• Photographer Whitney Boykin rents out her home each year for the Masters golf tournament.
• Boykin, her husband, and their two kids pile into an RV while guests stay in their home.
• They spend $5,000 getting the house ready, but the eight-day booking pays their mortgage for a year.

This week, golf's greatest stars descend on the tiny city of Augusta, Georgia, in pursuit of the famous green jacket awarded to winners of the Masters Tournament.

It's also time for photographer Whitney Boykin and her family to pile into their camper to make way for the guests renting their home in North Augusta, South Carolina.

"I'm one of the rare locals who says I love Masters week. I just want visitors to see how amazing it is here," Boykin told Business Insider.

Boykin and other locals rent out their properties to golfers and visitors directly, on Airbnb, or via other platforms. In the city of Augusta alone, the number of rentals jumped from 725 in March 2024 to 1,700 in April 2024, data from short-term-rental analytics site AirDNA shows. The average revenue for rentals in the city jumped from $2,700 in March 2024 to $5,300 in April 2024, AirDNA found.

While Boykin declined to share exactly how much she makes, she said it's enough to cover the family's mortgage payments for a year. This is the seventh year the family is renting out their house for the Masters.

As of April 4, homes similar to Boykin's listed on Airbnb were available to rent from about $9,000 a week to $28,000 a week.

For Boykin, one week of sleeping in a camper with her husband, their two kids, their cat, and their dog is more than worth it. Take a look inside the home they rent out during the Masters.

Whitney Boykin and her family moved into their North Augusta, South Carolina home in December 2020.

The house, just over the state line from Georgia, has five bedrooms, three full bathrooms, two half bathrooms, and a large outdoor space designed for entertaining.

The home is a 12-minute drive to Augusta National Golf Course. But during Masters week, traffic adds up to about 30 minutes.

Boykin said she passes the Augusta National Golf Club when she drives her kids to school.

"The rest of the year, it's just not that big of a deal," she said.

Boykin said many North Augusta locals rent out their homes for the Masters and use the money to go on vacation for a week.

Area schools typically schedule spring break to sync up with the tournament.

"Everyone looks forward to this because it's great money," Boykin told Business Insider.

In the past, Boykin has used Airbnb and Vrbo to rent out the home. There is even a local rental agency dedicated to the event called the Masters Housing Bureau.

For the past two years, Boykin's family has rented their house to a Texas company that brings its employees to the tournament.

Boykin was connected with the company through a local friend.

In January each year, Boykin starts to think about getting the house ready for the Masters. The family spends about $5,000 to prepare it for renters.

"Once the Christmas lights get put away, it's time to get ready," she said.

Preparations include pressure-washing the facade, adding new landscaping, and getting the home professionally deep-cleaned.

Boykin stores all her seasonal Masters gear in a section of the attic that's off-limits to the rest of the family.

She keeps paraphernalia including flags, pillows, and golf supplies with the Masters logo locked away for most the year, along with special sets of crisp, white linens for the bedrooms.

"My kids know which sheets are Masters ones. We don't touch them," she said.

Guests arrive the Sunday before the tournament begins and pay for an eight-day stay that includes the Monday after the finals.

Local schools have extended spring break, Boykin added, with kids returning to the classroom on the Tuesday after the tournament.

Boykin likes to check on the home twice during the week to clean and make sure everything is OK.

Boykin said cleaning visits are more for her peace of mind because they've rarely had issues. Visitors in town for the Masters often try to maximize their time at the golf course.

"They're not spending a lot of time in our home," Boykin said. "They take care of our things better than we do."

Other families renting out their homes travel, but Boykin's family stays in an RV for Masters week.

Boykin's husband, who works in the car industry, is especially busy in early April.

This year, the family will park the RV at a local equestrian facility that has dozens of walking trails.

Boykin's family first stayed in a camper one year when their home was still accidentally listed for rent in July.

Out-of-towners rented their house for a youth basketball tournament called Peach Jam.

