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The Bar

Nine of our Founders reported across four sessions. Revenue growth among the eight that report a revenue line ran from 20% to 104%. Five of the nine fell anyway, one by 19.0% on a day it raised full-year guidance. Inside: what happened to Datadog a week after we spotlighted it, SpaceX's first quarter as a public company, the setup into Nebius and CoreWeave, which report within twenty-four hours of each other this week, and a jobs number that changed the rate conversation.

The Payoff

Big Tech earnings week turned into a referendum on AI returns, not just capex. Microsoft and Meta had different answers, leading the stocks to rise and fall, respectively. Inside: why we own Founders on both sides of that line, the setup into Datadog's report this week, last week's Founder-Led scoreboard, and our thoughts on META, our largest holding.

The Memory Issue

Memory has become the flashpoint of the AI trade. This week the memory stocks round-tripped a sharp 20% drop back to new highs, SK Hynix heads into its Q2 report on July 29 off a record first quarter, and Meta prepares to report into the same day's live Fed decision. Inside: why we still believe memory is cyclical, the Founders on the demand side of the boom, the setup into Meta's print, and this week's Founder-Led earnings.

Watt's Next

Power has become the defining constraint on the AI build-out. This week Elon Musk spent an estimated $1 billion on a fleet of mobile turbines, NVIDIA anchored a 140-megawatt AI factory in Japan, and BlackRock opened earnings season with record results as inflation cooled to 3.5%. Inside: the power bottleneck, our Capital One spotlight, the AI-infrastructure selloff, and the week's Founder-Led earnings.

The Great Sorting Begins

Earnings season opens with reports from the money center banks, Goldman, and the CPI print on Tuesday, as well as BlackRock and Morgan Stanley on Wednesday. We spotlight Founder Larry Fink of BlackRock this week just as private credit fears meet reality. Inside this issue, you'll find our Q2 Financials preview, why we think the private credit controversy is overblown, the CPI setup for Kevin Warsh's Fed, and our full Founders earnings season calendar on the last page.

Founders Solve the Unsolvable

This week we turn to biotech, and to the Founder who treated 'undruggable' as a starting point, not a verdict: Mark Goldsmith of Revolution Medicines (RVMD). We also revisit a cautionary tale, the first Founder-Led ETF and why it didn't survive, and flag the stat of the week: the heaviest AI spenders grew entry-level headcount 12%, not cut it.

Where's the inflection? This week: Memory.

Every AI buildout story eventually runs into the same wall: how fast a chip can move data, not just process it. That bottleneck has put memory, once the most commoditized corner of semiconductors, at the center of the AI infrastructure debate. The Founders we follow most closely aren't the ones making memory chips. They're the ones whose entire business models depend on solving the bandwidth problem memory creates.

The Factory Is Running: Jensen Huang, Vera Rubin, and the Moat That Compounds

The Fed held rates steady, PCE arrives Thursday, and Jensen Huang just shipped the most consequential computing platform in a generation. If you want to understand where the next five years of AI value is going, this issue is it.

Some Weeks the Impossible Happens

A week that felt like a year: the U.S. and Iran reached a peace deal that reopened the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil and inflation lower just as Kevin Warsh chairs his first FOMC meeting. SpaceX completed the largest IPO in Wall Street history and unveiled AI1, its first orbital data center, the same week Oracle posted a $638B backlog and a clean Q4 beat. The throughline: AI infrastructure is sorting into three permanent layers, space, cloud, and on-premises, each with a natural founder-led owner, leaving the commodity hyperscaler middle facing a structural squeeze.

SpaceX Files, Karp Delivers: The Two Most Consequential Stories in Founder-Led Tech

Palantir's Rule of 40 hit 145% and its platform ran the Iran conflict. The SpaceX S-1 drops: Anthropic paying $1.25B a month, Google $920M, and the Starlink valuation math. Oracle reports tonight. The Iran deal and what a Hormuz reopening means for oil and rates.

Michael Dell's blowout, Bessent's reshoring thesis, and a heavy earnings week

Michael Dell delivered a monster Q1 with a $51B AI backlog and FY27 EPS guidance raised 39%, sending the stock +30% aftermarket and validating our thesis that founder-led platforms own the enterprise AI buildout. Inside: Marc Benioff on Agentforce, six earnings to watch, our Conviction Corner on how FFF guards against fear and greed, and Treasury Secretary Bessent's "While America Slept" reshoring thesis.

Zscaler reports tonight, Hyperscalers hit $1T

Why we think ZS is mispriced into the print, the $1T capex chart anchoring our thesis, Trump on a possible Iran deal, and the week ahead.

AI Software Stars, Survivors & Sinkers

Larry Ellison's Oracle emerges as the quiet AI infrastructure leader. Our contrarian software thesis, NVDA and ZS earnings previews, and what the new Fed chair's framework means for growth stocks.