The money is always talking. We help you listen.

Back in October of 2024, I wrote a piece called "You Asked For Money, Here It Is", walking through, step by step, how I personally pulled together $750,000 in financing without giving up a single point of equity. A lot of you used that piece as a blueprint. Some of you are still messaging me about it. So today's edition is a bit of a sequel, because the rules of the game just changed, and if you're a founder, operator, or small business owner who's been sitting on an SBA application, this affects you directly.

The Small Business Administration just did something it hasn't done since 2010: it raised the ceiling on how much government-backed capital a single borrower can stack. Go borrow the damn money. Here’s this week’s edition of The Dime💰.

Quick intro if you're new here. I'm

In late June 2026, with zero press release and zero fanfare, Joe Budden and Ian Schwartzman quietly launched joebuddencommunity.com, a fully owned membership platform built in-house rather than licensed from anybody. That sentence reads like a podcast update. It isn't. It's a technology story, and it's one that touches Patreon's fee structure, Whop's balance sheet, Apple's App Store cut, and eventually the $10 a month you're paying some creator right now without thinking twice about it.

Quick intro if you're new here. I'm Carl, by day I run Joseph Black Law PLLC, a New York law practice where I work on startup and venture capital transactions, entertainment and music deals, and investment fund structures. By night, and honestly during a lot of stolen lunch hours, I write The Dime💰.

The Dime💰 exists for one reason: the most interesting financial

Before we get into Sony, a quick note󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄊󠅕󠆪󠄚󠅑󠆉󠅮󠅔󠇊󠅽󠇀󠆧󠆜󠄧󠆩󠅕󠇐󠅀󠆐󠆓󠆙󠇅󠅲󠅹󠅨󠄄︍󠇮󠄻︀󠅦󠄝󠆩󠆁󠇋󠅖󠆴󠇏︍󠆢. We're launching the Due Dilly Supper Club, an intimate evening with friends and supporters of this community󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅤󠇫󠅯󠅯󠄣󠅯󠆳󠄅󠅿󠄼󠅵󠅺󠄩󠇇󠆳󠆛󠄚󠄈󠄘󠄩󠄓󠇮󠇙󠆷󠆱󠄝󠄓󠆪󠄋󠆴󠆥󠄔󠄝󠆨󠅨󠇀󠅨󠅱󠆴󠆤. Think food, drinks, and real conversation in a private space in Brooklyn󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄅󠆹󠅂󠇟󠅈󠅡󠅐󠇯󠅝󠅬󠇀󠇫󠇇󠅑󠆐󠇐󠇭󠄣󠇫󠄀󠆞󠅕󠆊󠄴󠅹󠆿󠄠󠄠󠅝󠄈󠅃󠅍󠇀󠆡󠄧󠅶󠇡󠇔󠆂󠄱. No big stage, no panel, just people who read this newsletter sitting around a table talking about money, culture, and everything in between󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅷󠄺󠆇󠅔󠆁󠇣󠆵󠆠󠆤󠇨󠆽󠆄󠄛󠅰󠆌󠅯󠅱󠅮󠇓󠄜󠅴󠄁󠅽︍󠄊󠅊󠄊󠄛󠅨󠄂󠇟󠄅󠆀󠆅󠆖︁󠆓󠆆󠇅󠇢. First one goes down next week and tickets are $60󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆫󠄀󠇭󠅂󠄥󠇔󠅋󠅆󠅞︃󠇢󠇜󠄓󠇑󠅛󠅓︇󠇥󠇫󠅶󠅂󠆜󠅿󠇪󠆶󠆙󠄾󠇎󠇭󠆄󠆜󠆱󠆬󠄔󠅙󠄛󠄺󠇃󠇑󠄬. Grab yours here󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅳󠆠󠅈󠇨󠅥󠆦󠄅󠄽󠄦󠅔󠇜󠇊󠇁󠄰󠄧󠆦󠄥󠆚󠄠󠆊󠆚󠄳󠄒󠅵󠆿󠆵󠆲󠄱󠅊︈󠄶︀󠇬󠇉󠄵󠅷︊󠄿󠆃󠆛. Space is very limited so don't sleep on it.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅘󠆾󠄀󠇙󠇫󠄹󠇛󠆁󠅥󠄧󠄟󠄼󠇐󠆭󠄎︌󠄗󠄽󠆣󠅄󠆯󠆶󠄈󠄥󠅭󠄏󠅞︌󠅾󠆓󠆿󠄭󠄚󠄩󠄋󠇮󠄚︇︀󠄔On July 7, 2026, Sony Bank got word from Washington that most Sony shareholders never saw coming:the OCC handed it conditional approvalto stand up a national trust bank called Connectia Trust, whose entire job is issuing a dollar-backed stablecoin󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆪󠄍󠄼󠅆󠆗󠆐󠅭󠆑󠅯󠅃󠆖󠇠󠄪󠆱󠆱󠆨󠅲󠇄󠇖󠅃󠄓󠆑󠇫󠄽󠆶󠅄󠅞󠇊󠆆󠆷󠅈󠆅󠄾󠇏󠇯󠅁󠆅󠄷︀󠄎. That sentence reads like a banking trade story󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄇󠆙󠇒󠄭󠇓󠆎︃󠅛󠅹󠅲󠆘󠆈󠅆󠄼󠆧︃󠆀󠆦󠄽󠇜󠆝󠆝󠆩󠄣󠄏󠅥󠆩󠇐󠅮󠆅󠅴󠆥󠆢︋󠅦︇󠅵󠄟󠅾󠇙. It isn't󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆋󠅚󠅇󠅟󠅆󠆶󠇁󠆁󠆡󠅶󠅏󠄍󠇤󠄕󠅌󠅙󠅜󠅎󠅽󠄒󠆨󠄵󠄧󠇋󠇨󠄓󠇃󠄟󠅚󠇋󠆒󠇄󠇍󠆯󠅴󠇧󠄷󠇨󠄿︅. It's an entertainment story, and it's one that touches PlayStation, anime,

