Have you ever wanted to be Nic Cage's magical apprentice?🧙

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Happy Monday, folks.

Today is the last day of July, and you know what that means? Back to school is right around the corner.

So, what can you do to prepare that special student in your life?

Why, simply share The Startup Breakdown with them!

There’re startups. There’re breakdowns. That literally describes my entire college experience.

So share this with one student (or non because learning has no age 😌) and get them ready to kick off the school year in venture-funded style.

Sticking with the back to school theme, I think it’s about time that we admit that the education system sucks.

Frankly, it does very little to prepare students for the real world apart from instilling in them the mindset that everything is competition, and we’re all here to be little worker drones. Frankly, the most original thinking in most school buildings are the drawings on the inside of the bathroom stalls.

Forget learning about how medical professionals actually use the elements discussed in chemistry to save people’s lives… Kids are trained to do whatever it takes to win, from cheating on homework to racing to be the first one to the water fountain after PE. No wonder everyone is so cutthroat about promotions and people cut in front of you while you’re in line for some CFA nugs.

What if school was different?

What if students were taught the essentials but also about the things they were actually interested in?

We have a severe shortage of professionals in various practical and much-needed jobs. What if we allowed students to sample and potentially choose these paths, providing an immediate path to a financially attractive career path without the need for taking on 4 years of student debt for a liberal arts degree?

What if kids were taught how to actually think for themselves and question the world around them?

Well as far as I see it, you have two options: buy your neighbor’s house and turn it into a school for your kids to learn entrepreneurship a la Elon Musk…

… or you can check out BuildWithin, a startup building a platform for talent acquisition and training designed to identify, train and manage technical apprentices.

The company is betting big on “Potential over Credential,” a mission which many of us can firmly stand behind. The team is working hard to ensure that individuals are afforded opportunities for well-paid and interesting roles regardless of their socioeconomic background.

Going beyond basic job postings like those seen on other sites, the platform offers a learning management system for employers to create and distribute training content, a work management system to communicate and monitor apprentice’s projects and progress, and a built-in compliance feature to ensure reporting is standardized for federal and state regulations.

BuildWithin has helped more than 1,000 employers identify and develop apprentices despite only operating in the DMV. With an estimated $10 million in revenue last year, a 100% jump from its 2021 numbers, and plans to expand into other states and countries over the next few years, $100 million in ARR is not out of the question.

So far, the team has raised $10.3 million in funding and is actively raising its Series A after closing its $2.4 million Seed round led by Dundee Venture Capital at the end of this last year.

The rest of the funding comes from the hands of Uncle Sam. BuildWithin has been awarded various government grants worth more than $8 million from the U.S. Department of Labor. As long as it came with a burger and American Flag (Made in China)

With a global apprenticeship market worth an estimated $300 billion, there’s plenty of room for growth, particularly as more people come around to the fact that apprenticeships are a pretty good way to determine whether someone is a fit for the job.

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s kinda ludicrous (Luda!) to assume that you can tell whether someone is ready for a massive responsibility and the accompanying paycheck based on 2 or 3 rounds of “So tell me about your biggest weakness” answered by “I just care too much.”

The labor market has seen some pretty seismic shakeups over the last few years, and with the rise of “AI is going to take all of our jobs”, there are various reasons to assume that the market is only going to continue to grow rapidly:

• The demand for skilled workers is growing in every industry, from construction and engineers to programmers (okay, now might be a pretty rough time for the last one but still)

• There has been a shortage of labor since the pandemic, regardless of whether your dad is right and “society is just lazy now” or whether people realized that they don’t have to slave away at a job they hate while not making enough to pay for sriracha (again, maybe not the best example atm)

• Technology is also increasingly being used in the workforce, and this is creating a need for workers with skills in technology. Looking at you kids who know how to press ‘power’ on your parents’ remote.

Looking deeper into some of the specific trends, the construction, manufacturing, and healthcare industries are the largest employers of apprentices, and growth rates are highest for high school and even college graduates in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

BuildWithin is focused on the tech apprenticeship space, providing opportunities for candidates in computer programming, data analytics, and even BD. As of now, I’m not seeing anything in developing nuclear weapons or accessorizing for a day on the beach/party/girls’ night, but I’m sure those are next.

There are a few direct competitors including:

• Apprenticeship.org: website with information about apprenticeships in the US

• SkillBridge: program that allows military service members to earn college and apprenticeship credits while serving

• Pathways to Apprenticeship: program connecting employers and apprenticeship workers

In addition, the company will have to compete with alternative solutions such as

• Online Job Boards: Indeed, Monster, and CareerBuilder all offer platforms for millions of job posts and applications

• Online learning platforms: Coursera and Udemy offer courses for skill development

• Career counseling services: help apprentices find relevant opportunities

• Government agencies: offer programs and resources that can help promote apprenticeship opportunities

BuildWithin’s offerings are superior in multiple ways, though, from its wider range of features catered towards its clear target user to its strong network of partners.

BuildWithin is the brainchild of a passionate team of tech enthusiasts and educators who recognized the clear lack of career preparation that exists, and, on the other side, the difficulty in finding high-potential candidates with the potential to contribute meaningfully to growing a tech company. The now-20-person team was founded by:

• Dr. Ximena Hartsock: former high level administrator in the DC public school system and founder of Phone2Action

• Michelle Rhee: former teacher turned non-profit founder and CEO of The New Teacher Project and StudentsFirst

The team is full of motivated, passionate leaders with the deep understanding of the problem, and their commitment to solving it is demonstrated through their long lists of beneficial work.