Even though the family had no plans to rent out their house for any time other than the Masters, Boykin said her husband felt it was worth it.

He drove to Myrtle Beach to pick up an RV he found online so the family could honor the booking.

Boykin added that he told her it would allow them to take "an extra vacation."

Young people are starkly divided by who they vote for, what they do for fun and where they get their news and information, according to new Axios-Generation Lab polling.

Why it matters: Gen Z and young millennials exemplify how social media, news and podcasts have fragmented America into competing realities.

Zoom in: Their favorite podcasts cover a vast range from comedy to true crime to daily news.

• But patterns — and partisan splits — emerge when honing in on the audiences of MAGA and MAGA-adjacent media stars like Charlie Kirk and Joe Rogan, according to the poll of 18- to 34-year-olds nationwide.

By the numbers: 27% of young people who voted for President Trump say they listen to "The Joe Rogan Experience" at least once a month, compared with 6% who cast their ballots for former Vice President Harris.

• 19% of Trump voters say the same about "The Charlie Kirk Show," and 18% tune into "The Ben Shapiro Show." Among Harris voters, it's 3% for each.

Podcasts from Barstool Sports, founded by Trump supporter Dave Portnoy, are the most popular among young people who voted for Trump.

• 34% of young Trump voters say they listened to a Barstool Sports podcast in the last month, compared with 9% of Harris supporters.

The intrigue: A few podcasts are roughly equally popular among Gen Zers on the right and left, including "The Daily" (13% of Harris voters and 14% of Trump voters), TED Talks Daily (17% of Harris voters and 23% of Trump voters) and "Call Her Daddy" (9% each).

Zoom out: There are divisions in what young Americans on the right vs. left do for fun, too.

• 44% of Harris supporters say they love going to concerts vs. 28% of Trump supporters.
• 42% of Trump voters are avid sports fans vs. 26% of Harris voters.
• Both sides are equally plugged into politics and current events (28%, Harris voters; 26%, Trump voters).

Methodology: This poll was conducted Feb. 21-28 from a representative sample of 972 18- to 34-year-olds nationwide. The margin of error is +/- 3.1 percentage points.

A warning from the world's largest and most powerful financial market did what few others could: force President Trump to pivot on a key aspect of his trade agenda.

Why it matters: The U.S. Treasury market is the heart of the global financial system. The rapid selloff fueled by Trump's tariffs was seen as a ticking economic time bomb that risked bringing the world economy to a screeching halt.

Between the lines: The U.S. government funds its $36 trillion national debt with bonds, which it sells to investors around the world — individuals, pension funds, other nations, you name it.

• The price they are willing to pay determines the interest rate on government debt, which in turn ripples through to all other forms of borrowing, like home mortgages or corporate lending.
• Treasury securities are the bedrock of financial transactions around the globe — a store of value for German banks, Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds, and countless other key roles in the underpinnings of the global financial system.

Threat level: There is a reason why the high-flying stock market gets all the headlines. The bond market is boring and unsexy when it is working well.

• That was not the case this week. The moves in the Treasury market suggested global investors were becoming less confident in U.S. government bonds, which in turn pushed up borrowing costs across the board.
• The yield on the 30-year Treasury bond skyrocketed by as much as 0.6 percentage points since the start of the week. Sound small? It's a magnitude not seen since the pandemic, according to TD Securities.

The big picture: The extraordinary swings suggest a profound shift in financial market dynamics that could hold Trump back in the years ahead, a hurdle he did not face during his first term.

• In the 2010s, global bond investors were less jittery. But the 2020s might go down as the decade when the bond vigilantes returned.
• Trump is only the latest global leader forced to walk back policy over sovereign debt. A bond market revolt ousted UK prime minister Liz Truss in 2022 and jolted spending plans for the current government this year.
• France's government collapsed last year over a budget fight spurred by flighty bond investors.
• Kevin Hassett, one of Trump's top economic advisors, told CNBC yesterday "there's no doubt" the Treasury market made the administration's decision to pause reciprocal tariffs a bit more urgent.

