Zebeth Media Solutions

Author : zebethcontrol

Ford, VW seeking buyer for Argo AI’s lidar unit • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Argo AI, autonomous vehicles, Ford, Lidar, Transportation, volkswagenNo Comments on Ford, VW seeking buyer for Argo AI’s lidar unit • ZebethMedia

Ford and Volkswagen are trying to squeeze any remaining value out of Argo AI, the autonomous vehicle startup the two automakers invested billons in before abruptly shutting it down last week. One of the primary items on the block: Argo Lidar, an 80-person team and the lidar tech they developed, according to sources familiar with the unwinding of the company.  Argo AI was barely a year old when it acquired Princeton, New Jersey-based lidar startup Princeton Lightwave in October 2017. The acquisition, backed by Ford, was hailed years later as helping to provide a key piece of technology in Argo’s full self-driving system. Lidar, the light detection and ranging radar that measures distance using laser light to generate a highly accurate 3D map of the world, is considered by most in the industry a critical sensor required to safely deploy autonomous vehicles at a commercial scale. The team, which is still based in Princeton, developed medium and long-range lidar sensors.  Argo has said the long-range lidar has the ability to see 400 meters away with high-resolution photorealistic quality and the ability to detect dark and distant objects with low reflectivity. Back in May 2021, Argo CEO and co-founder Bryan Salesky told ZebethMedia that the lidar sensor was developed to be cost-effective and manufactured at scale, two factors that matter for any company trying to commercialize autonomous vehicle technology. Argo Lidar point cloud. LG Innotek, a South Korean electronics components manufacturer, began manufacturing the lidar units for Argo this year. Sources say there has been interest from companies in other verticals — meaning outside of the AV world — in buying Argo Lidar’s sensors. Whether any of these interested parties will jump at buying the entire lidar team is unclear. Meanwhile, some of Argo’s 2,000 global workforce are getting offers from Ford and VW. Combined the two automakers invested $3.6 billion in Argo — $2 billion in cash and $1.6 billion in value when it took over VW’s Autonomous Intelligent Driving subsidiary and it became its own entity called Argo AI GmbH. VW plans to absorb the Munich-based Argo AI GmbH, an office of more than people, many of them who previously were part of AID, back into the company. VW is also offering jobs to about 100 former Argo employees based in the United States, a move that suggests the automaker is keen to set up some operations stateside. “Several hundred” employees will be offered positions at Ford, according to sources.

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Upstart lays off 7% staff amid weakening demand for loans • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Fintech, Layoffs, UpstartNo Comments on Upstart lays off 7% staff amid weakening demand for loans • ZebethMedia

Lending giant Upstart has laid off about 140 employees — or 7% of its total workforce — who help process loan applications, sources told ZebethMedia. The cloud-based AI lending platform notified its affected employees about the layoff on Tuesday. Upstart had about 2,000 employees, according to the company, which confirmed the layoffs. “Given the challenging economy, we are making this difficult decision for the long-term health of the company. We do not expect any further layoffs, and continue to hire for roles that are strategic to our business,” Upstart spokesperson Mike Nelson said in a statement. Upstart said in its latest 8-K filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that the decision was due to ongoing economic challenges and the “reduction in the volume of loans” on its platform. However, the company would not confirm the exact drop in its loan volumes. In its last quarterly results in August, the California-based company reported a 72% annual increase in loan volumes on its platform from 456,610 in the first half of 2021 to a total of 786,675 in the same period a year later. The earnings for the third quarter are due on November 8. Upstart is facing difficulties owing to weakening demand for loans in the U.S. due to significant hikes in interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve to cope with the global rise in inflation. The company’s share price dropped by 84% this year. Upstart was trading at $22.88 in afternoon trading on Tuesday. The market cap of Upstart rose to nearly $32 billion at one point after its public debut in November 2020. Since, the company’s total stock value dipped to less than $2 billion earlier on Tuesday. Unfavorable economic conditions have not only impacted the lending industry but also many technology companies around the globe. Telehealth unicorn Cerebral, online real estate marketplace Zillow, and SurveyMonkey parent Momentive Global have all laid off employees in recent weeks. Companies including Netflix, Spotify and Tencent also made similar decisions. Indian startups such as Byju’s and Ola have also sacked their employees amid the dip in funding and investments.

