AGI Is Closer Than You Think💡, Prompt Engineering Is Dead🧠, AI Will Eat Application Software⚠️

Another week, another pulse check on venture.

From top insights and reports to new funds, VC jobs, resources, and the hottest deals, here’s everything you need to stay ahead.

Let’s dive in 👇

---

PS. Massive win for this community 🎁

I managed to secure something genuinely useful for founders reading this.

If you’re pre-seed or seed, Framer is giving one full year of Framer Pro free (worth $360)!

It’s the same tool many YC-backed teams use to ship a production-ready site in hours, without a dev team, and keep as they scale with CMS, analytics, and AI localization.

If you’ve been postponing your site or living on a half-baked landing page, this is a very good moment to fix it:

---

In-Depth Insights 🔍

• Prompt Engineering Is Dead and Context Engineering Matters Now 🧠
  Andrej Karpathy argues modern LLMs behave like computers where prompts act as instructions and context functions like memory. The real skill is designing entire information environments around queries rather than crafting clever one-line prompts.

• Billionaires Are Leaving California and the Trend May Accelerate 💸🌴
  Sergey Brin is the latest billionaire to buy property in Miami as debate grows around a proposed California wealth tax. Prediction markets suggest the measure has a meaningful chance of reaching the ballot, which could accelerate relocations. [Polymarket]

• The Game on the Field Has Changed 📉
  Jack Dorsey cut Block’s workforce from 10,000 to 6,000 employees and the stock surged 24%, signaling that even healthy companies are choosing to operate leaner. AI-native startups like Cursor and Gamma are generating $2–4M in revenue per employee, forcing every management team to rethink headcount. [Tomasz Tunguz]

  

• AI Will Eat Application Software and That’s Good News 💡
  Software ETFs have fallen roughly 30%, fueling fears of a SaaS crash, but AI may actually expand the total market for software. Network effects, brand, proprietary data, and deep workflow knowledge remain powerful advantages while weaker incumbents get squeezed out. [Alex Immerman]

  

• There Is Exactly One Way That SaaS Can Be Saved 💀
  Intercom CEO Eoghan McCabe says the company reignited growth toward $400M ARR by betting aggressively on its AI agent Fin. His lesson for the industry is brutal but clear: destroy your own business model before a competitor does it for you. [Eoghan McCabe]

  

• Anthropic’s Report on AI and Jobs Will Make You Uncomfortable 😰
  New data shows the biggest AI impact so far is a hiring slowdown rather than mass layoffs. Entry-level roles have dropped 14% since ChatGPT launched, with recent graduates hit far harder than average workers. [Ejaaz]

  

• Dario Amodei Says AGI Is Closer Than You Think ⚠️
  Anthropic’s CEO believes human-level AI may arrive sooner than most institutions expect. The bigger risk may not be the technology itself but how slowly society adapts to its capabilities.

• Moats in the Age of AI Which Ones Survive 🏰
  Switching costs are weakening as AI agents can automate migrations, rewrite integrations, and retrain teams quickly. The strongest advantages left are proprietary data, deep trust networks, and operational expertise that competitors cannot replicate. [Tanay Jaipuria]

  

• Services Become the New Software Sell the Outcome Not the Tool 🏭
  A growing thesis says the next trillion-dollar AI companies will sell completed work rather than productivity software. Industries like accounting, healthcare billing, recruitment, and insurance brokerage could shift toward AI systems delivering outcomes directly. [Sequoia]

  

---

Tools 🧰

• Free year (save $360) on Framer so you can launch a production-ready site

• free Vanta’s ISO 42001 checklist and AI Security Assessment

• 20% Lovable discount for my audience

• Attio, the CRM used by both startups and VCs (including me). Try it for free here

• $1,000 off on your compliance, use it for ISO 27001 and SOC 2

---

📢 Want to get in front of +500k founders and investors?

For sponsorship opportunities across this newsletter and LinkedIn (290k followers), email: ruben@thevccorner.com

---

Interesting Reports 📊

• AI’s Job Impact Is Real but More Complicated Than Expected ⚠️
  Researchers introduced a new “observed exposure” metric comparing what AI can theoretically do with how workers actually use it at work, revealing a large gap between capability and real adoption. The strongest signal so far is not layoffs but a slowdown in hiring for younger workers in AI exposed roles, quietly closing entry level opportunities first. [Peter McCrory]

  

• GEO and AEO in 2026: How to Rank When AI Answers the Question 🔍
  Search is shifting as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini increasingly synthesize answers directly instead of sending users to websites. Generative Engine Optimization and Answer Engine Optimization focus on getting content cited by AI systems, creating a new race to become the sources models repeatedly trust and reference.