What they're saying: The last time yields moved up so fast was the pandemic crash in 2020, when the Federal Reserve had to step in to rescue the market.

• This time there was no deadly virus or recession, but a self-imposed trade policy threatening the global economy.
• The bond market signaled that policy threat could be compounded by another crisis: dried-up demand for U.S. government bonds — including from foreigners that buy a massive amount of debt — that would send shockwaves across the economy.

What they're saying: "U.S. Treasury debt is the risk free asset of the world," says Gennadiy Goldberg, a rates strategist at TD Securities.

• "If there are questions about investors willingness to buy it — whether it's because of uncertainty or they're worried that there will not be enough investors — it really threatens the primacy of U.S. treasury debt as the rock that underpins the global financial system."

What to watch: There was plenty of appetite for the $22 billion in government debt auctioned off yesterday.

• Tepid demand for U.S. government debt is still just a risk for now, though one that looked more likely this week.

• China hit the US with a 125% tariff on imports on Friday.
• The move is the latest in a series of tit-for-tat tariff increases.
• China's finance ministry accused the US of "bullying and coercion."

China hit back at the US with a 125% tariff on imports on Friday, the latest escalation in the trade war between the two superpowers sparked by President Donald Trump's trade tariffs.

"The US's imposition of abnormally high tariffs on China seriously violates international economic and trade rules, basic economic laws and common sense, and is completely a unilateral bullying and coercion," China's finance ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The new tariffs will come into effect on Saturday, the ministry said.

Previously, China had said the tariff rate on US imports would be 84%, a level imposed on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Trump's White House clarified that the combined tariff rate being imposed on China was 145%, not the 125% that had previously been reported.

Earlier in the week, Trump announced that he would pause a large swathe of his tariffs for 90 days, though many — including tariffs on China — remained in effect.

"At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable," Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.

China's announcement of fresh retaliatory tariffs pushed European stocks lower on Friday after earlier gains.

Britain's benchmark FTSE 100 was down 0.6% at 9:45 a.m. local time (4:45 a.m. ET), having been up by close to 1% earlier. Europe's broad Stoxx 600 fell 0.9%.

US futures were trading a little lower, with the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all set to open about 0.7% lowe.

This is a developing story. Please refresh for further updates.

Two hours into a red-eye flight from Singapore to Sydney, I'm about to lose it. My 6-foot-3 frame is crammed into a seat barely big enough for a toddler. To my right, a pensioner is snoring like a buzz saw, releasing pungent plumes of a half-digested tuna fish sandwich. It brings to mind the famous quote from the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre: Hell is other people. Only I'm quite sure Sartre never had to endure the middle seat in economy.

Deeply exhausted and slightly nauseous, I reach for a YouTube video I've watched countless times, and switch from tuning out to tuning in.

"Hi there," it begins. "I'm Doctor Webber, and I'll be doing your eye test today."

For the next 10 minutes — and then longer, as I play it on repeat — a soothing female voice leads me through an ophthalmology exam, speaking at just above a whisper. Waves of goosebumps move across my body as she inquires about my family history of glaucoma and commands me to "follow the light with your eye" — though her precise words are beside the point. Once again, my sanity had been saved by ASMR.

I'm not alone in turning to the calming, repetitive blandness of ASMR to endure the misery of modern flight. About one in five travelers say they rely on audiovisual content that's designed to generate an autonomous sensory meridian response — a sort of low-grade euphoria known as "tingles" — to cope with overbooked flights, unruly travelers, lost luggage, and absurdly cramped seating. My own video of choice has half a million views, and YouTube offerings that mix ASMR with the friendly sounds of air travel — the gently whirring engines, the soothing voice from the cockpit — register in the millions.

