Business

A long-anticipated rule proposal from the FAA yesterday is paving the way for drone to take flight

Published

4 months ago

August 6, 2025

Yesterday was a really big deal for drone delivery junkies. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy unveiled a rule the drone industry has been waiting on for over a decade.

It’s called “BVLOS,” or beyond visual line of sight. Right now, you’re not allowed to fly a drone without a human watching the drone for the duration of its flight (there are case-by-case exemptions and waivers you can get, but these can be expensive and take a long time to obtain). In other words, it’s pretty tricky for companies like Amazon or UPS to regularly make deliveries in any kind of cost-effective way.

The new rule is set to change all that—and start paving the way for companies like a16z-backed Zipline, Alphabet’s Wing, and of course Amazon’s Prime Air to finally start scaling their operations. And it means that all of us may be one step closer to getting our goodies and groceries shipped to us from the sky.

I called up James Grimsley, executive director of advanced technology initiatives for the Choctaw Nation, to talk about the milestone yesterday. Grimsley, who oversees the Choctaw tribe’s drone efforts and the piece of land where companies come to test and fly, was one of the people involved in drafting the report the FAA ultimately used to write the rule, and has been following this closely over the last 20 years of his career.

“This is a transformational rule,” he tells me. “This is a pretty big step.”’

Without boring you with too many of the policy particulars, it’s worth noting that this rule proposal is a market shift in how the FAA has approached regulation for the last 100 years. This rule, Grimsley says, is designed to be adaptable, and be able to shift with the pace of technology—a recognition that when regulation and approvals take too long, the technology at issue risks becoming obsolete by the time it can be implemented. Instead of handing down a prescriptive checklist for companies to follow, the FAA will grant approvals based on “industry consensus standards,” the FAA’s fact sheet says.

“Now we’re going to have a little bit clearer path for the investment community—at least that’s my perspective on it,” Grimsley says.

Though not everyone is going to be thrilled by the FAA paving the way for more drones to start zipping through our skies. The presence of drones has caused alarm in communities—and the buzzing noise has sometimes become a nuisance.

We’re already starting to see how these new BVLOS rules will play out. In Dallas, Alphabet subsidiary Wing and the startup Flytrex have been working closely with the FAA for a collaboration—running an automated delivery system in the same areas and showcasing how multiple companies can share data to operate in the same airspace at once without the need for humans to get involved.

The new rule is expected to go into effect sometime in early 2026, but companies are already gearing up for it.

“This creates the foundation for truly scalable drone operations in the U.S.,” says Alex Norman, head of global flight operations & services at the drone company Matternet.

Podcast drop… Fortune just dropped the second episode of the Term Sheet Podcast! This week, Allie interviews Taylor Otwell, founder and CEO of Laravel, the company that helps power the CMS Fortune builds the Fortune 500 and our other lists in. Together they discuss Laravel’s rise as an Arkansas-based tech company and Taylor’s early decisions as a founder, and the passionate Laravel community. Also in this episode: Figma’s successful IPO, OpenAI’s latest funding round, and the deal of the week: Joby Aviation.

Jessica Mathews
X: @jessicakmathews
Email: jessica.mathews@fortune.com

Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here.

Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter. Subscribe here.

VENTURE DEALS

– Clay, a New York City-based AI go-to-market development platform, raised $100 million in Series C funding. CapitalG led the round and was joined by Meritech Capital, Sequoia Capital, First Round Capital, BoxGroup, Boldstart, and Sapphire Ventures.

– Rillet, a New York City-based AI-powered enterprise resource planning company, raised $70 million in Series B funding. A16z and ICONIQ led the round and were joined by Sequoia, Oak HC/FT, and others.

– Lyric, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based AI-powered supply chain decision making platform, raised $43.5 million in Series B funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by Primary Venture Partners, Permanent Capital Ventures, VMG Partners, PSP Growth, and NewBuild Venture Capital.

– Pantomath, a Cincinnati, Ohio-based AI-powered automated data operations platform, raised $30 million in Series B funding. General Catalyst led the round and was joined by existing investors Sierra Ventures, Bowery Capital, and Epic Ventures.