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Google puts an end to Google Hangouts once and for all • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Apps, Google, google chat, Google HangoutsNo Comments on Google puts an end to Google Hangouts once and for all • ZebethMedia

Google Hangouts, a text, video and voice chat app built into Gmail, is finally being shut down today. As announced earlier this year, Google is switching Hangouts users over to Google Chat, the company’s Slack-like instant messaging app for businesses. Starting today, November 1, the Google Hangouts web app is no longer available. This was the last Hangouts offering available to users. The Android and iOS apps died in July of this year. Hangouts had an arguably slow death, with Google allowing users to migrate over to Chat in 2021. The company announced in June 2022 that it would prompt Hangout users to move to Chat in Gmail or the app. While most of the messages and contacts will be automatically transferred over, all of the data won’t migrate to Google Chat. The company notes that users should use Google Takeout to download and save a copy of their data. Users have until January 2023 to keep their Hangouts data. Hangouts started out as a feature on Google+ before becoming a standalone app. The messaging service had 5 billion downloads on the Google Play Store. While Chat can never fully replace Hangouts, it provides additional features for group conversations as well as security and collaboration tools like Spaces and editing Docs, Slides or Sheets side-by-side with other users. Chat users can also send GIFs and use @mentions to notify someone in the group. Google has previously said that Chat is a better way for users to connect with others. Back in June, Google Chat Product Manager, Ravi Kanneganti wrote in a official blog, “As we take this final step to bring remaining Hangouts users to Chat, we hope users will appreciate our continued investment in making Chat a powerful place to create and collaborate.”

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Elon Musk floats $8 Twitter subscription that includes verification, long-form video and audio posting and fewer ads • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Apps, elon buys twitter, Elon Musk, Twitter, twitter blueNo Comments on Elon Musk floats $8 Twitter subscription that includes verification, long-form video and audio posting and fewer ads • ZebethMedia

After much uncertainty around Twitter Blue’s revamp, Elon Musk laid out the company’s approach. He said that the new paid plan will cost $8 per month — something that he mentioned in a reply to Stephen King’s tweet. Plus, the price will be adjusted according to purchasing power parity of the company, hinting towards a global launch of Twitter Blue. Musk’s tweet also says that the social network’s current verification system is akin to a “lords & peasants” system. His tweet about the new paid plan indicated offering verification to subscribers. Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit. Power to the people! Blue for $8/month. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022 Musk also noted some of the features that will roll out with this new plan including fewer ads, priority in replies (something which verified handles get through the “Verified” notification channel) mentions and search, and the ability post longer videos than the current limit of 2 minutes 20 seconds You will also get:– Priority in replies, mentions & search, which is essential to defeat spam/scam– Ability to post long video & audio– Half as many ads — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022 Musk has a tendency of changing his mind quickly, so we should take this announcement with a grain of salt. These might not be the final set of features when Twitter rolls out its new subscription plan. Earlier this week, reports noted that Musk and Twitter are revamping the verification process, and it might involve a fee as high as $20 per month. However, the billionaire has seemed to settle on the $8 per month pricing for now. The reports also noted that the current set of verified users will lose their blue checkmark if they don’t pay for the new paid plan. Musk hasn’t mentioned any such measure in the new Twitter thread about the subscription plan. Earlier today, ZebethMedia reported that Twitter is ending support for ad-free articles offered under its Twitter Blue program. The company sent an email to participating publisher partners about the program’s end. While Twitter is ending payments and partnerships with the current set of publishers, Musk said that it will create a new program for bypassing paywalls for publishers willing to work with the company. He also mentioned that the subscription revenue stream will help Twitter in rewarding content creators — but didn’t specify how. This will also give Twitter a revenue stream to reward content creators — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022   (Story is developing)

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Samsara Eco raises $54M AUD for its “infinite plastic recycling” tech • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Australia, Climate, green tech, plastics, recycling, Samsara Eco, StartupsNo Comments on Samsara Eco raises $54M AUD for its “infinite plastic recycling” tech • ZebethMedia

