Month: November 2025

• A VC investor said AI will create a handful of winners while overhyped startups may fail.
• Early-stage AI companies are commanding soaring valuations despite lacking clear product-market fit.
• VC in AI is overheated, he said, setting the stage for a harsh market correction.

The AI boom is only just beginning — and it may prove the most lucrative cycle in venture-capital history, even as it also leaves behind a wave of startups.

That’s according to Mel Williams, cofounder and partner at TrueBridge Capital Partners, a fund-of-funds manager with $8 billion under management that has backed firms such as Founders Fund, Thrive, and Sequoia.

While VCs pick startups, Williams’ job is to pick the VCs — giving him a rare, ecosystem-wide view of what’s coming.

His outlook: AI will create enormous value over the next decade, but a number of startups won’t make it out alive.

“We think we’re at the leading stages of an AI wave,” Williams said during an interview on Jack Altman’s “Uncapped” podcast released on Tuesday.

“We’re going to see a lot of carnage over the next 10 years. And we will see more value created over the next 10 years than we’ve seen in the venture industry,” he said.

A ‘frothy’ market — especially at the earliest stages

Williams described the early-stage AI environment as overheated.

Founders with the right résumés — often with experience at OpenAI or top labs — can raise massive rounds at lofty valuations with little proof their product works.

“At the earlier stages of the formation stages, where there’s less evidence of a product market fit, you do see founders with credibility, founders who could check a couple boxes raising large pools of capital at very high valuations,” he said.

Growth-stage deals, he added, look more reasonable, with valuations closer to public-market levels as investors focus more on real revenue.

AI will amplify the venture’s power-law dynamics

Williams believes AI is accelerating the power-law pattern that already defines venture capital: a tiny handful of companies drive nearly all the returns.

“The magnitude of the winners is even greater today than it has been in prior cycles,” he said. It “is going to be outsized in this market.”

He pointed to three forces intensifying that trend:

• AI software scales instantly, with near-zero marginal cost.
• Enterprises are aggressively adopting AI tools, with explicit budgets allocated for them.
• Consumers jump in immediately, as seen with ChatGPT’s explosive growth.

The result: companies that get product-market fit could become market leaders quickly, while those that miss may stumble.

Outside AI, the venture market looks surprisingly healthy — but the fallout will still be brutal

Williams said the frenzy is largely confined to the field of AI. Outside of this, valuations remain reasonable, and capital still moves around milestones and revenue, he said.

The broader venture market, in his view, looks attractive compared to the overheated AI landscape.

But AI now accounts for 50% to 60% of all venture activity, he said — and that imbalance is setting the stage for a harsh correction.

Even if non-AI categories stay rational, Williams believes the sheer amount of capital flooding into AI will create a long trail of “carnage” as companies miss product-market fit or fail to justify their sky-high valuations.

“We’re in the early stages of that. There’s evidence that it’s working,” he said, but he added, “at the same time, it feels like a very frothy investment environment.”

• Emirates is the latest airline to sign up for Elon Musk’s Starlink WiFi.
• 17 other carriers have also announced deals for the ultra-high-speed internet.
• It’s already available on some airlines — here’s the full list.

Elon Musk‘s Starlink has gained yet another airline customer as the ultra-high-speed WiFi service continues to gain popularity.

On the first day of this month’s Dubai Airshow, Emirates announced that Starlink will be available for free, starting November 23.

Business Insider previously tested Starlink on Qatar Airways‘ first flight with it last October. The connection speed peaked at 215 megabits per second, more than enough for a lag-free video call, and faster than many cable-based internet services.

Starlink functions thanks to a constellation of over 7,000 satellites, which allows internet connections in remote locations, such as flying over an ocean. The satellites are in low-earth orbit, which means faster internet speeds — but also disrupts astronomers.

Starlink isn’t the only game in town, however.

JetBlue has signed up for Amazon Leo, which functions similarly, but has only launched 150 satellites so far.

