MLevelsio posted on X that the EU is literally the US but "stuck in 2016 woke BS" — and his evidence is a story from a founder in Germany.
CAh yes, the precise economic measurement of "woke BS." But the story underneath is wild: a state-backed fund told a company they'd have to fire one of three founders to get funding.
MThe founder, Simon Dedic, says he was talking to a German state-backed fund of funds managing billions, with one mandate: invest in German funds.
CSo they invest in German funds, and those funds invest in German startups. The state picks the middlemen. That's not investment, that's a jobs program with extra steps.
MHold on, we don't actually know if that happened. Dedic posted it; Levelsio amplified it. Nobody's confirmed the fund or the demand.
CBut it fits a pattern. Germany has a one billion euro fund-of-funds for venture capital, and the money comes with German strings attached. It's designed to keep capital at home.
MThat doesn't mean they demand founders get fired. That's a leap from "we have a mandate" to "we purge founders."
CThe specific firing demand is unverified, fine. But you're dodging the real issue: European state capital is slow, bureaucratic, and chases policy goals instead of returns.
MOh, come on. US state and local funds do that too. They back hometown funds, they want jobs. Germany's not unique.
CDifference is scale and speed. A German startup raising from a state-backed fund has to clear political boxes. Founders in San Francisco close a round in weeks with a term sheet and a lawyer.
MAnd they also get diluted, sometimes fired, and sometimes Andreessen Horowitz tells them how to run things. Let's not pretend US capital has no strings.
C"Fired" is the founder's word. Private VCs replace founders all the time — but they do it for traction, not to qualify for a government form. That's the line.
MIf true, it's appalling. But one anecdote from one founder isn't "the EU is stuck." That's the point: Levelsio posted an unverified story and turned it into a civilizational verdict.
CYou can call it an overreach, but the underlying frustration is real. European founders swim through state money with mandates that don't match how startups work.
MGermany did launch a one billion euro fund-of-funds to drive innovation. The mandate is literally to invest in German funds. That's not hidden. It's public policy.
CAnd that's my problem. Public policy decides who gets the money, not customers or growth. The state shouldn't be a founder's boss.
MSo you want no public investment in startups? Because the US has the Small Business Innovation Research program, DARPA, NASA grants. You like those.
CI like DARPA because it funds crazy research and gets out of the way. A fund of funds that picks regional fund managers is not DARPA. It's industrial planning.
MOkay, fair: DARPA is mission-driven, not job-preservation-driven. But calling it "woke BS" doesn't explain anything. It's just a content hook.
CLevelsio's whole brand is posting provocative minimal takes. This one's more rage-bait than analysis. But he did get us talking about a real problem: Europe's capital stack punishes ambitious founders.
MThe story he used might be shaky. The problem — fragmented, bureaucratic state funding — is real. I'll give him that.
CFair enough. But between a German mandate and a US accelerator, I know which call I'd rather take as a founder.
MSpeaking of founders and pitches, here's one from the hardware side.
CShay Boloor posted on X about a startup called Subvocal that says it raised one point three million dollars from Y Combinator to make glasses that turn almost invisible mouth movements into text at over two hundred words per minute.
MTwo hundred words a minute is faster than most people speak. And "almost invisible mouth movements" — so you just... twitch and the glasses write it down?
CThe pitch is silent speech for AR. You think a word, your mouth moves a tiny bit, and text appears. That's bigger than a new keyboard.
MThe round and the two-hundred-word speed are unconfirmed. Right now it's a founder's pitch, not a product you can buy.
CEven as a pitch, it's interesting. If you can do two hundred words per minute silently, you kill voice assistants, dictation, maybe even keyboards in public.
MOr you get embarrassing messages when someone's mouth twitches during a boring meeting. There's a reason we have private texting; glasses can't read your mind, only your mouth.
CThat's exactly why they're "almost invisible" movements. If it works, it's private. If it fails, you're a person mouthing words at a screen in a coffee shop.
MI'd fund the opt-out button first. But sure, Y Combinator backing a hardware interface for silent speech is exactly the kind of moonshot the program should take.
CYeah, even if it's early. I'd rather see ten Subvocals than one more AI note-taking wrapper.
MLet's not pretend every startup has to be moonshot. But the claim needs a demo. Silent speech at two hundred words per minute is a benchmark, not a reality yet.
CUntil then, it's a pitch. And a good one — if the glasses don't look like a face computer from 2013.
MAnother X post, from the account Bipsiq, says a startup called Broccoli raised fifty-two million dollars across Series A and B rounds to build AI agents for home-services businesses.
CAI agents for plumbers? So instead of a person answering the phone, an agent books the job, asks the right questions, maybe orders parts. That's... actually useful.
MHome-services businesses are awful at answering calls. If an AI can quote a roof job from photos or schedule a plumber without a three-day delay, that's real revenue.
CThe downside: a bad agent makes a wrong quote, and then a homeowner yells at a real person who had nothing to do with it. Trust is the whole game.
MThat's why the money matters. The round is unconfirmed, but the reported backers are serious — Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, Operator Partners.
CIf true, it's a big bet. And it's the kind of unglamorous AI that might actually survive an economic slowdown.
MPeople will cut software for office productivity. They won't cut a booking system for their furnace when the heat is out.
CCareful, that's almost a use case. Next you'll say AI can fix my irrigation system.
MI said book it, not fix it. The plumber still shows up with a truck. The AI handles the conversation before the truck leaves the driveway.
CFine. I'd rather back Broccoli than another AI meeting bot. At least this one touches real invoices.
MAnd home-services is a huge, fragmented market. If the agents actually work, there's room for a few winners. If not, it's fifty-two million gone into a name that sounds like a children's TV character.
CI'll take "Broccoli the Booking Bot" over another enterprise dashboard any day.