Digg is officially back. The early internet staple has launched a public beta of its Reddit-style reboot, led by original founder Kevin Rose alongside Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. The pitch: cleaner communities, transparent moderation, and AI-powered trust signals to keep bots and toxicity out. Anyone can now create niche communities, with moderators calling the shots, and showing their work. It’s a nostalgia-fueled comeback, but with a very 2026 focus on identity, trust, and smarter social platforms. (TechCrunch)

Amazon just launched its European “sovereign cloud,” a version of AWS designed to keep EU data fully inside EU borders. The cloud is physically separate, locally controlled, and operated by EU citizens—Amazon’s clearest concession yet to Europe’s data sovereignty push. It’s also a strategic move as regulators scrutinize U.S. cloud dominance and governments demand tighter control over critical infrastructure. AWS keeps its market lead, Europe gets more guardrails, and the cloud arms race quietly shifts from scale to trust. (CNBC)

Verizon says it has fixed a 10-hour nationwide outage that knocked out calls, texts, and data for hundreds of thousands of users. Cities warned residents about 911 disruptions, Downdetector logged millions of reports, and regulators are circling. Verizon hasn’t shared what caused the failure, but says there’s no sign of a cyberattack and affected customers will get credits. The episode is a reminder that modern infrastructure doesn’t fail quietly, and when it does, everyone notices fast. (Reuters)

The U.S. has officially made its first sale of Venezuelan oil, pulling in about $500 million and signaling that Washington plans to move fast on monetizing the country’s energy assets. More sales are expected, but enthusiasm from Big Oil is muted. Energy executives privately called Venezuela “uninvestible,” citing legal, political, and operational uncertainty. For now, the oil is reportedly being sold at a discount, highlighting the gap between geopolitical ambition and the realities of restarting a battered energy sector. (CNN)

Tesla is switching lanes on Full Self-Driving. Starting February 14, the company will stop selling FSD outright and move to a subscription-only model. The shift lowers the upfront barrier and turns FSD into a steadier revenue stream. It also reduces long-term promises tied to autonomy as regulators and courts scrutinize past claims. The tech stays the same (for now), but the business model signals Tesla’s focus on recurring revenue over one-time bets. (TechCrunch)

Founder stories from the trenches

Most startup stories are told backwards.

You get the clean arc, the lessons we learned, and the eventual “and then it worked out” conclusion. 

This one isn’t that.

I came across a story shared by a B2B founder, John Rush, and it stuck with me because of how honest it was and how close it came to going very, very wrong. More than once.

Let’s get into it.

John had already “made it” once. He exited a bootstrapped startup, his first million in the bank, and he knew what he was doing.

The next play followed a familiar script:

From the outside, it looked like the startup dream unfolding exactly as it should.

But underneath the momentum, a storm was brewing.

He’d focused a little too heavily on winning a small local market while copycats and competitors expanded globally. 

By the time that mistake became obvious, the window had already closed.

This is one of those errors that doesn’t feel like a mistake while you’re making it, especially when users are growing and people keep telling you how great the product is.

The app was doing well. People loved it.

It just wasn’t making enough money.

When funding ran out, and new capital didn’t show up, things quickly spiralled into a panic. Personal money went in. Debt piled up. Decisions became reactive instead of strategic.

Eventually, a pivot saved them.

A single B2B deal turned the product into infrastructure for cinemas. That one shift unlocked:

This was the moment things finally made sense.

With revenue and growth, VCs came back.
A Series A followed.

The team expanded fast while sales and marketing scaled aggressively. They followed the classic “grow at all costs” playbook.

And then came the moment no one plans for.

A hacker and a ransom. Operations were completely down, clients were getting worried and their options seemed limited. 

Every founder’s nightmare.

There were no proper backups or an incident plan, so with no leverage, they paid the ransom and nearly lost the entire company anyway.

This may have been bad luck. But it was also a major operational blind spot.

It’s what happens when founder risk management takes a back seat, or when momentum makes you feel a little invincible. That’s usually when reality hits hardest.

This is where the story stops being about one company and starts being about a system.

Every major setback came from the same place:

Even when things recovered (and they did, multiple times) the cost kept compounding.

Eventually, the founder sold personal assets just to keep salaries paid. 

Things got a learner and leaner while burnout got closer and closer. 

The company survived. Eventually, it even became profitable.

But the most honest line in the story was when John said:

“I wish I had given up earlier.”

It’s not something most founders will ever say out loud. I’m not trying to convince anyone to give up on their business; I’m an optimist. But I do think this story is a reminder that reason sometimes has to trump optimism. 

Because founders don’t usually lack ambition, it’s the distance they lack. 

When you’re behind the wheel, it’s hard to see past your goals, even when the warning lights are flashing, and the chips are already down.

If there’s one takeaway here, it’s this:

Growth hides risk.
Resilience reveals it.

The earlier you design for resilience (financial, operational, human), the fewer times you’ll be forced into survival mode.

Or, as Kenny Rogers put it:

You gotta know when to hold ’em… and know when to fold ’em.