Craft’s Ilya Levtov Never Learned To Code. He Built A Software Company Anyway.
THE SO WHAT
A non-technical founder building a supply chain intelligence company without writing code is a reminder that distribution, domain insight, and capital still beat raw technical skill. For operators, the bar is shifting from ‘can you build it’ to ‘can you sell it and integrate it into messy real-world workflows.’
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AQR leaning into appraisal arbitrage on Clearwater’s $8.4B buyout is another sign that merger pricing—especially for software and data assets—is under scrutiny. For operators, it’s a reminder that private valuations and deal terms will be stress-tested post-close, so assumptions on growth, margins, and synergies need to survive adversarial review.
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I worked 13-hour days building my startup while working at Apple. Here's why I ignored advice to go all in sooner.
The founder who stays at a FAANG job for eight months while building on the side is optimizing for runway and learning, not blitzscaling. Early-stage operators should be honest about whether they need more time in the market and more savings, instead of defaulting to the 'quit now' narrative.
Startups & VentureSources: Singapore-based Shein is set to price its Hong Kong IPO at ~$6.20, or near the midpoint of its marketed range, raising $1.73B and valuing it at ~$26.5B
Shein raising ~$1.73B at a ~$26.5B valuation in Hong Kong shows public markets still have appetite for scaled, operationally tight ecommerce—even with regulatory and ESG overhangs. Consumer founders should read this as a reminder that unit economics and supply-chain execution still clear the bar, hype or not.