Every Saturday

The Weekend

By The Information Staff

Know what happens when Silicon Valley logs off—the trends and people shaping culture, technology and everything in between.

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Recent Editions

The Best of Times (for AI), the Worst of Times (for Your Bank)
The Weekend

The Best of Times (for AI), the Worst of Times (for Your Bank)

By Jon Steinberg · Mar 18, 2023 8:14am PDT · 1 comment
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Deep breath, everyone. The last 10 days have been a doozy. First came the Great Regional Bank Panic of 2023, which essentially wiped out the previous weekend for anyone operating in the startup ecosystem. In the cover story below, our team recorded the stories of two dozen tech leaders, including... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Deep breath, everyone. The last 10 days have been a doozy. First came...
How to Run a Modern Media Company: Bank Crash Edition
The Weekend

How to Run a Modern Media Company: Bank Crash Edition

By Jon Steinberg · Mar 11, 2023 7:17am PST
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!I do not envy news media executives, who have difficult jobs in the best of times. This week was not the best of times, as our CEO Jessica Lessin could tell you. While captaining a newsroom going full-throttle to cover the cataclysmic collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, Jessica was also scrambling to ensure that The... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!I do not envy news media executives, who have difficult jobs in the...
It's Wunderkind Week
The Weekend

It's Wunderkind Week

By Jon Steinberg · Mar 4, 2023 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Ever since Covid lockdowns began three years ago, young people have seemed a bit adrift. I see it at home with my two daughters, 13 and 11, who still can’t break some of the annoying screen habits they formed during the pandemic. I see it with their public school peers in San Francisco, many of whom are still climbing... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Ever since Covid lockdowns began three years ago, young people have...
The Keys to Josh Kushner's Venture Kingdom
The Keys to Josh Kushner's Venture Kingdom
By Jon Steinberg · Feb 25, 2023 8:43am PST
The Keys to Josh Kushner's Venture Kingdom
The Weekend

The Keys to Josh Kushner's Venture Kingdom

By Jon Steinberg · Feb 25, 2023 8:43am PST
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!The tech industry is not a zero-sum game. It can foster many winners, all at once—as the last decade showed. But it’s also noteworthy when one darling of Silicon Valley rises just as another falls. That’s been happening this winter, with the anointing of OpenAI and the simultaneous humbling of Stripe. As my... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!The tech industry is not a zero-sum game. It can foster many winners,...
One Year of War: How Ukrainian Tech Companies Have Persevered
The Weekend

One Year of War: How Ukrainian Tech Companies Have Persevered

By Jon Steinberg · Feb 18, 2023 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!While the tech press was freaking out over Microsoft’s new AI search capabilities this week (present company included), a war in Ukraine lurched toward an awful anniversary. This Friday marks one year since Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded the country, extinguishing hundreds of thousands of lives and permanently... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!While the tech press was freaking out over Microsoft’s new AI search...
The Weekend Newsletter
What happens when Silicon Valley logs off—the trends, people and companies shaping tech culture.
By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy
A Quarter-Million Reasons to Not Trust Your Company
The Weekend

A Quarter-Million Reasons to Not Trust Your Company

By Jon Steinberg · Feb 11, 2023 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!When you're a tech company, life comes at you fast. Just last year around this time, things were looking mighty flush for both big firms and smaller startups. Evidence for this can be found in the sizable number of brands that splurged on multimillion-dollar Super Bowl ads in 2022: 18 of them, by our count. Now, can... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!When you're a tech company, life comes at you fast. Just last year...
Silicon Valley's Latest Invention: The Supplement Stack
The Weekend

Silicon Valley's Latest Invention: The Supplement Stack

By Jon Steinberg · Feb 4, 2023 7:00am PST
Greetings, and welcome to your Weekend!Today’s newsletter really ought to come with a surgeon general’s warning: “Consuming dozens of unregulated health supplements may not actually be awesome for your health.”  It’s hard not to shake your head at the sheer number of nascent and untested substances that some of our tech-industry peers are... Greetings, and welcome to your Weekend!Today’s newsletter really ought to come with a surgeon...
Ban It, Divest It or Regulate It? Washington Looks for an Answer to TikTok
Ban It, Divest It or Regulate It? Washington Looks for an Answer to TikTok
By Jon Steinberg · Jan 28, 2023 7:00am PST
Ban It, Divest It or Regulate It? Washington Looks for an Answer to TikTok
The Weekend

