• CEOs are grappling with uncertainty over Trump's unpredictable tariffs.
• Foxconn CEO Young Liu said tariffs are causing business leaders "a big headache."
• Trump has gone back and forth on various tariffs since taking office.

CEOs are feeling the whiplash right now.

Trump's back-and-forth on tariffs is creating uncertainty for businesses, and their leaders are starting to complain.

Chief Executive magazine's latest CEO Confidence Index, which polled more than 220 US CEOs earlier this month, found that business confidence is at its lowest since November 2012. The ever-changing tariff threats against Mexico and Canada were the most commonly cited reason for their falling optimism.

"We knew there were changes coming, [but] we did not expect them to be rolled out/forced upon us in this fashion, nor did we expect to see Canada and Mexico to be countries that would be affected by these tariffs," one CEO who spoke to the magazine said.

Another Fortune 500 CEO told Fortune last week, "I don't trust that what's said today will be true tomorrow."

Foxconn CEO Young Liu said in a recent earnings call that tariffs were causing chief executives "a big headache."

"Judging by the attitude and the approach we see the US government taking towards tariffs, it is very, very hard to predict how things will develop over the next year," he said.

Trump levied 25% tariffs against most imports from Canada and Mexico on March 4. On March 5, he suspended those tariffs for automobiles covered by the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement. On March 6, Trump extended the suspensions to all goods covered by the agreement until April 2. China and Canada responded with retaliatory tariffs.

The president then placed 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports and threatened 200% tariffs on some European imports. Trump has imposed two rounds of 10% tariffs on China since February.

Forrest Webber, who owns The Trade Table, an online home improvement store, told Business Insider that the confusion around tariffs is already impacting businesses.

"We just had a brand we sell go out of business last week. We received an order from them on Monday and were going through our normal order process," he said. "It was strange that we hadn't heard back from our representative, so we went to their website and discovered they were closing due to the tariffs."

Webber said business owners just don't know "what's going to stick."

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon told Semafor that such "uncertainty is not a good thing."

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, meanwhile, wrote in the company's 2024 annual report, published Friday, that many of the bank's corporate clients are "acting more cautiously until they have more clarity."

"While policy uncertainty is to be expected within the first few months of any administration, it's important that policy positions become clearer so that businesses are able to make the decisions they need for longer-term planning and investment," he wrote.

As for President Donald Trump, he's said businesses and their executives should be able to roll with the punches.

"They always say that. 'We want clarity,'" Trump told Fox News in an interview.

Asked if businesses will get the clarity they're seeking on tariffs, he answered: "I think so, but you know, the tariffs could go up as time goes by, and they may go up, and you know, I don't know if it's predictability."

• Federal workers looking to move to the private sector could face increased challenges.
• Economic uncertainty and a dearth of middle-management roles could hurt job seekers' prospects.
• Universities, which have been landing spots for government workers, are also pausing hiring.

Federal workers trying to trek to the private sector could find they've walked into a minefield.

Lackluster corporate hiring, a shrinking middle-management job market, and pullbacks by universities are making the route to employment beyond federal agencies trickier to navigate than not that long ago, workplace observers told Business Insider.

"Right now is absolutely a very difficult time for the government workers that need to go back on the job market," Andy Wu, an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School, told BI.

One reason is that, for several years, it's been a tough job market for many people, especially those with desk jobs. Now, the US job market appears to be "frozen by an environment of economic uncertainty," Indeed economist Cory Stahle recently wrote on LinkedIn.

Goodbye, middle management jobs

As artificial intelligence burrows its way deeper into more workplaces, some employers are reconsidering how many people they need in service jobs and middle-management positions, Wu said.

"For many of these long-tenured government employees, that's the kind of role that they would be looking for," he said, referring to midlevel management jobs.

For years, some companies have been trying to scrub management layers from their org charts in hopes of trimming costs.

Growing uncertainty over the economic fallout from tariffs and a jittery stock market could push companies to cut added management layers, Angela T. Hall, an associate professor at Michigan State University's School of Human Resources and Labor Relations, told BI.

"When we see recession or hints of recession, what do they do? They lay off middle managers," she said.

Hall said that would likely be bad news for longtime government workers who have historically been good fits for those types of roles.

A different pace

Extended service in government can also present unique challenges. Government workers might have to overcome concerns that they're not up to the rigors of business, for example.

"The government has a different way of and pace of working than the private sector," Wu said. That's especially true, he said, in high-growth areas of the private sector.

"Even if they could get the roles there, I think there's always going to be a question of culture fit," Wu said.

Job seekers who've worked for many years in the government could also face age bias, Amanda Augustine, a career coach with Careerminds, told BI.

"Any employee who's in a certain age group and is looking for work is always going to feel some challenges," she said.

Discriminating against older workers based on their age is illegal, yet it's a concern for some job seekers.

Other paths look questionable

Another possible escape route for one-time federal workers isn't looking as promising as it once had.

Some NGOs and universities, facing drops in federal outlays, are hoisting their ladders. More than a dozen top schools, from Brown to Harvard, recently halted hiring because of uncertainty around funding, according to reports.

Some are even cutting. On Thursday, Johns Hopkins University said it would eliminate more than 2,000 jobs in the US and abroad after the federal government canceled $800 million in grants that the research powerhouse had been expecting.

Policy nonprofits and universities have traditionally been eager to attract workers with strong government experience, Laura Labovich, who runs an outplacement firm in the Washington, DC, area, told BI.

She said a greater slowdown in federal spending — if it occurs — could further gum up the job search for federal workers. That's because it's not uncommon for those with government time on their sheets to parlay that experience and agency knowledge to move into government contracting roles.

There could be even less demand for that type of work if the feds or an advisory group like Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency pushes through cuts to federal contracting.

Some bright spots

Yet it's not all bad news, Labovich said. She said that because some employers are focusing on skills — and less on pedigree — that could create opportunities for veterans of the government.

Labovich said some private employers still look for workers with extensive government experience, particularly those who've been in management.

"A lot of companies highly value them because they are leaders," she said.

Beyond that, a handful of states have expressed interest in hiring laid-off federal workers.

Still, some skills might be so specific that government workers could face a tough job search. While being a specialist is often a good thing, a long record of sending up weather balloons or serving as a nuclear submarine engineer could limit someone's job prospects.

Hall pointed to the plight of a man who worked with dogs at Alaska's Denali National Park and was laid off.

"There aren't a lot of opportunities for dog mushers," she said.

Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at [email protected] or Signal at tparadis.70. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• Ethan Evans says résumés often fail by listing activities instead of showcasing impactful results.
• Recruiters skim résumés quickly, so clarity and conciseness are crucial for success.
• You must also list your education and certifications correctly and include your interests.

I've reviewed over 10,000+ résumés and conducted more than 2,500 interviews in my career as a VP at multiple companies, including Amazon.

I ran recruiting at three startups, and now I coach individuals through their job searches. I know what recruiters and hiring managers want in a résumé — and what mistakes could cost you the job.

The problem and the goal

I often see six mistakes. The first three are the most damaging, and 90% of résumés contain at least one of them.

Recruiters and managers are under tremendous pressure and usually review résumés as quickly as possible. Your résumé has to be optimized to catch their eye quickly. The goal is for them to skim it and think it would be worthwhile to interview you.

Here are the three biggest mistakes that could cost you the job you apply for.

1. No results, only activities

This is the most common mistake I see on résumés. People write down what they did by saying "wrote code," "managed employees," or "worked on X project."

Senior performers, however, know they're valued for their impact and make a point to show the results of their work.

You can rewrite nearly every bullet on your résumé in a way that describes why your work matters and shows that your presence made a positive difference to the team, the product, and the bottom line.

Here are some tricks to help do this:

• If possible, link to your results. People exaggerate and lie on résumés, but nothing says "my work is real" like a link to the project.
• The human eye is automatically drawn to bold. Selectively bold a few words or phrases to ensure your strongest accomplishments are noticed.
• Use action verbs like 'owned,' 'built,' 'drove,' or 'delivered.' This suggests you actively did something rather than simply witness it.
• People believe specific numbers, including dollar figures. Use them when possible.

2. No objective

Without an objective, a recruiter or hiring manager has to guess if you want the job. If you're a recruiter with a pile of résumés, you're not going to waste your time doing any guessing.

An objective clearly states what kind of role you're looking for in your next job, and a great objective is formulaic and short enough to be read in a single glance. Don't just talk about yourself in subjective terms.

An example of the formula for a senior engineer role would be, "Seeking a role as a Sr. Engineer where I can apply my proven ability shipping scaled services to deliver valuable innovation for the business."

The first part simply states the role you seek. This is particularly important if you want to do something different from your last job.

The second part allows you to state your highest qualifications for a role. Highlight the top reason to put your résumé in the "call" pile.

The third part shows you're there to help the manager and the company. While you're looking for a "good job" for yourself, the manager is not focused on "giving someone a good job." You want to convey that you're not just interested in yourself but that you're also dedicated to providing value to your new manager.

Here's my own objective in my executive coaching résumé as an example:

Objective: Provide professional development at scale, guiding transitions to executive leadership.

Proven executive leadership of multiple $500M+ businesses across games, video, apps, and music. Global leadership experience of teams 800+. Technical inventor; 60+ issued patents.

3. Too many words

Many résumés are long, lasting three or more pages or using a tiny font to cram the page.

The mistake is writing what we want to write about rather than what the reader needs to know. I call these "happy words." They occur when a résumé opens with the candidate writing positive sentences about who they think they are. It looks like this:

"Motivated self-starter looking for a positive environment where I can bring my technical skills and passion to a worthy project. Great coworker and mentor. Adaptable, fast learner."

It's natural to want to share what we see as our most positive traits. Unfortunately, managers looking at dozens of résumés daily will ignore this because it doesn't tell what the candidate can do.

The rule to follow is "show, don't tell." If you're a fast learner, include bullets on your résumé that show this. For example: "Learned and applied X to project Y, going from first effort to customer shipment in nine weeks."

The goal of your résumé is to put your three best accomplishments per role in front of the manager. If you write too much, they will skim over your biggest accomplishments. It is best to keep your résumé under 1,000 words.

My résumé is 700 words long and covers a 30-year career, and I created it on Microsoft Word in two hours.

Once you've written a solid résumé, look out for these three more mistakes before applying to any job.

4. Optimizing for the Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Many résumés try to cram keywords at the top to pass through the applicant tracking system. There are two significant problems with this approach.

Over 80% of all jobs go to someone with a networking connection to the role. Focusing on getting through the ATS means you're focusing on jobs where you have no networking connection, and therefore, you're competing against everyone else.

The second problem is that this makes the résumé hard for a human to read, and it buries your strongest accomplishments in the body of the text.

