As 2026 approaches, you’re likely mapping out goals and dreams for the year ahead. To help with your planning, we’re sharing our most-read pieces from 2025 — but first, a quick word from this week’s collaboration:

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Most Read Pieces 2025

Y Combinator S25: The Full Batch

Discover the 160+ YC S25 startups in full. One trend is clear...

Read about one of the latest batches in full here -->

The New Operating System

AI-native startups are running on a new operating system for scale. In 2020, reaching $30M ARR meant building a 250-person company. In 2025, AI-native businesses are hitting the same milestone with just 3 operators. This isn’t just about doing more with less — it’s about a fundamental shift in how companies scale.

This transformation isn’t just possible — it’s becoming necessary for survival. Read about The New Operating System in full here - - >

The New Titans of Media

The future of media isn’t arriving — it’s already here. Substack has partly led that shift. Thousands of writers now use it to publish, and readers are becoming more intentional about who they follow. We’re not just consuming content anymore — we’re supporting creators, becoming fans, and even becoming paid subscribers.

Meet 90+ creators shaping the future of tech media. Discover what they’re building, why it matters, and how you can connect with the innovators redefining how we consume information.

Read The New Titans of Media in full here - - >

Podcast: The AI Version of You Will Outperform You — Emad Mostaque

What happens when AI becomes cheaper than electricity? Emad Mostaque breaks down what the next 1,000 days will really look like.

In this episode, we explore:

The next 1,000 days of AI — Emad explains why we’re approaching a tipping point where agentic systems begin replacing large parts of the cognitive workforce.
The collapse in the cost of intelligence — how AI is rapidly becoming as cheap and abundant as electricity, and what that means for economies, companies, and individuals.
Cognitive colonialism — why Emad believes the biggest risk isn’t just superintelligence, but a world where a handful of corporations control the AI layer closest to our children.
A universal basic AI — his argument that UBI alone won’t be enough; society will also need open, sovereign AI systems that work for people, not platforms.
What careers look like by 2028 — from disappearing graduate jobs to one-person unicorns, we break down what’s coming for work, education, and opportunity.

Watch the episode in full here - - >

Podcast: He Built A $1.8B AI Company With No Experience | Max Junestrand

In this episode, we’re joined by Max Junestrand, Co-Founder and CEO of Legora.

The company only went through Y Combinator last year, has raised $260M to date, and is already one of the fastest-growing companies across legal AI.

Legora is betting that the next decade of law won’t be won by “better PDFs,” but by software that fundamentally changes how legal work gets done.

In this episode, we explore:

Choosing the “unsexy” category on purpose — why Max thinks legal AI is the most exciting vertical, and why more founders should be building here.
“Before AI was cool” — Legora’s early work started in 2020, when pre-LLM ML simply couldn’t deliver real value… and how GPT flipped the entire feasibility curve overnight.
Building inside a law firm, not outside it — embedding with top Nordic firm Mannheimer Swartling, going practice area by practice area, and solving real problems before scaling distribution.
How they move so fast — the internal rule: take what a normal company does in a year and compress it into a quarter — and why demand in legal AI makes that pace possible.
The evolution of legal AI UX — from “ChatGPT wrapper” era to tabular review at massive scale (tens of thousands of documents), to Word-native drafting and redlining, to precedent-driven contract generation with hundreds of edits.
Why it’s becoming “unethical” not to use AI — the idea that AI is the newest rung in the review ladder: junior → senior → partner → AI… because it’s another set of eyes you can’t afford to ignore.
The junior lawyer shake-up — how AI pushes people earlier in their career into reviewer-level work, shifting the value toward judgment, client communication, and problem-solving over pure document grinding.
Adoption friction is cultural, not technical — why younger lawyers adopt fastest, but change gets blocked if partners don’t encourage it — and what that does to incentives inside firms.
From services to productized workflows — why AI forces law firms to rethink leverage, scale, and monetization — and how “outcome-based pricing” becomes more natural as the billable hour looks increasingly mismatched.
Fundraising without the theater — Max’s take: the best way to raise is to build a great business, then let investors come to you — including rounds that closed in days, not months (and without a traditional pitch deck).
What the next 1,000 days looks like — why Max is most excited about agents with tool-calling + memory that can run longer workflows… and why reliability compounds (or collapses) across multi-step tasks.
The ethos behind the hustle — not “996” as a badge, but a mission-driven intensity — and the customer stories that make the grind feel worth it (like giving someone their Friday night back).

Watch the episode in full here - - >

2025 H1: Creator Economy M&A Report

The Creator Economy is a $192B global market growing at a 22.5% CAGR. Our comprehensive analysis reveals a nuanced M&A landscape characterized by strategic consolidation, technological innovation, and global expansion.

Read the M&A report in full here - - >

The Ultimate YC Pitch Deck

How to raise like a YC founder: the ultimate pitch deck and YC startup landing pages. Read the ultimate guide in full here - - >

The New Titans of Audio

In our previous edition on The New Titans of Media, we highlighted leading newsletter writers.

This time, we’re focusing on the other side of the movement: creators building for audio and video, the formats shaping the next era of media.

To help you navigate what’s ahead, we curated a list of 90+ standout podcast shows. Read the New Titans of Audio in full here - - >

Podcast: The Untold Story About The Female Steve Jobs

Tyler Shultz — grandson of former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz — shares his story of working with Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos.

Watch the episode in full here - - >

Podcast: The Harsh Truth About Building a Startup in the AI Era | Anish Acharya

Why consumer tech is back — and why a16z’s Anish Acharya believes AI will mint the next generation of 100M-user startups.

Watch the episode in full here - - >

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