Her Business Will Make $84 Million This Year — With Its Halloween Products Selling ‘Even Better’ Than Expected
Esmeralda Hernandez grew up in Mexico, where she first learned about business at the flea markets she attended with her mother.
The Download: AI’s impact on the economy, and DeepSeek strikes again
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The State of AI: Welcome to the economic singularity —David Rotman and Richard Waters Any far-reaching new technology is always uneven in its adoption, but few have been more uneven than generative AI.…
6 Best Practices for Improving Customer Support as a SaaS Company
Good customer support is directly proportional to higher ROI in SaaS businesses. Here’s how to improve yours.
How to Get Thousands of Followers and Make Money on Substack
Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie and writer Casey Lewis break down the best practices for building an engaged — and paying — audience.
Microsoft’s Mico is a ‘Clippy’ for the AI era
Microsoft has unveiled “Mico,” a new animated avatar for its Copilot AI that brings back shades of Clippy. The expressive blob acts as a friendly, customizable face for the chatbot.
Trump pardons Binance founder Changpeng Zhao
Changpeng Zhao previously pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering while running the cryptocurrency exchange, and served four months in prison last year.
How 2 Long-Lost Sisters Found Each Other — and Built the Largest Black-Owned and Women-Founded Wine Company in the US
The founders of the McBride Sisters Wine Company share how they’re reshaping the wine industry through authenticity, accessibility and a values-driven approach.
Google’s bets on carbon capture power plants, which have a mixed record
Google intends to use electricity from the 400-MW power plant in Decatur, Illinois, to operate nearby data centers. Carbon capture will eliminate some of the plants emissions, but how much remains to be seen.
Tensormesh raises $4.5M to squeeze more inference out of AI server loads
Tensormesh uses an expanded form of KV Caching to make inference loads as much as ten times more efficient.
U.S. government accuses former L3Harris cyber boss of stealing trade secrets
The U.S. Department of Justice accused Peter Williams, former general manager of L3Harris’ hacking division Trenchant, of stealing trade secrets and selling them to a buyer in Russia.
Made in space: Varda’s William Bruey shares plan to build the next great supply chain at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
William Bruey, founder and CEO of Varda Space Industries is taking the Space Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, October 27–29 at Moscone West in San Francisco, to share how his team is transforming outer space into the ultimate manufacturing frontier. Register here to save up to $444 before doors open.