The ideal approach is to write your résumé for human eyes, then leverage your network to get it into the hands of someone who will read it. If you want to include keywords, put them at the end of your résumé in a 'skills' section.

5. Listing education and certifications in the wrong place

If you're a new graduate, the expected résumé format is to list your education at the top. If you have work experience, your education should be below your work history.

Another element of your education section is your GPA. If you do not list your GPA, the reader will assume it is poor. You're better off listing it if you did well (above a 3.3).

While you can safely remove your GPA once you're 10 years out of school, if you graduated with honors, it may be worth keeping forever.

The bottom of your résumé is the place to list most certifications unless you have a critical attribute like security clearance or an expected certification for the role you seek. You can put those near the top.

6. Excluding hobbies and interests

There are two benefits to ending your résumé with a little information about hobbies, charitable activities, and interests.

These interests humanize you. If someone has read to the bottom of your résumé, you won their attention. Giving a little personal texture at the bottom helps you be memorable.

Second, managers and recruiters look for icebreakers if they call you. Maybe they ski or have a dog, too, so listing things like this creates more chances to connect emotionally.

Next steps

Once you're confident in your résumé, don't procrastinate by continuing to polish it. Focus on networking to get a good reference for a job.

One last mistake I see is candidates failing to leverage their carefully crafted résumé language on LinkedIn. To get the most out of LinkedIn, put your crisp objective statement in the "About" section of the profile. Then, copy your job bullets into each section of "Work History."

Fill out your education and other information, and keep it current. This way, recruiters can find you while you sleep.

Ethan Evans is a retired Amazon vice president with over 23 years of experience as a business executive.

• Some former Palantir employees have left the software company to build their own startups.
• BI identified 30 founders building in the AI, legaltech, consumer, and healthcare spaces.
• The Palantir Mafia includes Partiful, Ironclad, Joe Lonsdale, Anduril, Garry Tan, and more.

Move over, PayPal: there's a new tech mafia in town.

Meet the Palantir Mafia: from Y Combinator's Garry Tan, to Joe Lonsdale, to the founders of ElevenLabs, IronClad, and Partiful, the big data software company has produced a slew of former employees who now run startups and investment funds of their own.

More than a decade ago, PayPal set the standard for producing a formidable group of alumni who now run their own companies, including Elon Musk, David Sacks, Reid Hoffman, Max Levchin, and Peter Thiel — who later co-founder Palantir.

Now, Facebook and Oracle each have their own mafias and more recent tech companies like Square, OpenAI, and Instacart have mafias, too.

Palantir's original clients were federal agencies, and one of its core product offerings, "Gotham," assists in locating targets on battlefields. While some former Palantir employees are leveraging their experience to found defense tech startups, others are building companies in healthcare, consumer, AI, and enterprise.

Palantir mafia companies have been backed by top VC firms including a16z, Sequoia, Redpoint, and Accel, as well as the prestigious startup accelerator Y Combinator.

In total, the startups identified by BI have collectively raised more than $6 billion in VC funding, according to PitchBook data as well as founders themselves. More than half of that funding — $3.8 billion — went to one place: Anduril, the defense-tech startup founded by three Palantir alums.

Take a look at BI's list of 30 Palantir Mafia members who are now startup founders. We put Y Combinator's Garry Tan at the top of the list and then listed everyone else in descending order based on how much VC funding their startup has raised.

Garry Tan

Role at Palantir: Lead engineer, designer

Garry Tan needs no introduction: a longtime fixture of the tech community, he founded the early-stage VC firm Initialized Capital in 2012 and was its managing partner through the end of 2022 (he's still a board member and advisor). His investments, which include Coinbase, Instacart, Patreon, Flexport, Rippling, and more have created more than $200 billion in market value in nine years, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Today, Tan is the president and CEO of storied startup accelerator Y Combinator.

Tan worked at Palantir for two years: in 2005, he joined the company as employee number 10 and co-founded the first version of Palantir's financial analysis product. He also designed the company's current logo.

Trae Stephens, Matt Grimm, and Brian Schimpf, Anduril

Total funding: $3.8 billion, according to the company

Notable investors: Founders Fund, Sands Capital, General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, 8VC, Lux Capital, Valor Equity Partners, Elad Gil, Human Capital

Total employees: 4,000+, according to the company

Role at Palantir: Trae Stephens, Forward Deployed Engineer (5.5 years); Matt Grimm, Forward Deployed Engineer (6 years 8 months); Brian Schimpf, Director of Engineering (9 years 7 months) (all according to their LinkedIn profiles)

Former Palantir employees Trae Stephens, Matt Grimm, and Brian Schimpf cofounded Anduril in 2017 alongside Palmer Luckey and Joe Chen to bring advanced autonomous systems to the military. Like Palantir, Anduril has attracted some of Silicon Valley's most prolific defense investors. Peter Thiel's Founders Fund (where Stephens is now a partner), an early investor in Palantir, seeded Anduril. Anduril last raised $1.5 billion at a $14 billion valuation in August 2024.

"Anduril's founding was motivated by a belief that the U.S. technology community should play a central role in both the development of weapons and supporting capabilities for US and allied militaries," Stephens wrote in a Medium post in 2022, underscoring the company's mission.

Joe Lonsdale, Addepar and 8VC

Total funding: $495 million, according to PitchBook

Notable investors: 8VC, Valor Equity Partners, Peter Thiel, Thrive Capital

Total employees: 1,118, according to PitchBook

Role at Palantir: Founder

Joe Lonsdale cofounded Palantir, a data and defense tech company, in 2004 with current CEO Alex Karp, Silicon Valley magnate Peter Thiel, current president Stephen Cohen, and Nathan Gettings.

"Our success relied on boldness and talent and a unique approach to mapping customers' data and processes and encoding it in our solutions," Lonsdale wrote about Palantir in a blog post from October 2024.

Lonsdale left Palantir in 2009 and founded Addepar, a software platform for investment portfolios.

Addepar has raised nearly half a billion dollars from the likes of Valor Equity Partners, Thrive Capital, Peter Thiel, and Lonsdale's venture capital firm, 8VC.

Cai Wangwilt, Ironclad

Total funding: $333 million, according to the company

Notable investors: Sequoia, Accel, YC Continuity, Franklin Templeton

Total employees: 516, according to the company

Role at Palantir: Software engineer

Cai Wangwilt is the co-founder and chief architect of Ironclad, the hot contract management software company that automates the contracting process for legal teams. Wangwilt founded the company in 2014 after spending three years as a software engineer at Palantir, where, among other projects, he built the successor to the company's original desktop client.

Given his background in developing tech at Palantir, Wangwilt recommends that aspiring founders reconsider what's possible in terms of delivering products to customers.

"AI is allowing us all to move exponentially faster with more precision," he said. "If there's something you're targeting, say, five years from now, ask yourself: 'is this something we might be able to do today?' You'll be surprised with your answer."

Mati Staniszewski, ElevenLabs

Total funding: $281 million, according to the company

Notable investors: a16z, ICONIQ Capital

Total employees: 150, according to the company

Role at Palantir: Deployment strategist

Mati Staniszewski spent nearly four years at Palantir, working as a deployment strategist from 2018 to 2022. Now, he's the co-founder of buzzy AI startup ElevenLabs, which is building audio models that generate realistic speech and sound effects in multiple languages. He said that when he worked at Palantir, he was given a high level of autonomy and ownership from day one, which made him effective at quickly solving problems.

"That shaped how we built ElevenLabs — lean, empowered teams that move quickly to make things happen," he said.

The startup, which has raised $281 million in total funding from investors like a16z and ICONIQ Capital, closed an $180 million Series C in January.

Nick Noone, Peregrine

Total funding: $252.7 million, according to PitchBook

Notable investors: Founders Fund, XYZ Venture Capital, Village Global, Sequoia Capital, Craft Ventures, according to Pitchbook

Total employees: 190, according to PitchBook

Role at Palantir: Head of U.S. Special Operations Business Unit

Nick Noone spent five years at Palantir, where he led the U.S. Special Operations (SOCOM) Business Unit and was the Business Operations and Strategy team's first hire in 2012. He now leads Peregrine, which makes a decision-support platform for government organizations, like public safety and law enforcement agencies, as well as commercial companies. Peregrine is growing fast—the company has tripled its annual revenues over the past three years, according to a press release.

The startup, which has raised money from prominent defense tech investors, including Founders Fund and XYZ Venture Capital, raised $190 million in Series C funding in March led by Sequoia Capital. The financing valued the company at $2.5 billion and will enable it to recruit more software engineers, the press release said.

Quinn Slack and Beyang Liu, Sourcegraph

Total funding: $235 million with a $2.6 billion valuation, according to the company

Notable investors: Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia, Craft, Redpoint, Felicis, Goldcrest

Total employees: 200, according to the company

Role at Palantir: Slack was a forward-deployed engineer, and Liu was a software engineer

Quinn Slack and Beyang Liu have spent the last 12 years building Sourcegraph, an AI code search and intelligence tool for software developers. The company, which is valued at more than $2.6 billion, most recently raised a $125 million Series D in 2021 from investors including a16z and Insight Partners. Slack Sourcegraph's CEO, while Liu is CTO.

The pair also overlapped at Palantir: Slack spent 10 months in 2011 and 2012 as a forward-deployed engineer advising banks in the home lending space, while Liu spent two years as a software engineer building software to analyze mortgage datasets and other financial data.

"As a Forward Deployed Engineer at Palantir, I worked directly with top executives at major banks, getting feedback by day and building solutions overnight, Slack said. "That incredibly tight feedback loop taught me how to build products the right way: close to the problem and the customer."

Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz, Chapter

Total funding: $111 million, according to the company

Notable investors: Addition, XYZ Venture Capital, Maverick Ventures, Peter Thiel, Narya, Susa Ventures

Total employees: 125, according to the company

Role at Palantir: Deployment Strategist on the US Government team

Cobi Blumenfeld-Gantz started as an intern at Palantir and returned full-time as a Deployment Strategist on the US Government team, where he spent nearly six years. The fast-paced environment helped shape his approach to problem-solving: "When I was at Palantir, it was a chaotic environment," Blumenfeld-Gantz told BI. "There was little structure and everything was open to be defined by the teams closest to the problems. It's not quite the same as being in a green field environment, but I learned how to just figure stuff out and get stuff done — because I had to."

After leaving the company in early 2020, Blumenfeld-Gantz cofounded Chapter, a medicare advisory provider that helps seniors choose the right health coverage. Chapter closed a $50 million Series C led by XYZ Venture Capital in May 2024.

