SoftBank Dumps Nvidia to Bet on OpenAI

Hey there!

Turns out even the most famous museum in the world has trouble with passwords. Hopefully, the Louvre will rethink its security after the recent jewel heist, but the robbers weren’t the only ones who made a bank.

SoftBank sold its Nvidia stake to fund a massive investment in OpenAI. And speaking of OpenAI, all that new funding still hasn’t made it more profitable than Anthropic.

I’ve also got a case study showing how a Next.js migration improved revenue by 24%, and a piece asking if teamwork makes the dream work, or turns into a nightmare.

Sounds good? Then grab a coffee and enjoy Frictionless.

In the Queue

• Spotify’s 38,000 Data Pipelines

• Tips for Giving Constructive Feedback

• Start Writing AI Agents

• Empowering Teams with Decentralized Architecture

• Get Your Next.js Promptbook

• Love the Easy Fix

• State of AI Survey

Reduce Friction

Giving Constructive Feedback with Confidence for Engineering Leaders

Sharing feedback should be the most natural thing in the world. However, it often feels nerve-wracking for everybody involved. Next time, instead of walking on eggshells, use these five steps to turn awkward 1:1s into confidence-building conversations.

Collaboration Sucks

Could the “less is more” rule apply to your team, too? Charles Cook argues that our obsession with collaboration often slows teams down. I’m all for teamwork, but he makes a strong case for protecting focus and ownership.

Empowering Teams: Decentralizing Architectural Decision-Making

Architecture works better when decisions aren’t stuck at the top. Here’s an example of how shifting to an “advice process” managed to speed up delivery for one team, while keeping alignment and quality intact.

How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Easy Fix

Building a clean, organized system is the goal of any project. After all, it’s easier to work with and maintain, but at what cost? Chasing perfection slows progress more than it helps, and sometimes the quick fix is the smarter move.

Deepen Your Expertise

How Spotify Built Its Data Platform To Understand 1.4 Trillion Data Points

Spotify started with scattered systems and teams collecting data their own way. Over time, that chaos turned into a unified data platform built on automation, ownership, and trust. Today, 38,000 pipelines keep over 1.4 trillion data points flowing and powering every feature you see in the app.

How a Migration Boosted Platform’s Revenue by 24%

When we first looked at Learn Squared’s platform, it was clear Drupal 7 was holding them back. To give them back their edge, we migrated the entire system to Next.js, Strapi, and Shopify, keeping downtime to just 4 hours. Within weeks, Learn Squared saw a 24% revenue increase and a 4% drop in bounce rate.

You Should Write An Agent

I agree, you should write an agent. Too many people either demonize or glorify them without ever trying to build one. Until you’ve written a few lines of code and watched an agent make its own decisions, it’s impossible to grasp what they really are and what they’re capable of.

AI Corner

The State of AI in 2025: Agents, Innovation, and Transformation

McKinsey’s new report shows 88% of organisations now use AI, and 62% are experimenting with AI agents. Yet only 17% see AI driving more than 5% of EBIT. The top performers treat AI as a growth driver, redesigning workflows around it.

Anthropic Seen Turning Profitable Two Years Ahead Of OpenAI

Move over, OpenAI! According to the Wall Street Journal, Anthropic is projected to turn profitable by 2028, while its main competitor doesn’t expect to do so until 2030. The difference lies in strategy: Anthropic’s model burns less cash, while OpenAI invests heavily in chips, data centers, and talent.

Next.js Promptbook: AI-Powered Prompts for Developers

The best AI prompts come from real work. Jakub Dakowicz’s Next.js Promptbook is a collection of tested prompts that help with common tasks like middleware upgrades and Sanity schema setup. Try them out in your next project!

SoftBank Sells Its Nvidia Stake for $5.8 Billion to Fund OpenAI Bet

SoftBank just sold its $5.8B Nvidia stake to fund a massive $30B bet on OpenAI, the largest single investment in the company so far. It wasn’t without impact on Nvidia stocks, which caused the company’s stock to dip 2%.

Meta’s Chief AI Scientist Plans to Leave to Build His Own Startup

Meta’s AI overhaul may have pushed out one of its biggest names. Yann LeCun, chief AI scientist and Turing Award winner, is reportedly leaving to start a company built around “world models”.

Just Cool

The Shockingly Weak Password for the Louvre’s Security System During Heist

It’s hard to believe, but the password protecting the Louvre’s video surveillance system was literally “Louvre”. Add in a security system set to be fully upgraded by 2032, and you start to see how thieves walked off with £80 million in jewels.

Let’s Stay in Touch! 📨 

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