logo
Leading the New Economy: A VC Perspective

Leading the New Economy: A VC Perspective

Bloomberg2 days ago

Paul Eitelman, Global Chief Investment Strategist, Russell Investments, Leigh Marie Braswell, Partner, Kleiner Perkins, and Vibhor Rastogi, Global Head of AI Investment, Citi Ventures, share forward-looking sector strategies, breakthrough innovations, and approaches to navigating regulatory change with Bloomberg's Diksha Gera at The Future Investor: Finding the Opportunities event in San Francisco. (Source: Bloomberg)

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Musk Looms Over Latest Ergen Fight Threatening EchoStar Debt
Musk Looms Over Latest Ergen Fight Threatening EchoStar Debt

Bloomberg

time31 minutes ago

  • Bloomberg

Musk Looms Over Latest Ergen Fight Threatening EchoStar Debt

Save Welcome to The Brink. I'm Eliza Ronalds-Hannon, a senior reporter in Atlanta, covering EchoStar's missed interest payment after the Federal Communications Commission started a review. We also have updates on Wellness Pet and auto sector distress. Follow this link to subscribe. Send us feedback and tips at debtnews@ Creditors to EchoStar and its pay-TV unit Dish Network huddled over the past eight days as they came to terms with the latest curveball thrown by Charlie Ergen.

Superblocks CEO: How to find a unicorn idea by studying AI system prompts
Superblocks CEO: How to find a unicorn idea by studying AI system prompts

TechCrunch

time35 minutes ago

  • TechCrunch

Superblocks CEO: How to find a unicorn idea by studying AI system prompts

Brad Menezes, CEO of enterprise vibe coding startup Superblocks, believes the next crop of billion-dollar startup ideas are hiding in almost plain sight: the system prompts used by existing unicorn AI startups. System prompts are the lengthy prompts — over 5,000-6,000 words — that AI startups use to instruct the foundational models from companies like OpenAI or Anthropic on how to generate their application-level AI products. They are, in Menezes view, like a master class in prompt engineering. 'Every single company has a completely different system prompt for the same [foundational] model,' he told TechCrunch. 'They're trying to get the model to do exactly what's required for a specific domain, specific tasks.' System prompts aren't exactly hidden. Customers can ask many AI tools to share theirs. But they aren't always publicly available. So as part of his own startup's new product announcement of an enterprise coding AI agent named Clark, Superblocks offered to share a file of 19 system prompts from some of the most popular AI coding products like Windsurf, Manus, Cursor, Lovable and Bolt. Menezes's tweet went viral, viewed by almost 2 million including big names in the Valley like Sam Blond, formerly of Founders Fund and Brex, and Aaron Levie, a Superblocks investor. Superblocks announced last week that it raised a $23 million Series A, bringing its total to $60 million for its vibe coding tools geared to non-developers at enterprises. So we asked Menezes to walk us through how to study other's system prompts to glean insights. Techcrunch event Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $200+ on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW 'I'd say the biggest learning for us building Clark and reading through the system prompts is that the system prompt itself is maybe 20% of the secret sauce,' Menezes explained. This prompt gives the LLM the baseline of what to do. The other 80% is 'prompt enrichment' he said, which is the infrastructure a startup builds around the calls to the LLM. That part includes instructions it attaches to a user's prompt, and actions taken when returning the response, such as checking for accuracy. He said there are three parts of system prompts to study: role prompting, contextual prompting, and tool use. The first thing to notice is that, while system prompts are written in natural language, they are exceptionally specific. 'You basically have to speak as if you would to a human co-worker,' Menezes said. 'And the instructions have to be perfect.' Role prompting helps the LLMs be consistent, giving both purpose and personality. For instance, Devin's begins with, 'You are Devin, a software engineer using a real computer operating system. You are a real code-wiz: few programmers are as talented as you at understanding codebases, writing functional and clean code, and iterating on your changes until they are correct.' Contextual prompting gives the models the context to consider before acting. It should provide guardrails that can, for instance, reduce costs and ensure clarity on tasks. Cursor's instructs, 'Only call tools when needed, and never mention tool names to the user — just describe what you're doing. … don't show code unless asked. … Read relevant file content before editing and fix clear errors, but don't guess or loop fixes more than three times.' Tool use enables agentic tasks because it instructs the models how to go beyond just generating text. Replit's, for instance, is long and describes editing and searching code, installing languages, setting up and querying PostgreSQL databases, executing shell commands and more. Studying others' system prompts helped Menezes see what other vibe coders emphasized. Tools like Loveable, V0, and Bolt 'focus on fast iteration,' he said, whereas 'Manus, Devin, OpenAI Codex, and Replit' help users create full-stack applications but 'the output is still raw code.' Menezes saw an opportunity to let non-programmers write apps, if his startup could handle more, such as security and access to enterprise data sources like Salesforce. While he's not yet running the multi-billion startup of his dreams, Superblock has landed some notable companies as customers, it said, including Instacart and Paypaya Global. Menezes is also dogfooding the product internally. His software engineers are not allowed to write internal tools; they can only build the product. So his business folks have built agents for all their needs, like one that uses CRM data to identify leads, one that tracks support metrics, another that balance the assignments of the human sales engineers. 'This is basically a way for us to build the tools and not buy the tools,' he sais.