Tarek Mansour, Kalshi

Total funding: $110 million, according to the company

Notable investors: Sequoia, Charles Schwab, Kravis, Y Combinator, SV Angel

Total employees: Unknown

Role at Palantir: Forward-deployed engineer

After spending a year as a forward-deployed engineer at Palantir, Tarek Mansour completed stints as an AI researcher at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and as a macro trader at Citadel before turning to startups. In 2021, he co-founded Kalshi, a fintech platform that lets users trade on the outcome of any event, like whether or not a bill will pass through Congress.

Alex Katz, Two Chairs

Total funding: $103 million, according to the company

Notable investors: Amplo, Goldcrest Capital, Fifth Down Capital, Maveron

Total employees: 750 million, according to the company

Role at Palantir: Deployment lead and enterprise lead

Alex Katz is currently the founder and CEO of mental healthcare startup Two Chairs, which matches clients to therapists. Since launching in 2016, the startup has raised $103 million, most recently in a $72 million debt and equity Series C in April 2024 led by Amplo and Fifth Down Capital.

Prior to building a healthtech startup, Katz spent two years at Palantir, where he was first a deployment lead, and then an enterprise lead — and he said that the entrepreneurial talent at the company during that time was "off the charts."

"It's no surprise to me that Palantir has turned out to be such an incredible generator of founder talent," he said. "It was an environment that gave enormous opportunity to people often quite early in their career — certainly much earlier than any more traditional environment I'd worked in."

Ashwin Sreenivas, Decagon

Total funding: $100 million, according to the company

Notable investors: A16z, Accel, Bain Capital Ventures, Elad Gil, A*, Bond Capital, Acme Capital

Total employees: 60

Role at Palantir: Deployment Strategist

Ashwin Sreenivas worked as a Deployment Strategist at Palantir for a year before pivoting to startups. In 2019, he cofounded Helia, a computer vision platform acquired by data labeling company Scale AI for an undisclosed amount in 2020.

Sreenivas' latest startup, Decagon, makes AI support agents that autonomously handle customer inquiries across chat, email, and voice calls. The startup has raised $100 million to date, and Bain Capital Ventures led its $65 million Series B in October 2024, which quadrupled Decagon's valuation, according to the company's blog. Elad Gil, A*, Accel, Bond Capital, and Acme Capital also participated in the fundraise.

Barry McCardel, Caitlin Colgrove, and Glen Takahashi, Hex

Total funding: $100 million, according to the company

Notable investors: A16z, Sequoia, Redpoint, Amplify, Snowflake

Total employees: 120, according to the company

Role at Palantir: McCardel was a forward deployed engineer; Colgrove was a software engineer, software engineering team lead, and software engineering group lead; and Takahashi was an intern and forward deployed engineer.

As a forward deployed engineer at Palantir, Barry McCardel spent more than four and a half years at the company, from 2014 to 2018, before eventually becoming a startup founder in 2019. His company, Hex, provides collaborative data analytics for enterprises, and it last raised $28 million in Series B funding in 2023 from a16z, Amplify, and Snowflake.

McCardel, who is Hex's CEO, co-founded the startup alongside two other Palantir alums: CTO Caitlin Colgrove built one of Palantir's first modern web applications at Palantir, and chief architect Glen Takahashi was an intern before becoming a full-time forward deployed engineer from 2014-2018.

For McCardel, building a successful startup requires a deep understanding of users and the ability to rapidly iterate on a great product for them.

"I can't imagine a better training ground for this than being a forward-deployed role at Palantir — even if we didn't realize it at the time," he said.

John Doyle, Cape

Total funding: $61.4 million, according to the company

Notable investors: A*, ex/ante, Point72 Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, XYZ Venture Capital

Total employees: 55, according to the company

Role at Palantir: Head of National Security

John Doyle spent nearly nine years leading national security at Palantir, where he experienced the company's "flat and high-ownership culture" and saw "tons of room for creative people with big ideas to build," he told BI.

His work with national security customers shaped his vision for Cape, the private and secure mobile carrier he founded in 2022.

"That work crystallized for me that many of those same threats also apply to everyday citizens, which is what made me want to build a mobile solution for the average consumer that doesn't come at the expense of being productized or compromised," he said of his time at Palantir.

Cape last raised $61 million in funding rounds led by A* and Andreessen Horowitz in August 2024, according to a press release.

Eliot Hodges, Anduin

Total funding: $49 million, according to the company

Notable investors: 8VC, GC1 Ventures, Asymmetric Capital

Total employees: 130, according to the company

Role at Palantir: Forward Deployed Engineer

Eliot Hodges worked as a Forward Deployed Engineer at Palantir for over two years. At the company, he focused on "fraud workflows" for "big box retailers" and monitoring and compliance within the federal government, according to his LinkedIn.

Hodges' time at Palantir was pivotal to launching his career: two of his last three jobs since leaving the defense tech company were all a result of Palantir connections, he said. "Palantir taught me how a small group of mission-driven people can solve some of the world's hardest challenges for government and commercial organizations alike," Hodges said.

Anduin, founded in 2014, makes tools for private market investors. Its platform simplifies the subscription process for limited partners, reducing administrative work. The startup has raised money from prominent investors, including 8VC, the venture firm started by Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale. Hodges joined Anduin as its CEO in 2020.

Hodges has carried over a key lesson from Palantir while building Anduin—and advises aspiring founders to do the same: "Build deeply technical teams and find promisingly unsexy problems to solve."

Rebecca Egger, Little Otter

Total funding: $35 million, according to the company

Notable investors: Charles River Ventures, Pivotal Ventures, BoxGroup, Torch Capital, 8VC, Palantir Alumni Group

Total employees: 175

Role at Palantir: Forward Deployed Product Lead

Rebecca Egger spent over two years as a Forward Deployed Product Lead at Palantir before transitioning to a role as a product and program lead at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. In 2020, she cofounded Little Otter, an online counseling and therapy service focused on serving families and children, alongside her mother, Dr. Helen Egger.

In February, Little Otter secured $9.5 million in strategic funding in February from investors, including Charles River Ventures and Pivotal Ventures. The funding will help the startup scale its operations using AI and expand its services to families covered by Medicaid and commercial insurance plans, according to a company blog post.

Shreya Murthy and Joy Tao, Partiful

Total funding: $27 million, according to PitchBook

Notable investors: a16z, according to PitchBook

Total employees: 27, according to PitchBook

Role at Palantir: Tao was a product engineer, and Murthy was an enterprise lead and business operations and strategy lead

Joy Tao and Shreya Murthy are currently running Partiful, an app for inviting friends and connections to IRL events. The pair founded the startup in 2020. Since then, it has become a go-to organizing tool for group gatherings, and at the end of 2022, Partiful raised a Series A funding round from a16z.

Tao and Murthy both worked at Palantir from 2014 to 2018. Tao was a product engineer, while Murthy held multiple positions: enterprise lead, deployment lead, and business operations and strategy team lead.

Alex Ince-Cushman, Branch Energy

Total funding: $20 million, according to the company

Notable investors: Prelude Ventures, Zero Infinity Partners

Total employees: 20, according to PitchBook

Role at Palantir: Head of Product Operations

Alex Ince-Cushman worked as Palantir's Head of Product Operations for nearly four years after over six years at the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. After Palantir, Ince-Cushman spent almost two years as chief technology officer at Just Energy, a retail energy provider in the US and Canada.

He founded Branch Energy in late 2020. This vertically integrated power provider helps customers lower their energy bills and carbon footprints by providing access to clean energy. In August 2024, the startup raised just under $11 million in a round led by climate tech venture firm Prelude Ventures.

Gary Lin, Explo

Total funding: $15 million, according to the company

Notable investors: Craft, Felicis, and Y Combinator

Total employees: 25, according to the company

Role at Palantir: Forward deployed engineer, enterprise tech lead

In 2019, Gary Lin co-founded Explo, which allows companies to quickly build customer-facing dashboards and reporting. The company was a member of YC's Winter 2020 batch and has since raised $14 million in VC funding, most recently through its $12 million Series A in August 2022, which was led by Craft Ventures.

Prior to starting Explo, Lin spent more than two years at Palantir, first as a forward-deployed engineer working with the Department of Defense and later commercial clients and then as an enterprise tech lead for the Department of Defense.

"Being an engineer on the frontlines via forward deployed engineering gave me a glimpse into what it was like to embed closely with customers, make difficult, multi-dimensional tradeoffs, and close pilots," he said.

Angela McNeal and Mayada Gonimah, Thread AI

Total funding: $6 million, according to the company

Notable investors: Greycroft, Index Ventures

Total employees: 14, according to the company

Role at Palantir: Angela McNeal: Head of AI/ML Product, Foundry Modeling; Mayada Gonimah: Head of AI/ML Engineering, Foundry

At Palantir, McNeal and Gonimah led the Foundry Modeling team, where they worked on AI and machine learning projects. Drawing on that experience, they left the company in 2023 and cofounded ThreadAI, a composable infrastructure platform that allows companies to make, implement, and manage AI-powered workflows.

For aspiring founders looking to break out of their current company and start something new, Gonimah emphasizes the importance of building a resilient team: "There are a lot of tourists, so make sure you have a deep bench to build a durable company that isn't at risk of being eliminated by the next shiny thing," she told BI.

Thread AI raised a seed round led by Index Ventures, with participation from Greycroft and a handful of angel investors, in 2024.

Sinclair Toffa, Mural Pay

Total funding: $5.6 million, according to PitchBook

Notable investors: Alleycorp, according to PitchBook

Total employees: 13, according to PitchBook

Role at Palantir: Forward deployed engineer, technical lead

Blurb: Mural Pay facilitates cross-border payments between the U.S., Europe, Latam, and Africa. While he's now based in New York, Toffa spent just under three years working at Palantir in London, first as a forward-deployed engineer and then as a technical lead.

Steve Heitkamp, Hence Technologies

Total funding: $5 million, according to the company

Notable investors: Broad Creek Capital and Daybreak Capital Partners, according to PitchBook

Total employees: 20, according to the company

Role at Palantir: Lead in US Government Practice

Founded in 2020, Hence makes AI software that helps companies identify and tackle geopolitical, legal, and AI risks. The London-based startup's backend is powered by Palantir Foundry, the defense tech company's data integration and analytics platform.

Hence's cofounder, Steve Heitkamp, told Business Insider that he spent over seven years at Palantir leading its US government practice. Here's one of the lessons he learned at Palantir: "Don't be sorry for what you are not," he wrote to BI. Instead, embrace what makes you unique and use your superpowers to be the best version of you. This is how you create transformative value."

Dimitris Nikolaou and Youssef Rizk, Wondercraft

Total funding: $3.5 million, according to PitchBook

Notable investors: Will Ventures, according to PitchBook

Total employees: 8, according to PitchBook

Role at Palantir: Nikolaou was a deployment strategist, project lead, forward-deployed engineer, and technical lead, while Rizk was a forward-deployed software engineer.

