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<div style="display: none; max-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">Startups often mislead employees by inflating valuation revenue metrics like ARR, which can include non-recurring transactions β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β β </div>
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<a href="https://tracking.tldrnewsletter.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.justworks.com%2Flp%2Ficp-promo%3Futm_source=tldr%26utm_medium=email%26utm_campaign=fy26_evergreen_prospecting%26utm_id=L648B3%26utm_content=primary_2027_ICP_Promo/1/0100019b2c6c32d5-b942239a-87f5-4a43-b595-12d8d126fe05-000000/ooRpuKone9AQflY4TMiR72ebPXFTStdxMi7ITiOJEGU=436"><img src="https://images.tldr.tech/justworks.png" valign="middle" style="vertical-align: middle !important; height: 100%;" alt="Justworks"></a></td></tr></tbody></table>
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<h1><strong> TLDR Founders <span id="date">2025-12-17</span></strong></h1>
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<strong>Hiring internationally shouldn't mean drowning in admin (Sponsor)</strong>
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You didn't start your company to spend Sundays researching tax codes. <a href="https://tracking.tldrnewsletter.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.justworks.com%2Flp%2Ficp-promo%3Futm_source=tldr%26utm_medium=email%26utm_campaign=fy26_evergreen_prospecting%26utm_id=L648B3%26utm_content=primary_2027_ICP_Promo/3/0100019b2c6c32d5-b942239a-87f5-4a43-b595-12d8d126fe05-000000/mDGqwbpZm_W8SZZIOgnBLjcC3T5l9qp1ouLfgMvSwto=436" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><span>Justworks</span></a> makes it easy for startups to outsource complex (and simple) tasks to experienced international contractors.
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<p>Now, Justworks has an <a href="https://tracking.tldrnewsletter.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.justworks.com%2Flp%2Ficp-promo%3Futm_source=tldr%26utm_medium=email%26utm_campaign=fy26_evergreen_prospecting%26utm_id=L648B3%26utm_content=primary_2027_ICP_Promo/4/0100019b2c6c32d5-b942239a-87f5-4a43-b595-12d8d126fe05-000000/edCMieTXNaJs2Dh2WbyR9vxUIDyvoplTD2dl42g87xo=436" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><span>exclusive offer</span></a>: </p>
<p>1οΈβ£ Sign up for any Justworks plan</p>
<p>2οΈβ£ Add international contractors at no extra cost until 2027</p>
<p>3οΈβ£ Pay your employees and international contractors all in one place</p>
<p>Last year, Justworks <strong>processed $27 billion</strong> in payroll and supported <strong>60+ countries</strong> and currencies, with access to time tracking, health insurance, and full-time hiring abroad.</p>
<p>>> <a href="https://tracking.tldrnewsletter.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.justworks.com%2Flp%2Ficp-promo%3Futm_source=tldr%26utm_medium=email%26utm_campaign=fy26_evergreen_prospecting%26utm_id=L648B3%26utm_content=primary_2027_ICP_Promo/5/0100019b2c6c32d5-b942239a-87f5-4a43-b595-12d8d126fe05-000000/9qrhIf4yqjHZctw4r5qFcqTDzoKSs30oO8zqy_ofMss=436" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><span>Claim your offer</span></a>
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 36px;">π</span></div>
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<h1><strong>Headlines & Trends</strong></h1>
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<a href="https://tracking.tldrnewsletter.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwriting.nikunjk.com%2Fp%2Fliars-valuation%3Futm_source=tldrfounders/1/0100019b2c6c32d5-b942239a-87f5-4a43-b595-12d8d126fe05-000000/NvQWtxkNTJc5tSCHFgERklXaAgOOBEEVQ8d1KhAjWUc=436">
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<strong>Liar's Valuation (17 minute read)</strong>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;">
Startups often mislead employees by inflating valuation revenue metrics like ARR, which can include non-recurring transactions, obscuring true financial health. Equity offers based on these inflated valuations can mislead potential employees about their potential worth. Before joining startups, scrutinize revenue types, valuation structures, and request full financial transparency to make informed decisions.
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<a href="https://tracking.tldrnewsletter.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Ftomtunguz.com%2Ffounder-age-median-trend%2F%3Futm_source=tldrfounders/1/0100019b2c6c32d5-b942239a-87f5-4a43-b595-12d8d126fe05-000000/vrL8OZxLyGIjhJIIoOoI6GvMRnGVUvKlI0w-oqoleoY=436">
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<strong>The Average Founder Ages 6 Months Each Year (1 minute read)</strong>
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The average age of founders raising capital increases by six months every year due to AI and B2B industry trends. Older founders dominate AI as they often have PhDs and industry experience. B2B success relies on long-established networks and expertise.