  

---

how to use Claude for Investing: the 4-Level System

---

Recently Launched Funds 💸

• Bregal Sagemount closed Fund V at $3.5B, focusing on growth investments across software, digital infrastructure, fintech, and tech-enabled services.

• O2 Investment Partners closed Fund V at $670M, investing in lower middle-market companies across business services, industrials, and niche manufacturing.

• Atempo Growth held the third closing of Fund II at €455M, continuing to back European growth-stage technology and tech-enabled businesses.

• Seven Hills Capital closed its $235M sophomore fund, targeting investments in healthcare services and tech-enabled healthcare companies.

• Firstpick launched a €25M Fund II to provide early “first-check” capital for emerging tech startups across the Baltic region.

---

The Only AI Tools Worth Paying For in 2026

---

VC Jobs 💼

• KKR (New York City, NY, USA): VC Associate (apply here)

• Route 66 Ventures (Remote): Chief of Staff (apply here)

• Novo Holdings (Boston, MA, USA): VC Internship (apply here)

• Samvid Ventures (New York City, NY, USA): VC Internship (apply here)

• 360 Capital (Paris, France): VC Analyst (apply here)

• Calm/Storm (Vienna, Austria): VC Internship (apply here)

• Azolla Ventures (Cambridge, MA, USA): VC Associate (apply here)

• Moore Foundation (San Francisco, CA, USA): VC Associate (apply here)

• Beyond Ventures (Remote): Senior VC Associate (apply here)

• KDT (Wichita, KS, USA): VC Director (apply here)

---

---

Hottest Deals 💥

• Sierra Space, closed $550M Series C funding round at an $8B valuation. (read more)

• Vast, raised $500M in new funding. (read more)

• Ayar Labs, raised $500M in Series E funding. (read more)

• Uala, raised $195M in equity financing. (read more)

• PLD Space, raised $180M in Series C funding. (read more)

• Cart.com, received $180M investment. (read more)

• Grow Therapy, raised $150M in Series D funding. (read more)

• Rift, raised €113.8M in financing. (read more)

• Cognito Therapeutics, raised $105M in Series C funding. (read more)

• Oxa, raised $103M in first close of Series D funding. (read more)

• Nominal, raised $80M in Series B extension funding at a $1B valuation. (read more)

• Sage, raised $65M in Series C funding. (read more)

• Gambit Security, raised $61M in Seed and Series A funding. (read more)

• ZYG, raised $58M in Seed funding. (read more)

• Prolium Bioscience, raised $50M in Series A funding. (read more)

---

OpenAI Wrote Their AGI Plan in 2018. I'm Sharing the Full 64 Slides.

---

RESOURCES 🛠️

access all for the next year with a 50% limited discount

• The Cash Runway Model Every Founder Needs

✅ FREE Startup Kit for founders (10k investor list + 59 templates)

✅ The 100 Most Important Pension Funds in the World

✅ 350+ verified platforms where you can post your startup

✅ 153 Startups Fundraising Right Now (And Their DECKS)

✅ RIP SEO: the GEO Playbook for 2025

✅ The Venture Capital Method: How Investors Really Value Startups

✅ IRR vs Return Multiple Explained + Template

✅ The Headcount Planning Module

✅ Synthesia’s deck (got them $180M)

✅ CLTV vs CAC Ratio Excel Model

✅ 100+ Pitch Decks That Raised Over $2B

✅ VCs Due Diligence Excel Template

✅ SaaS Financial Model

✅ 10k Investors List

✅ Cap Table at Series A & B

✅ The Startup MIS Template: A Excel Dashboard to Track Your Key Metrics

✅ The Go-To Pricing Guide for Early-Stage Founders + Toolkit

✅ DCF Valuation Method Template: A Practical Guide for Founders

✅ How Much Are Your Startup Stock Options Really Worth?

✅ How VCs Value Startups: The VC Method + Excel Template

✅ 2,500+ Angel Investors Backing AI & SaaS Startups

✅ Cap Table Mastery: How to Manage Startup Equity from Seed to Series C

✅ 300+ VCs That Accept Cold Pitches — No Warm Intro Needed

✅ 50 Game-Changing AI Agent Startup Ideas for 2025

✅ 144 Family Offices That Cut Pre-Seed Checks

✅ 89 Best Startup Essays by Top VCs and Founders (Paul Graham, Naval, Altman…)

✅ The Ultimate Startup Data Room Template (VC-Ready & Founder-Proven)

✅ The Startup Founder’s Guide to Financial Modeling (7 templates included)

✅ SAFE Note Dilution: How to Calculate & Protect Your Equity (+ Cap Table Template)

✅ 400+ Seed VCs Backing Startups in the US & Europe

✅ The Best 23 Accelerators Worldwide for Rapid Growth

✅ AI Co-Pilots Every Startup & VC Needs in Their Toolbox