Another in-flight WiFi rival is Viasat, which is used by Delta Air Lines and American Airlines. It only has a handful of satellites in a geostationary orbit, which have a longer time delay.

While it has rivals, Starlink wants to cement its dominance. As Starlink grows in popularity, it could be that more carriers sign up to Starlink to keep up with competitors. All airlines with Starlink offer it free of charge, although some require passengers to sign up for their loyalty programs.

As of the Emirates announcement, here are all the airlines that have publicly announced plans to launch Starlink:

Aer Lingus

The Irish flag carrier is part of International Airlines Group, which announced its Starlink deal in early November. It’s set to roll out Starlink from early 2026, but plans are still being finalized across the conglomerate.

Air Baltic

Latvia’s airBaltic flies around Europe and the Middle East only using Airbus A220 jets. It was the first European airline to adopt Starlink, and hopes to complete installation on all its planes by the end of the year.

Air France

The French flag carrier announced its Starlink deal last September, available to Flying Blue loyalty members. Installation began across its fleet, including regional planes, this summer.

Air New Zealand

Air New Zealand first said it was working with Starlink two years ago. It then rolled it out on two domestic aircraft in June, saying that it was “currently in the test phase.”

Alaska Airlines

After merging with Hawaiian Airlines — the first major carrier to offer Starlink — Alaska Airlines announced its deal in August. It says it will first be available next year and will be rolled out across the fleet by 2027.

British Airways

The UK flag carrier is also part of IAG. BA said it would start rolling out Starlink next year and that it would be available free of charge to all its passengers.

Emirates

Dubai’s airline is starting to roll out Starlink this month and plans to add it to all 232 in-service aircraft by mid-2027. It’s also set to operate the first double-decker Airbus A380 with the service.

FlyDubai

The Emirati budget airline also announced its Starlink deal during this month’s Dubai Airshow. It only operates Boeing 737s and plans to install Starlink on 100 of them from next year.

Iberia

The Spanish flag carrier is also part of IAG. The conglomerate said it would roll out Starlink across its fleets from 2026.

JSX

JSX is a charter airline and was the first carrier to equip Starlink back in 2023. Its fleet is mostly made up of regional Embraer jets.

Level

Level is a budget airline based in Barcelona and is part of IAG. The airline’s parent company said it would roll out Starlink from 2026.

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways outpaced its regional rival, Emirates, by announcing Starlink back in May 2024. As of November, it operates the most wide-body aircraft with the service, numbering over 100. Starlink is installed on all Qatar’s Boeing 777s and is being rolled out to its Airbus A350s.

SAS

Scandinavian Airlines, or SAS, is the flag carrier for Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. It announced Starlink in January and said the rollout would begin at the end of the year. Passengers would need to sign up for its EuroBonus loyalty program for free access.

United Airlines

United Airlines was the second US airline to announce a Starlink deal, but the first of the Big Three. It has installed the service on over half of its regional planes, and is continuing to roll it out across its whole fleet. The airline says customers will get a notification before their flight if it is equipped with Starlink. Passengers need to sign up for its MileagePlus loyalty program for free access.

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic was the first UK airline to announce its deal with Starlink, which it did in July. Installation is planned to start in the second half of next year. Passengers will need to sign up for the airline’s Flying Club loyalty program to use it.

Vueling

Another IAG subsidiary, Vueling is a Spanish budget airline. Its parent company said it would roll out Starlink from 2026.

WestJet

Canada’s WestJet started installing Starlink in February, and it’s now equipped on over 100 of its Boeing 737 jets. It plans for all its 737-800 and 737 Max 8s to have Starlink by the end of the year. Free access requires signing up for its loyalty program.

Zipair

Zipair is a Japanese budget airline and a subsidiary of Japan Airlines. It was an early adopter of Starlink, announcing its deal in early 2023, but doesn’t appear to have yet launched the service.