Rihanna built a beauty empire with LVMH's money󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄸󠄚󠄛︉󠄁󠄏󠇭󠄇︎︉󠅠󠅋︅󠆲󠄼︈︇󠅌󠄓󠅟󠄑󠆬󠇦󠄮󠆘󠄔󠆪󠅩󠆏󠄘󠆻󠆨󠇠󠆳󠅽󠇡󠇋󠇗󠅔󠇅. Now LVMH wants out, and the leading bidder is a firm co-founded by Jay Z󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇔󠆄︉󠅚󠆜󠄒󠅝󠅵󠆽󠄣󠅧󠆗󠄍󠆹󠇫󠅟󠆊󠄷󠆷󠆥󠅖󠆱󠆁󠇅󠅤󠅖󠅿󠇪󠅮󠄖󠇘󠄙󠅵󠆦󠆯󠄐󠇐󠄨󠇄︉. You can't make this stuff up.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆷󠇀︌󠆸󠆳󠅏󠆮󠅯︊󠆏󠆚󠇤󠇋󠅎󠅥󠇈󠄂󠆓󠄢󠄞󠅣󠆠󠆃󠅎󠅶︆󠅶󠆸󠆇󠄽󠆵󠅣󠅀󠅑󠅾󠅥󠅶󠅐󠅦󠄦Let's break down what's actually happening, who MarcyPen Capital Partners really is, and the number everybody is dancing around: the discount.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆜󠄜󠄿󠅋󠆖󠆼󠆯󠅝󠇂󠅱󠄠︌󠅊󠅤󠆷󠇘󠇡󠅷󠇎󠄆󠇁︅󠅰󠄕󠄗󠇅󠆠󠅌󠄮︌󠄇󠅞󠇓󠅽󠅪󠄨󠄊󠄷󠅷󠄞Quick intro if you're new here󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇉󠅧󠇌󠅡󠅩󠅛󠅟󠅵󠅬󠆂󠄼󠅘󠅌󠆺󠄿󠆻󠆚󠆜󠅥󠇛󠅜󠄪󠆲󠅔󠆴󠇁󠅥󠄝󠄗︍󠅵󠆧󠅬󠆘󠇉󠆷󠇨󠅆︈󠅢. I'm Carl, by day I run Joseph Black Law PLLC, a New York Law practice where I work on startup and venture capital transactions, entertainment and music deals, and investment fund structures󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇫󠄱󠇈󠇒󠆥󠇙󠄟󠆈󠆩󠆄󠄨󠄡︉󠇓󠇚󠅛︍󠇘󠆬󠆠󠆊󠆄󠅁󠅕󠇙󠅮󠄍󠆃󠇛󠄤︁󠇫󠆓󠅪󠅱󠆏󠅼󠇋󠄁󠄺. By night, and honestly during a lot of stolen lunch hours, I write The Dime💰.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄅󠆦󠆕󠅌󠄎󠇩︋󠄙︋󠆛󠇉󠆸󠄱󠆶󠆵󠆷︁󠄐󠅬󠆘󠄭󠅑󠅡󠅄󠆥󠅍︁󠄑󠆸󠄴󠆟󠅈󠇦󠄋󠆞󠅠󠅳󠅭󠇘󠆡The Dime💰 exists for one reason: the most interesting financial stories in America run through culture, and almost nobody covers them with both the spreadsheet and the source material open

