Good morning.

YouTube's laying off staff voluntarily. Palantir's suing former engineers. And Sam Altman just recruited a Caltech scientist to build a brain-reading startup that works without surgery.

Meanwhile, Nvidia's writing billion-dollar checks and Tim Cook says Apple's hunting for AI acquisitions.

This week had everything—from social platforms hitting 40M users to corporate intrigue over trade secrets.

Your Sunday rundown:

Hey there,

Alberto here with your Sunday newsletter—Founderscrowd's Top 5.

Every Sunday, I break down the biggest stories from tech and the startup world. The moves that matter, the deals that signal where capital is flowing, and what it all means if you're paying attention to private markets.

Let's dive in.

YouTube CEO Neal Mohan announced a voluntary exit program for US employees this week.

Translation: they're trimming headcount without forced layoffs. It's the corporate equivalent of "we'd prefer you leave on your own terms."

This follows similar moves at other tech giants over the past two years. Meta, Amazon, and Google have all run some version of voluntary departures or buyouts.

Why it matters: When profitable tech companies offer voluntary exits, it signals they're optimizing for efficiency over growth. That mindset shift—from "hire fast" to "run lean"—tells you where we are in the cycle.

Sam Altman just recruited Caltech bioengineer Mikhail Shapiro to launch a new brain-computer interface startup.

The company, called Merge Labs, is building a "read-only" neural interface. No surgery. No implants. The goal is to decode brain activity from outside your skull.

Think less Neuralink (which requires surgery) and more advanced EEG that can actually understand what you're thinking.

Why it matters: Brain-computer interfaces are moving from sci-fi to real commercial applications. Altman doesn't make bets on distant futures—he backs things that can scale in 3-5 years. If he's recruiting top scientists for this, the technology is closer than most people think.

Venture capitalist Vinod Khosla floated an idea this week that got people talking: the US government should take a 10% stake in all public companies to "soften the blow" of AGI.

His argument? When artificial general intelligence arrives, it will create massive abundance but disrupt employment. Government stakes in companies would give citizens direct upside from that productivity boom.

Why it matters: Whether you agree or not, top-tier VCs are seriously thinking about how society restructures when AI can do

most jobs. That's not a 2050 problem anymore—they're discussing policy frameworks now.

Palantir filed a lawsuit against former engineers, alleging they stole trade secrets before leaving to launch a competing company.

The details are still emerging, but Palantir claims the engineers downloaded proprietary code and architectural documents on their way out.

Why it matters: Trade secret lawsuits signal that established companies see real competitive threats from former employees. When Palantir—a company known for secrecy—goes public with legal action, they're defending something valuable.

Bluesky reached 40 million users this week and introduced a new "dislikes" feature in beta.

The dislike button isn't public—it's a signal to train the algorithm on what content you want to see less of. The platform is betting on user feedback loops to improve feed quality.

Why it matters: Bluesky is growing fast in a space dominated by X (formerly Twitter) and Threads. Reaching 40M users puts it in the conversation as a viable alternative. If you're watching social media infrastructure plays, this is one to track.

Apple's hunting for AI deals. Tim Cook said in Apple's Q4 earnings call that the company is open to acquisitions on the AI front. They already partnered with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into Siri—expect more partnerships or outright acquisitions soon.

Nvidia's investing up to $1B in Poolside. Poolside is an AI coding assistant, and Nvidia's doubling down after participating in its $500M Series A last year. When Nvidia backs something twice, pay attention.

Grammarly rebranded to Superhuman. After acquiring the Superhuman email client in July, Grammarly is renaming itself and launching a new AI assistant. It's a big bet on becoming more than just grammar checking.

Canva launched its own design AI model. The company's not just integrating third-party AI anymore—they're building their own. They also made Affinity (the design tool they acquired) free for all users.

This week's stories share a common thread: the companies that win the next decade are making aggressive moves now.

Sam Altman's recruiting for brain-reading tech. Nvidia's writing $1B checks. Apple's shopping for AI acquisitions. Canva is building proprietary models.

The private market moves that create generational wealth happen before these stories hit the mainstream press. By the time you read about a $1B investment, the early investors have already made their returns.

That's why we built Founderscrowd Premium—to give you access to opportunities at the stage when they still have 10x upside, not after they've already scaled.