– NG.CASH, a São Paulo-based digital bank, raised $26.5 million in Series B funding. New Enterprise Associates led the round and was joined by Quantum Light, Monashees, Andreessen Horowitz, and others.

– Kontext, a San Francisco-based advertising platform for AI chatbots and Generative AI apps, raised $10M in seed funding. M13 led the round and was joined by Torch Capital and Parable VC.

– OLarry, a San Mateo and San Jose, Calif.-based AI-powered tax firm, raised $10 million in Series A funding. TTV Capital led the round and was joined by Walkabout Ventures and Marin Sonoma Impact Ventures.

– August, a New York City-based AI platform designed for midsize law firms, raised $7 million in funding. NEA and Pear VC led the round and were joined by Afore Capital and others.

PRIVATE EQUITY

– Arax Investment Partners, backed by RedBird Capital Partners, acquired Summit Wealth Strategies, a Chesterfield, Mo.-based boutique investment advisor. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Hoffman Family of Companies acquired Elmer Chocolate, a Ponchatoula, La.-based chocolatier. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Prosperity Partners, backed by Unity Partners, acquired Pipaya, a Vienna, Va.-based transaction services firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.

– Providence Equity Partners acquired a majority stake in Global Critical Logistics, a New York City-based live events and luxury goods logistics company, from ATL Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EXITS

– Generous Brands, backed by Butterfly, acquired Health–Ade, a Los Angeles-based kombucha brand, from Manna Tree and First Bev for $500 million.

– Francisco Partners agreed to acquire Elite, a New York City-based legal tech company, from TPG Capital and Thomson Reuters. Financial terms were not disclosed.

PEOPLE

– Kainos Capital, a Dallas, Texas-based private equity firm, hired Ryan Horstman as CFO and Peter Schnuck as a vice president. Horstman was previously with Vortus Investments, and Schnuck was previously with Sunrise Strategic Partners.

– Sorenson Capital, a Lehi, Utah-based venture capital firm, promoted Eric Hilton to partner.

Source link

Business

Nvidia’s CEO says AI adoption will be gradual, but we still may all end up making robot clothing

Published

17 minutes ago

December 6, 2025

Jace Porter

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang doesn’t foresee a sudden spike of AI-related layoffs, but that doesn’t mean the technology won’t drastically change the job market—or even create new roles like robot tailors.

The jobs that will be the most resistant to AI’s creeping effect will be those that consist of more than just routine tasks, Huang said during an interview with podcast host Joe Rogan this week.

“If your job is just to chop vegetables, Cuisinart’s gonna replace you,” Huang said.

On the other hand, some jobs, such as radiologists, may be safe because their role isn’t just about taking scans, but rather interpreting those images to diagnose people.

“The image studying is simply a task in service of diagnosing the disease,” he said.

Huang allowed that some jobs will indeed go away, although he stopped short of using the drastic language from others like Geoffrey Hinton a.k.a. “the Godfather of AI” and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, both of whom have previously predicted massive unemployment thanks to the improvement of AI tools.

Yet, the potential, AI-dominated job market Huang imagines may also add some new jobs, he theorized. This includes the possibility that there will be a newfound demand for technicians to help build and maintain future AI assistants, Huang said, but also other industries that are harder to imagine.

“You’re gonna have robot apparel, so a whole industry of—isn’t that right? Because I want my robot to look different than your robot,” Huang said. “So you’re gonna have a whole apparel industry for robots.”

The idea of AI-powered robots dominating jobs once held by humans may sound like science fiction, and yet some of the world’s most important tech companies are already trying to make it a reality.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has made the company’s Optimus robot a central tenet of its future business strategy. Just last month, Musk predicted money will no longer exist in the future and work will be optional within the next 10 to 20 years thanks to a fully fledged robotic workforce.

AI is also advancing so rapidly that it already has the potential to replace millions of jobs. AI can adequately complete work equating to about 12% of U.S. jobs, according to a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) report from last month. This represents about 151 million workers representing more than $1 trillion in pay, which is on the hook thanks to potential AI disruption, according to the study.

Even Huang’s potentially new job of AI robot clothesmaker may not last. When asked by Rogan whether robots could eventually make apparel for other robots, Huang replied: “Eventually. And then there’ll be something else.”