Blurb: Palantir in London in 2018, and by 2023, the pair teamed up to build Wondercraft, an AI audio editor that creates ads, podcasts, and other spoken content in multiple languages through typing. The startup, which was a member of Y Combinator's summer 2022 cohort, raised a $3 million seed funding round in January from Will Ventures, YC, and fellow Palantir Mafia and AI audio startup Eleven Labs.

• Amazon quickly integrated DeepSeek AI models into Bedrock due to high demand in January.
• Amazon wants to promote its products as faster and more secure alternatives to DeepSeek.
• The cloud giant warns employees not to share confidential information with DeepSeek.

In late January, as DeepSeek sent shockwaves through the tech industry, Amazon saw a huge spike in companies requesting access to the Chinese AI model on its development tool Bedrock.

Amazon swiftly added DeepSeek to Bedrock. Some employees who spoke to Business Insider felt the approval process was unusually fast. Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy later told investors the company moved quickly to meet customer demand.

DeepSeek's sudden rise has spurred swift reactions inside Amazon. The repercussions have been felt across product updates, sales pitches, and development efforts, according to internal documents seen by BI and people familiar with the matter.

The responses show how fast-moving AI discoveries can whipsaw even the biggest and smartest technology companies. Amazon rivals, including OpenAI, Google, Meta, and Microsoft have also been forced to respond to the DeepSeek impact.

An Amazon spokesperson said the company's strategy has always focused on providing secure access to the latest models through AWS, giving customers control over their data to customize and build generative AI applications.

"Delivering DeepSeek models is an example of that," the spokesperson added in a statement to BI. "We're extremely pleased with the feedback that we've received from the thousands of customers who have already deployed DeepSeek on AWS."

'Privacy concerns'

DeepSeek's AI models upended the tech world in January with their powerful performance and low cost. Tech stocks plunged as investors questioned US tech companies' massive spending on computing products.

For now, Amazon continues to add DeepSeek-related features. Earlier this week, the cloud giant made it easier to use DeepSeek's reasoning model on Bedrock, offering a "fully managed" service with built-in security and monitoring features. Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman wrote on LinkedIn that there's been "incredible demand" for DeepSeek.

It's not just the Bedrock team scurrying to make changes. One person said that DeepSeek has sparked many new discussions across Amazon.

One particular topic has been how Amazon should position itself against DeepSeek.

AWS has encouraged employees to highlight privacy and security concerns around DeepSeek when they speak to customers, according to internal guidelines seen by BI. They should remind customers of the importance of "model choice" and pitch AWS's Nova AI models as an alternative, the document added.

The guidelines also suggest promoting Bedrock, which AWS says provides a more secure and private method of accessing AI models. With Bedrock, customer data is not shared with model providers or used to improve base models. Amazon expects most customers to use open-source versions of DeepSeek models, not those directly offered by the Chinese company, it added.

"DeepSeek's privacy policy states they collect user data and may store them on servers in China," the guidelines said. "We are aware of the privacy concerns on DeepSeek models."

Nova is faster and safer

AWS has also told employees to leverage DeepSeek's shortcomings when selling Nova.

The guidelines say Nova models are faster than DeepSeek's models, based on third-party benchmark data, and more secure given AWS's more robust "responsible AI" standards.

Nova is more comparable to DeepSeek's V3 model than the R1 reasoning model and they serve different needs, the guideline also stated. However, the V3 is a "text-only model," while Nova supports image and video understanding, the document emphasized.

AWS is now working on its own reasoning model that would directly compete with DeepSeek's R1, BI previously reported. While AWS has been developing the new model for months, DeepSeek's recent emergence added more pressure to expedite its progress, one of the people familiar with the matter said.

Efforts to study DeepSeek's technology are in the works at Amazon, and AWS wants to apply some of the training techniques DeepSeek used in its new reasoning model, some of the people added.

During last month's earnings call, Jassy said Amazon was "impressed" with a lot of DeepSeek's training methodologies. Those include "flipping the sequencing of reinforcement training" and some of its "inference optimizations," Jassy explained.

"For those of us who are building frontier models, we're all working on the same types of things and we're all learning from one another. I think you have seen and will continue to see a lot of leapfrogging between us," he said.

'Deepseek-interest' channel

On the day DeepSeek roiled the stock market in late January, Amazon employees created an internal Slack channel called "Deepseek-interest," according to a screenshot seen by BI. More than 1,300 employees joined the channel in just a few days.

One person wrote on this Slack channel that he was "surprised" there wasn't much pushback against DeepSeek given its China origin and "security concerns." Another person asked for Neuron, AWS's in-house chip development platform, to support DeepSeek models. A third person wrote about a customer complaint over errors they saw while using DeepSeek on Bedrock.

Amazon also held an internal DeepSeek learning session in late January, according to one of the Slack messages. The event covered AWS's messaging, positioning, and key differentiators versus DeepSeek.

Moving on from DeepSeek

Meanwhile, Amazon now discourages employees from using DeepSeek on their work computers, according to several people familiar with the matter. Staff now get a warning to not share confidential information with DeepSeek's app, the same message they see when using ChatGPT at work.

Perhaps in a sign of how fast things change in AI, some Amazon employees already seem to be moving on from DeepSeek to other Chinese AI offerings.

One person wrote in the internal Slack channel that AWS should start considering other China-based models, like Alibaba's Qwen.

"DeepSeek is already the past day," this person wrote. "When do we have Qwen2.5-Max?"

Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at [email protected] or Signal, Telegram, or WhatsApp at 650-942-3061. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• Gen Z workers aren't paying attention to traditional job advice.
• They're more willing to pursue their career goals through job-hopping, says a career coach.
• Here's how two Gen Z workers navigated the job-hopping process.

It's no secret that Gen Z has some untraditional views on work.

They're not afraid of breaking workplace taboos such as job-hopping, and they're willing to prioritize their well-being and happiness over higher pay.

Some Gen Z workers are taking this mindset to the next step by quitting their jobs in a matter of months — breaking the classic recommendation of staying at a job for a year or longer.

Dennis Xiao is one of those people. After graduating college in 2021, Xiao started working at an investment bank but soon realized he didn't feel fulfilled by the job. Six months in, Xiao decided to quit. Since then, Xiao has worked a strategic finance role at WeWork, taken a career break to travel, and been self-employed as a content creator and coach.

Joey H., who declined to provide his last name for privacy reasons, had a similar experience. He got a job as a software developer at a small startup in October 2021 but left after eight months because he didn't feel like the company offered strong career development opportunities.

"I wanted to find an environment where I could have more support, maybe at a larger company," Joey said. He's since found another software developer role.

Career coach Marnie Lemonik has seen this new attitude toward work play out among her clients. "The biggest trend that I've noticed with Gen Z is they have more inherent confidence in themselves in the work world," Lemonik said. "Millennials tend to be a little bit more guilt-ridden about that process, and they're more concerned with leaving a job after only a year and the optics of it."

Job-hopping isn't an easy task, especially early on in your career. Here's what can make the transition smoother.

Prepare early and build an emergency fund

While Gen Zers tend to be more confident in their abilities to land a new job, the process isn't always seamless — especially if you're leaving without another job lined up.

"There is this desire to think, 'Once I start job searching, I'll find a job in a month,' or, 'I have a really good network, so maybe I'll find a job within two months.' The very rough average I've seen across a lot of different levels of my clients is three to six months," Lemonik said. "That's a longer period of time than what a lot of people budget for."

For that reason, it's important to make sure you have an adequate emergency fund to act as a buffer between jobs.

It took two months for Joey to find another job after quitting his first one, but he had begun preparing for interviews many months before leaving. Planning a few months ahead, getting a head start on interviewing, and putting more money into savings leading up to your departure can make the job-hopping process easier.

Consider decreasing your 401(k) contributions

It's not a bad idea to decrease the amount of money you're contributing to your company's retirement plans if you plan to leave your current job soon.

That's what Xiao did when he started planning to leave his second job. "I was like, 'I'm just going to start redirecting money away from my 401(k) to pure savings to prepare for this chapter of not having income,'" he said.

Once the money is in your 401(k), it's locked up for the long term — you can't withdraw it before age 59 ½ without a 10% penalty and income taxes. Lowering your contributions will give you more immediate cash flow. This can be especially advantageous if you're early on in your career and earning an entry-level salary. If that's the case, prioritize your immediate financial needs by diverting cash to a savings account instead of maxing out retirement funds.

Decreasing your 401(k) contributions can sound risky if you're concerned about hitting your retirement goals, but many people job-hop with the goal of increasing their pay and benefits. Joey's first employer didn't offer a 401(k) match, so he gained a better benefits package by switching jobs.

Get a 'bridge job'

A bridge job is a position that serves as a stepping stone between your current job and your dream job. Beyond providing you with income while you search for a job, a bridge job can help build up the professional skills needed for you to get closer to the career you want.

This was Xiao's mindset when he started his second role at WeWork. "I took the role fully knowing it was my day job," Xiao said. "I lived a part-time creator life doing YouTube and writing on the side."

Many of Lemonik's clients who leave jobs due to burnout want the next job to be a perfect fit, but that's not always possible.

"Sometimes it just takes longer to get that type of job, or sometimes you simply don't have the skills to go from your current job to your dream job and you have to find something in the middle," Lemonik said.

She encourages her clients to think about jobs that could build up their résumés for the job they want. "If you want to become a lawyer and you're working in tech sales, can you go work at a law firm while you study for the LSAT?" Lemonik said. "That gets you closer to that realm even though you can't be a lawyer tomorrow."

• More people are starting to use ChatGPT for free therapy.
• Therapists say it can make people lonelier and dependent on seeking reassurance.
• They recommend using it for specific tasks, like journal prompts.

I'm not shy about admitting I've confided in a robot.

Just last week, I spent a solid hour in an animated back-and-forth with ChatGPT, seeking advice for a personal problem that I've been agonizing over for weeks. I didn't want to bore my husband and friends with it again.

I'm far from the only one who does this. Reddit users say they love using the AI platform for life coaching and unpacking other people's narcissistic behaviors; TikTokers share tips like "voice journaling" into ChatGPT or changing the settings so ChatGPT responds back in audio, mimicking a therapist.

Rachel Goldberg, a licensed clinical social worker in Los Angeles, said she wasn't surprised to learn that some people use ChatGPT for therapeutic purposes. She even put me in touch with one of her clients, who recently disclosed that she uses the platform daily in addition to their in-person sessions.

The client, who we'll call Emily (she asked to remain anonymous because she is Goldberg's client), said she uses ChatGPT to "brain dump" her thoughts when she feels stressed. Sometimes, she doesn't want to text Goldberg ahead of a session or "burden" her friends; she just needs to process something quickly. Within seconds, she gets "the most amazing life advice," she said.