In the summer of 2024, Jalen Brunson signed a four-year, $156.5 million extension with the Knicks󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅠󠄇󠆀󠇑󠅅󠇭󠄡󠅫󠅓󠄓󠆄󠅯󠇥󠄙︌︋󠆛󠄽󠅕󠆍󠅫󠇤󠄮󠄶󠆗󠆷󠅔󠇎󠅸󠅰󠆗󠆜󠆽󠆥󠄝󠅀󠅟󠅋󠆯󠄪. On the surface that sounds like a lot of money󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄨︆󠅬󠇁󠄮󠅘󠅓󠇚󠅽󠆙󠄌󠅑󠇀󠄭󠆵󠅁󠅠󠆋󠇞󠇥󠆠󠅐󠅪󠄁󠆩︁󠅠󠆌󠆵󠄓󠄽󠇠󠆮󠇓󠆢󠇊󠅭󠄅󠇚󠆏. And it is󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅌󠆪󠄱󠅶󠅗️󠅿󠅅󠄊󠅐󠆪󠄆󠇊󠇜󠆮󠄊󠄚󠄬󠆟󠅈󠇞󠆨󠄈󠅀󠄩󠅠󠅃󠇦󠅁󠅨︊󠄧󠆽󠇆︄󠇆󠄊󠅄󠆁󠆶. But context matters here󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅑󠆫󠄸󠄦󠇍󠅷󠆲︎󠆴󠆆󠅾󠆰󠄱󠄢󠆭󠇦󠇜󠇬󠄬󠇍󠆄󠅁󠅰󠇄󠆛󠅶󠄔󠆟󠅟󠅾️󠄈󠄩󠆼󠄨󠇗󠇎󠄭󠇕︊. He was eligible for a five-year, $269 million max deal the following offseason󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅋󠅱󠄃󠄰󠅞󠅬︉󠇆󠄬󠄨︁󠄍󠆼󠇬󠆖󠇜󠇞󠅅󠇣󠅭︋󠅉󠆯󠆣󠆲󠆊󠆐󠇧󠇏󠆞󠅇󠅯󠅣󠄌󠅔󠄑󠆯󠇜󠆬󠇎. He walked away from it󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇄󠄸󠆐󠅳󠆨󠆗󠆺󠆆󠇩󠄒󠆂󠆥󠅏󠆙󠅼︂󠆐󠆡󠆈󠄒󠆌󠄼󠄄󠅢󠅂󠅯󠅺󠅺󠇘︅󠄎󠄻󠆦󠇕󠇧󠆔󠅓󠆤󠇨󠇏. Voluntarily󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅤󠅔󠇂󠄅󠄭󠅭󠅻󠅛󠆚󠇞󠇟󠄙󠆯󠅝󠇩󠅶󠇪󠆚󠄍󠆹󠅟󠄜󠅌󠆚󠅝󠆃︁󠅯󠅲󠇜󠅽︊󠄮󠄃󠄴󠆁󠄞󠄹󠅩󠇖. That is a $113 million headline gap, or roughly $37 million in real near-term dollars when you account for the fourth-year player option he kept󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇄󠅇󠇔󠅄󠇟󠅰󠅝󠇔󠅂󠅚︉󠅽󠆄󠇕󠆥󠅎︈󠄒󠅟󠅦︉󠅧󠆵󠄕󠆸󠄴󠇟󠄉󠇡󠄙󠄪󠆩︀󠅀󠅁󠆩󠄆󠆥︆󠅒. Either way you cut it, no NBA star does this.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅘󠆏󠅌󠇓󠅸󠄄󠄠󠅷󠆷󠇄󠇣󠆋󠄝󠅭󠆥󠆨󠇡󠄪󠆛󠅟󠅙︂󠄕󠅧󠆗󠆌󠄐󠆮󠇚󠆻󠇨󠆚󠇙󠄅󠅶󠄺󠅎󠅕󠄕󠅻The reason he gave󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆡󠅕󠅖󠅇󠆋󠅭󠅇󠆪󠅆󠅠󠅿󠇙︂󠆢󠇑󠆥󠄈󠄖󠇤󠄮󠅅󠅚󠄡󠇣󠆩󠇎󠅄󠆧󠇌󠄒󠅽󠆹󠅢󠆻󠇝󠇎󠄱󠅍󠄸󠆓? He wanted to win󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄫︂󠆴󠇜󠄬󠇂󠆏󠆂󠄰󠄚󠅉󠄚󠇨󠇒󠅩󠇟󠆂󠄝󠇁󠄦󠆌󠄾󠆖󠇡󠇌󠄴󠆏󠅥󠄦󠇅󠅈󠅤󠄃󠆩󠆺󠇃󠄕󠅝󠇐󠄌. And he was honest about the psychology of it too󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅇󠄶󠅶󠅪︈󠆎󠅚󠇎󠅟󠄏󠄚󠆊󠄛󠅳󠅶󠆥󠆔󠄦󠄍󠆤󠄑󠆟󠆴󠄅󠅿󠇟󠆥󠇆󠄵󠇫󠇁󠆞󠆛󠄪󠆤󠆹󠅥󠅋󠄼󠆬. Playing without a contract hanging over his head freed him up mentally󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇚󠆤󠇡󠅬󠆴󠅜󠄩󠅌󠇆󠆌󠇒󠆸󠇪󠅘️󠆌󠅟󠅸󠄃󠅱󠄁󠄪󠄠󠇑󠆕󠆹󠇛︁󠆫󠇔󠆧󠇫󠅊󠄙󠅸󠅲󠅧󠆸󠆉󠄪. No pressure to perform for a paycheck󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇏󠆫︊󠅣󠆃󠅣󠄫󠇍󠄷󠅙󠄰󠄒󠅌󠆘󠅢󠇇󠇦󠄘󠇗󠄳󠄕󠅖󠄈󠄝󠆮︎󠆋󠄤󠇊󠆢󠄦︅︌󠇂󠆍󠅞︉󠇁️󠆤. Just basketball󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆉󠅅󠅦󠆻󠅗︋󠅝󠆘󠅕󠅩󠄮󠇋󠆘󠅍󠆹󠇋󠆀󠇮󠅇󠇪󠄚󠅣󠆞󠅏󠄯󠅅󠄒󠆌󠄎󠇑󠇕󠅐󠅣󠇨󠄓󠆷󠆄󠆝︅󠅀. That mindset showed up in his game and it showed up in the Knicks' results󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇍󠅈󠄑󠄭󠆂󠆔︈󠇦󠆿󠄽󠄼󠅞󠇮󠅦󠄺󠆚󠅩󠇭󠇤󠇯󠅃󠅢󠄑󠄜󠄤󠅫󠅗󠇁󠅋󠄩󠆥󠇥󠄀󠅙󠄲󠄭󠄑󠆤󠇛󠆉. Here's this week'

