The hottest Partnerships Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

Infinite Games

The Generalist • 3342 implied HN points • 26 Feb 26
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. Joining Hummingbird as a partner while keeping The Generalist fully owned and continuing to publish, with the partnership expected to sharpen the investing craft.
  2. Hummingbird’s contrarian, founder-focused approach — driven by deep curiosity and attention to founder psychology — helps surface subtler, more interesting questions about startups.
  3. The Generalist will publish less often but focus on fewer, long-form, deeply researched pieces about the most consequential organizations, trading frequency for greater depth and quality.

The rapid rise and slow decline of Sam Altman

Marcus on AI • 15848 implied HN points • 13 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Partnerships
  1. Sam Altman rose quickly to celebrity status but is now facing growing doubt as his big promises and technical vision haven’t delivered.
  2. OpenAI’s position is weakening because key products underperformed, the company isn’t profitable, and financing and public explanations have hurt its credibility.
  3. Competitors and customers are slipping away — companies like Google, Anthropic, and DeepSeek are taking market share, price wars are eroding margins, and a clear path to sustainable profits is missing.

From Gucci to WPP, marketers are rethinking AI, ad agencies, and the rest is marketing campaigns

The Social Juice • 75 implied HN points • 28 Feb 26
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. AI is upending marketing: companies are using generative tools to make ads, cutting roles because of automation, and facing backlash when AI work feels low-quality or ethically shaky.
  2. The agency landscape is being reshaped as holding companies and clients reorganize, consolidate accounts, and rethink commissions and media models to stay lean and more integrated.
  3. Brands are leaning hard into bold creative moves — stunts, cultural partnerships, celebrity tie‑ins and purpose-driven campaigns — to cut through noise and stay culturally relevant.

February 24: come have lunch with us

Respectful Leadership • 54 implied HN points • 21 Feb 26
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. A lunchtime event on February 24 in NYC will bring people together to discuss how AI is changing business, with abundant healthy food and pizza provided.
  2. Speakers will share practical AI use cases like automating residential building permits and warn about legal pitfalls, including the risk of losing attorney-client privilege when using AI tools.
  3. Talks will also cover startup and agency strategy — who to hire early (X-shaped people), how to integrate outside agencies, and new go-to-market opportunities driven by AI.

The UATX Brand

In My Tribe • 410 implied HN points • 03 Jan 26
🚌 Education Partnerships
  1. UATX presents itself as a traditional, non-ideological liberal arts school focused on Great Books and in-person learning, but many outsiders mainly see it as a right-wing counter-institution.
  2. The institution is caught between three conflicting identities — a rigorous classical college, a conservative ideological project, or a political movement — and trying to be all three at once looks unsustainable.
  3. AI advisers recommend a pivot to a 'Practical Liberal Arts' combining a Great Books core with project-based, industry-linked concentrations and transparent outcomes, but the free-tuition, donor-dependent funding model could make the school prioritize donors over students.
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Moku Mini accessories are coming to Lunacia!

The Lunacian • 414 implied HN points • 13 Jan 26
🔮 Crypto Partnerships
  1. Moku Minis are limited-edition accessories you can equip to your axies and see in Atia’s Legacy Playtest 2 by purchasing and opening a Grand Arena Booster Box on the Ronin Market.
  2. There are six accessory types with capped supplies (like Moku Ratz Sacks, Moki Coins, Buff Mokis, etc.), and earned accessories will be airdropped to eligible addresses after January 19, with Moku handling remaining drops on a rolling schedule.
  3. To be eligible for the ultra-rare Ratz Fairy raffle you must complete three timed steps: open a Booster Box during Phase 1, buy 500 Gems in Grand Arena during Phase 2, and complete one Axie Bounty Board quest per day for seven days in Phase 2.

Growth Of a Startup

Points And Figures • 612 implied HN points • 10 Dec 25
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. Early-stage investing is as much about people as ideas. Backing founders early can pay off even if the initial product or market fails.
  2. The founders adapted after COVID destroyed their original ride-share insurance business, pivoted successfully, and raised follow-on VC. They also built a high-quality team and grew as leaders.
  3. Seel has scaled into major partnerships with big insurers and is hiring aggressively. They are addressing a massive market and look positioned for significant growth.