In the past few years, the airlines have started getting in on the action. JetBlue released AirSMR, a nine-minute audio experience that captures what the narrator introduces as "the calming sounds of the airport," like rolling suitcases and a beverage being slurped through a straw. Delta, noting the popularity of the ASMR trend among its millennial and Gen Z passengers, released a 13-hour video on TikTok, to commemorate the debut of its direct flight from Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand. Your carrier might not be able to get you to your destination on time, but they're happy to offer you some ASMR peanuts while you're stuck on the runway.

"I've been chasing ambient noise similar to that of being in the air," one YouTube commenter gushed. "This is heaven on earth to me."

Some of the most elaborate videos are those offered on the Whispering Wings ASMR channel on YouTube. The videos, some of which are 11 hours long, are designed to mirror actual flight paths from the point of view of a passenger and feature audio and hyperrealistic cabin visuals captured from online flight simulators. Whispering Wings even records its own pilot announcements, and pairs them with real-life communications from air traffic control. The goal is to help travelers focus on the sounds of flying that might be considered more calming, without all the crying babies and irate passengers. "I've never felt this at peace on a plane before," a commenter wrote about one Whispering Wings video, which follows an eight-hour trip from Toronto to Frankfurt, Germany.

Still, for all of ASMR's popularity among frequent flyers, the weirdness factor has kept it from going fully mainstream. "I find it's still kept quite hush-hush," says Sasha Mukerjea, an events marketer and frequent traveler who uses ASMR to relax her nerves. "Some people find the phenomena baffling."

I've been experiencing ASMR "tingles" since I was a kid. My family moved frequently before finally settling in Singapore, and I used to seek out sources of white noise as a way to relax. Once ASMR videos became available, I started consuming them like aspirin.

The specific ASMR "triggers" we respond to are as personal as our taste in food. Tuning into a certain sound — someone chomping into a pickle, say — may gross one person out while causing waves of pleasant chills in others. But while the term ASMR is relatively new, researchers say the response itself is as old as time. When we respond to soothing sounds, our brains are flooded with dopamine and oxytocin, the so-called love hormone, creating a feeling of euphoria that's been referred to as "braingasms."

"ASMR can be very helpful to decrease the stress of traveling," says Craig Richard, a professor of biopharmaceutical sciences at Shenandoah University who partnered with JetBlue on the airline's ASMR content. Still, he says, more study is needed to better understand what content works best on flights, since the increased pressure from high altitudes on the inner ear can dampen the body's receptiveness to ASMR.

ASMR videos aren't the only way to use the sounds of air travel to make the experience of air travel less stressful. I've found that tuning into even the most fleeting triggers, like the ding of the "fasten seatbelts" sign, can help induce a state of relaxation, helping to lower my heart rate and provide me with a sense of calm. As Richard explains it, these short sounds, if tied to warm memories, may trigger a kind of Pavlovian response that can stimulate ASMR by "reminding someone of pleasant travel experiences."

I remember trying this DIY version of ASMR during a flight to London. It was my first trip to Europe since the pandemic, and the indignity of modern travel seemed like a small price to pay for a vacation I'd been craving. For the first few hours of the flight, everything was hunky-dory. Then, three rows ahead of me, a baby started wailing. My iPhone was out of juice, so I couldn't reach for my tried-and-true ASMR video. I tried to drown out the noise by cranking up the volume on "Casino Royale," the in-flight movie I was watching. But not even 007, with his license to kill, could silence the ceaseless cries.

Then I noticed that the two passengers to my right were speaking slowly and softly in a language I couldn't make out. By focusing on their voices, I was able to restore my calm.

Mukerjea, the events marketer who relies on ASMR to travel, recalls a similar experience. When bad weather extended her layover in Delhi, at one of the world's busiest airports, she found herself overwhelmed by "the blistering fluorescence and relentless tide of people." So she began zeroing in on sounds that felt more calming. "Instead of getting lost in the chaos, I leaned into the rhythmic undercurrent," she recalls. As she listened to "the murmur of voices, the soft rolling of suitcases over tiled floors," the stress of yet another travel nightmare left her body.

Once in the air, Mukerjea favors what the ASMR community calls "unintentional" videos — those not specifically tagged as ASMR. "I avoid overly refined ASMR videos and prefer something more real: walking tours through quiet villages, the crunch of gravel underfoot, and sounds of the wind rustling through a harvest field," Mukerjea says. "These natural sounds pull me beyond the cabin, making my journey feel less confined."

Like every quirky subculture, ASMR airheads revel in meeting a fellow traveler. "Every time someone finds out about ASMR and comments on one of my videos, there is a sense of intense relief and happiness to finally find fellow people that 'get it,'" says Ilse Blansert, whose YouTube channel boasts millions of views. "It really feels like it unites us and makes us closer, because we had this incredibly human experience in common."

My own embrace of ASMR has improved not only my flights but also the rest of my vacations. My ability to identify triggers in the wild, and then to dial into them as a way to reduce my stress, is something I often lean on as I explore new places and experiences. It's also made me a better travel companion to my wife, who's much more easygoing than I am.

In 2023, our honeymoon in Japan coincided with a ferocious heat wave. Pounded by hundred-degree temperatures, we bravely — some would say stupidly — decided to take a three-hour midday walk in Kyoto's Arashiyama Bamboo Forest. Airless and humid, the heat was even worse in the park than in the city. I found myself bathed in green light and heavy sweat as the sun knifed through the leaves, wishing I could be anyplace cooler.

I was starving, cranky, and seconds from snapping at my new bride — not a great start to the honeymoon. Then, out of desperation, I turned to ASMR. I stopped listening to my heavy, annoyed breathing and zeroed in on the wall of sound that I'd been ignoring for hours: the steady chorus of the cicada. Almost like magic, I was hit by a wave of goosebumps — and gratitude for the music of the moment. I came to a standstill and just listened, appreciating for the first time the bamboo forest that towered 65 feet above our heads.

"Why have you stopped, hon?" my wife asked. "Tired?"

"No," I said. "Just tingling."

Daniel Seifert is a freelance writer. He lives in Singapore.

• Americans who secretly work multiple remote jobs are finding ways to reduce their tax burdens.
• Some said establishing an S-Corp and maxing out their 401(k)s are among their top tax strategies.
• Others contribute to charities or deduct business expenses from their incomes.

Damien has secretly worked multiple remote jobs, earning six figures on and off for years. To reduce his hefty tax burden, he's used several strategies, including maxing out his 401(k).

Damien, who works in IT support, is on track to earn $386,000 this year from three full-time remote jobs, two of which are 1099 contractor roles. The earnings from his contract positions flow to an LLC he established in 2022, which he elected to be taxed as an S Corporation. This helps him reduce the amount he owes in self-employment taxes, he said.

"Tax wise, it's a substantial difference," said Damien, whose identity was verified by Business Insider but who asked to use a pseudonym, citing a fear of professional repercussions. "I would have to guess it's tens of thousands of dollars that I'm saving."

Damien is among the Americans who have secretly juggled multiple remote jobs to boost their incomes and who have found strategies to reduce their tax burdens. Others make charitable donations and deduct business expenses from their incomes. Over the past two years, BI has interviewed more than two dozen "overemployed" workers who've used their additional earnings to travel the world, buy weight-loss drugs, and pay down debt.

Six job jugglers shared their experiences on the condition that pseudonyms would be used, for fear of professional repercussions. BI has verified their identities and earnings.

To be sure, what works for these job jugglers may not make sense for everyone. Tax professionals can provide advice for specific situations.

S-corps and business deductions help job jugglers reduce their taxes

John, who works in IT, earned more than $300,000 in 2023 secretly working two remote jobs. His earnings from one contract job flow into his S-Corp, which he also uses to deduct business expenses, reducing his taxable income.

Business expenses include software subscriptions to ChatGPT, online programming courses, and the home office deduction, which allows him to deduct $5 per square foot of his home office.

"If I needed a new computer desk or chair, I'd run that through my business," said John, who is based in California.