Anthropic, one of the most valuable private companies on the planet, published a warning on its official support page that sent shockwaves through the pre-IPO investment world󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅱󠇒󠆏󠅱󠄔󠆞󠅼󠅯󠆰󠆌󠄈󠄴󠅥󠅯󠅘󠄰󠅟󠆴󠄣󠇎󠇪󠄺󠄶󠄉󠅟󠆋󠇔󠆽󠆌󠄶󠅷󠇀󠅞󠆦󠅜󠆻󠇎󠆆󠅊󠆢. The warning was about people selling what they claim to be Anthropic shares󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅋󠆧󠄳󠅠︋󠅮󠅪󠅖󠅜󠇌󠆼󠄠󠇆󠆯󠇑󠆥󠇬󠇏󠆎󠇫󠄎󠄁󠄂󠆲󠇌󠄎󠆋󠅤󠅙󠅶󠆝󠅋󠇟󠇬󠇨󠅘󠇍󠅕󠄤󠅕. And the message from Anthropic was blunt.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅵󠄂󠅮󠇢󠆠󠅁󠄩󠅨󠅠󠇠󠅹󠄦󠆊󠄤󠆖󠆴󠄾󠇇󠄟󠄏󠅈󠇝󠇥󠄬󠄅󠆨󠆩󠅌󠄳󠇩󠄯󠇊󠅶󠇤󠇆󠆎󠄨󠆼󠄨󠅬"Any sale or transfer of Anthropic stock, or any interest in Anthropic stock, that has not been approved by our Board of Directors is void and will not be recognized on our books and records󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆤︁󠇈󠄥󠅤󠆐󠄮󠄷󠅮󠆒󠅁󠇬󠅫︁󠇁󠄉󠄘󠆅󠅶󠆢󠄔󠄑󠄅󠄾󠆽󠄸󠅓󠇒󠄾󠄪󠅦󠄶󠆻󠅆󠅩󠄁󠇖󠅀󠄽󠆟."