The best growth tactics of 2025

Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged • 465 implied HN points • 17 Dec 25
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. Outbound/ABM, partner/ecosystem plays, and events/community were the biggest growth channels in 2025 — they generated the most pipeline despite the AI hype.
  2. AI-driven content and discovery plus product-led tactics also paid off, with wins from AEO/LLM work (JSON-LD, custom GPTs) and freemium/mini tools that captured high-intent leads.
  3. Execution mattered most: tried-and-true tactics succeeded when done exceptionally — examples include automated intent-based outbound, "give-to-get" partner programs, and intimate in-person or virtual events.

OpenAI's Enterprise AI Strategy Is Coming Together (2026)

Enterprise AI Trends • 168 implied HN points • 21 Jan 26
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. OpenAI is shifting from selling raw API tokens to outcome-based, value-sharing deals where it takes a percentage of the value its models help generate.
  2. After cutting inference costs and building ad and free-tier infrastructure, OpenAI is reaccelerating enterprise efforts with consulting, partnerships, and senior sales hires to win back customers.
  3. Combining value-based pricing with service-led sales and org changes aims to prevent model commoditization, capture more application value, and raise switching costs for rivals and clients.

Problems at Serve Robotics (SERV)

The Bear Cave • 279 implied HN points • 18 Dec 25
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. Serve Robotics is losing a lot of money while bringing in very little revenue, which makes its business economics look unsustainable and risky.
  2. Sidewalk delivery robots face vandalism, theft, and social friction, plus awkward navigation that raises maintenance costs and slows deliveries.
  3. Even with big partnerships, intense competition and practical limitations mean autonomous cars or drones may be more viable long-term solutions for last-mile delivery.

AWS CEO Matt Garman Talks Amazon’s Big Bets in AI Chips, Reasoning, and Nuclear Energy

Big Technology • 5129 implied HN points • 03 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Partnerships
  1. Amazon is focusing heavily on AI and has introduced new AI chips, reasoning tools, and a large AI training cluster to enhance their cloud services. They want customers to have more options and better performance for their AI needs.
  2. AWS believes in providing choices to customers instead of pushing one single solution. They aim to support various AI models for different use cases, which gives developers flexibility in how they build their applications.
  3. For energy solutions, Amazon is investing in nuclear energy. They see it as a clean and important part of the future energy mix, especially as demand for energy continues to grow.

News of the Week (January 15-19)

Stock Market Nerd • 1552 implied HN points • 20 Jan 24
💰 Finance Partnerships
  1. Taiwan Semiconductor beat revenue estimates and provided positive guidance for future growth.
  2. The Trade Desk experienced a decline in multiples but is focusing on profitability and growth.
  3. Uber is shutting down Drizzly and streamlining its alcohol delivery within UberEats.

MicroTimes Interviews T/Maker’s Heidi Roizen and Royal Farros (1994)

Computer Ads from the Past • 256 implied HN points • 08 Dec 25
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. They pivoted from selling a Mac word processor to focusing on content like ClickArt and multimedia ZoomBooks, and that shift unlocked rapid growth and consistent profits.
  2. They took VC money, bought other art libraries, and brought in experienced managers to redesign products and packaging so they could win retail shelves and sell at multiple price points.
  3. They invested in technical know-how (CD-ROM, multi-platform formats, a reusable ZoomBooks interface) and used joint ventures with TV networks and publishers to share costs and reach much bigger audiences.

News of the Week (January 8 - 12)

Stock Market Nerd • 1257 implied HN points • 13 Jan 24
💰 Finance Partnerships
  1. Bank of America and J.P. Morgan's big bank earnings showed a resilient consumer despite some slowing signs.
  2. Disney's new partnership with the NFL for ESPN content distribution is a smart move for exclusive access and success of the streaming service.
  3. SoFi's recent layoffs were part of a strategic move to focus on key priorities for continued profitability and growth.

