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U.S. companies you should have on your radar right now

LinkedIn's Top 50 start-ups to watch now, Rio Tinto just acquires Arcadium Lithium for $6.7B & AI Legends nab the Nobel Prize

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The Deputy
October 10, 2024

“I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying."

Jeff Bezos

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In today’s email:

  • Job News: LinkedIn's annual Top 50 Startups list

  • Overheard at coffee: Rio Tinto is diving headfirst into the lithium pool, with $6.7B

  • Trending AI News: AI legends Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield just nabbed the 2024 Nobel Prize

  • Hot Jobs: (keep scrolling down ⬇️)

  • Recruiting Fails: Keeping a failure journal❌

Job News

Introducing LinkedIn's annual Top Startups list, where they spotlight 50 up-and-coming U.S. companies you should have on your radar right now. These aren’t just fast-growing, buzzworthy businesses—they’re the future shapers. Whether they're using generative AI to make lawyers sweat by automating legal work or creating next-gen maternity clinics that make you wonder how humanity survived the old ones, these startups are setting trends.

So, how does LinkedIn pick these rising stars? Well, it’s not just a popularity contest. They pull from exclusive data across four key areas: employee growth (because who doesn’t love hiring?), jobseeker interest (hello, talent!), internal engagement (because happy employees make the magic happen), and their ability to snag talent from Top Companies (the startup world’s version of stealing second base).

To make the cut, a company needs to be based in the U.S., fully independent, privately held, have at least 50 full-time employees, and still be young enough to claim it’s under five years old. If that sounds like your dream company—or future dream employer—you can dive deeper into the methodology at the end of the article.

Without further ado, here are the 50 Top Startups making waves this year. And hey, don’t just lurk—join the convo using #LinkedInTopStartups!

Overheard at coffee ☕️

Rio Tinto is diving headfirst into the lithium pool, dropping a casual $6.7 billion to scoop up Arcadium Lithium. This power move rockets Rio into the top three lithium miners globally, with sites spanning the U.S., Argentina, Australia, and Canada. Their clientele? Oh, just a few small names like Tesla, General Motors, and BMW—no big deal, right?

Now, if you're wondering where else you might find lithium (besides the inside of your next Tesla), it's that key ingredient keeping your phone alive when you've been scrolling for hours or when your electric toothbrush hits turbo mode. From the battery in your smartwatch to the powerpack of an e-bike zipping down your street—lithium is everywhere. Heck, if you’re feeling extra adventurous, you can even find traces of it in your drinking water.

Sure, the lithium market is currently a bit bloated—think of it like your kitchen pantry after a Costco run—but Rio Tinto’s CEO, Jakob Stausholm, is feeling confident. He’s betting that by the end of the decade, with everyone trying to “go green,” we’ll have a serious lithium shortage. So, who knows? By 2030, that old iPhone in your drawer might be worth more than you think!

ps - does anyone remember the lithium song by Nirvana? Give it a rewind - great tune!

🚀 AI legends Geoffrey Hinton and John Hopfield just nabbed the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics for their game-changing work in machine learning and neural networks—the stuff powering today’s AI explosion.

The scoop: Hinton, aka ‘The Godfather of AI,’ co-created a way for neural networks to learn from their mistakes, laying the groundwork for today’s AI models. Meanwhile, 91-year-old Hopfield (still teaching at Princeton!) developed a brain-inspired memory model back in 1982.

But here’s the twist: Hinton, who left Google in 2023, is now one of the loudest voices warning us about AI’s dangers. At the award ceremony, he didn’t hold back, saying his research might lead to ‘systems more intelligent than us eventually taking control.’ Yikes.

The takeaway? These AI pioneers helped build the future, but they’re not exactly thrilled about where it might be heading—especially Hinton, who’s now a vocal advocate for more AI regulation before it’s too late.

🔥 Hot Jobs - $1K Referral Fee

Recruiting Fails: The other day, I grabbed lunch with a former client who’s now thriving at a new company. He was raving about how much better this gig is compared to his last two, where things didn’t exactly go according to plan (translation: total flops).

So, I hit him with a curveball: “Is it the company that’s better, or you?” Cue the mental gymnastics. After some thought, he admitted it was a bit of both—he’d found his groove, changed his attitude, and now has that “can-do” vibe.

Moral of the story? Sometimes, the real culprit is staring back at you in the mirror. Are you the problem? (Deep, right?) Harvard Business Review even has a solid article on keeping a failure journal—because yes, there are strategies for turning your failures into wins.

So instead of sharing a recruiting fail, I’m flipping the script. Here’s how to learn from your mistakes. Enjoy!

Do you have recruiting Fail Stories? Reply with your epic fails – we'll feature them. Own your blunders, embrace vulnerability, and let's all level up together.

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