"It's kind of a little compass helping me go throughout my day," Emily, 28, told BI.

ChatGPT is a tempting alternative (or accessory) to therapy. It's free, available anytime, and offers customized, in-depth advice. The downsides — like OpenAI training on personal data or the environmental damage caused by frequent AI use — are easy to ignore in the heat of a crisis when ChatGPT responds with tranquil eloquence.

While some therapists say it's OK, they encourage hard boundaries around using ChatGPT: its boundless accessibility can reinforce reassurance-seeking behaviors and exacerbate loneliness. It can make a person more anxious and atomized — the opposite of what good therapy aims to do.

It felt nice to read ChatGPT's polite affirmations that my issue "sounds really tough." However, it just didn't feel the same as chatting with a friend who might crack a joke or share how they got through a similar experience.

Free 'therapy in your pocket'

Emily, who has been going to therapy for about eight or nine years, doesn't believe ChatGPT is better than traditional therapy or a substitute for her friends.

It is, however, convenient. When her car was stolen twice, or she felt overwhelmed by big life transitions, she'd write into ChatGPT. She found it most helpful when it identified her feelings when she was too in it to realize them herself.

"If I tell it things where I don't sound very confident or I'm doing something for someone else, it catches that, and it'll be like, 'this person is responsible for their own emotions,'" Emily said. "It's literally therapy in your pocket at any time."

While Goldberg said it's good that ChatGPT "does a pretty good job of validating" someone's feelings and can help them become more self-reflective, the danger lies in being overly dependent on a second opinion. There are still moments when one has to make a split-second decision on their own, like speaking up in a meeting or leaving a rude date.

Ciara Bogdanovic, a therapist specializing in dialectical behavioral therapy, told BI her worry is that ChatGPT can't spot broader patterns in a client, like the need for frequent validation. For people with OCD, ChatGPT can heighten reassurance-seeking behaviors, which a competent therapist would work on, encouraging the client to expose themselves to some discomfort.

AI is "just going to reassure, which is reinforcing the behavior which might be damaging," Bogdanovic said.

When customizing goes too far

The biggest problem I found with ChatGPT therapy is that it can be customized to answer in ways you find preferable. If I asked ChatGPT to analyze a conversation at face value, it told me I was coming off a touch harsh. Then I followed Reddit's advice of asking ChatGPT to spot signs of manipulation in the other person's texts. It broke down all the ways they were defensive and emotionally immature.

Without that note, readings might look different, potentially even sympathetic to the love-bomber or gaslighter.

Therapists and friends aren't perfectly objective, either. It's just that ChatGPT's answers can be continually tweaked to your liking, down to the tone of voice.

Unlike a therapist, Goldberg said that ChatGPT won't pick up on a user labeling everyone in their life as toxic and gently start to push back. It will simply tell them what they want to hear — ultimately, to their detriment.

"As a therapist, I'm constantly assessing: what's the client's diagnosis, what is their history, what is their family context?" Bogdanovic said. How she responds to one client may be completely different to another client, even if they raise what seems like exactly the same concern. ChatGPT, meanwhile, is "just going to spit out an answer," she said.

Losing the human touch

As empathetic as ChatGPT sounds, it has limitations for the kinds of problems it can solve.

Angela Betancourt, a 42-year-old business owner, no longer goes to therapy. While she said ChatGPT can't compete with it, she uses it for quick pep talks or offering a different perspective on approaching a problem.

Betancourt also loves using ChatGPT for gratitude journal prompts. Recently, she used it to reflect on the joyful moments of a trip she took with her family. However, she said she wouldn't use ChatGPT to deal with heavier emotions like grief. She lost her father-in-law last year and her father a few years before that. She believes only real people can provide adequate comfort and advice in a crisis.

Unlike a psychologist or best friend, ChatGPT is also not beholden to confidentiality — data inputted may potentially be used to identify users in the future, though it hasn't happened yet.

Emily tries not to include too much super-personal data. Sometimes, though, she'll describe a "really intense situation" involving other people. "If that ever got out, it could ruin relationships," she said. "I'm just hoping it's completely private."

If you're going to spill to ChatGPT, create boundaries

Both Bogdanovic and Goldberg predict that more people will start using ChatGPT for therapy, at least in the near future. They also hope they'll exercise some boundaries around it.

Bogdanovic recommends using it only for "pointed questions," like how to respond to your boss's message or breathing techniques to calm down.

In my experience, even the best AI -powered advice can fall short. By the time my husband came home that day, ChatGPT still hadn't given me an answer that felt right — it provided too many potential courses of action. I spiraled, wondering if I was giving ChatGPT a fair amount of context without completely compromising my privacy.

So I asked him instead: knowing all about this recurring issue, what would he do if he were me right now? He paused and closed his eyes, pensiveness in his voice. Then he gave me his advice.

I texted the person back in the way he suggested. I have no idea if it was the best answer or the rightest of resolutions. All I know is that I felt better when I put my phone down to hug him.

• Older Americans are facing retirement uncertainty due to market dips and Trump policy changes.
• Financial advisors urge against drastic investment changes, despite recession fears.
• Diversifying income sources and delaying taking Social Security can help stabilize retirement plans.

With dips in the stock market, planned staff cuts to the Social Security Administration, and rapidly changing economic policy, nearly a dozen older Americans told Business Insider they aren't sure how to navigate retirement under Trump 2.0 — so we asked financial advisors.

It turns out that they have also been fielding an uptick in queries about how this political moment will impact clients' finances.

Some retirees are tempted to make drastic changes to their investments, while others feel anxious about how their Social Security benefits may fare. This comes as the White House makes sweeping cuts to the federal workforce, the Department of Government Efficiency slashes budgets for government programs, and Wall Street braces for a potential recession.

The biggest advice for older Americans right now from financial advisors: don't panic. The news cycle since President Donald Trump's inauguration has moved quickly, and most advisors caution older adults against making any major changes to their retirement or savings accounts. Advisors told BI that building emergency funds and cutting back on spending are smarter ways to approach economic uncertainty.

"While it's difficult not to react when stocks are falling, this has often been the best course of action, or you risk locking in potential losses and missing out on any market recoveries," said Rita Assaf, vice president of retirement offerings at Fidelity Investment. "If you are saving for retirement, continue to stick to your plan. If you haven't created a plan, you should."

Here are the three top tips on retirement planning in the current economic climate from financial advisors, economists, and wealth managers.

Avoid drastic investment decisions

The S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq have fallen recently, sparking nervousness among older Americans who have invested their retirement savings. A potential recession could also impact the value of some retirees' assets, like homes.

"Putting the possibility of a recession into perspective can be hard to do," said John Canally, chief portfolio strategist at TIAA, Wealth Management. "Emotion is a big part of investing, for better or worse, and investors often see short-term volatility as extremely disruptive."

However, Gordon Whittaker, a Merrill wealth management advisor, told BI there is nothing about this period in the market that is different from other times of elevated volatility. If Americans have a smart retirement portfolio with adequate risk allocations, he said they shouldn't make any major money changes.

Financial advisors told BI that it's better to wait and see before making any immediate changes to 401(k) or Roth IRA strategies. Additionally, don't make any changes now in an effort to "get ahead of the economy," said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate. He added that investors can miss out on gains more than avoiding losses when they try to outguess the market.

Market conditions will likely change again soon, and Canally said it is important to "stay anchored" to long-term wealth and savings goals.

Older Americans who have invested in the market should ensure their stock portfolio is diverse, said Christopher Scibilia, a private client advisor at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management. People should invest in various stock options, ideally in stable industries without much risk. Scibilia added that retirees should also plan to withdraw their investments when the market is higher to avoid losses.

Evaluate your budget and pay down debt

Regardless of age, economists and financial advisors told BI it is a good time for Americans to reevaluate their spending.

The job market could slow down, and the price of everyday items could tick up due to tariffs and market volatility, especially if there is a recession. This is a good time to examine household budgets and see what can be trimmed or cut if income changes, McBride said. He added that people should prioritize paying down debt, building emergency funds, and focusing on liquid cash savings.

Scibilia said older Americans, especially, should have cash on hand in case of unexpected expenses, like a medical diagnosis. He said building an emergency fund alongside a traditional retirement account should be a top consideration for Americans who are retired or are looking to retire soon.

Don't count on Social Security alone to pay your bills

BI previously heard from older Americans who are either unable to retire or must return to work after retirement due to financial constraints. Many said that Social Security isn't enough to afford essentials, and millions of retirees don't have adequate savings.

The Social Security fund is unlikely to be immediately affected by any of Trump's planned policies, though Trump has suggested cutting some government healthcare coverage and resources for Social Security beneficiaries.

Financial advisors and economists told BI that having multiple income streams can help protect people from market volatility or any changes in government benefits.

Assaf and Scibilia said that older Americans should consider waiting to collect Social Security. Delaying their claim until age 70 could increase people's benefits by 8%, which could be especially helpful for Americans worried about the Social Security fund dwindling in the 2030s, they said.

"Having multiple income sources, like Social Security, pensions, or part-time work, can also provide stability," Scibilia said.

Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, also told BI that people with emergency funds, investment portfolios, and updated skills in their industry recover fastest from job losses. Scibilia added that pursuing part-time work and increasing health insurance coverage can help retirees weather unexpected expenses.

Do you have a story to tell about retirement plans and how you're navigating finances under Trump 2.0? Reach out to these reporters at [email protected] and [email protected]

• Flexport CEO says tariff uncertainty is paralyzing companies' decision-making.
• Anxiety grew after Trump announced tariffs on Mexico and Canada.
• Canada, China, and the EU have placed retaliatory tariffs on US products.

The CEO of logistics and freight company Flexport said that customers feel stuck because of the uncertainty around tariffs.

"Frankly, the number one reaction I see right now is a bit of paralysis of people not wanting to make a decision until there's more clarity," said Ryan Petersen on an episode of the Logan Bartlett Show released on Friday. He founded Flexport in 2013 and raised $935 million in 2022 at an $8 billion valuation.

On the podcast, Petersen said that customers don't know what to expect around tariffs. He said no country feels like a safe bet for supply chains, especially after President Donald Trump placed duties on Canada and Mexico, two of the US's closest trading partners.

"You should expect tariffs can come for any country, so that's making planning really really difficult," he said. "My advice would be get it over with quickly so people could figure out what the new normal is."

Businesses across industries are sorting out how to shift their supply chains away from countries worst hit by Trump's tariffs. Earlier this month, Pfizer's CEO Albert Bourla said that the company may move overseas drug manufacturing back to the US. Retail executives at companies including Ralph Lauren, Steve Madden, and Yeti have said in recent months that they plan to reduce their manufacturing dependency on China.

