Founder Weekly (Issue 696 August 13 2025)

Welcome to issue 696 of Founder Weekly. Let's get straight to the links this week.

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General

Inside ChatGPT: The fastest growing product in history

Nick Turley, Head of ChatGPT, helped launch it in 10 days, grow to 700 million weekly active users, and generate billions in revenue. In this conversation recorded before GPT-5’s launch, he shares product decisions, growth tactics, and surprising choices that shaped ChatGPT’s success.

The Reframe is the Startup

Startups are supposed to be about building. But the ones that break through don't just build. They shift how we see.

Mastering product-market fit: A detailed playbook for AI founders

PMF isn’t binary; it’s a spectrum. Here’s early stage advice along with eight principles to drive traction and reach customers right for your startup.

Building an American TSMC

The history of the semiconductor is the history of the United States. From inventor, to manufacturer, to consumer, to hostage. Today, America's dominance is dependent on a single point of failure: TSMC. Responsible for 90%+ of leading-edge semiconductors, this tiny island has a chokehold on the US. America must rebuild its own domestic chip manufacturing capability. To do that, saving Intel may be our only hope.

What Would It Take to Bring Back U.S. Manufacturing? Part 1: America’s Structural Headwinds

The article discusses that revitalizing U.S. manufacturing would require investment in advanced automation, regional strategies, and policy shifts to boost competitiveness and resilience. It emphasizes that the sector drives a disproportionate share of productivity and exports, despite constituting just 10% of GDP, underscoring its economic significance.

Marketing, Sales and PR

What GTM teams are doing with ChatGPT

Real-life prompts for content, growth marketing, PMM, and more.

Should We Offer Pilots?

How to navigate PoC requests without slowing your sales cycle.

Money and Finance

Venture Has Never Been More Concentrated: 40%+ of VC $$$ Going to Just 10 Deals

What's happening in venture capital right now. At some level, if you're not one of the chosen few mega-startups … you're essentially competing for table scraps. Because the Age of AI has led to not...

Why modern TAM analysis is more than an investor slide

A founder’s guide to modern TAM analysis, how to define, model, and use it to drive strategy with AI-powered tools and real customer data.

Why most VC firms hire associates wrong (and what we do instead)

Most VC firms misunderstand the associate role, treating associates as temporary help instead of future leaders, which can harm founder relationships and firm impact. Amplify takes the opposite approach by hiring fewer associates, investing heavily in them, and empowering them to help shape the firm’s long-term direction.