesto for a new form of power, a distinctly female version that is already emerging in workplaces, in politics, and on the home front.

It’s a version that is more appealing to women (and most men as well). It offers women a blueprint for shaping their own professional futures, maximizing their impact for the benefit of others, and experiencing the real joy that comes from taking the reins and influencing outcomes.

“Power is not working—for women, for men, or for the world. We don’t need to remake women. We need to remake power.”

_{ENLIGHTENMENT}

Short Squeez Picks

• Short Squeez Insiders: Top 4 AI stocks

• A guide to meditation for people who don’t think they can meditate

• Why lifelong learning is the key to entrepreneurial success

• How Bezos started building Amazon 29 years ago

• The difference between a good and bad follower at work

• A CEO coach’s tips for making better decisions

_{DAILY VISUAL}

Tesla Record Deliveries

_{DAILY ACUMEN}

The Elephant and the Blind Men

Several blind men heard about an elephant and wanted to experience it. They approached the elephant and began touching different parts of its body. One touched the elephant's trunk and believed it to be a snake.

Another touched its leg and thought it was a tree trunk. Each blind man had a different perception based on their limited experience.

They argued vehemently about what an elephant truly was, unaware that they were only touching different parts of the same animal.

Lesson: This story teaches us about perspective and the limitations of individual knowledge. It reminds us that we should be open to different viewpoints and consider the whole picture before forming judgments.

It encourages us to seek understanding and embrace the diversity of perspectives in order to gain a more complete understanding of the world.

_{MEME-A-PALOOZA}

Memes of the Day