Samsara Eco, an Australian startup that uses enzyme-based technology to break down plastic into its core molecules, announced today it has raised $54 million AUD (about $34.7 million USD) in Series A funding. The company is planning to build its first plastic recycling facility in Melbourne later this year, with the target of full-scale production by 2023. Investors in the round include Breakthrough Victoria, Temasek, Assembly Climate Capital, DCVC and INP Capital. Existing investors like deep-tech fund Main Sequence, Woolworths Group’s W23 and Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) also participated. Samsara launched last year in partnership with the Australian National University. ZebethMedia last covered the startup when it raised $6 million earlier this year. The company’s enzyme-based technology breaks down plastics into their molecular building blocks to turn into new plastic products—which can in turn be broken down again, creating what Samsara refers to as infinite plastic recycling. Samsara’s new funding will be used for expansion, building its library of plastic-eating enzymes and funding its first commercial facility, which it says will be able to infinitely recycle 20,000 tons of plastic starting in 2024. It will also grow its engineering team and expand operations into Europe and North America. CEO and founder Paul Riley said that since March, when Samsara’s previous round of funding was announced, it’s been focused on expanding its enzyme library, which is now capable of depolymerizing several different types of plastic. Its also worked with partners to develop market solutions using Samsara’s plastic-recycling tech. Samsara’s tech is capable of breaking down plastic into its core molecules in minutes, regardless of color, type and state, said Riley. Its Melbourne facility will first recycle PET plastic and polyester, which Riley says accounts for about a fifth of plastic created annually. Its long-term mission is to recycle mixed bale plastics and advance its tech to the point where every kind of plastic can be infinitely recycled. “Given the scale of the plastics crisis, our vision was always to scale infinite plastic recycling as fast as possible,” he said. “For us, this capital raise was about partnering with those that bring industry expertise and commitment to addressing one of the world’s most prominent climate challenges—which is fossil-made plastic—and, in the process, reducing plastic pollution by closing the loop.” Samsara is also preparing for the launch of its first enzymatically recycled packaging, in partnership with Woolworths Group. The packaging will be on shelves in Woolworths’ supermarkets next year, moving the company toward its goal of recycling 1.5 million tons of plastic per year by 2030. Woolworths Group has committed to turning the first 5,000 tons of recycled Samsara plastic into packaging for its branded products, like vegetables and bakery trays. Riley said Samsara’s tech is highly tolerant of contamination and can recycle colored plastics, mixed plastics and multi-layered plastic, which means it has applications across a wide range of industries, including packaging, fashion, automative, medical, electronics and construction. The fashion industry accounts of about 10% of global CO2 emissions. Australia is the second-highest consumer of textiles per person in the world, Riley said, which gives Samsara the opportunity to recycle discarded fast fashion pieces in the form of mixed fiber textiles, reducing the amount of clothing that ends up in landfills. “As we expand our library of plastic-eating enzymes, the opportunity for infinite plastic recycling will continue to grow across all these industries, meaning we’ll never have to produce plastic from fossil-fuels again,” Riley said.

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Connect with Hedera, Wilson Sonsini and MetaJuice at TC Sessions: Crypto • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in blockchain, Crypto, NFTs, TC Sessions: Crypto, TC Sessions: Crypto 2022, web3No Comments on Connect with Hedera, Wilson Sonsini and MetaJuice at TC Sessions: Crypto • ZebethMedia