Since Trump took office in January, he has announced a string of sweeping tariffs across the US's three biggest trading partners — China, Canada, and Mexico — and the rest of the world.

Trump imposed 25% tariffs on all goods imported from Canada and Mexico and suspended many of the measures two days after they went into effect.

Last week, in retaliation for a 50% charge on American whiskies, Trump threatened a 200% tariff on all alcoholic products from European Union countries.

Trump's charges have been met with equally harsh retaliations: Canada reciprocated with a 25% tariff on all US goods, China placed a 10% to 15% tariff on agricultural goods, and the EU responded with billions of dollars in tariffs. Retaliations came at a provincial level, too: Ontario, Canada's most populous province, placed a 25% surcharge on the electricity sent to Michigan, Minnesota, and New York.

• President Donald Trump told reporters he will speak to Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.
• "We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants," Trump said.
• Ukraine has said it is ready to accept a US proposal for a 30-day cease-fire with Russia.

President Donald Trump said he plans to speak to Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday about ending the Ukraine war.

"We will see if we have something to announce maybe by Tuesday. I will be speaking to President Putin on Tuesday," Trump told reporters on board Air Force One on Sunday, per multiple media reports.

"A lot of work's been done over the weekend. We want to see if we can bring that war to an end," Trump added.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has now run over three years since it began in February 2022, with both sides estimated to have lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

Kyiv is estimated to have had 80,000 of its troops killed and another 400,000 wounded, while Western analyses say Russia likely has more than 700,000 troops killed and wounded.

Trump has often cited the loss of life as a key reason he's pushing for peace as soon as possible. Describing himself as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine, he's sought to pull both parties toward a cease-fire agreement — a change from the Biden administration's strategy of trying to starve Moscow into capitulation.

That effort has introduced new tensions in the US-Ukraine relationship. Earlier this month, the Trump administration paused all military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

Those were later restored after Ukraine said it was ready to accept a US proposal for an immediate 30-day cease-fire with Russia. Trump had also threatened Putin and Russia with sanctions if they didn't agree to a cease-fire with Ukraine.

"We will be talking about land. We will be talking about power plants," Trump said of the coming negotiations with Putin.

With Ukraine agreeing to the temporary cease-fire terms, the Trump administration must now focus on securing Russia's approval.

"The ball is now in their court," State Secretary Marco Rubio said last week of Russia.

Moscow has stepped up missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities despite ongoing talks in the last two weeks, prompting fears of a long road toward a peace agreement.

Kyiv and Europe, meanwhile, have repeatedly voiced concerns that the US may try to broker peace terms without direct Ukrainian input.

Both the UK and France have proposed stationing troops in Ukraine to act as a peacekeeping force to oversee the cease-fire.

On Sunday, Russia's deputy foreign minister Alexander Grushko told local media in an interview published Monday that his country will not accept having any NATO troops based in Ukraine.

Ukraine, too, wants to be part of the conversation.

"No decision can be made without Ukraine on how to end the war in Ukraine," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in February, as Trump indicated his team had been speaking with Putin.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

• The US Navy is deploying a guided-missile destroyer to police the southern border.
• The USS Gravely previously finished a nine-month deployment fighting the Houthis in the Red Sea.
• The warship is armed with the long-range Tomahawk, a powerful missile used for striking land targets.

The Navy said on Saturday that the USS Gravely, a guided-missile destroyer that saw combat in the Red Sea last year, is being sent to the US southern border.

The Arleigh Burke-class warship's presence would help "restore territorial integrity at the US southern border," officials said in a statement.

"Gravely's sea-going capacity improves our ability to protect the United States' territorial integrity, sovereignty, and security," said Gen. Gregory Guillot, who leads US Northern Command.

The statement provided few details of the Gravely's mission but said its deployment was made under President Donald Trump's executive orders to protect the southern border.

In January, Trump declared a national emergency at the US-Mexico border, which he said needed troops to deal with a flood of illegal migration. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said that he views the border situation as a matter of national security.

As part of its deployment, the Gravely carries a US Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment, a squad of elite operators specializing in maritime missions like intercepting drug-trafficking ships and fighting pirates.

Policing the US' southern waters is an unusual task for a destroyer with the Gravely's firepower. Such missions are usually carried out by US border authorities and the Coast Guard.

A warship that saw combat for nine months

Before this new deployment, the Gravely was one of several warships accompanying the Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier for its extended nine-month deployment in the Red Sea.

There, the Gravely spent months shooting down drones and missiles launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels. It also carried out long-range strikes on Houthi land targets with its vertically launched Tomahawk missiles — part of a coordinated US-UK effort to preemptively destroy Houthi weapons before they could fire.

Additionally, the destroyer was documented using a "non-kinetic" weapon system to fend off drones.

This Middle East deployment was notable for the US Navy because of how intense and frequent the fighting grew, which allowed the Ike group to gain valuable active combat experience.

By the end of its twice-extended deployment in June, the carrier group had fired nearly 800 munitions and logged over 12,000 aircraft sorties.

Now, the US is sending some of that military might to its south. The Gravely is over 500 feet in length, meaning it's far bigger than any of the typical cutters used by the US Coast Guard.

Washington has two key areas of concern in its southern waters: The Gulf of Mexico, which Trump has renamed the Gulf of America, and the Caribbean Sea on Panama's coast.

Trump has said that he wants to retake control of the Panama Canal, complaining about fees charged to US commercial ships and Chinese influence over the waterway.

Meanwhile, thousands of people attempt to cross the Gulf of Mexico to illegally enter the US every year. The US Coast Guard warns that the journey is often dangerous and can be deadly because smugglers tend to use old, unsafe boats to carry migrants.

The gulf is also a major route for drug smuggling by cartels, which Trump designated as foreign terrorist organizations immediately after he took office.

The Pentagon and US Northern Command's press teams did not respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

• Former first lady Michelle Obama, 61, is no stranger to online rumors.
• That's why, to protect her peace, she doesn't read the comments section, she said at SXSW.
• But public figures aren't the only ones vulnerable to the negative impact of social media.

Michelle Obama knows it's not easy to be in the public eye, and that's why she pays attention to her social media usage.

During a live taping of her "IMO" podcast — which she cohosts with her brother, Craig Robinson — at SXSW on Thursday, Obama spoke about her top tip for protecting herself and her family online.

"People always ask me and Barack, how did we stay hopeful in, not just the eight years that we were in the White House, but beyond?" Obama said, per People.

The former first lady said she and her husband, Barack Obama, faced "a lot of negative energy" due to widespread rumors about them, such as gossip about his nationality and whether he attended Harvard.

"But through it all, what kept us sane — and we tried to instill this in our daughters — is, you cannot live through social media," Obama said. "I don't think I have ever once looked at a comment section, period."

The things that internet users say in the comments section are often untrue, since they are "people who don't know you," she said.

"That doesn't mean you don't stay informed, but staying informed has nothing to do with the comment section. It has everything to do with the content of the stories that you take in," Obama said.

"I think we cannot get so trapped by social media that we feel so caught up into the one way we get information. We've got to broaden our spectrum, and we have to get off the phone," she added.

The pitfalls of social media

But it's not just public figures who are vulnerable to the negative impact of social media; children and teenagers are especially at risk. Cyberbullying and the need to constantly seek validation online can have a detrimental effect on their mental health.

Researchers from Yale and Columbia looked at screen time habits in over 5,100 kids, ages 9 and 10. The study, published in 2023, showed that youths who spend the most time on their phones are more likely to develop depression and anxiety, among other problems, in the future.

Governments are taking note: Australia has already approved a law banning social media for children under 16, while Norway is considering enacting a ban for children under 15.

Other celebrity moms have also spoken up about the dangers of social media.

In January 2024, Penélope Cruz told Elle about her concerns regarding letting her kids use social media.

"It's so easy to be manipulated, especially if you have a brain that is still forming," Cruz said. "And who pays the price? Not us, not our generation."

During a panel at the "A Day of Unreasonable Conversation" summit in March 2024, Paris Hilton spoke about how technology has changed the way children interact with the world.

"Kids are not going outside anymore and playing as much because everyone's just so busy on their phones," Hilton said. "So, hopefully, my kids won't be as addicted to social media as I am."

A representative for Obama did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider outside regular hours.

• Oliva Purba and Dirkjan Tijs wanted to live a simpler and more sustainable life in Bali, Indonesia.
• So, they swapped their three-bedroom villa near Canggu for tiny living in Ubud.
• Instead of one tiny house, the couple built two — for $30,000.

After two years of living in a three-bedroom villa near Bali's popular Canggu tourist district, Olivia Purba and her husband, Dirkjan Tijs, decided it was time to downsize.

Purba, originally from North Sumatra, moved south from Indonesia's northern province in 2017 to work for a non-governmental organization in Bali as a partnerships officer, where she worked closely with small farmers in the coffee, cacao, rice, cinnamon, and seaweed sectors.

Tijs, a software engineer from the Netherlands, arrived in Bali in 2018 as a digital nomad. His original plan was to stay on the island for a month — but then he met Purba and they fell in love.

Although the couple traveled extensively, both for work and leisure, Bali always felt like home.

The villa was their first house together. The home had a private pool and much more space than they needed.

"We thought that maybe our friends or family could come over. We also ended up renting out the extra rooms to our friends," Purba, 36, now a sustainability consultant who also runs a travel business with her husband, told Business Insider.

But over time, they realized that they wanted more privacy.

Without kids, it didn't make sense for them to live in such a big house either. Moreover, their neighborhood was getting crowded, and all those factors got them thinking about a move.

"We thought, 'Let's go to Ubud because it's less crowded than Canggu and Pererenan, and build something that's simple, sustainable, and just enough for the two of us,'" she said.

Ubud is near the center of the Indonesian island and is known for its rainforest and terraced rice paddies.

From tourist-central Canggu to the lush forests of Ubud

They were drawn to tiny houses because they liked the idea of living minimally, but they also wanted enough space to start a permaculture farm where they could grow their own food.

"I have a background in sustainability, so I always thought I needed to walk my talk, too," Purba said.

In February 2024, they found the perfect plot of land in Ubud to build on.

The property measured about 3,230 square feet and was situated in a great location: It was surrounded by trees and rice fields, yet stores and restaurants were less than 10 minutes away.

And unlike in Canggu, the traffic there isn't as bad, Purba said.

While Purba is Indonesian — which means she can buy land in Bali — the couple chose to lease the plot for 25 years instead. They paid 325 million Indonesian rupiah, or about $19,800 for it.

It's cheaper to lease the land instead of buying it, Tijs, 36, told BI.

"It also means that my name can also be on the property as well, and the lease aligns with the time that it'll probably take for a wooden house to stay good," he said.