(Anthropic Support Page, support.claude.com)

Void󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄖︃󠄁󠄤󠅹󠄗󠆝󠄑󠆒󠅺󠆦󠄐󠅑󠄔󠆭󠄨󠄽󠅚󠇢󠇡󠄜󠅳󠆩󠆐󠆖󠇖󠆐󠇁󠅚󠅏󠆰󠅪󠆱󠅻︄󠇗󠆵󠆤󠄃󠆫. Not voidable󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅇󠄃󠇚︄󠄋︍󠇚󠄾󠆀󠅐󠇁󠆤󠅭󠆁󠆀󠆯󠅉󠇂󠄗󠅒︉󠇭󠅤󠆅󠅁󠆆󠆽󠆑󠆚󠇗󠅟󠆎󠅧️󠄤󠄭󠅰󠆮󠇘󠄕. Not disputed󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅄󠆹󠄶󠄫󠄎󠄚󠅂󠇛︉󠇔󠆜󠅠󠆖󠆎󠄄󠆡󠄘󠇌󠆷󠆴󠆦󠄆󠆍󠄬󠅏󠄛󠆀󠆅󠆍󠇝󠆛󠄥󠆈󠅍󠇌󠄗󠇎󠆩󠇤︅. Not "subject to review." VOID󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇃󠅟︃󠄞󠄽󠄒󠆙󠇊󠅃󠄻󠄋󠄶󠇯󠄷󠆻󠄆︈󠅻󠆣󠅂󠅪󠇋󠆸󠄧󠅅󠅜󠇦󠇭󠄪󠄯󠄰󠄋󠄔󠆵︀󠅭󠅆󠄛󠆒󠆮. As in, the transaction never happened󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄁󠄖󠄤󠆷󠄷󠄋󠄅󠄾󠇆󠆡󠇘󠆚󠅥󠇞󠄯󠅅󠅲󠇌󠅌󠅕󠄊󠄲󠅵󠄼󠆓󠇕󠇨󠆒󠇁󠇞󠆽󠄗󠄁󠄛󠇆󠆇︂󠇤󠅞󠆻. As in, if you paid money for it, you might not own anything.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇆󠅊󠄹󠅀󠅼󠆨︂󠄩󠅮󠆊󠄄󠅳󠇞󠆐︋󠄃󠄦󠅊󠇠󠅤󠄫󠆥󠅦󠄡󠇛󠅅︎󠆓󠅦󠅼󠅜󠇤󠆗󠄲󠄊󠆐󠅚󠅬󠆼󠅚And then Anthropic did something nobody expected󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄨󠅢󠄫󠄃󠇙󠅹︋󠄥󠅞󠆦󠅽󠅷󠆵󠅋󠄚︆󠅱󠄅󠅞󠆩󠇥󠆧󠆶󠄮󠄫󠄏󠅊󠅙󠄍󠇔󠄡󠄦󠇌󠆔︁󠄹󠇠󠅠󠅁󠆝. They named names.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆵󠇝󠄡󠅝󠆍󠆠󠇞︃󠆨󠄜󠆝󠆽󠇮󠆤󠆆󠆘󠇕󠇬󠇘󠄏󠄳󠆝󠄈󠆵󠅛󠇏󠅣󠅃󠄜󠇒󠅥󠄄󠆼󠆾󠄾󠅈󠇉󠅹︎󠆈Eight platforms, specifically Open Door Partners, Unicorns Exchange, Pachamama Capital, Lionheart Ventures, Hiive (new offerings), Forge Global (new offerings), Sydecar, and Upmarket,