ZebethMedia has a long history of partnering with great companies that are not only subject-matter experts, but committed to supporting early-stage startups, too. While this is our first official conference dedicated to the space, TC Sessions: Crypto — November 17 in Miami — is no exception to our great partners rule.  Whether it’s blockchain-, crypto-, DeFi-, NFT- or web3-based, building a startup in the cryptoverse is no easy task — not exactly a newsflash, we know. One of the things our partners do best is provide their expertise and educational resources. They present sessions on a range of topics that help founders gain the confidence and know-how they need to move their startup forward. Keep in mind that, even as our partners dispense valuable insight from our stages, they’re always looking to engage with interesting founders and startups to explore potential partnerships and new opportunities. Let the networking begin. Take a look at some of the speakers and topics that our partners will present in Miami at TC Sessions: Crypto — and be sure to explore the full agenda. Bringing DeFi to the Masses: How Do We Make DeFi a Seamless, Easy Reality for Millions of Users Who Aren’t Crypto Experts — Currently, 72% of the world’s population has, or will soon have, access to instant payments, according to the 2022 Worldpay from FIS Global Payments Report. Many markets are also replacing or renovating their established real-time services to cater to instant payments. What does it take to onboard these users to a web3-first, DeFi world? How simple must it be, and how quickly can we get there?  In this session, Zenobia Godschalk, SVP of Communications, Swirlds Labs, and Mina Khattak, Director, Crypto and Emerging Business at Worldpay from FIS, will address these questions and more from the perspective of one of the world’s largest payment firms. Sponsored by Hedera. Keeping It Legal — The legal issues associated with crypto and web3 are complex. Tech companies may need to consider balancing the ethos of the blockchain industry with protecting their revenue models and reducing regulatory risk. How are they structuring financings — with equity or tokens or both? How can they protect their IP in an open source world? What contracts do they need with customers and service partners? And what are the best ways to operate within regulatory uncertainty and an anticipated wave of enforcement actions?  Attorney Amy Caiazza, Partner and Practice Group Leader, Fintech and Financial Services at Wilson Sonsini; Jonathan Chan, Corporate Counsel, Wilson Sonsini; Neel Maitra, Partner, Fintech & Financial Services, Wilson Sonsini; and Scott McKinney, Partner, Technology Transactions, Wilson Sonsini, will address these and other questions, including questions from the audience. Sponsored by Wilson Sonsini. Creating a True, User-Led Metaverse — The metaverse provides a virtual space that connects people, worlds and communities. A place where users can exchange currency and goods between themselves, not the company behind the platform. As the internet evolves, we hold the responsibility to create platforms that encompass diversity and inclusion, ownership of data, security and sustainability. As leaders in this space, how do we create an environment that allows users and creators to explore their imaginations and earning potential without limits? Chris Jones, Head of Business and Development, MetaJuice; Natalia Mazzuchelli, Strategic Partner Success Manager, ImmutableX; and Alex Mogul, Director, Republic Crypto, will address these and other challenges to building an inclusive, secure and sustainable metaverse. Sponsored by MetaJuice Don’t miss your chance to hear, connect and network with some of the leading movers and shakers bent on redefining the future of finance, blockchain and the web at TC Sessions: Crypto on November 17. Buy your pass now to nab the early-bird price and save $150. We can’t wait to see you in Miami! Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TC Sessions: Crypto? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

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2022 R&D tax prep, social media for founders, managing remote teams • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in EC roundup, Enterprise, Startup Accelerator, Startups, Tax law, tech layoffs, TechCrunch Disrupt 2022, VentureNo Comments on 2022 R&D tax prep, social media for founders, managing remote teams • ZebethMedia

As director of Techstars’ startup pipeline, Saba Karim spends much of his time touting the ways entrepreneurs can benefit by joining an accelerator. But is it the right choice for every founder? After he posted a thread on Twitter offering several rationales explaining why some should definitely avoid them, I invited him to adapt it for a TC+ guest post we published yesterday. “Keep in mind that funding will solve your money problems, but it won’t solve everything else,” he writes. Full ZebethMedia+ articles are only available to membersUse discount code TCPLUSROUNDUP to save 20% off a one- or two-year subscription “You’ll still need to figure out how to acquire customers, find the best talent, build an incredible product, assemble a great advisory board and get to product-market fit.” His article confirms a suspicion I’ve long harbored: many entrepreneurs pursue accelerators so they can gain access to investors, score free publicity, or receive positive reinforcement for their idea. But none of those are determining factors for success. “If you’re not living and breathing your startup, you’re going to struggle anyway,” says Karim. If you have information, knowledge or experience to share that could help early-stage startup founders, investors and workers make better decisions, please review our submission guidelines and drop us a line. Thanks very much for reading, Walter ThompsonEditorial Manager, ZebethMedia+@yourprotagonist These founders landed early checks by being savvy about social media (L-R) Connie Loizos, Silicon Valley Editor, ZebethMedia, Nik Milanović, Founder, This Week in Fintech; General Partner, The Fintech Fund, Joshua Ogundu, CEO, Campfire and Gefen Skolnick, Founder, Couplet Coffee. Image Credits: Kelly Sullivan/Getty Images for ZebethMedia Is there a correlation between being extremely online and a founder’s ability to fundraise? According to three entrepreneurs Connie Loizos spoke with at ZebethMedia Disrupt, a social media presence that blends aspects of your business and personal lives can “make it easier to connect with investors and customers.” Nik Milanović (founder, This Week in Fintech), Gefen Skolnick (founder, Couplet Coffee) and Josh Ogundu (CEO, Campfire) talked about the benefits and downsides of using TikTok, Twitter and other platforms to build authentic personal and business brands. “I even tweeted yesterday that it was kind of not a good day as a founder, and it was really nice and people engaged with that,” said Skolnick. “I don’t believe in constantly showing that things are good. Some days things are just not good.” How to effectively manage a remote team during wartime Image Credits: Anna Fedorenko / Getty Images “There are a lot of studies about crisis management on the web, but none of them tell us how to manage a company during times of war,” according to Alex Fedorov, CEO and founder of Ukrainian startup OBRIO. Prior to Russia’s invasion, “our company had never seen a real crisis,” he writes in a post that presents the six methods his company used to maintain continuity while protecting workers. “Training to manage stress, anxiety and personal finances will help your employees build the needed knowledge and respond to tough situations.” 3 founders discuss how to navigate the nuances of early-stage fundraising Image Credits: Kelly Sullivan / Getty Images Founders who have raised funds for early-stage startups in the last year have generally had an easier time than people seeking Series A money (or later). Then again, “easy” is such a relative term. At ZebethMedia Disrupt, Rebecca Szkutak spoke to three entrepreneurs to learn more about how they adjusted their expectations and tactics as they approach investors during a downturn: Amanda DoAmaral, co-founder and CEO, Fiveable Arman Hezarkhani, founder, Parthean Sarah Du, co-founder, Alloy Automation Prepare to amortize: Inflation may spell doom for R&D tax expensing Image Credits: Fancy/Veer/Corbis (opens in a new window) / Getty Images The U.S. federal government has made R&D tax credits available for decades, but a major change set to take place this year will impact startups across the board. Previously, R&D expenditures could be expensed upfront, but now, “those expenses will need to be amortized over 5 years in the case of domestic research, and 15 years for foreign research,” according to tax attorney Andrew Leahey. Because so many startups “incur the bulk of their R&D costs in their first year of operation,” many could wait “the equivalent of a lifetime” to recover those expenses. High inflation has stalled efforts to repeal the amortization requirement, so Leahey shares several tactics companies can use “to prepare for the possibility of the rule coming into effect.” Remote work is here to stay. Here’s how to manage your staff from afar Image Credits: Kelly Sullivan / Getty Images Before the pandemic, most startup workers had the same experience on their first day: set up a new laptop, fill out some onboarding paperwork, then start gathering intel on the best places to grab lunch near the office. Now that so many teams are hybrid or fully remote, companies are learning the importance of fostering company culture and community from day one, a topic Rebecca Bellan delved into at ZebethMedia Disrupt with three experienced managers: Adriana Roche, chief people officer, Mural Deidre Paknad, CEO and co-founder, WorkBoard Allison Barr Allen, angel investor, Trail Run Capital “The biggest learning for us over the last three years was that it’s very difficult to really build expertise in a domain or a subject through Zoom,” said Paknad. How our startup made it through 2 recessions without relying on layoffs Image Credits: Aaron Black (opens in a new window) / Getty Images So far this year, about 45,000 tech workers have been laid off. If that’s hard to visualize, imagine a sold-out Mets game at Citi Field in New York City. Cutting staff is standard operating procedure during a downturn, but Sachin Gupta, who leads sales, marketing and general operations for HackerEarth, says his company has weathered two recessions without resorting to mass firings. “At any given time, our staff portfolio operates at about 90% of what we consider ideal,” he says. “Think of this like the distance

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Metrist raises $5.5M to provide better cloud service outage data • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Enterprise, funding, honeycomb, monitoring, New Relic, observability, outages, StartupsNo Comments on Metrist raises $5.5M to provide better cloud service outage data • ZebethMedia

