As Tea in Tech scales, I’m realizing scaling myself might be the hardest part.

A few highlights from last week: a reception with the French embassy’s cultural center on French–American collaboration in technology; an interview with Asana’s Chief Product Officer on a major product launch (more on that below); a day at LinkedIn HQ with a very exciting announcement (will share here next week!!)

At the same time, I’m working to bring you more into my world beyond just the tech analysis—so we did a couple of filming days for some lifestyle content as well.

I’ve never worked harder. And I’ve never had more fun.

I remain laser-focused on my mission: to be your inside source for what actually matters in Tech & AI. Bring you into the Silicon Valley conversation.

And of course, spill the Tech Tea — freshly brewed, no filter ☕️

1. AI is reportedly being used heavily by the US Military in Iran

My Tea: Apparently, it’s mostly Claude. Making the current standoff between Anthropic and the Pentagon even more…piping hot. 

2. Meta acquires AI-agent social network Moltbook

My Tea: From the Metaverse to AI social networks…Meta is constantly trying to own the next computing platform. Covered in The Steep, below.

3. Yann Lecun, former Meta AI Chief, raises largest seed round ever. $1B for an AI world-model. 

My Tea: Silicon Valley spent the past two years scaling language models. The next frontier may be models that actually understand the physical world.

4. Minnesota lawmakers propose banning AI chatbots for kids under 18

My Tea: The proposal, which has bipartisan support, raises the question: are these tools more helpful or harmful to young people?

5. Meta announces custom AI chips, competing directly with NVIDIA

My Tea: A social media network building microchips wasn’t on my bingo card this year. Zuck leans all the way into the AI rebrand. 

“Sure, you could grow your own vegetables. But you probably prefer to go to the grocery store.”

That’s what Asana’s Chief Product Officer told me when I asked about the idea that anyone can now build software with AI.

And honestly, I’m with him.

The whole “saaspocalypse” narrative rests on the notion that everyone wants to build their own software company. What if they don’t?

I sat down with Arnab Bose, Chief Product Officer at Asana, this week to get his take on where the industry is headed. He also spilled the Tea on a big product launch coming up this week.

Sneak peek below; full interview live on my LinkedIn this Wednesday.

Meta acquiring a social network for AI agents was definitely not on my bingo card this year.

Some people are writing it off as hype or an acquihire. But to me, it’s far more strategic than that—and it reminded me of something I learned during my time at Meta.

Zuck has always taken a broad view of vertical integration and has long been obsessed with owning the rails of technology.

At its core, it’s about control. And the driving force, or antagonist if you will, has been Apple.

I remember in 2019, when I was still at Meta, Apple revoked our enterprise developer certificates over a data practices dispute. Internal apps went dark overnight. Everything broke. The company was effectively at a standstill for nearly 24 hours.

Then came iOS 14, which rewrote the economics of mobile advertising and cost Meta billions.

Both moments reinforced the same lesson for Zuck: when someone else owns the playing field, they make the rules…and referee the game.

That reality pushed Mark to think much more seriously about platform control. The metaverse was one attempt to build it. And maybe that bet didn’t exactly pan out.

But he’s already onto the next one: AI.

And this time, I think he might be right.

Look at the stack Meta is building: custom chips, frontier models, AI agents, and now even agent-native social networks.

At a certain point it stops looking like product experimentation and starts looking like infrastructure.

Infrastructure for the next operating layer of the internet.

A chance to be the league-owner, rule-maker, and referee. (ok, I’ve officially maxed out on sports analogies).

Something to sip on. ☕️

I grew up in a bit of a cultural melting pot. I’m about as Californian as they come—born and raised in Silicon Valley, often teased for my Valley Girl accent (which I’ve spent years trying to eradicate…while also nostalgically cultivating).

But there’s more to the story.

My parents emigrated here from India during the semiconductor boom—my dad started his career at Intel under Andy Grove. Because of his work in chips, we also spent a lot of time in Japan growing up. So the Japanese and Indian traditions both left their marks on me (and yes, fun fact, I’m fluent in both Japanese and Hindi).

When I ventured into entrepreneurship, I found myself leaning on these cultural influences to make sense of the journey.

Two concepts in particular have stayed with me: the Indian notion of Dharma, and the Japanese Ikigai. Here’s what I’ve learned from both:

Stay sipping my friends,

Meghana