(Here's the full post if you want to dive right in, but keep reading for more highlights: https://
lennysnewsletter.com/p/which-compan
ies-produce-the-best
…) 2/ Next, I looked at which companies’ alumni PMs go on to become product leaders most often (e.g. CPO, Head of Product, first PM hire at a startup). Takeaways:
1.
INVESTMENT
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Which Companies Produce the Best Product Leaders
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Palantir PMs Start Companies at Highest Rate Among Tech Alumni
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3/ Then, I looked into which companies’ PM alumni go on to start the most companies, irrespective of how these companies do. @PalantirTech dominates. Over a third of their PMs have started a company. @Intercom comes in second, at over 18% (almost one in every five alumni
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Baidu releases ERNIE 4.5 and X1 models at aggressive prices
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Chinese giant Baidu released two aggressively priced multimodal AI models
— Rowan Cheung (@rowancheung) 18 mars 2025
— ERNIE 4.5 with enhanced EQ outperforms GPT-4.5 at just 1% of its price
—ERNIE X1 deep thinking model matches DeepSeek's R1 at half the price
China continues to cook!pic.twitter.com/FSrmEgiF8rChinese giant Baidu released two aggressively priced multimodal AI models — ERNIE 4.5 with enhanced EQ outperforms GPT-4.5 at just 1% of its price
—ERNIE X1 deep thinking model matches DeepSeek's R1 at half the price China continues to cook! -
Perplexity Partners SoftBank Japan Enterprise Pro Growth
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Perplexity signed an agreement with SoftBank to grow Perplexity Enterprise Pro in Japan
— Rowan Cheung (@rowancheung) 18 mars 2025
SoftBank will deploy its 7,000-member sales team to accelerate Perplexity's adoption within businesses.
They have also been using Perplexity internally!pic.twitter.com/IS4AeyXVowPerplexity signed an agreement with SoftBank to grow Perplexity Enterprise Pro in Japan SoftBank will deploy its 7,000-member sales team to accelerate Perplexity's adoption within businesses. They have also been using Perplexity internally!
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xAI Acquires Hotshot for Advanced Video Generation Capabilities
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xAI acquired Hotshot, a startup developing AI for generating videos in various styles
— Rowan Cheung (@rowancheung) 18 mars 2025
Terms of the deal remain undisclosed, although founder Aakash says they'll continue training on xAI's Colossus cluster
Expect strong video generation from Grok soon!pic.twitter.com/epEc60n46dxAI acquired Hotshot, a startup developing AI for generating videos in various styles Terms of the deal remain undisclosed, although founder Aakash says they'll continue training on xAI's Colossus cluster Expect strong video generation from Grok soon!
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BYD Zhengzhou factory outscales Tesla Giga Nevada tenfold
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BYD Zhengzhou factory is 10x larger than Giga Nevada 🤯
— Linus ✦ Ekenstam (@LinusEkenstam) 17 mars 2025
You think we can compete with this?
pic.twitter.com/EkO3dlRabuBYD Zhengzhou factory is 10x larger than Giga Nevada You think we can compete with this?
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AI Startups Stand Out: Integration and ROI Strategy
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The #AIAgendaLive event highlighted how AI startups can stand out. Snorkel CEO @ajratner emphasized streamlining integration & hands-on support to tackle enterprise impatience with ROI. Read more: https://
theinformation.com/articles/ai-ag
enda-live-recap-how-ai-startups-can-stand-out
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Meta ad CPMs surge 10% during temporary TikTok ban
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Columbia researchers analyzed Meta ad impressions from 30K advertisers to the temporary TikTok ban’s impact on ad spend/price/volume: • Meta ad CPMs +10% on Jan 19
• Large advertiser spend +66% and ad volume +20%
• Smaller brand spend +19% and ad volume +6%
• Total Meta ad -
Nvidia Reassures Investors on AI Chip Demand at GTC
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Wall Street’s Best Ideas: Can Nvidia reassure worries over AI demand? This week’s “GTC” show is another opportunity for Nvidia to reassure investors once again that demand will hold up for its chips given fascination over DeepSeek economics. What will Micron Technology say about
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Investment Strategy Effectiveness Across Pre-Seed and Seed Stages
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Let’s do it Yeah I think that test doesn’t work at pre-seed and only works half the time at seed. But there’s no one way to invest, it’s a strategy that can work well