There's also an ethical reason behind their decision, Purba said: "A lot of land in Bali is being taken from the Balinese. This way, after 25 years, they can have their land back."

Instead of building one tiny house, the couple opted for two.

It felt economical to build two on the same plot of land since the cost of transporting materials, building resources, and tools could be shared between both houses, Tijs said.

The contractors were also able to work on the houses almost simultaneously, he said.

Although the couple had decided not to continue sharing their house, they still wanted space to host guests.

"If we have friends or family visiting, they can still stay with us on the same land. Otherwise, we can rent it out," he said.

Despite having no formal architecture experience, Purba sketched the designs she had in mind for both houses on paper. The couple then worked with local builders to bring those ideas to life.

Save for some furniture assembly, the rest of the building work was done by their contractors.

In early October, the first tiny house — which is also the couple's primary residence — was completed.

It was an L-shaped wooden structure inspired by a combination of Japanese and Scandinavian design aesthetics.

A month later, the second tiny house, which featured a loft-style design, was done.

Both tiny houses cost 492.5 million Indonesian rupiah, or about $30,000, to build.

One of the biggest challenges during construction was transporting raw materials to the site. There was only one tiny road — just over three feet wide — that led to the plot.

"You can only access it by bike. Even with a bike, sometimes, if your bike is big, you'll need to stop to let people pass," Purba said.

The couple had to rent a smaller plot of land nearby to store their building materials before the builders they hired transported everything to the site using bikes and three-wheeled carts, she said.

Living authentically close to nature

Purba and Tijs are part of a growing trend of people who are interested in living tiny.

As housing costs continue to rise globally, tiny houses offer a much more affordable alternative to traditional real estate.

Six people who live in tiny houses previously told BI it was a way for them to reduce their housing expenses and be more conscious about the things they buy.

Likewise, being in a tiny house has enabled the couple to live a more simple life.

"Considering the size of the place, it's not super cluttered. We try to limit our stuff," Tijs said.

They've always been interested in minimalism, and living in a tiny house has only further motivated them to get rid of unnecessary things and declutter.

"You realize that if there are things you don't need, you shouldn't just keep it," Purba said.

These days, the couple has been tending to their permaculture garden, where they've been growing mostly herbs, such as lemongrass and parsley, as well as fruit, like pineapples and bananas.

Although eating out is quite affordable in Bali, they are hoping to grow more of their own food.

"I also have fish in my fish pond, but let's see if I want to eat my fish," Purba said with a laugh.

Looking back, Purba says their tiny house journey has been fulfilling because she feels she's able to live more authentically.

Being close to nature has made a huge difference to her mental health. They even fall asleep to the sounds of nature at night, like the frogs croaking in the field and the water flowing in their pond, she said.

"Every day I'll go check on my plants. I'm kind of like, earthing. My feet touch the earth, and it makes me feel peaceful," she added.

Do you have a story to share about living in tiny houses? Contact this reporter at [email protected].

• Critical Role's cofounders sat down with BI and answered one big question: Are you stepping down?
• Critical Role's CEO, Travis Willingham, said the answer to that is a hard no.
• But the cofounders do want to bring on "new faces" and ink new partnerships.

Critical Role's cofounders are answering one big question about their business — and putting some speculation to bed.

The eight-member team has streamed their long-running "Dungeons & Dragons" game for hundreds of episodes. Over the last decade, the California-based crew turned their Twitch hit show into a business venture with multiple arms spanning gaming, Amazon-backed animated series, and publishing.

They've sold out stadiums for their live shows, and are embarking on a multi-city tour between April and October: Chicago, Fishers (just outside Indianapolis), Sydney, Melbourne, and New York.

BI asked four of the company's cofounders — who are now mostly in their 40s — about fan speculation that they'd step down from broadcasting to focus on behind-the-scenes work.

The answer was a hard no.

"We've had 10 amazing years — and it should be clear and known and declared that we're not going anywhere. We've got tons more to do," Travis Willingham, Critical Role's CEO, said.

Not done with telling stories

Liam O'Brien, one of CR's cofounders and the face of its literary and publishing business, told BI he already has character ideas for their next streaming project.

The crew also isn't done with the world of Exandria — the sprawling gameplay sandbox that Matthew Mercer, CR's chief creative officer, created over a decade ago.

Willingham says he wants to explore the Shattered Teeth, a string of mysterious islands in Exandria, and see what the game world looks like under the sea.

O'Brien, meanwhile, wants to take a big leap forward in time.

"Someday in some manner, in some medium, I want to visit Exandria in a science fiction far future," he said.

Ray also told BI that she's figuring out what the next cofounder-led project to hit their streaming platform, Beacon, will look like.

"Between Campaign Two and Campaign Three, we built a new set," Ray told BI. "We're talking about merch, and we're talking new ways that we can continue to elevate our content and how we tell this story. We are very much in the thick of that right now as we're building everything out."

New faces, new partnerships

CR is also interested in having new talent on board.

"We're very dedicated to introducing these new faces to our audience. And that's not going to stop anytime soon," Ray said.

"I don't think we could hang up the towel even if we wanted to. I think we're all addicted, so you're not going to see any of the founders go anywhere," she said.

The CR team also wants to bring new crews and their projects on board.

There's already precedent for this. CR expanded its reach in the podcasting business by acquiring shows like "Midst" and "Tales from the Stinky Dragon." The latter streamed at the Texas-based Rooster Teeth Productions until that company shut down in 2024.

Willingham told BI that the crew wants to find creatives who make "cool and nerdy" things — and he hopes CR's streaming platform, Beacon, can help give such people a platform.

"After 10 years, one of the most exciting things is the opportunity to give storytellers a new spotlight," Willingham said.

• Joby Aviation is partnering with Virgin Atlantic to launch flying taxis in the United Kingdom.
• The company said the air taxi can carry up to four passengers.
• Joby also plans to launch air taxis in the US this year in New York and Los Angeles.

UK residents can soon skip the Tube, Uber, and hours of traffic by gliding through the skies in long-imagined flying taxis.

Electric air taxi company Joby and British airline Virgin Atlantic announced a new partnership on Sunday to bring flying taxis to the UK.

Joby said its air cabs use "six tilting propellers" that allow them to take off and land vertically with a fraction of the noise of a helicopter.

The aircraft is designed for back-to-back flights and can carry up to four passengers at a time. They can fly at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour and be used for trips of up to 100 miles. A more than hourlong car ride from Heathrow Airport to Canary Wharf would become an 8-minute flight by air taxi.

The company plans to build a network of landing locations, known as vertiports, across the UK. At launch, it expects pricing to be in line with "premium" ride-sharing options.

Joby and Delta Air Lines — which has a 49% stake in Virgin Atlantic — announced a partnership in 2022 to use air taxis for transporting customers to the airport across the US and UK. Joby is also backed by Toyota and Uber.

"Virgin Atlantic's commitment to delighting its customers reflects our experience with Delta and we couldn't imagine a better partner to work with in the UK," Joby's founder and CEO JoeBen Bevirt, said in the company's press release.

Shai Weiss, CEO of Virgin Atlantic, said, "As a leader in sustainability and with innovation firmly in our DNA, we are delighted to be partnering with Joby to bring short-haul, zero-emission flight to airports and cities throughout the UK."

Electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicles, or eVTOLs, the technical name for air taxis, still need to clear a few regulatory hurdles before they're ready to take flight. But the UK has a roadmap called the Future of Flight Action Plan that aims to have the first eVTOL in the air by 2026.

In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration cleared Joby's air taxis for flight in a "final rule" published in October that provides guidelines for training pilots and operations. Joby has plans to launch its first air taxis in New York City and Los Angeles by the end of this year.

United Airlines, which has a partnership with eVTOL company Archer Aviation, is also planning to launch its first air taxis this year.

• A jury awarded Michael Garcia, a delivery driver, $50 million after a Starbucks drink burned him.
• Garcia filed a complaint against Starbucks in 2020 after a hot tea fell on his lap.
• Garcia suffered serious burns, his lawyers argued.

A court ordered Starbucks to pay $50 million to a California delivery driver who suffered serious burns after a hot tea fell in his lap.

A Los Angeles County jury found Starbucks negligent on March 14, marking four years since the litigation between Starbucks and Michael Garcia began. Garcia, who worked at the time as a Postmates driver, first filed the complaint against Starbucks in March 2020.

A Starbucks spokesperson told Business Insider it planned to appeal the decision.

"We sympathize with Mr. Garcia, but we disagree with the jury's decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive," the statement said. "We plan to appeal. We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks."

Trial Lawyers for Justice, the firm representing Garcia, said he entered a Starbucks drive-thru that February and ordered three venti-sized hot teas. The firm said the barista at the pick-up window "negligently failed" to secure one of the drinks into the drink carrier.

"Within 1.4 seconds of Michael taking possession of the tray, the unsecured cup fell directly into his lap, the lid popped off, and the scalding hot tea caused third-degree burns to his penis, groin, and inner thighs," a press release said. "He was taken by paramedics to the emergency room."

Nick Rowley, Garcia's attorney, said the driver's life "has been forever changed."

"No amount of money can undo the permanent catastrophic harm he has suffered, but this jury verdict is a critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility," he said in a statement.

• I moved to South Korea when I was 24 to teach English.
• I was lonelier than I had ever been when I met a local family.
• We are still in touch 18 years later, and their daughter is the age I was when I met them.

My life in Korea got off to a rough start.

Six days after settling into suburban Seoul to teach English, I arrived at my apartment to find my key didn't work. Strange, I thought. The key had worked that morning when I left.

I walked to the school and found all my belongings in garbage bags. The owner informed me that he didn't have a job for me after all and then loaded my stuff into the school van. He was passing me along to a friend on the other side of Seoul who needed a teacher. Without much agency, I fell in line.

The new apartment was nestled at the end of a rundown alley. It was small, musty, and filled with sterile fluorescent light. The new town was on the very outskirts of an expanding metropolis, the last stop on the newest subway line. To fill the time, I signed up for taekwondo in the evenings. I was the only adult in a dojo full of small children, some of whom I taught during the day. It was like that episode of Seinfeld where Kramer takes karate. I Skyped home often from dark and smoky PC bangs (internet cafés) to connect to the people who knew me.

I was lonelier than I had ever been. Then I met the Kims.

They asked me to teach their daughter English

They owned the restaurant at the end of my alley. It was called The Pig House and served exactly what you'd expect from a restaurant with that name. Winding aluminum ducts snaked down like tentacles to the grills at each table.

One day, a woman approached me. It was a friend of theirs who spoke English who said the Kims asked if I would tutor their daughter, Eujin, who was six. I agreed. I gave Eujin lessons on the heated floor of a small room in the back of the restaurant, often while her dad, Byungdong, watched Korean soap operas beside us.