Ban It, Divest It or Regulate It? Washington Looks for an Answer to TikTok

By Jon Steinberg · Jan 28, 2023 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Interesting dinner table discussion this week: My 13-year-old daughter, hearing about Nancy Scola’s cover story on TikTok’s war in Washington, offered her prediction for what would happen if the U.S. took the drastic step of banning the app.“Every teenager in America would refuse to come out of their rooms,” she... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Interesting dinner table discussion this week: My 13-year-old...
Citizen Andreessen Is Still Looking for His Rosebud
The Weekend

Citizen Andreessen Is Still Looking for His Rosebud

By Jon Steinberg · Jan 21, 2023 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!“I am very bullish on the future of the news business,” wrote Marc Andreessen in 2014, predicting 10x to 100x growth for the journalism industry over the next 20 years. “But as Tommy Lasorda said: ‘Nobody said this f—king job would be all that f—king easy.’”Andreessen was half right, anyway: The last decade hasn’... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!“I am very bullish on the future of the news business,” wrote...
He Helped Conceive Instagram. Can He Strike Gold Again as a Novelist?
The Weekend

He Helped Conceive Instagram. Can He Strike Gold Again as a Novelist?

By Jon Steinberg · Jan 14, 2023 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!If there’s an unintended theme for this week’s stories, it’s the comeback, the second act, the immune response to a contagion.In the case of Josh Riedel, it’s the story of a young tech employee who lands at the seminal startup of the early 2010s, Instagram. He devotes his whole life to the company, watching in awe as... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!If there’s an unintended theme for this week’s stories, it’s the...
The Weekend Newsletter
What happens when Silicon Valley logs off—the trends, people and companies shaping tech culture.
By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy
The Pied Piper of Defense Startups
The Weekend

The Pied Piper of Defense Startups

By Jon Steinberg · Jan 7, 2023 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to the first Weekend of 2023!You have to hand it to Josh Wolfe. The co-founder of Lux Capital has spent the past two decades zigging while many in the Valley have zagged. This week’s cover story by Margaux focuses on the rise of defense tech as a booming startup sector in Silicon Valley. It’s a space Wolfe and Lux have owned for... Hi, welcome to the first Weekend of 2023!You have to hand it to Josh Wolfe. The co-founder of Lux...
In Praise of Real (Not Tweetable) Conversations
In Praise of Real (Not Tweetable) Conversations
By Jon Steinberg · Dec 31, 2022 7:00am PST
In Praise of Real (Not Tweetable) Conversations
The Weekend

In Praise of Real (Not Tweetable) Conversations

By Jon Steinberg · Dec 31, 2022 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to the last Weekend of 2022!Because everyone’s feeling nostalgic for auld lang syne (rough translation: before everything sucked), we wanted to reflect on some lessons from the recent past. So this week, the team asked some of the smartest people in tech about the conversations that stuck with them the most from 2022. My... Hi, welcome to the last Weekend of 2022!Because everyone’s feeling nostalgic for auld lang syne...
On Jasper! On YouTuber! On ChatGPT! A Special Holiday Edition of Weekend
The Weekend

On Jasper! On YouTuber! On ChatGPT! A Special Holiday Edition of Weekend

By Jon Steinberg · Dec 24, 2022 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to your holiday Weekend!If you haven’t already slipped into a ’noghole (a bottomless tumbler of eggnog paired with an endless scroll of Netflix Christmas movies), we have a fascinating sampler of stories for you to indulge in this week.There’s Arielle’s dispatch from the red-hot AI scene in Texas, where a 6-foot-8-inch Kansan came up... Hi, welcome to your holiday Weekend!If you haven’t already slipped into a ’noghole (a bottomless...
Back to Work, the Party's Over
The Weekend