Agentic e-commerce is a HUGE deal

Enterprise AI Trends • 189 implied HN points • 02 Dec 25
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. AI shopping agents are driving a major shift in how people discover products and could become the dominant top-of-funnel for research-heavy purchases, with models like OpenAI’s positioned to aggregate many retailers’ catalogs.
  2. Agentic shopping will help most with high-price, research-intensive categories (electronics, furniture, hardlines) but won’t replace softlines or consumables, and it faces real conversion hurdles because users still compare prices, resist new merchant accounts, or prefer faster fulfillment.
  3. The market is splitting into an Amazon-controlled, closed experience and a Chatbot-led discovery layer, which benefits big platforms and OpenAI while threatening affiliate publishers and many startups, and forces retailers to partner or risk losing visibility.

($) Forward Deployed Engineer: the Job that Makes AI Real

Interconnected • 169 implied HN points • 03 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Partnerships
  1. Forward deployed engineers (FDEs) are the on-the-ground builders who turn AI models into working systems inside large enterprises and governments, handling integration, customization, and deployment.
  2. FDEs are scarce and highly sought after, so companies are rapidly expanding FDE teams and partnering with global system integrators to scale capacity and meet enterprise demand.
  3. The FDE function originated in firms like Palantir and has become a core, strategic role that many AI labs now prioritize to drive real-world adoption of their technology.

Anthropic just dropped a nuke, and it’s called 30,000 FDEs

Enterprise AI Trends • 147 implied HN points • 09 Dec 25
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. Partnering a major platform with a big consulting firm effectively plants thousands of trained FDEs inside customers, letting the platform scale adoption by absorbing the customer education and services burden.
  2. Enterprise AI is capital- and labor-intensive—revenue often scales with FDEs, PMs, and service staff—so giant funding rounds are used to buy market share when product differences are small.
  3. Those king-making mega-rounds concentrate capital and raise barriers to entry, but they aren’t a sure win—if growth falters, employees and later investors can lose out and the strategy can fail.

How to Build a Company that OpenAI/Google Can't Eat

FutureIQ • 3 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. Trust wins in high-stakes fields: using credentialed sources and training models only on vetted, domain‑specific literature (not the open internet) makes professionals trust the system and cuts hallucinations.
  2. Own exclusive data and build a flywheel: getting top practitioners and journals to use and partner creates unique, high‑quality signals that improve the product and attract more users and partners.
  3. Capture tacit, time‑sensitive context to monetize defensibly: real‑time usage data and tight integrations let you offer services big generalist models can’t replicate, creating a deep, hard‑to‑clone moat.

The GPT 5.2 Release, Disney, and How Somehow These Two Are Related

Enterprise AI Trends • 84 implied HN points • 11 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Partnerships
  1. Major media companies are making equity and licensing deals with AI labs so their characters and franchises can be used inside consumer AI products.
  2. As model quality improvements become harder for users to notice, AI firms are increasingly buying exclusive IP and data access instead of just chasing benchmark gains.
  3. Those exclusive IP deals can shut rivals out and reshape streaming and studio battles, turning content ownership into a strategic moat for consumer AI.

What Ukraine Is Teaching Worcester, Massachusetts

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 278 implied HN points • 18 Aug 25
🌐 International Partnerships
  1. U.S. cities like Worcester are learning disaster relief strategies from Kherson, Ukraine, instead of just providing aid. This reverse exchange highlights valuable lessons in emergency management.
  2. The partnership between Kherson and Worcester has expanded beyond just emergency relief. They've started sharing knowledge in areas like healthcare and veteran services.
  3. Despite Kherson being in a war zone, the collaboration shows how cities can support each other creatively. Even in tough conditions, they find ways to share impactful solutions.

Life after FIFA

SuperJoost Playlist • 615 implied HN points • 28 Sep 23
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. Knowing when to quit is a superpower in business.
  2. Unity faced backlash for changing its fee structure, leading to negative outcomes with developers.
  3. EA is adapting to the end of its partnership with FIFA by adding new features, reaching new audiences, and exploring new commercial opportunities.

