Part 2 of Big Ideas 2026, with takes from our American Dynamism and Apps teams on what next year holds for tech:

The Stewards haven’t gotten this much airtime since Jon Snow got snubbed by the Rangers back in 2011

.@get_sphere has raised a $21M Series A, led by @a16z, to build the world's first AI-native tax engine 🌎 There are two diametrically opposed forces that are coming to a head right now - companies are going global faster than ever but cross border compliance is becoming more and more complex. Current tax compliance products on the market can't scale globally because: 1. They do their tax research manually (which is inefficient, slow and prone to error) 2. They outsource data transmission to tax authorities via local service partners (no automation, manual back and forth with 3rd parties, exorbitant fees). Sphere has completely changed that. Our AI native tax engine collects, codifies and monitors tax law globally and our 100+ local rails into tax authorities fully automates the compliance lifecycle end to end. And indirect tax is just the start. What Deel did for global payroll compliance, Sphere is doing for revenue-based compliance. This round plants the flag in the ground for a new type of cross-border compliance system - one that leverages AI to understand the granular complexity of tax law and apply it to the product catalog of any business. A huge thank you to all our customers - including global companies like @Lovable, @elevenlabsio, @Replit, @runwayml and @deel. A massive shout out to our investors who have come on somewhat of a non-linear journey - @mandrusko1, @a16z, @ycombinator, @felicis, @HarryStebbings, @20vcFund, @pioneer_fund, @mejiasebas, @RichAberman + many more. And most importantly a nod to my team, who is in the trenches with me every day, and my family, without whom we wouldn't be where we are. If you're going global, go with @get_sphere