To reduce his taxable income further, John said he donates to charitable organizations and makes significant 401(k) contributions.

Harrison also has an S-Corp, but his tax situation is more complicated. Harrison has six full-time remote jobs as a quality assurance professional in the IT sector and estimates he'll earn roughly $800,000 this year. He's built a team of seven workers who help him complete his duties.

Three of Harrison's jobs are contract roles, and he said the income for these flows into his S-Corp, which he said helps reduce his taxable income.

Lisa Greene-Lewis, a CPA and tax expert with TurboTax, said that S-Corps can help people legally reduce the amount they owe in self-employment taxes. Individuals are required to pay themselves a "reasonable" salary — which is subject to employment taxes — but then can take additional distributions from profits their companies generate that are not subject to these taxes. But she said there are limits to an S-Corp's tax benefits.

"In the eyes of the IRS, you could not pay yourself a majority of your business income to avoid more self-employment taxes," she said, adding, "If you pay yourself too little, the IRS could determine the amount they think you should be paid based on your business profit."

She added that S-Corp owners tend to have more tax prep-related expenses and must file a business tax return by March 1st, rather than the April 15 deadline for personal tax returns.

Despite the tax benefits that come with his S-Corp, Harrison said he tends to owe a significant amount of money in taxes. But he said he's still coming out ahead financially.

"Making more and paying more in taxes is better than making less and paying less," he said.

Some job jugglers accept their higher taxes

Adam earns roughly $170,000 annually secretly working two remote security risk jobs. He plans on reducing his taxable income this year by contributing $23,500 to his 401(k) — the maximum amount allowed by the IRS — and donating about $1,200 to charitable organizations.

However, not every job juggler is taking significant steps to reduce their taxable income. Daniel earns about $250,000 annually working two remote IT gigs in the finance industry. He said his main focus is withholding enough in taxes to ensure his tax payment isn't too steep.

"I've never had an issue with paying taxes," he said.

Kelly is on track to earn nearly $300,000 this year secretly working two full-time remote jobs as an engineer. She said her taxes aren't too complicated and finding ways to lower her taxable income isn't something she thinks too much about.

"I don't mind paying taxes on both jobs even if I owe," she said.

Do you have a story to share about secretly working multiple jobs or discovering an employee is doing so? Contact this reporter via email at [email protected] or Signal at jzinkula.29.

• The markets jumped after Trump paused his tariff plans — but the IPO window is still closed for now.
• Experts told BI the public markets won't reopen for IPOs until volatility drops significantly.
• Companies like Klarna and StubHub delayed their IPO plans after last week's tariff announcement.

After a brutal week for public markets, the major indexes jumped Wednesday when President Donald Trump said he would pause his plans for tariffs on most countries.

But industry insiders say the IPO market isn't out of the woods.

"People that are saying 'let's thread the needle' are desperate," a healthcare banker told BI on condition of anonymity. "Anybody can jump out of a window."

Tech companies and investors have been anxiously awaiting what they hoped would be a big year for public market debuts after a multiyear IPO drought. Trump's announcement last week that nearly 90 countries would face reciprocal tariffs ranging from 10% to 50% on their imports to the US shattered those hopes.

Some companies gearing up to IPO, including Klarna and StubHub, delayed their plans after the reciprocal tariffs announcement. Hinge Health was also considering a delay, Business Insider reported, although the physical therapy startup hoped to push through the market volatility to enact its IPO plans.

When Trump abruptly paused most of the tariffs on Wednesday, the public markets soared, with the S&P 500 posting its biggest single-day gain since 2008 at 9%.

But it's the market volatility that's giving bankers and analysts pause. Even if the stock market improves, as it did Wednesday, the whiplash of its rapid fall and rise in the past week isn't inspiring confidence.

Indeed, the S&P 500 tumbled by nearly 4% on Thursday as Wall Street reacted to the additional tariffs Trump still plans to levy on China.

Only a sustained period of market stabilization will be enough to reopen the IPO window for most companies, experts told BI. A temporary tick-up in stock prices just won't cut it.

Why volatility is such a deal killer

Bankers, who requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak with the press, said they're watching one major metric as they advise companies on their next steps toward the public markets: the volatility index.

The index, which has the ticker VIX, is designed to measure the 30-day expected volatility of the stock market. VIX values of 30 or above generally signal high volatility, while values of 20 or below signal more stability.

Market volatility doesn't necessarily correlate with lower all-time public market valuations. But high volatility makes it much harder for public investors to price a potential IPO, like trying to hit a moving target, bankers said. Plus, the volatility makes those investors less confident that the company's stock won't tank after the IPO, they said.

Matt Kennedy, a senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, said the index would need to settle below 25 for several consecutive weeks for IPO activity to meaningfully pick up. Other sources told BI they'd want the index to stay below 20.

Right now, that target looks far away. At its peak Thursday, the index leaped 52% to 54 points.

"The volatility certainly isn't encouraging companies to start the roadshow now. Whether the stock market goes up or down over the next couple of weeks, there will be very few quality companies going public," said Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida.

Even if the market stabilizes, expect discounts

If the market ticks back up and volatility remains low for multiple consecutive weeks, some public investors may be willing to put funds toward IPOs again. But they'll expect a significant price cut, Kennedy said.

"Any sensible investor would still demand a pretty substantial discount to buy IPOs in this market," he said. "After all, if we get more turbulence, IPOs will be the first to sell off."

Bankers said that if companies are willing to accept that discount, they may still be able to go public in the second quarter of this year, provided that the market stabilizes further.

Still, Kennedy said the market slump has undoubtedly pushed many companies' IPO plans back into the later quarters of this year, at the earliest.

The slump may also further encourage companies to stay private for longer and look for payouts elsewhere, Ritter said.

"The volatility and valuation drops in public markets will be good for EquityZen, Nasdaq Private Market, Forge Global and other secondary markets, where companies that would be otherwise going public will say, we're going to let our companies sell stock on these venues, and the markets are going to have higher volume as a result," he said.

• New York-based Noto has raised $3.8 million to modernize tutoring centers and lesson-based businesses.
• Noto's platform uses AI to cut admin by automating billing, scheduling, and payroll.
• Check out the 44-slide pitch deck that helped Noto land its seed round from Base10 Partners.

Noto, a startup that provides software to automate tasks like billing and payroll for educational businesses, has raised $3.8 million in seed funding led by Base10 Partners.

AJ Ding and Steve Wang founded the startup after they spent last summer knocking on the doors of small firms across New York City, and they kept hearing the same story: business was booming, but operations were a mess.

"We ended up interviewing about 150 businesses over two weeks, walking around six hours a day," Ding, Noto's cofounder and CEO, told Business Insider.

The pair said many of the lesson-based businesses they visited — including tutoring centers, music schools, and driving schools — still ran on sticky notes, Google Sheets, and outdated software systems.

Owners were "drowning in admin," Ding said.

Ding told BI that Noto's platform, which launched in September 2024, is designed specifically for lesson-based businesses and their unique operational challenges. They include managing parent-child-instructor relationships, shifting schedules, and complex billing rules.

Noto uses large language models to draft lesson reports, reschedule classes, and summarize parent communication. The goal, Ding said, isn't to replace tutors but to free up their time.

Ding, a second-time founder and Yale-trained statistician, previously built an AI recruiting platform. His cofounder, Wang, was the founding engineer at Nitra, a software company for doctors' offices backed by A16z.

"The lesson-based business segment has been chronically underserved by technology," Caroline Broder, a partner at Base10, said.

With the new funding, Noto plans to grow its engineering team, hire a business operations lead, and improve the platform's AI capabilities, including AI onboarding, rolling out student-facing insights, and AI-assisted admin agents.

Check out the 44-slide pitch deck Noto used to raise $3.8 million from Base10 Partners.