Source link

Business

The ‘Mister Rogers’ of Corporate America shows Gen Z how to handle toxic bosses

Published

1 hour ago

December 6, 2025

Jace Porter

After two decades of climbing the corporate ladder at companies ranging from ABC, ESPN, and Charter Communications (commonly known as Spectrum), Timm Chiusano quit it all to become a content creator.

He wasn’t just walking away from high titles, but a high salary, too. In his peak years, Chiusano made $600,000 to $800,000 annually. But in June of 2024, after giving a 12-week notice, he “responsibility fired himself” from his corporate job as VP of production and creative services at Charter.

He did it all to help others navigate the challenges of a workplace, and appreciate the most mundane parts of life on TikTok.

@timmchiusano

most people are posting their 2024 recaps; these are a few of my favorite moments from the year that was, but i need to start reintroducing myself too i dont have a college degree, no one in my life knew that until i was 35 when i eventually got my foot in the door in my early 20’s after a few years of substitute teaching and part time jobs, i thought for sure i had found the career path of my dreams in live sports production i didn’t think i had a chance of surviving that first college football season but i busted my ass, stuck around and got promoted 5 times in 5 years then i met a girl in Las Vegas, got married in 7 months, and freaked out about my career that had me travelling 36 weeks a year i had to find a more stable “desk job”, i was scared shitless that i was pigeonholed and the travel would eventually destroy my marriage i crafted a narative for espn arguing they needed me on their marketing team because of my unique perspective coming from the production side i got rejected, but kept trying and a year i got that job the 7 years with espn were incredible, but also exhausting and raised all kinds of questions about corporate america, toxic situations, and capitalism in general why was i borderline heart attack stressed so often when i could see that my ideas were literally generating 2,000 times the money that i was getting paid? in 2012 i had a kid and in 2013 i got the biggest job of my career to reinvent how to produce 20,000 commercials a year for small business it took 12 rounds of interviews, a drug test i somehow passed, and a background check that finally made me tell my wife of 8 years that i didnt have a college degree they brought me in the thursday before my first day and told me what i told grace in that clip the next decade was an insane blur; i saw everything one would ever see in their career from the perspective of an executive at a fortune 100 i started making tiktoks, kinda blacked out at some point in 2019 and responsibly fired myself in 2024 to see what i might be capable of on my own with all the skills i picked up along my career journey now the mission is pay what i know forward, and see if i can become the mr rogers of corporate america cc: @grace beverley @Ryan Holiday @Subway Oracle

♬ original sound – timm chiusano

What started as short-video vlogs on just about anything in 2020 (reviews on protein bars, sushi, and sneakers) later transitioned to videos on growing up, and dealing with life’s challenges, like coming to terms when you have a toxic boss. Today, his platform on TikTok has over 1 million followers.

With the help of going viral from his “loop” format where videos end and seamlessly circle back to the beginning, he began making more videos as a side-hustle on top of his day-to-day tasks in the office.

“How can I get people to be smarter and more comfortable about their careers in ways that are gonna help on a day-to-day basis?” Chiusano told Fortune.

Today, he could go by many titles: former vice president at a Fortune 100 company, motivational speaker, dad, content creator, or as he labels himself, the Mister Rogers of Corporate America.

Just as the late public television icon helped kids navigate the complexities of childhood, Chiusano wants to help young adults think about how to approach their careers and their potential to make an impact.

“Mister Rogers is the greatest of all time in his space. I will never get to that level of impact. But it’s an easy way to describe what I’m trying to do, and it consistently gives me a goal to strive for,” he said. “There are some parallels here with the quirkiness.”

Firing himself after 25 years in the corporate world

Even with years in corporate, Chiusano doesn’t resemble the look of a typical buttoned-up executive. Today, he has more of a relaxed Brooklyn dad attire, with a sleeve of tattoos and a confidence to blend in with any trendy middle aged man in Soho. During our interview, he showed off one of the first tattoos he got: two businessmen shaking hands, a reference to Radiohead’s OK Computer album.

“This is a dope ass Monday in your 40s,” began one of his videos.