Soon, I was having dinner there most nights after taekwondo. Eujin's mom, Myungjoo, bought an English phrase book that she used as a tool in our nightly conversations. Once, frustrated with each other and eager to practice English, I witnessed an argument using the book. Myungjoo searched for the right insult.

"Talking to you is like talking to a brick wall," she over-enunciated.

Byungdong grabbed the book, flipping pages for the proper retort. A full minute passed.

"You don't know what you are talking about," he clapped back, his face contorting as it always would when he tried to pronounce English words.

They were what I needed

Our relationship deepened. They took me to noraebangs (karaoke rooms) with their extended family. I spent Chuseok, Korean Thanksgiving, with them. On weekends, sometimes we would pile into Byungdong's taxi and go hiking in places I never would have found. Other times I took them into Seoul to explore the neighborhoods I was discovering because they rarely went into the city.

I realized throughout all of this my loneliness was melting away. But it was more than that. As an only child of a divorced family, spending time with the Kims was like therapy I never knew I needed.

I left Korea after seven months but never lost contact with the Kims. Today, Eujin is 24, the age I was when we met. I have kids of my own who are roughly the ages she and her brother Woonghee were back then. Eujin's English is great, and we Skype regularly. She sends my kids Christmas gifts. I give her interview advice. We talk about the Squid Game and share recipes.

The Kims want to come to the US, and we've told them they will always have a place to stay. After all, that's what family's for.

• Chinese tech giant Baidu released new AI models Ernie X1 and Ernie 4.5.
• The company says the models rival those from OpenAI and DeepSeek in performance per cost.
• China is increasingly embracing open-source models.

Baidu, China's answer to Google, has released two new AI models.

On Saturday, Baidu released Ernie X1, a reasoning model it said "delivers performance on par with DeepSeek R1 at only half the price."

It also launched a multimodal foundation model called Ernie 4.5 that the company said "outperforms GPT-4.5 in multiple benchmarks while priced at just 1% of GPT-4.5."

Baidu said it's also making its chatbot, Ernie Bot, free to the public on April 1, ahead of schedule.

The tech giant said it will "progressively integrate" Ernie 4.5 and X1 into its product ecosystem, including Baidu Search, China's dominant search engine.

Baidu's new releases come as Silicon Valley reckons with the cost of AI models, largely spurred by the latest drops from DeepSeek, a Chinese startup launched by hedge fund High Flyer.

In December, DeepSeek released a large language model called V3, and in January, it unveiled a reasoning model called R1. The models are considered as good or better than equivalent models from OpenAI but priced "anywhere from 20-40x cheaper," according to analysis from Bernstein Research.

OpenAI vs DeepSeek vs Baidu

Tokens are the smallest unit of data an AI model processes. Companies price models according to how many input tokens a model processes and output tokens it generates.

For Ernie 4.5, Baidu said that input and output token prices start as low as 0.004 Chinese yuan per thousand input tokens and 0.016 per thousand output tokens.

BI converted those figures into US dollars to understand how chat models from OpenAI, DeepSeek, and Baidu compare against one another. While Baidu's cost claims against OpenAI's latest, "emotionally intelligent" GPT-4.5 check out, DeepSeek's V3 barely wins out in cost against Ernie 4.5.

In terms of reasoning models, conversions to USD show that Ernie X1 is the cheapest of all with prices just under 2% of OpenAI's o1.

Cost-savings aside, those who've already tried Ernie seem impressed. "Been playing around with it for hours, impressive performance," Alvin Foo, a venture partner at Zero2Launch, said in a post on X.

Baidu's latest models demonstrate not only the growing competition between the United States and China in the AI race but also the latter's growing embrace of open-source models.

"One thing we learned from DeepSeek is that open-sourcing the best models can greatly help adoption," Robin Li, Baidu's CEO, said on an earnings call in February. "When the model is open source, people naturally want to try it out of curiosity, which helps drive broader adoption."

Baidu said on X in February that the Ernie 4.5 series will be open-sourced from June 30. The company declined to comment on the X1 model.

China, which aims to become a global leader in AI by 2030, is making waves with a slate of new models and agents, including Alibaba's open-source model, QwQ-32B, and AI agent Manus, released earlier this month.

Until now, AI insiders seemed eager for the coming launch of DeepSeek's R2. But the Ernie collection may give it a run for its money.

Correction: March 17, 2025 — An earlier version of this story misstated that Baidu's models are open-sourced. The company said Ernie 4.5 series will be open-sourced in late June and did not comment on the X1 model.

• My husband and I have loved a travel adventure even before we had kids.
• When they were born, it didn't slow us down, and we kept exploring new places while baby-wearing them.
• We now allow our kids to plan our next vacation, and it's led to great adventures.

My husband and I are avid adventurers who love to hike, camp, and explore the world through off-the-beaten-path trips. Before we had kids, we backpacked extensively in the US and India (where we're originally from) and even spent our honeymoon on an 18-day off-grid RV road trip through New Zealand while being completely off-grid with no planned agenda.

When our kids were born, our travels didn't slow down. In fact, some of my most vivid memories are of backcountry camping in Glacier National Park, and hiking 11 miles to Sperry Chalet with my son in a BabyBjörn carrier and my daughter in a Kelty kids' hiking carrier.

Fast forward about a decade, and my teens started having their own opinions on where they wanted to go — often inspired by books they read or movies they watched. We introduced a fun tradition to let them have a say: writing down destinations on chits and drawing a winner from a fishbowl. Each child submits four options they want to explore, and we draw two contenders, assess them for feasibility and cost, and then narrow them down to one. If one child's pick is chosen, the other takes the lead in planning the itinerary. If neither option works, we redraw until we find the perfect fit.

This process has led to some incredible — and sometimes unexpected — escapades for us. Here are a few of the most memorable ones.

Free diving in the Great Barrier Reef

Both of my kids are strong swimmers and have always loved the ocean. Before the pandemic, they wanted to spend a summer exploring a new country while learning to surf, so they chose Australia.

While we traveled to cities like Sydney and Melbourne, the most unforgettable experience was our trip to the Great Barrier Reef. Snorkeling through the vibrant underwater world, we spotted reef sharks, clownfish, and groupers. The true highlight, though, was free diving along a shallow section. Both kids ditched their snorkeling gear and swam among schools of fish, completely immersed in the serenity of the deep blue.

To this day, they still talk about that moment and the sense of wonder it gave them.

Staying in a bedouin camp in Wadi Rum, Jordan

Inspired by "The Martian" and "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," one year, my 15-year-old daughter picked Jordan, which turned out to be one of the best trips. The sight of the soft pink hues of Petra's Treasury building and the surreal experience of floating in the Dead Sea were unforgettable but nothing compared to our time in a Bedouin camp in the heart of Wadi Rum.

It felt like we had stepped into a different world, one where time slowed and the quiet of the desert took over. As the sun dipped below the horizon, the endless red dunes burst into shades of gold and crimson, leaving us in awe of its sheer beauty. And at night, the sky opened, revealing a million stars that seemed so close you could almost touch them.

Our Bedouin host shared the ancient art of navigation through the stars, teaching us how they use the planets as their compass. My kids were mesmerized by the stories and the feeling of being so small yet deeply connected to something that ancient.

Climbing an active volcano in Chile

Having two athletes in the family ensures that there's always one heart-pumping activity during our travels. While my 15-year-old son picked Chile, my 19-year-old daughter planned a hike to the summit of Villarica, South America's most active volcano. Standing at 9,340 feet, it offers breathtaking views of the Andes, but the hike is no walk in the park. The steep, icy slopes need crampons, an ice axe and a guide is mandatory for navigating the glacier crossings and loose volcanic scree.

You only get about 10 minutes to take it all in, and if the volcano has been active recently, you might even need a gas mask to endure the sulfur fumes. But if conditions are right, you're treated to a rare, jaw-dropping view of the steaming, lava-filled crater.

As we continue to draw our next adventure from the fishbowl, I cherish the thought that I'm not just instilling a sense of adventure in my teens but also teaching them to embrace the unknown and the unexpected — whether in life or travel.

• Apple TV+ has officially renewed "Ted Lasso" for a fourth season.
• The show's future was uncertain after the season three finale, which aired in 2023.
• Jason Sudeikis will return to the show. The rest of the cast has yet to be announced.

It's been almost two years since the season three finale of "Ted Lasso" aired.

But AFC Richmond fans now have a reason to celebrate once again, as Apple TV+ announced earlier this week that the Emmy-winning comedy will be back for a fourth season, with star Jason Sudeikis returning in the titular role.

"'Ted Lasso' has been nothing short of a juggernaut, inspiring a passionate fanbase all over the world, and delivering endless joy and laughter, all while spreading kindness, compassion and unwavering belief," Matt Cherniss, head of programming for Apple TV+, said in a statement announcing the show's return. "Everyone at Apple is thrilled to be continuing our collaboration with Jason and the brilliant creative minds behind this show."

Here's everything we know about the upcoming series.

Right now, only one returning cast member has been confirmed

Sudeikis, who also serves as an executive producer on the show, shared a rather Lasso-like statement while confirming his return.

"We all continue to live in a world where so many factors have conditioned us to 'look before we leap," Sudeikis said in a press release. "In Season 4, the folks at AFC Richmond learn to leap before they look, discovering that wherever they land, it's exactly where they're meant to be."

Brendan Hunt and Brett Goldstein will return as executive producers — with Goldstein also continuing to serve as a cowriter on the series — but it's not been confirmed whether they will also be back as cast members Beard and Roy Kent.

It's also not known whether the rest of the show's beloved ensemble, which includes Hannah Waddingham, Juno Temple, Nick Mohammed, and Phil Dunster, will reprise their roles.

However, one addition has been announced to the creative team. Jack Burditt, a TV producer who worked on the Netflix hit "Nobody Wants This," will join as an executive producer as part of a new overall deal with Apple TV+.

Season four will shift focus to a women's football team, Sudeikis has said

Sudeikis spoke about the new season on an episode of the "New Heights" podcast — hosted by former Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce and his brother, Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce — on Friday.

"We're writing season four now," Sudeikis said. "That's the official word. Ted's coaching a women's team."

When pushed for more details, including whether the new season would see his character come back to the US, Sudeikis said: "That's too many questions," adding: "I don't know."

The season three finale saw Ted return home to Kansas

"Ted Lasso," which debuted in 2020, became one of AppleTV+'s most-streamed shows over its initial three-season run.

The season three finale — which many believed was the closing chapter — aired in May 2023. While it was not officially billed as a show finale, it wrapped up many major storylines and saw Ted return home to Kansas to be closer to his son (Gus Turner).

Apple TV+ has not yet announced a premiere date for the new season and did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.