We can sit and argue about student loan forgiveness all day. Until the root of the issue (see: the societal expectation that everyone goes to college to get a good job) is addressed, we’ll just continue to argue and apply legislative band-aid after band-aid while more kids take on debt in the name of getting a good job.

No more. Kudos to you, BuildWithin. Doing more to provide professional opportunities to our people than anyone in office. Hartsock-Rhee ‘24 🇺🇸 

BuildWithin is a startup that's revolutionizing the talent acquisition and training landscape. It's a platform that identifies, trains, and manages technical apprentices, focusing on potential rather than credentials. The platform offers a learning management system, a work management system, and a built-in compliance feature. With over $10 million in revenue last year and plans for expansion, BuildWithin is set to disrupt the traditional education and job training system. It's a game-changer for those seeking well-paid and interesting opportunities, regardless of their socioeconomic background.

Super Con-Duper Good News

Thomas the Train might be getting a revamp.

Wheels are so last year… Thomas and the gang are looking at magnetically levitating above the track, enabling them to reach Lightning McQueen-level speeds and us to realize that we’re getting a whole lot closer to flying cars.

Making these images more salient was the news this week that South Korean researchers believe they have developed a new superconductor which is capable of functioning in room temperatures, a divergence from their typical requirement for extremely low temperatures.

In case you don’t know what superconductors are (ngl, i had to rewrite this section because i’d originally thought it said ~semi~conductors), they are highly magnetic materials that can transmit electricity without resistance. This makes them valuable for applications like MRIs and quantum computers.

Being able to operate without Boston in January weather requirements would make this new kind of conductor far more usable, allowing them to be used regularly for clean energy generation, EVs, and yes, maglev trains.

Now, it’s important to note that this isn’t the first time that someone has claimed to have seen Bigfoot, and past claims have been debunked. This recent announcement has yet to be peer-reviewed, and in fact, it is facing intense scrutiny and skepticism from the labcoat crowd.

It remains to be seen whether someone mistook a raisin for a decimal, so holding the ol’ horses for now. Still, the promise of the tech on future industries (and yes, startups) warrants a mention.

You Can’t Do That…

I hope you’re all enjoying the Year of the Rabbit!

Unless you’re an American VC. In that case, you’re gonna have to opt for sushi or kimchi.

In case you’ve spent the last 20 years in an underwater research lab off the coast of Florida, the US and China have been this generation’s version of Arnold vs. Stallone with slightly fewer guns-a-blazin’

To curb the threat of Chinese tech competition, the Stars and Stripes actually put into place restrictions meant to prevent the flow of capital from Murican investors to Chinese startups, namely in critically important industries like semiconductors, AI, and soup dumplings.

It seems that not all investors got the memo, so the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (talk about a LinkedIn header…) recently DMed four US VCs expressing their concern over the investors’ neglect of these rules.

The four firms were GGV Capital, GST Ventures, Walden International, and Qualcomm Ventures.

Even more concerning than the fact that these investments went into propping up companies that could be seen as a threat to American security, some of the companies that the firms have invested in were also linked to the disgusting tracking and imprisonment of Uyghyurs, such as facial recognition software company Megvii.

National pride aside, that’s a real POS way to hit your IRR targets.

With the bubble soaring valuations of AI startups, it seems like investors have been hit with a case of FOMO, doing whatever necessary to cash in on the promise of the tech.

In this case, it seems like they caught Biden’s attention. Quick, someone dangle a small bag of coc…

I Wish You Couldn’t Do That…

Keeping things geopolitical, Israel is seeing more chaos than Twitter whenever Ticketmaster crashes.

The nation has been returning to the Dark Ages, undergoing dramatic institutional changes with hard-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enacting legislation to strengthen his hold on power, quite literally threatening the nation’s status as a democracy.

Most recently, that has meant introducing a new rule restricting the powers of the nation’s Supreme Court from striking down his legislation. As you can imagine, people aren’t super excited, and in real European fashion, they’ve taken to the streets multiple times over the last few months to let the government know that it’s not cool, man.

While these protests have led to some concessions, they have been pretty ineffective in producing real changes. However, given the country’s reliance on tech (15% GDP, 10% of jobs), the fact that the sector saw a 70% drop in funding for H1, in large part because of investor concern for the country’s institutions, might finally raise some alarms.

Seeing the effects of the political climate on their ability to raise and operate, 68% of Israeli startups have even reported taking steps to relocate, and even on a less extreme level, even more are moving their money out of the country.

Don’t expect this one to see any sort of resolution anytime soon. If you were looking to return to the good ol’ days, you’re well on your way, Bibi. Just don’t forget that those days come with a reversal of the progress the country has made in becoming a tech oasis.

The IMF recently projected India to be the fastest growing economy of any major country in 2023. The nation is an absolute hotbed of startup talent, too, and it won’t be surprising to see some of the biggest companies of tomorrow come from the region. Wanna learn more about these companies, perhaps even find one to invest in?

Check out Rustic Flute, a free newsletter bringing you the latest on the Indian startup scene!

Cheers to another day,

Trey