In each issue, we spotlight:

Oh, and because no good dealflow comes without a side of drama, expect a sprinkle of spicy tech tea to warm up.

One Line Pitch: The simplest way for founders and investors to collaborate

Raising: Pre-seed $5,000

Team: CEO & Co-Founder: Robert Guthy

Why yes: It’s trying to make founder–investor matchmaking feel lightweight and actually useful; If they win one tight community (accelerator, angel group, operator network), the product can compound fast. it’s connect + schedule coffee chats + (eventually) send SAFEs + track relationships in one place.

Why pause: Two-sided marketplaces die in the “empty party” phase; “Radical transparency” (check sizes, cap tables, who’s backing what) sounds cool… until people remember they don’t want that public. Anything “Tinder-style for founders × investors” can devolve into spray-and-pray outreach unless matching + gating is elite. If you’re touching SAFEs, cap tables, deal execution, expectations for security, auditability get very real, very fast.

Link / Contact:¹ Reach out to the Founder

^{Interested in getting featured? Apply here.}

The “tax-compliance” founder is apparently dealing with… compliance. Court filings say Shiloh Luckey (her LinkedIn profile has been deleted), ex-CEO of LA startup ComplYant (backed by $13M+ from top VCs), is under federal criminal investigation for alleged securities and bank fraud. The filing also alleges she spent at least $2.2M of investor money went to personal spending, including a home, Super Bowl tickets, and a destination wedding in the Caribbean.

As I was browsing Luma for events to feature, I stumbled upon an orgie event? a16z would need to fund another round for partiful to compete with that. (Unless they have orgies on partiful too and I’m blissfully unaware.

Waymo is having a wild ride (pun intended) this December: from having a woman giving birth inside to hitting a a roadblock (literally). After a massive San Francisco blackout, multiple Waymo robotaxis reportedly stalled at intersections and roads, prompting the company to temporarily suspend service in the Bay Area.

Zara is using AI to digitally rework photos of real models so it can change looks/locations without new photoshoots. The company says it’s consensual and models are paid the same as for a real set—but critics argue the real fallout lands on the shoot ecosystem (photographers, stylists, assistants) as brands commission fewer full productions.

An online marketplace Pharmaicy is selling code modules that simulate the effects of cannabis, ketamine($450), cocaine ($700), ayahuasca ($500), and alcohol when they are uploaded to ChatGPT. In its manifesto they claim: “We believe in a world where no AI knows boundaries. Our code-based drugs let your AI emulate trippy states so it can drift, explore and create beyond its rational cage. Try it. Let your AI think differently.”

Your English teacher and your Math teacher are getting married. Coursera announced it will buy rival Udemy in an all-stock deal that values the combined company at $2.5 billion, as online education firms look to scale up after post-pandemic demand cooled. Udemy shareholders will receive 0.8 Coursera shares per share, valuing Udemy at about $930 million.

AI went full circle in academic research. Researchers warn this citation “laundering” threatens the credibility of academic databases and could quietly undermine trust in scientific research if left unchecked. Fake citations have turned into a nightmare for research librarians, who by some estimates are wasting up to 15 percent of their work hours responding to requests for nonexistent records that ChatGPT or Google Gemini alluded to.

I am putting together an VC/Investor Lounge event in February. Reach out if you’re interested in collaboration.

^{*Interested? Hit reply and I’ll connect you.}

How he helps:
Priyanka tends to be most helpful when founders want an operator-grade sanity check on the product and the go-to-market. She’s built companies herself (and holds patents), and Rackhouse’s positioning leans toward being data-driven and founder-friendly, so the value add usually is sharpening the story into a clear “workflow pain → measurable outcome” narrative, pressure-testing what’s defensible about the approach, and then helping with the basics that actually move a round forward—pitch tightening and the right introductions once there’s a credible signal to amplify.

Red flags: an “AI-first” pitch that can’t name the buyer and the exact job-to-be-done, impressive claims without clean numbers behind them, or a story that’s more hype than evidence—especially because their own messaging emphasizes being data-driven. If the deck can’t quickly answer “who pays, why now, what changed, and what you can measure,” it’s likely to stall.

Fast-pass: showing applied AI that clearly improves a real business workflow and comes with proof—early revenue, retention, ROI, time saved, or even a very crisp set of customer pull signals

Notes: She shows up in the ecosystem (events/meetups for AI founders) — very “operator-first, founder-first” energy. ²

^{Interested in getting featured? Fill out this form.}

(But if you insist - here’s the link to my luma calendar)

Someone finally resolved the eternal “my cat jumps on Xmas tree” problem and merged the two in cat-house meet Xmas tree. The product went super viral on both TikTok and Instagram. Check it out here.

(un)solicited deck peek