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Building a company brings plenty of milestones but turning it into an asset that others want to buy is another challenge entirely. That’s the focus of my first book – now available to newsletter readers for 77p for a limited time – and it sets the tone for this week’s edition. Whether it’s high-risk wagers, shifting investor appetites or the small habits that define culture, the question is the same: how is lasting value built and defended?

Enjoy!

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The $300bn AI gamble

OpenAI has signed a five-year, $300bn cloud deal with Oracle – the largest in history, worth five times OpenAI’s current revenue. The contract underpins the Stargate project to build 4.5GW of data-centre capacity, equivalent to two Hoover Dams of power. For Oracle, the upside is immediate: soaring stock, swelling future revenues and Larry Ellison leapfrogging to the top of the world’s rich list. For OpenAI, profitability is still distant, with losses projected until 2029. The scale of the commitment makes it less a routine supply contract than a high-risk wager on AI adoption, energy resilience and regulatory tolerance. If it pays off, it could reshape the world. If it fails, it may be remembered as the dot-com bubble of AI. Tech Crunch has the story.​

But what if AI is just another tool?

A new paper by Columbia University’s Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor argues that AI should be treated less as a magical breakthrough and more as a “normal technology” – one that gradually embeds into existing systems, much like electricity or databases. Rather than upending every industry overnight, AI is more likely to slot into workflows in narrow, practical ways: optimising logistics, augmenting customer service or speeding up analysis. The hype cycle, they suggest, blinds leaders to this reality. Seeing AI as ordinary rather than extraordinary makes it easier to assess risks, measure returns and avoid the trap of chasing grand promises instead of tangible results. Read the paper here.

When the clicks dry up

If AI is becoming just another utility, publishers are feeling the downside first. Google’s AI Overviews summarise articles so effectively that readers often stop at the top of the page, bypassing the sites that created the content. Reach has blamed the feature for sharp traffic declines (and has just announced a wave of redundancies), while DMG Media told regulators its click-through rates fell by up to 89 per cent. For an industry already hollowed out by social platforms, the prospect of search engines capturing the value of reporting without sharing revenue looks like an existential threat. Read the BBC piece here.

Early-stage funding hits record share of UK VC market

While publishers fret over dwindling clicks in Google’s AI summaries, there was welcome news for founders this week: early-stage funding in the UK saw a noticeable boom in the first half of 2025, according to PitchBook. Series A-B rounds accounted for 65.5 per cent of VC deal value – up sharply from 51.2 per cent last year – with strong deal flow coming out of pharma, biotech and AI-linked Big Data. It suggests that even as the macro landscape feels uncertain, investors are still placing bets on new companies with growth potential. Read the Startups.co.uk report here.

Why good strategy is more than stats or vibes

In a highly engaging Substack post, marketing expert Jon Crowley argues that most strategists fall into one of two camps: the data-driven who won’t move without a percentage point, and the culturally attuned who trust instinct and trends. Both, he says, miss the bigger picture. Strategy also splits between theory and action – defining the “what” and “why” versus the “how” and “when”. Real effectiveness comes from working across all four quadrants at once. That means blending numbers and nuance, ideas and execution, to avoid what he calls “high-minded trash” on one side and “vapid beauty” on the other. Read his essay here.

When comments become culture

A new report from OK COOL – arguably one of the UK’s more ‘vibey’ marketing agencies – reveals that the internet now functions less like a broadcast medium and more like a medieval town square – full of jesters, criers and rival factions. Its most telling point is that the real action is no longer in polished posts but in the comments below them, where brands are mocked, remixed or occasionally embraced. It’s a great (and very entertaining) snapshot of where cultural signals form and reputations are shaped in real time. Check out the report here.

The rise of creative maximalism

Two youth-focused trend reports in one week? Must be all those strategists who’ve prowled summer festivals for ‘insights’ when they should have been cutting loose. YouTube’s latest report shows that Gen Z’s chaotic, layered style of storytelling isn’t just a passing joke but a new cultural language. Teens spend more time with user-generated video than TV and film, expect to shape the stories they consume and increasingly judge brands by how fluently they speak this maximalist dialect. The takeaway is that influence no longer flows from broadcast down – it bubbles up from creators and communities who treat participation as the point. Find out more here.

AI prompt of the week: the founder resilience system

Every founder faces extended periods where nothing goes right, but most operate without any system for maintaining mental clarity when it matters most. This prompt creates sustainable practices that preserve decision-making quality and team confidence when the pressure is crushing.

Design a comprehensive 'Founder Resilience System' for my situation. Act as a performance coach and organisational psychologist.

My context: [company stage], [team size], [current challenges], [how long struggling], [typical stress responses], [support system available]

Create four components:

1. Proactive habits: Daily/weekly practices for mental clarity, physical health, emotional regulation

2. Crisis response: Decision frameworks, communication templates, immediate stress relief techniques

3. Team confidence: How to maintain leadership presence and morale during uncertainty

4. Early warning system: Personal burnout indicators and intervention triggers

For each, provide specific techniques, time requirements and success metrics. Include a 'Crisis Toolkit' with scripts and decision trees for when I'm too stressed to think clearly.

What your LinkedIn photo really says about you

Is your headshot a glossy studio portrait, a snap from a wedding or you on a boat (the worst choice, apparently)? An amusing new LinkedIn piece by George Sanders skewers the hidden messages behind LinkedIn profile photos, from the over-eager brand loyalist wrapped in corporate colours to the “silly goose” striking a quirky pose. I read it and winced, feeling (as the kids in those GenZ reports might say) ‘seen’. Check it out here.

Drop me a line

That’s it for this week’s round-up. I’ll be back next Sunday with more ideas on building, scaling and occasionally surviving the founder journey. In the meantime, if you have articles or insights worth sharing, I’d love to see them.

Cheers!
Adam

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