If You Own a PS5, the PlayStation DualSense Controller Now Costs Peanuts on Amazon
If You Own a PS5, the PlayStation DualSense Controller Now Costs Peanuts on Amazon

Gizmodo

time36 minutes ago

  • Gizmodo

If You Own a PS5, the PlayStation DualSense Controller Now Costs Peanuts on Amazon

This is the lowest price ever seen for a PS5 DualSense controller. If you own a PS5, having multiple controllers is almost a necessity as there's nothing better than sharing your favorite PlayStation games with friends or family in the same room. While it's always wise to have a spare controller ready for multiplayer sessions or simply as a backup, genuine discounts on the PlayStation DualSense wireless controller are rare. Even during Black Friday, major promotions were hard to find which makes this moment the perfect opportunity to add another controller to your setup. Right now, the PlayStation DualSense controller is available on Amazon for just $54 which is a substantial 27% off its usual $74 price. This limited-time deal marks an all-time low, so it's an ideal time to buy, especially if you missed out on previous sales. See at Amazon Why We Love It The biggest feature of the DualSense controler is haptic feedback which puts the feel of in-game action and environments right in your hands. Whether you're racing down rough roads, wielding guns or feeling the crash of a collision, the controller's next-gen vibration motors plunge you further into the game. Aside from the haptic feedback, adaptive triggers provide varying levels of force and tension so that you can feel the distinction between drawing back a bowstring or slamming on the brakes in a racing title. They work together to create a feeling of realism and immersion that was not achievable on previous PlayStation controllers. The built-in microphone allows you to chat online without a headset and the 3.5mm audio jack allows you to plug in your favorite headphones for individual use. The create button is convenient to use to capture and stream your most excellent gaming moments in case you're playing with buddies or capturing highlights to playback later. The controller's iconic appearance has been fine-tuned for comfort with enhanced sticks and an intuitive layout that feels great in your hand even after long gaming sessions. DualSense isn't only for PlayStation 5 gamers: With its USB Type-C and Bluetooth connectivity, you can easily play it on Windows desktops and Macs too which gives you even more gaming possibilities outside of the console. Most high-end PC games currently support advanced features like haptic feedback and adaptive triggers, which lets you experience the same immersive experience playing from your computer. With over 33,000 reviews and a lovely 4.6 out of 5-star rating, the PlayStation DualSense Wireless Controller is a proven winner among gamers. Don't hesitate too much: These sales don't come around often, and the stock may not be here. See at Amazon

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store