FDE Should Mean Forward Deployed Executive

Tippets by Taps • 12 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. Customers will pay to embed experienced leaders into their organizations to lead AI and data strategy, not just to buy software.
  2. Being embedded as a leader turns you into an extension of the customer, revealing real constraints and feeding those insights back into your product and roadmap to build more value and trust.
  3. Reframe the FDE role from a scrappy implementer to a forward-deployed executive whose judgment and experience drive decisions, which changes hiring, pricing, and the kinds of customer relationships you pursue.

The state of B2B merch in 2026

Mehdeeka • 8 implied HN points • 03 Feb 26
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. Treat merch as a strategic, measurable marketing tool tied to revenue; focus on converting the undecided audience and run A/B tests to prove impact.
  2. Make merch useful and experiential — personalisation and on-site customisation or problem-solving items increase keep-rate and memorability.
  3. Use small-batch, targeted activations for ABM and earned media by sending thoughtful, timely gifts with digital tie-ins and repurposing designs across channels.

Import AI 319: Sovereign AI; Facebook's weights leak on torrent networks; Google might have made a better optimizer than Adam!

Import AI • 439 implied HN points • 06 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Partnerships
  1. Google researchers achieved promising results by scaling a Vision Transformer to 22B parameters, showcasing improved alignment to human visual perception.
  2. Google introduced a potentially better optimizer called Lion, showing outstanding performance across various models and tasks, including setting a new high score on ImageNet.
  3. A shift toward sovereign AI systems is emerging globally, driven by the need for countries to develop their own AI capabilities to enhance national security and economic competitiveness.

Apple Intelligence is Not a ChatGPT Wrapper

Sector 6 | The Newsletter of AIM • 39 implied HN points • 11 Jun 24
🕹 Technology Partnerships
  1. Apple is focusing on something called 'Apple Intelligence' instead of just machine learning. This new AI focuses on privacy, which is an important issue for users.
  2. Apple has teamed up with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into its devices. This means Siri can now use ChatGPT's features to help users.
  3. Users will be warned before they send any personal information or queries to ChatGPT. This helps keep their data safe.

How To Create Life-Changing Events: 5 Timeless Rules

America 2.0 (by Gary Sheng) • 137 implied HN points • 09 Feb 24
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. Aim to create a memorable event experience that elevates attendees' lives and makes them feel it was time well spent.
  2. Curate a great guest list for your event to ensure a positive atmosphere and provide opportunities for valuable connections among attendees.
  3. Design each moment of your event meticulously, from initial promotion to follow-up, ensuring thoughtful details that make attendees feel valued and create lasting impressions.

WILL's 2025 Year End Recap

The Carousel • 16 implied HN points • 23 Dec 25
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. WILL capped 2025 with a bold new website and a string of creative client projects across defense, cybersecurity, healthcare, conservation, and publishing.
  2. They pushed beyond digital work into real-world events and collaborations to build relationships and cultural influence, including workshops and partnerships with groups like the Delphica Society.
  3. The agency is focused on scaling in 2026 and is actively seeking new clients, partners, and ambitious projects at any stage of development.

The Art of Keiretsu

Equal Ventures • 79 implied HN points • 12 Feb 24
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. Industry transformation requires collaboration: Changing an industry's value chain involves a collective effort of like-minded visionaries and companies working together.
  2. Leveraging partnerships is key: Founders should focus on building strong partnerships within the value chain to dominate their category and create 'lines' of influence.
  3. Creating a village in the industry: Coalescing companies in a value chain can lead to achieving remarkable things collectively and surpassing individual efforts.

State of Agritech - 7th February 2024

Agribusiness Matters • 78 implied HN points • 07 Feb 24
💼 Business Partnerships
  1. Discussion on InnerPlant agribiotech platform and strategic decision-making in the industry.
  2. Exploration of three generations of biological products by key players like David Friedberg.
  3. Predictions and future partnerships for InnerPlant in the agribiotech sector, including drone partnerships and genomics AI platforms.