These Founders Want the Status Without the Company

These Founders Want the Status Without the Company

Together With Turing

12-minute, 27-second read.

This Week:

  • Your doctor could be hearing about weight loss drugs from a doctor paid by the drug company
  • If you take Tylenol you need to read this
  • Your college degree is not helping you find work like it used to
  • You’re underpaid and still acting like it’s a weather problem
  • Imagine being so good at your job that companies fight over you
  • Your doctor told you to take calcium, but did they tell you about collagen?
  • AI workers are making money so fast they don't know what to do with it
  • Your experience might be worth more than you think
  • Silicon Valley finally has a name for fake founder energy
  • If your doctor asked how many times you wake up to pee would you know the answer?

Your College Degree Is Not Helping You Find Work Like It Used To

If you have a college degree and you're struggling to find work right now, this story is about you. You did what you were told to do.

You went to college, spent four years studying, probably took on debt, graduated, fixed your résumé, cleaned up your LinkedIn and started applying.

The deal was supposed to be simple, get the degree and you get the better shot at a job. But that advantage isn't working the way it used to.

New research from the Burning Glass Institute found that Americans ages 22 to 34 without college degrees are having one of their strongest job markets in about 20 years.

At the same time, young college graduates are having a much harder time getting hired, including some people with advanced science and technology degrees.

College graduates still have lower unemployment overall, so your diploma is not useless. But if you're wondering why finding a job feels harder than you were promised, you're not imagining the shift.

Maybe you're sitting at home sending application number 83 while your friend who never went to college is already at work. Maybe you have student loan payments coming up while your electrician friend is complaining that he has too much work.

You have the degree, the internship, the polished résumé and the LinkedIn photo where you look like you're about to announce a merger. He has a toolbox and a full schedule.

Again, the data doesn't say college is a bad choice. It says something more uncomfortable.

The job advantage you thought your degree guaranteed is getting weaker, but many young people without degrees are seeing some of their best job conditions in years.

If you were choosing your path again today, would you still make the same bet?

Imagine Being So Good at Your Job That Companies Fight Over You

You probably don't know Andrew Tulloch. That's fine, most people don't.

Tulloch is one of the most wanted AI researchers in the world.

Meta once reportedly discussed a pay package for him that could have been worth more than $1.5 billion over several years if bonuses hit and Meta stock went crazy.

He later joined Meta on private terms, stayed less than a year, and is now leaving for Anthropic.

This isn't really a story about some AI guy you've never heard of, it's a story about what happens when the market decides your skills are rare enough that companies are scared to lose you.

Tulloch can leave one giant company and another giant company is waiting.

Most workers leave one job and immediately start refreshing LinkedIn like they're checking lottery numbers.

If you disappeared from your job tomorrow, would your company panic, or would someone just reset your password by lunch?

Somewhere right now, companies are fighting over a tiny group of people, and the rest of us are being told there's no money for a raise after rent, groceries, gas, and everything else already went up.

Silicon Valley Finally Has a Name for Fake Founder Energy

You probably know this person, maybe you follow them, maybe you work with them or maybe, on a bad day, you are them.

Their bio says founder.

Their alarm goes off at 4:30 a.m. They post about working 996, meaning 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week. They quote startup essays like scripture, post photos from WeWork, and somehow find three hours a day to tell the internet how little time they waste.

Silicon Valley now has a name for this: a LARPing founder, basically someone who looks very busy being an entrepreneur but spends more time performing the role than building the company.

LARP stands for live-action role-playing, a hobby where people physically dress up, take on fictional characters, and act out a made-up world in real life.

One joke that spread online imagined ten founders renting a mansion in Bali, hiring a private chef, working out together, and announcing they were going to 10X revenue in 30 days.

Nothing says we're fighting for survival like a chef waiting downstairs while you post about sacrifice, the joke is hitting a nerve because it's getting harder to tell who is actually building something and who just has better founder content.

Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan has even told founders, “Be earnest, don’t larp.” Search interest in LARP was also reported to be up about 200% from a year earlier.

The founder you see online might have the early mornings, the airport photos, the we’re hiring posts, the startup dinners, the long threads about discipline, and the dramatic story about betting everything on the company.

But are customers actually paying them?

The person you barely notice, the one who isn't posting from Bali or telling you how exhausted they are, might quietly have the better business.

Please note that this content is for general information only and shouldn't be considered medical, financial, or professional advice. We encourage you to do your own research and consult a qualified professional before making important decisions.

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