Finding funding can feel like searching for a secret club with no address󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄸󠅚󠇒󠇋󠅖󠇢󠄰󠇑󠅆󠇜󠅾󠅼󠆡󠅨󠅁󠆟󠅵󠆺󠇬󠆕󠆡󠆝󠄤󠅇󠄄︈︌󠆤󠇂︇󠄚󠄫️󠄐󠄯󠆪󠇄󠄽󠅍󠆶. We did the legwork, so you don't have to󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇑󠇢󠇂󠇚󠆯︌󠇫︋󠄴󠄐󠅄󠇨󠄷󠅦󠄬󠄮󠇪󠅑󠅝󠄠󠅁󠄓󠅲󠅭󠆹󠆦󠄈󠄋️󠄅󠇘󠅫󠄵󠇈︀󠆼󠇠󠄺󠅍󠆋. Here's who's writing checks, where they're based, and how to get in the room.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢︌󠇌󠄲󠄦󠅤󠆱󠇫󠇭󠅢︌󠆧󠇫󠆫󠅲󠆿󠆤󠅣︌󠇎󠄸󠇇󠄢󠇙󠆦󠄪󠆀󠆐󠅖󠅠󠅐󠅶󠄮󠄪︁󠅸󠄧󠅧󠅁󠅻󠇉Born Inside Google

Black Angel Group— Started as an informal collective of Black Googlers and Alphabet employees who decided to pool their capital and put it behind seed to Series A startups worldwide󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇛󠅹󠇟󠇒󠅻󠄚󠅢︉󠄏󠆥󠅇󠇈󠆩󠄔󠇮󠆇󠆄󠇗󠆸󠇤󠄒󠄤󠄌󠅱󠄴󠅦︌︈󠆷󠄴󠆽󠄫󠆺󠇂󠅢󠆑󠄓󠅥󠄕󠅋. Now 50+ members strong with affiliates across the US and Europe, including senior leaders from Google Cloud and Gradient Ventures󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅝󠇄󠅵󠅵󠄑󠇐󠅯󠄞󠆢󠇅︃󠇄󠅕󠄶󠄧󠆯󠇦󠆐󠇭󠆋󠅬󠄈󠄿󠇥󠄥󠄢󠄗︈󠆸󠆠󠇍󠄹󠇌󠅡︅󠆖󠆄󠅂󠄰󠆀. About half their portfolio companies are led by underrepresented founders, not because it's the rule, just because diverse networks source diverse deals󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅝󠆿󠄀󠅭󠇅󠆭󠄢󠅝󠆖󠅿󠄨󠇙󠅜󠇏󠇖󠅏󠆞︀󠄅󠄃󠅝󠄁󠅌󠄡󠇖󠅗󠆸󠅓󠇗󠇓󠆅󠅕󠆫󠇖󠅠󠇟󠅝󠄲󠅎󠇎. The mission is simple: more Black capital, more Black investors in the ecosystem󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠇕󠄴️󠅷󠄿󠅚󠆍󠇏󠅤󠄶󠆕󠄟󠇞󠇭󠆎󠅠󠅻󠄗󠆾󠇓󠆮󠅥󠅦󠆙󠄃󠅤󠄘󠄼󠆵󠄁󠇏󠅐󠆇󠆆󠄤󠇛󠄒󠅖󠇨󠆄. If you're building something ethical at the seed stage, this is one of the most valuable rooms you can get

I'm not a bankruptcy attorney, but a friend of mine is one at Kirkland & Ellis󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢︃󠆝󠆂󠄫󠅇󠄐︂󠄉󠅶󠅛󠄴󠄊󠅴󠅵︄󠄦󠄚󠇏󠄚󠆘󠄍󠄑󠇛󠇎󠇇󠄜󠅹󠄠󠄪󠆱󠅏󠅪󠇒󠇡󠄄︀󠄚󠆄󠆊󠄚. So every time I think about catching up with him, I read a few bankruptcy cases to carry a conversation for our catch up󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆾󠅽󠅌󠅎󠅐󠅖󠅸󠅱󠅑󠆴󠇨󠇅󠅃󠇎󠆍󠄄󠄜󠆼︂󠄻󠆡󠆿󠆬󠆏󠅎󠅖󠆦󠇘󠆺󠅝󠅹󠄝󠅊󠆃󠆟󠄥󠄑️󠄂󠄬. One bankruptcy was really interesting this year󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢︈󠄊󠆟󠄁󠅘󠆷󠆬󠇃󠅒󠅇󠆩󠅰󠆲󠅿󠄖󠅏󠄰󠇑󠄜󠄝󠅜󠄓󠇪󠅢󠄔󠆦󠅫󠄁󠆝󠇕󠄁󠅹󠄹󠅙󠄞󠇀󠅠󠆵󠆺󠆪 and I learned some stuff about it which I felt would be fun to share.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢︎󠇮󠄛󠇀󠄆󠄽󠅙󠆽󠅭󠆒󠅞󠄛󠅕󠅊󠅬󠅛󠄌󠆁󠄃󠄱󠇎󠇌󠇛󠅠󠆥󠄬󠅠󠇏󠆘󠅕󠆅󠆖󠄬󠆀󠄑󠆬󠆋󠅉󠇥󠇎Food52 filed for bankruptcy󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆰󠄽󠅏󠅹󠄬󠆛󠄒󠇪󠇀︊󠅬󠇂󠅠󠆇󠇤️󠆀󠄖󠄯󠇢󠅁󠆦󠄥󠇯󠅮󠅏󠅺󠇁󠆪󠆦󠆇󠅭󠅣󠅵󠅧󠄍󠆭󠅧󠄜󠆼. The brand you probably know from those beautiful kitchen photos and the cookware you bookmarked but never bought󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅘󠆼󠆉󠄄󠆷︁󠅌󠄨󠄅󠇄󠆄󠄇󠄕󠅂󠄇󠅜󠅁󠇋󠄐󠆩󠄆󠅆󠇗󠆌󠅻󠆼󠅃󠅙󠅛󠅍󠄂󠆣󠅗󠄇󠄤󠅾󠅓︄󠅑󠆻. Yeah, them󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆰󠇕󠆡󠇅󠄑󠅻󠄷󠄸󠆖󠆯󠇮󠄾󠄷󠅣󠄣󠅯󠇋󠄖󠅇󠅒󠇣󠇓󠄔󠆐󠅟󠇡󠅝󠅃︄︌󠄬󠆵󠅲󠇅󠅴︈󠄌︂󠄀󠇝. They filed for Chapter 11 in January of this year and needed money to keep the lights on while they figured out their next move󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠅕︌󠆅󠆎󠅧󠄂󠄒󠆑󠇡󠄺︋︆󠅪󠆖󠆜󠄌󠄡󠇐︆󠅞󠅂󠇖󠆠󠅑󠅖󠅨󠄘󠄎󠆁󠆽󠆍󠄛󠅲󠆂󠅜󠆍󠄚󠅃󠄅󠆽. That money is called DIP financing, and the way they structured this particular deal is what caught my eye.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆲󠆣󠅌󠆁󠆒󠆎󠇟󠇎󠅶󠄻󠅄󠆚󠆈󠄠󠇉󠆯󠇧󠇊󠅍󠅟󠆡󠅼󠄴󠆊󠄿󠆹󠄮󠅥󠇈󠅟󠄛󠆯󠄏󠄟󠆷󠅱󠄱󠇅󠆨︄Let's get into it󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠄗󠅏󠅩󠄾︉︆󠅣󠄊󠇢󠆝󠅐︉󠆑︂󠅌󠆭󠄺󠅪󠆲󠄿󠄸󠆈︊󠆇󠇚󠄓󠆻󠅂󠅳󠄘󠄘󠆽󠆚󠆈󠇔󠄼󠄤󠄽󠅘󠄨. Here's this week's edition of The Dime💰.

󠇟󠇠󠇡󠇢󠆮󠇋󠆫󠄉󠇡󠅷󠅞︌︋󠆏󠇊󠆘󠄯󠇞󠆌󠆵󠆭󠄂︀󠅃󠅆󠄬󠅗󠇙󠄗󠅄󠅄󠄠󠄵󠆘󠄀󠆋󠅤󠆿󠆜󠆾󠄱󠅵󠄨󠇡First, What the Hell

You don't work in tech. You don't know what a NAV loan is and you don't care. You're a teacher in Ohio, a nurse in Atlanta, a union electrician in Pittsburgh, a firefighter in Phoenix. You've been putting money into your pension every single paycheck for fifteen years and you're counting on it being there when you retire.

Here's what nobody told you.

That pension? Your state pension, your union retirement fund, your university endowment if you work in higher education, your 401k if you work in the private sector? It is almost certainly invested in private equity funds, venture capital funds, and private credit funds. And those funds have spent the last decade betting HEAVILY on software companies.

The California Public Employees' Retirement System, CalPERS, the largest public pension in the United States with $502 billion in assets, allocates billions to private

In August 2011, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen wrote an essay in the Wall Street Journal that became one of the most quoted pieces in the history of Silicon Valley. The title was simple: Why Software Is Eating the World. His argument was that software companies were going to take over enormous chunks of the global economy, and that every industry had better wake up or get eaten alive.

He was right. Amazon ate retail. Netflix ate video rental. Spotify ate the music store. Airbnb ate hotels. Uber ate the taxi industry. Software didn't just show up to the table, it ate everybody else's food, ordered dessert, and asked for the check.

For the next decade, the smartest money in the world bet heavily on software. Venture capital poured in. Private equity firms built entire strategies around it. Valuations went through the roof. A company that could show recurring

What is TBPN ?

A creator-led media startup — a daily, three-hour live tech talk show hosted by entrepreneurs Jordi Hays and John Coogan. TBPN had 11 employees, 58,000 YouTube subscribers, and generated $5 million in ad revenue in 2025. They were on track to clear $30M in 2026. Put a nice media multiple on that ( around 2-4x) and you easily get to $100M+ acquisition price.

Who’s the audience?

The technology industry: Tech founders, VCs, executives, and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. It’s a hit there, so capital flows easily, because what

The story of Hollywood isn’t art. That existed long before (and will long after) this current iteration is transformed. The story of the Hollywood we know, is about studios being bought and sold, and in between, producing things we watched. A lot of those buyers, we would be shocked at. For instance:

In the 1950s, a music label called Decca, purchased Universal Studios.

NBC later merged with Universal, and then Comcast took it—all to say: institutions trade studios like assets, because they are.

The battle for Warner Brothers is about much more than movies, but we don’t have to act like it the first time something like this has happened.

This analysis focuses on Paramount’s case to the Warner Bros. shareholders—and how a presentation, positioned well—while Netflix plays the parallel public game.

But to do that, you need a deck that tells people why