Tech Startup Pivots From Revolutionary World-Changing Platform to 'Basically a Newsletter'

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Luminary Labs, the startup that in 2023 raised 40 million dollars on a pitch deck describing its platform as "the operating system for human connection," announced Monday that it has pivoted to a bi-weekly email newsletter about productivity tips. "We learned a lot," said CEO and co-founder Tyler Kwan, 27, who spent 18 months and the entirety of Series A funding building an AI-powered social graph before concluding that what users actually wanted was a Tuesday email with five bullet points about morning routines. The newsletter, called Luminary Weekly, launched last Thursday and currently has 312 subscribers, including both of Kwan's parents and a Substack bot. "We're laser-focused on value delivery," Kwan told investors during a call in which he did not take questions. The company's remaining four employees will manage writing, editing, sending, and "growth strategy," which a spokesperson described as "posting on LinkedIn about the newsletter." Kwan said they are "exploring options" for revenue, a phrase which sources familiar with the company said he has been using since 2021.