Metrist, a startup that helps IT teams stay on top of outages among the many cloud services they use to run their own applications, today announced that it has raised a $5.5 million seed round from the likes of Heavybit, Morado Ventures, as well as PagerDuty co-founder Alex Solomon and StatusPage co-founders Scott and Steve Klein. The overall idea behind Metrist is pretty straightforward, but there are surprisingly few companies doing this. While products like Twitter or StatusPage (which is now owned by Atlassian) allow companies to easily communicate issues with their services to their users, they don’t always reflect every problem and service degradation — something that then comes into play when it’s time to review an SLA agreement or a contract comes up for renewal and the two parties have vastly different perceptions of a product’s reliability. And while application performance monitoring and observability tools like New Relic or Honeycomb can give you some of this data, it’s not their core use case as these services tend to be inward facing. Image Credits: Metrist “Apps are built on top of other apps today,” Metrist co-founder and CEO Jeff Martens told me. “That means if one of them goes down or gets degraded or has some kind of an issue, your app and your business can potentially have the same fate. But current observability tools don’t do anything special for those external dependencies — they still continue to focus inward. You can find out things about your external dependencies — it’s not that you can’t know — but the challenge really becomes verifying so you can take action, but then also hold your vendors accountable.” More than anything else, Metrist wants to become the trusted neutral player that buyers and vendors can refer to when they discuss outages. The service will be a success, Martens said, when Metrists is written into a contract as the third-party independent validator of an SLA. “Too many of the incidents posted to StatusPage simply reference upstream or third-party providers,” said StatusPage co-founder Steve Klein. “It’s exciting that Metrist is going after the root of the problem, creating visibility where before there was none.” Metrist team On the technical side, Metrist uses either an agent or eBPF to gather data about the services a company runs, but it also constantly checks for downtime and service degradations from 21 different cloud regions across AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. Out of the box, Metrist covers more than 100 services, but customers can also host their own tests or use in-app tests. The team noted that these tests also go well beyond simply checking for a correct HTTP response code. “It’s not just like pinging an API and saying, ‘does this URL return to 200 or 202?’ Say you’re hitting an endpoint and it’s supposed to create a thing in that platform — we actually will call the retrieval API later to see how long it took to create that thing,” Metrist co-founder and CTO Ryan Duffield explained. Customers also get a lot of flexibility when and how they get alerted of an issue. For some, a two-percent increase in latency may be unacceptable, while for others, that’s no issue, for example. Alerts can go to Slack, email Datadog or PagerDuty (and users can create their own alerting systems using webhooks, too). Image Credits: Metrist While Metrist is only announcing its funding today, it’s worth noting that the team actually raised this amount over two different raises, including a pre-seed before the product even existed. Both happened proactively, Martens explained, without the team actually going out to raise. This happened just before the economy and the funding environment changed. “Modern applications depend on an ever-increasing number of cloud products managed by external vendors, but the overall approach to observability hasn’t changed. You wouldn’t dream of operating your internal services blindly and you need to manage your cloud dependencies with the same care,” Heavybit general partner Joseph Ruscio explained. “Metrist enables teams to proactively know when an external service is down, with the goal of avoiding or mitigating incidents stemming from dependencies. Metrist’s approach to third-party observability ensures teams know authoritatively when SLAs are not met.” Metrist offers a free plan that allows you to monitor up to three services with one day of data retention. Paid plans start at $99/month for seven services and seven days of data retention.

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Twitter ad sales head resigned amid turbulent Musk takeover • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on Posted in Elon Musk, Sarah Personette, Social, TwitterNo Comments on Twitter ad sales head resigned amid turbulent Musk takeover • ZebethMedia

Twitter’s Chief Consumer Officer Sarah Personette has left the company, she wrote in a Twitter thread Tuesday morning. Personette, who was in charge of Twitter’s ad sales business, said that she resigned on Friday, and her work access was officially cut off by Tuesday. The day before her resignation, Musk fired four key executives immediately after his takeover: CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, General Counsel Sean Edgett and Head of Legal Policy, Trust and Safety Vijaya Gadde. It has been the greatest privilege to serve all of you as a leader and a partner. Many have heard me say this but the most important role I believe I played in the company was championing the requirements of brand safety. — Sarah Personette (@SEP) November 1, 2022 With Personette out of the picture, the number of remaining pre-Musk executives at Twitter is dwindling, with more key personnel rumored to be leaving as well. Jay Sullivan, Twitter’s head of product, deleted the bio on his Twitter account, which previously denoted his role at the company. The previous head of product, Kayvon Beykpour, was let go by former CEO Agrawal in May. A former Facebook marketing VP, Personette had worked at Twitter since October 2018, when she joined as a VP of Global Client Solutions, per LinkedIn. She was promoted to Chief Customer Officer in August 2021. That role is crucial to Twitter’s business, since the majority of its revenue comes from ad sales. With Musk expected to make changes to content moderation policies, ad sales could be impacted. As newly installed “Chief Twit” Elon Musk took over on Thursday, he posted a screenshot of a letter he wrote to Twitter advertisers, vowing that the platform “obviously cannot become a free-for-all hellscape.” Personette quote-tweeted his message, saying that he had a great conversation with the Tesla and SpaceX CEO. She added, “Our continued commitment to brand safety for advertisers remains unchanged. Looking forward to the future!” But by the following evening, she had resigned. “It has been the greatest privilege to serve all of you as a leader and a partner,” Personette said. “Many have heard me say this but the most important role I believe I played in the company was championing the requirements of brand safety.”

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