Last week, a federal judge ruled that the Trump Administration’s deployment of more than 2,000 National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., was illegal. But after a Wednesday shooting that resulted in one National Guard servicemember being killed and another hospitalized in critical condition, President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of an additional 500 troops.

“America will never bend and never yield in the face of terror, and at the same time, we will not be deterred from the mission these servicemembers were so nobly fulfilling,” Trump said in a video address on Wednesday night.

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Trump’s expansive use of military powers has been criticized by legal experts, lawmakers and many others who argue that the President is unlawfully using the military for domestic law enforcement, including in assisting with immigration operations, on the pretext of cracking down on crime. Trump also deployed the National Guard during his first term, when he sent 5,000 troops to D.C. alongside law enforcement officers to crack down on peaceful protests during the Black Lives Matter movement, including clearing Lafayette Park in front of the White House and tear-gassing demonstrators.

Here’s what to know about the current deployments across the country and where things stand after Wednesday’s shooting.

Troops in D.C.

On Aug. 11, Trump declared a public safety emergency in D.C., invoking section 740 of the District of Columbia’s 1973 Home Rule Act in order to place the D.C. police department under federal control, and deployed 800 D.C. National Guard troops in the city.

The effort, he said, was to reduce crime and “beautify” the capital, including by removing homeless encampments. Violent crime hit a 30-year low last year, according to the city’s attorney general’s office, and has fallen another 28% so far this year, according to city police data. Crime as a whole is down 16% from last year, including having fallen 7% from last year at the time of Trump’s deployment.

A total of 2,188 National Guard troops have been assigned to the joint task force that now oversees policing of D.C., according to a government update reported by the Associated Press. Those numbers comprise 949 D.C. National Guard troops, as well as close to 1,200 troops from several states, including West Virginia, where the two National Guard servicemembers who were critically wounded in Wednesday’s shooting were from.

On Nov. 10, a West Virginia judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging Republican Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s decision to send troops to D.C. at Trump’s request. The lawsuit, which was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union in West Virginia, alleged that the deployment violated state law.

Troops stationed in D.C. have been given a range of tasks, from carrying out armed patrols around monuments, public parks, and metro stations to cleaning up the city. According to a task force update in early October, unarmed troops had cleared 1,099 bags of trash and spread 1,045 cubic yards of mulch, among other beautification efforts like removing graffiti and cleaning parks.

Some troops are armed with handguns or rifles. The military only allows troops to use force “as a last resort and solely in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm,” according to the joint task force.

Troops in D.C. cannot conduct full-scale law enforcement actions such as searches and arrests. They are, however, allowed to temporarily detain people who pose imminent threats.

The Trump Administration has cited a decrease in crime as evidence of the National Guard’s success in the capital. At Tuesday’s annual White House turkey pardoning ceremony, Trump claimed, “We haven’t had a murder in six months” in D.C. In fact, there have been 62 homicides in D.C. since May, including 24 since the troops’ deployment, although homicides in the past six months are down 46% from the same period last year.

Trump’s control of D.C. police expired on Sept. 10, but National Guard troops have remained in the city without a clear end in sight. At the end of last month, the D.C. National Guard had its deployment renewed till Feb. 28. Several states have already withdrawn some of their servicemembers, while others have said they plan to withdraw them by Nov. 30 unless orders are extended.

Trump has also threatened D.C. with another federal takeover since his control ended, if the city’s police department does not cooperate with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Trump has directed ICE to carry out sweeping immigration raids as part of his mass deportation campaign. The controversial immigration actions have affected thousands of international students with legal status in the country, workers in factories, and revoked protections of “sensitive” locations like schools and churches.

Read More: In Thanksgiving Message, Trump Rants Against Immigration, Announces ‘Permanent Pause’ From ‘Third World Countries’

Where else troops are deployed

National Guard troops have also been deployed in several other Democratic-led cities, with the Trump Administration citing the need to reduce crime and protect federal immigration officers and facilities.

