TLDR Founders 2026-01-12

Did you know that 82% of ransomware attacks target organizations with fewer than 1,000 employees? Or that new laws tend to eliminate safe harbors for small businesses? Or that insurers now demand enterprise-grade controls just to provide a quote?

No? Luckily, Kobalt's 2026 Cybersecurity Readiness Roadmap has you covered.

Inside, you'll find a versatile blueprint for building a phased maturity model specifically for SMBs – based on deep analysis of data from governmental frameworks, insurance mandates, and the latest threat intelligence. Armed with these actionable insights, you can protect your organization's ability to operate in 2026 and beyond.

Download the Readiness Roadmap.

Andreessen Horowitz just raised $15B across six funds, capturing 18% of all venture capital allocated in the US last year. The thesis behind it is straightforward. It believes America's technological leadership is existential, and that leadership depends on winning the key architectures of the future, specifically AI and crypto. The funds span American Dynamism, Apps, Bio + Health, Infrastructure, and Growth. The bet is that applying these technologies to biology, defense, education, and entertainment is what generates the next century of human flourishing.

Real education happens through experience. The process is slow, but unavoidable. The best AI companies design their products to accelerate learning. The ones that will win will teach the market how to build and then convince the market that their way is the right one.

Personio is a $3B+ HR platform with 400 salespeople. In May 2024, it ran an "AI Surge Week" and felt good about adoption metrics. Then its CRO noticed that high usage isn't transformation. Six months later, it had 400+ AI assistants, cut SDR research time from 2 hours to 15 minutes, and booked 140 meetings in a week through an AI agent.

If you misdiagnose a product-market fit problem as a sales problem, you'll hire a sales coach, and it won't help. The distinction comes down to force and fit. Force is demand that exists independently of your product. Is this customer actively trying to accomplish something, and are their existing options not good enough? Fit only matters after you've established force. The framework for diagnosing which problem you actually have is surprisingly simple once you see it.

Jinba empowers you to instantly deploy your custom workflows as robust, scalable API endpoints. Build workflows through chat, edit manifests, and connect with MCP tools.

SPC runs fellowship cohorts every Spring and Fall. Applications for Spring 2026 are open now. The cohort kicks off in late March in San Francisco.

Generate perfect replies on X in one click. Warbl is an AI-powered Chrome extension with personalized voice profiles, smart web search, and image analysis.

Almost 100% of founders undervalue themselves initially. You set your first price from desperation and then never touch it again because you're terrified everyone will leave. A lack of confidence is the default state.

The man who predicted the 2008 crash, an Anthropic co-founder, and a leading AI podcaster got in a Google Doc together to debate whether AI is real or a historic misallocation of capital. The discussion covers the infrastructure-to-application revenue gap, why enterprise AI adoption is actually falling, where value accrues in the supply chain, and what would change each of their minds.

Stop losing deals in messy spreadsheets. Salesforce's new free CRM gives you proper customer tracking at zero cost. Get sales, service, email marketing, and connect Slack conversations— all free. Try it now

Look at whether a feature is more valuable than the work you are currently doing before deciding whether to implement it.

This developer quit his job to build indie products 14 months ago - most projects failed financially, but he learned valuable lessons about building for broad audiences over niche tools.

The edge now comes from the specific path and manner in which a tool is used to achieve an outcome.

A willingness to take responsibility is in short supply.