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 36px;">π§ </span></div>
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<h1><strong>Strategies & Tactics</strong></h1>
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<strong>A little bit uncomfortable (7 minute read)</strong>
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Moving into a leadership role means your relationship with fear shifts. You now have to also help others take risks. Even asking simple questions can be a great starting point to encourage the people you are invested in to push themselves. It is important to learn to spot fear in others so you know when to step in to move things forward.
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<a href="https://tracking.tldrnewsletter.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.thisisgoingtobebig.com%2Fblog%2F2025%2F11%2F29%2Fwhats-next-after-you-lose-someones-money%3Futm_source=tldrfounders/1/0100019b2c6c32d5-b942239a-87f5-4a43-b595-12d8d126fe05-000000/fFh_eakvN6d_TE1Wp0dQGzcmtJOVsSuR8y5YYD8wVyQ=436">
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<strong>What's Next After You Lose Someone's Money (5 minute read)</strong>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;">
After losing an investor's money, founders should follow up with honest self-assessment and feedback requests to preserve relationships and improve future endeavors. Engaging in open communication with past investors can mitigate misunderstandings, demonstrate growth, and possibly spark interest in new ventures. This proactive approach ensures prior investors can accurately represent the founder to new potential backers, maintaining the founder's reputation.
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 36px;">βοΈ</span></div></div>
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<h1><strong>Tools & Resources</strong></h1>
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<strong>Pssst founders... 2026 means new requirements for businesses. Are you covered to head into the next year clean? (Sponsor)</strong>
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π pay transparency laws.<br>π AI hiring regulations.<br>Same founder workload.<p></p><p>This checklist walks through what needs to be handled <strong>before December 31</strong> and what changes are coming next year β so you can start 2026 compliant, organized, and without scrambling.</p><p><strong>β </strong><a href="https://tracking.tldrnewsletter.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.rippling.com%2Fresources%2Fstartups-eoy-compliance-checklist%3Futm_source=content-syndication%26utm_medium=email%26utm_program=experimental-conversion%26utm_term=dg-vcb%26utm_campaign=US_VCB_Compliance_Checklist%26utm_product=core_hr%26utm_content=TLDRComplianceChecklist/2/0100019b2c6c32d5-b942239a-87f5-4a43-b595-12d8d126fe05-000000/ymhUXG4I5H7ZqZ6084bLtDmsGK_N1TLOvD715oThYMw=436" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><span><strong>Check compliance now</strong></span></a><strong> </strong>β
<br><strong>β </strong><a href="https://tracking.tldrnewsletter.com/CL0/https:%2F%2Fwww.rippling.com%2Fresources%2Fstartups-eoy-compliance-checklist%3Futm_source=content-syndication%26utm_medium=email%26utm_program=experimental-conversion%26utm_term=dg-vcb%26utm_campaign=US_VCB_Compliance_Checklist%26utm_product=core_hr%26utm_content=TLDRComplianceChecklist/3/0100019b2c6c32d5-b942239a-87f5-4a43-b595-12d8d126fe05-000000/s_PoXAfj6mg7WD85x-IC80q7zQnQrBpCLemKytM2RXk=436" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank"><span><strong>Prepare for 2026</strong></span></a>
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Buy any product online with an API.
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Okara is a private AI chat tool that lets users switch between 30+ hosted open-source models with search, file analysis, and collaboration features.
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 36px;">π</span></div></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;"><strong><h1>Miscellaneous</h1></strong></div>
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<strong>How to Succeed as a Sequoia Investor (10 minute read)</strong>
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Ever wondered how Sequoia actually makes investment decisions? Pat Grady and Alfred Lin - recently named as the firm's new stewards - broke it down on Jack Altman's podcast. They go through their voting system, how they track coverage without fake achievement, why they coach investors to stop being afraid of looking stupid, and how to earn founder trust in year one.
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<strong>The Bifurcation in the AI Market (3 minute read)</strong>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;">
The AI market has split into two. Enterprises are paying for precision with proprietary models, while consumers are using cheaper open source models for play. Proprietary providers don't need to compete on price because they've won the segment that pays. This is why, despite open source models being significantly cheaper, proprietary providers haven't lost pricing power.
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 36px;">β‘</span></div></div>
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<h1><strong>Quick Links</strong></h1>
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<strong>What Becomes Valuable When AI Makes Creative Work Easy (4 minute read)</strong>
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AI simplifying creative work raises the value of unique personal experiences and insights.
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<strong>The fastest-growing software vendors of 2025 just dropped (1 minute read)</strong>
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The Brex Benchmark of the year breaks down the purchasing patterns of Brex's 35,000+ customers to show which vendors are becoming essential for teams to operate and grow.
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<strong>Perplexity and NotebookLM don't use better AIβthey use better intelligence flow architecture (10 minute read)</strong>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;">
Perplexity and NotebookLM use the same models as everyone else, they just architect the flow of work between human and AI better.
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<strong>Stop Looking For Sales Magicians (14 minute read)</strong>
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Successful sales hinge on scalable processes and good salespeople supported by strong inbound leads.
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