It consisted of Chiusano doing everyday things such as eating leftovers, going to the gym, training for the NYC marathon, taking out the trash, dropping his daughter off at school, a rehearsal for a Ted Talk, eating lunch with his wife, and brand deal meetings. Though the content sounds pretty normal, that’s the point.

“The reason why I fired myself in the first place was to be here,” he says in the video while picking his daughter up from school.

Today, Chiusano spends his days making content on navigating workplace culture, public speaking, brand deals, brand partnerships, executive coaching, writing a book, and the most important job: being a dad to his 13-year-old daughter Evelyn.

“I’m basically flat [in salary] to where I was, and this is everything I could ever want in the world,” he said. “The ability to send my kid to the school she’s been going to, eat sushi takeout almost as much as I’d like, and do nice things for my wife.”

In fact, when sitting inside one of his favorite New York City spots, Lure Fishbar, he keeps getting stopped by regulars who know him by name. He points out that one of his favorite interviews he filmed here was with legendary filmmaker Ken Burns.

Advice to Gen Z

In a time where Gen Z has been steering to more unconventional paths, like content creation or skill trades rather than just a 9-to-5 office job, Chiusano opens up a lens to what life looks like when deciding to be present rather than always looking for what’s next—a mistake he said he made in his 20s.

Instead, he wants to teach the younger generation to build skills for as long as you can, but “if you are unhappy, that’s a very different conversation.”

“I think some people will make themselves more unhappy because they feel like that’s what’s expected of a situation,” he said.

“I would love to be able to empower your generation more, to be like somebody’s gonna have to be the head of HR at that super random company to put cool standards and practices in place for better work-life balance for the employees.”

Source link

Business

Mark Zuckerberg says the ‘most important thing’ he built at Harvard was a prank website

Published

2 hours ago

December 6, 2025

Jace Porter

For Mark Zuckerberg, the most significant creation from his two years at Harvard University wasn’t the precursor to a global social network, but a prank website that nearly got him expelled.

The Meta CEO said in a 2017 commencement address at his alma mater that the controversial site, Facemash, was “the most important thing I built in my time here” for one simple reason: it led him to his wife, Priscilla Chan.

“Without Facemash I wouldn’t have met Priscilla, and she’s the most important person in my life,” Zuckerberg said during the speech.

In 2003, Zuckerberg, then a sophomore, created Facemash by hacking into Harvard’s online student directories and using the photos to create a site where users could rank students’ attractiveness. The site went viral, but it was quickly shut down by the university. Zuckerberg was called before Harvard’s Administrative Board, facing accusations of breaching security, violating copyrights, and infringing on individual privacy.

“Everyone thought I was going to get kicked out,” Zuckerberg recalled in his speech. “My parents came to help me pack. My friends threw me a going-away party.”

It was at this party, thrown by friends who believed his expulsion was imminent, where he met Chan, another Harvard undergraduate. “We met in line for the bathroom in the Pfoho Belltower, and in what must be one of the all time romantic lines, I said: ‘I’m going to get kicked out in three days, so we need to go on a date quickly,’” Zuckerberg said.

Chan, who described her now-husband to The New Yorker as “this nerdy guy who was just a little bit out there,” went on the date with him. Zuckerberg did not get expelled from Harvard after all, but he did famously drop out the following year to focus on building Facebook.

While the 2010 film The Social Network portrayed Facemash as a critical stepping stone to the creation of Facebook, Zuckerberg himself has downplayed its technical or conceptual importance.

“And, you know, that movie made it seem like Facemash was so important to creating Facebook. It wasn’t,” he said during his commencement speech. But he did confirm that the series of events it set in motion—the administrative hearing, the “going-away” party, the line for the bathroom—ultimately connected him with the mother of his three children.

Chan, for her part, went on to graduate from Harvard in 2007, taught science, and then attended medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, becoming a pediatrician.

She and Zuckerberg got married in 2012, and in 2015, they co-founded the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a philanthropic organization focused on leveraging technology to address major world challenges in health, education, and science. Chan serves as co-CEO of the initiative, which has pledged to give away 99% of the couple’s shares in Meta Platforms to fund its work.

You can watch the entirety of Zuckerberg’s Harvard commencement speech below: