To Eliminate Consumer Messaging Friction, More Companies Are Entering The Matrix – TechCrunch

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Welcome to your daily roundup of TechCrunch goodness. It’s my last day with you (you’re welcome!), so Christina will be back in the Daily Crunch headquarters on Tuesday. haje won’t be back yet as he’s heading to Vegas as part of the team covering CES. Speaking of CES, brian lifted the curtain on what we can expect from its first full-fledged production since pre-COVID.

Goodbye for now, people. Happy new year to you all. — Henry

At the top

• in the matrix: Not this Matrix. We are talking about the open standards based communication protocol called Matrix which Paul went deep. Its network has doubled thanks in part to increased use by businesses and government. Reddit is also trying it out, experimenting with it for its chat function.
• For merging: Tim took a look at five startups poised to benefit from recent merger breakthroughs. [TC+]
• Alt-ChatGPT: In the wake of the answer to OpenAI’s ChatGPT comes an open source equivalent. It’s called PaLM + RLHF (rolls on the tongue, huh?), but Kyle writes that it’s not pre-trained, which means good luck getting it to work.
• Meta eyes have it: Amanda writes that Meta is getting into the eyewear business with its purchase of Dutch smartglasses company Luxexcel.
• book tracking: Aisha has put together a list of five apps you can use to track all the readings you plan to take once the clock strikes in 2023.
• Netflix versus Hulu: Maybe you’ve decided to drop a streaming service or two from your lineup in light of their continued price hikes. lauren looked at the features of Netflix and Hulu to help you decide.

What to Look for in a Term Sheet as a First-Time Founder

Silicon Valley journalist Connie Loizos interviewed three seasoned VCs to get their top tips for first-time entrepreneurs. She asked them:

• Why should you know what is going to be in a condition sheet before you see it?
• Which mechanism is best to use initially?
• How much equity is distributed to each level of early stage fundraising?
• What is a red flag in a termsheet?
• How should founders think about valuation when it comes to that first term sheet?

Tech Crunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get a head start. You can register here. Use code “DC” to get 15% off an annual subscription!

Look back and look ahead

We’ve rounded up TC+ venture capital stories from a year that unfortunately saw a lot of lows. And here are a few other favorites for good measure:

Zack and Carly looks back at how law enforcement has cracked down on cybercriminals this year. They examine the efforts of offenders and cops to bring justice.

Indian startups were brimming with cash with record investments. Now, pot holder writes, the ecosystem is struggling with tighter funding exchanges, layoffs, and disappointing public debuts.