Good morning. When I read about the supposed work style of Gen Z and the supposed impact of generative AI on jobs, I think of serial entrepreneur Adam Khakhar. I’ve known him since he was at Brooklyn Tech, launching a streetwear brand with my son called PureNYC. This is a generation raised on Shark Tank, social media, and distributed commerce. Khakhar also had an ed-tech app at the time and went on to co-found a quantitative hedge fund.
Fast forward to today and Khakhar, now 25, sold his latest startup FlashDocs to Hebbia last month for an undisclosed sum. The idea came about when he was two years into a PhD program in machine learning at NYU. “I didn’t want to watch the world change around me, since I was writing about these technologies,” he told me recently. “I wanted to build something myself.”
He met veteran entrepreneur Morten Bruun at a VC dinner and together they decided to solve the challenge of synthesizing text into a slide deck, with charts, images and graphics that could be tailored to a company’s brand guidelines.
Working out of Khakhar’s Manhattan apartment, the two of them created an application programming interface (API) to turn AI prompts into branded slide decks in seconds. They sold their first subscription for $800 a month almost immediately. “I was able to develop a demo overnight but it took a few weeks to create something usable,” Khakhar said. “I was able to use AI tools to completely automate marketing functions, front-end engineering and other roles. It was kind of scary and exciting at the same time.”
They amassed several dozen enterprise clients, including Amazon, by the time they sold to Hebbia a little over a year later. The duo became co-heads of API and artifacts at Hebbia, with access to an engineering team of about 30 people. “AI tools are really good for a quick start,” he said. “When you want to scale from tens of thousands to a million slide decks per day, you can’t really vibe-code your way there.”
Lesson One: AI will enable more two-person companies to thrive and scale. (I just had dinner with Humanitas.ai CEO Philip Chow, who says he and CTO Aravindh Ravisankar are focused on pursuing a “high-impact, asset-light greenfield opportunity that otherwise wouldn’t have existed without AI.”)
Lesson Two: Don’t write off Gen Z. As Khakhar puts it: “At no other time could a 23-year-old create a B2B software-as-a-service startup and get publicly-traded companies as customers in such a short time.”
Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at [email protected]
Top news
Tsuanami warning in effect
An 8.8 magnitude earthquake followed by a string of strong aftershocks in Russia has triggered a tsunami warning for the U.S.’s West Coast and Hawaii, Alaska, South America, Japan, and much of the Pacific as far south as Australia.
Big economic news incoming
The U.S. will report a Q2 GDP number today and this afternoon the U.S. Federal reserve will publish its latest interest rate decision. The expectation is for The Fed to stay on hold at the 4.25% level. On Friday, we’ll get the jobs number from the Labor Department. Expect volatility in the markets if there are any surprises.
CEO turnover rises
A new report from executive placement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas found that 207 CEOs left U.S. companies in June—up 23% from May. The firm describes this rise in turnover as “the rise of the CEO gig economy.”
DOJ moves against judge who criticized Trump
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a misconduct complaint against federal judge James Boasberg because he said in a public forum that if the White House ignored court rulings it might create a constitutional crisis. The complaint alleges the judge made “improper public comments about President Trump and his Administration.”
Maxwell wants to testify to Congress about Epstein
Jeffrey Epstein’s imprisoned ex-girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell has offered to sit for a congressional deposition only if she receives immunity and clemency. The House has subpoenaed Maxwell for testimony bu the Oversight Committee said it would not grant clemency. Context: Maxwell knows more than most about the yearslong relationship between Trump and Epstein.
EPA chief wants to dump global warming finding
Lee Zeldin, the EPA’s administrator, wants to ditch the agency’s official, science-based finding from 2009 that manmade carbon emissions are heating the planet. The finding is the basis of dozens of emissions regulations.
Trump floats 20%-25% tariffs on India
Context: Japan and the E.U. got 15%, the U.K. got 10%. A higher tariff level on India would prevent U.S. companies from relocating their supply chains from China—which is also likely to get a high rating—to India.
Gap appoints new Athleta CEO
Gap Inc. announced on Tuesday that it is replacing Chris Blakeslee as CEO of its Athleta yoga brand with Maggie Gauger, who most recently led the North America women’s business at Nike, effective Aug. 1. The brand’s sales haven’t exceeded a $1.45 billion peak hit four years ago.
The markets
S&P 500 futures were up 0.28% this morning, premarket, after the index closed down 0.30% yesterday. STOXX Europe 600 was down 0.12% in early trading. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 was down 0.21% in early trading. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was flat at 0.049%. China’s CSI 300 Index was flat at 0.019%. The South Korea KOSPI was up 0.74%. India’s Nifty 50 was up 0.24%. Bitcoin is holding above $118K.
From the analysts
JPMorgan on Apple’s rumored foldable iPhone: “Embedded in our volume expectations long-term are expectations for the foldable iPhones to remain the most premium devices, albeit moderating in relation to the magnitude of premium led by volume-based scale benefits to cost – we estimate a revenue opportunity of $67 bn for 45 mn units at ~$1,499 in FY29,” per Samik Chatterjee and team.
Wedbush on the Nvidia effect: “We estimate that for every $1 spent on Nvidia, there is an $8-$10 multiplier across the rest of the tech ecosystem,” Daniel Ives et al.
Pantheon Macroeconomics’ prediction for today’s GDP number: “We continue to look for an increase in Q2 GDP of about 3% after June’s advance trade and inventory data,” per Samuel Tombs.
Oxford Economics’ prediction for today’s GDP number: “With exports falling only 2.5%, the upshot is net trade is poised to boost Q2 GDP by nearly 4ppts though this is expected be partially offset by a drop in business inventories. This lends upside risk for our forecast of a 2.1% annualized gain in Q2 GDP due out [today],” per Matthew Martin.
Around the watercooler
Baker Hughes buys Chart Industries for $13.6 billion in oilfield services deal, outbidding and canceling planned Chart-Flowserve merger by Jordan Blum
Newly public eToro may launch its own blockchain, says CEO by Ben Weiss
A 29-year-old Google engineer was killed by a falling tree branch. Alphabet has one of the most generous employee death policies in Silicon Valley by Dave Smith
Union Pacific’s CEO started as a teen track worker—now he’s leading an $130 billion empire and says Gen Z interns need curiosity to be like him by Preston Fore
Wesley LePatner, a 44-year-old Blackstone executive who oversaw its $53 billion real-estate investment fund, was killed in Manhattan’s mass shooting, by Nick Lichtenberg
CEO Daily is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams and Jim Edwards.