In June, Trump deployed 2,000 troops to the city of Los Angeles this summer to clamp down on protests against immigration raids. A federal judge in California ruled in September that the deployment was illegal, which the Trump Administration has appealed.

On Sept. 15, Trump announced that he would deploy troops to Memphis, Tenn., but the order was temporarily blocked by a Tennessee judge on Nov. 17 on the basis that the deployment violates the state constitution.

Later that month, Trump threatened to send National Guard troops to Portland, Ore., which immediately prompted a legal challenge by the city and the state of Oregon. Karin Immergut, a Trump-appointed U.S. District Court judge, temporarily blocked the deployment of National Guard troops from Oregon or any other state in October. On Nov. 7, Immergut issued a permanent injunction blocking the deployment.

A federal appeals court allowed Trump to retain some control over Oregon National Guard troops in an order last week that came after Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek announced that all troops would be demobilized. The Trump Administration’s appeal over the deployment is still being reviewed.

In October, Trump deployed 300 Illinois National Guard troops to Chicago with the stated aim of protecting federal immigration operations amid protests against ICE. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, objected to the deployment and called it a “manufactured performance.” A federal judge in Chicago temporarily barred the deployment on Oct. 9, which was extended indefinitely on Oct. 22. Trump has asked the Supreme Court to reverse the block.

Trump has also threatened to deploy troops to New York, Baltimore, New Orleans, St. Louis, and Charlotte, N.C.

Judge orders end of deployment

A federal judge ruled on Nov. 20 that Trump’s deployment of D.C. National Guard troops “for the deterrence of crime” was illegal. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb noted in her 61-page ruling that Trump’s power as commander in chief of the National Guard was still constrained by legal limits on how military troops can be deployed on American soil, especially as D.C. is governed by Congress.

“The Court rejects Defendants’ fly-by assertion of constitutional power, finding that such a broad reading of the President’s Article II authority would erase Congress’s role in governing the District and its National Guard,” Cobb wrote.

The District of Columbia had filed the lawsuit challenging the deployment in August, alleging that the Trump Administration violated federal law and D.C. code by deploying the National Guard to perform non-military, crime-deterrance missions without a request from the city’s civil authorities.

In particular, plaintiffs cited the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the military from conducting law enforcement functions on U.S. soil. Plaintiffs also argued that Trump had violated D.C.’s Home Rule Act—which he had invoked in his federal takeover. The Home Rule Act provides D.C. with limited self-governance and sets forth the conditions required for a federal takeover.

Cobb also ruled in favor of the plaintiffs that the Trump Administration did not have statutory authority to deploy out-of-state National Guard troops to D.C.

Cobb put her order on hold until Dec. 11, giving the Trump Administration 21 days to either remove the troops or appeal her decision. The Trump Administration filed a notice of appeal on Tuesday and filed an emergency motion on Wednesday after the shooting. The Administration argued that the deployment was “plainly lawful,” citing Trump’s authority as Commander-in-Chief over the D.C. National Guard.

“Even without express statutory authorization, he may deploy them to a federal enclave for federal purposes without judicial second-guessing,” the appeal argued.

What comes next

Trump announced on Wednesday that he would send an additional 500 National Guard troops to D.C. Although Cobb’s ruling undercuts the legal basis of Trump’s additional deployment, her order does not take effect until Dec. 11, so troops are allowed to remain in the capital—and more can be mobilized—for the time being. What happens after Dec. 11 is uncertain and depends on the Trump Administration’s ongoing appeal.

“President Trump has asked me, and I will ask the secretary of the Army to the National Guard, to add 500 additional troops—National Guardsman—to Washington, D.C.,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said.

“We will never back down. We will secure our capital. We will secure our cities,” Hegseth added. “If criminals want to conduct things like this—violence against America’s best—we will never back down.”