Back to Work, the Party's Over

By Jon Steinberg · Dec 17, 2022 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Compared to other austerity measures that have swept over tech this past year (the mass layoffs, the hiring freezes, the end of in-house laundry), the demise of the holiday party likely isn’t inspiring panic amongst tech workers. But should it? As Annie and Arielle write in this week’s cover story, it seems like... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Compared to other austerity measures that have swept over tech this...
Where Sleep Is Religion, These Are Our Idols
The Weekend

Where Sleep Is Religion, These Are Our Idols

By Jon Steinberg · Dec 10, 2022 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!After a week that gave us the exhaustive (and exhausting) Twitter Files, more fallout from the FTX affair, exhilarating World Cup matches and some rare good news out of Russia, you’re probably catching up on much-needed sleep this weekend. Maybe you’re even grabbing z’s in one of the Eight Sleep Pods that have swept... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!After a week that gave us the exhaustive (and exhausting) Twitter...
The Weekend Newsletter
What happens when Silicon Valley logs off—the trends, people and companies shaping tech culture.
By providing your email, you agree to The Information’s Privacy Policy
Cathie Wood Is Still Team Musk
Cathie Wood Is Still Team Musk
By Jon Steinberg · Dec 3, 2022 7:00am PST
Cathie Wood Is Still Team Musk
The Weekend

Cathie Wood Is Still Team Musk

By Jon Steinberg · Dec 3, 2022 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Cathie Wood isn’t just an investor—she’s a Rorschach test in cat-eyed glasses. There are few portfolio managers more argued over than the Ark Invest chief. But what I find most fascinating about the woman some call “Crazy Cathie” isn’t her contrarian stock picks or her out-there economic predictions, but her unusual... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Cathie Wood isn’t just an investor—she’s a Rorschach test in cat-eyed...
Long Holiday Gifts, Short FTX Tokens
The Weekend

Long Holiday Gifts, Short FTX Tokens

By Jon Steinberg · Nov 26, 2022 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!The official opening of holiday gifting season is upon us, so we meet the moment as we always do—by shaking down our colleagues for gift suggestions. Our subscribers are obviously discerning, so we take  gift tips seriously. I was able to knock off half of my list already by following our staff’s recommendations.... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!The official opening of holiday gifting season is upon us, so we meet...
A Is for Altman, B Is For Bravo: Looking Back at One Year of Weekends
The Weekend

A Is for Altman, B Is For Bravo: Looking Back at One Year of Weekends

By Jon Steinberg · Nov 19, 2022 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!I remember when my kids each turned one—and the pride their mom and I felt in surviving that first joyous, exhausting year. We knew we had accomplished a lot—like learning how to sleep in two-hour increments—but also that we were still naifs. The following years were when the real tests would start. (The girls are 11... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!I remember when my kids each turned one—and the pride their mom and I...
Silicon Valley Pours One Out
The Weekend

Silicon Valley Pours One Out

By Jon Steinberg · Nov 12, 2022 7:00am PST
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!After everything that transpired this week—from the midterms, to the Elon–Twitter debacle to the FTX implosion—much of tech could probably use a stiff martini right now. But as Annie reports in this weekend’s extremely well-timed cover story, much of tech will politely abstain.Sobriety—as it pertains to alcohol, if... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!After everything that transpired this week—from the midterms, to the...
Alexis Ohanian in Heaven, Elon Musk in Hell
Alexis Ohanian in Heaven, Elon Musk in Hell
By Jon Steinberg · Nov 5, 2022 7:00am PDT · 1 comment
Alexis Ohanian in Heaven, Elon Musk in Hell
The Weekend

Alexis Ohanian in Heaven, Elon Musk in Hell

By Jon Steinberg · Nov 5, 2022 7:00am PDT · 1 comment
Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Last week, we generously offered our readers a 100% Elon Musk-free newsletter. I got a few thank you notes for that. Now I’m sorry to inform you the moratorium’s over. Yesterday was the Massacre on Market Street. The day when Elon Musk unceremoniously axed thousands of Twitter employees, all while the world... Hi, welcome to your Weekend!Last week, we generously offered our readers a 100% Elon Musk-free...