My favorite links goes multimedia this time with two podcasts, among the other articles. Jelly Roll: The Popcast (Deluxe) Interview [Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli/New York Times] – The guy with the face tattoos from the Super Bowl Uber Eats commercial. I’d known he was also a rising music star but not his backstory. In this podcast he’s confident, humble, thankful, curious, funny, competitive – just basically a great chat between folks who care about the music. Must listen for founders IMO. Has Gratuity Culture Reached a Tipping Point? [Zach Helfand/New Yorker] – The PoS spins around and ..read more

I met Max when he was in undergrad and visiting SF as part of Princeton’s annual TigerTrek. Then years later we reconnected at Google (where he was a Product Manager) for a GV BBQ. It was so much fun catching up that soon after as he started Warmly I was fortunately given the opportunity to angel invest. Since that time the company has evolved and grown, but even more so, Max has done the same! And I’ve gotten to see him figure out what kind of leader he wants to be. One who is currently building his company in public [ie sharing a bunch of data, progress, and even setbacks, that a startup fou ..read more

The checks being cut to ‘owners’ of training data are creating a huge barrier to entry for challengers. If Google, OpenAI, and other large tech companies can establish a high enough cost, they implicitly prevent future competition. Not very Open. Model efficacy is roughly [technical IP/approach] * [training data] * [training frequency/feedback loop]. Right now I’m comfortable betting on innovation from small teams in the ‘approach,’ but if experimentation is gated by nine figures worth of licensing deals, we are doing a disservice to innovation. These business deals are a substitute for uncle ..read more

Winter Break week for my kid more time with her, and when she’s with her friends, more time with New Yorker magazines. Here are a few essays, articles, blog posts, etc that I’ve enjoyed recently. What Happens When TikTok Is Your Marketing Department [David Segal/New York Times] – Was it organic? Was it spon con? Was it both? Many times we’ll never know, but the random products that end up popping because of a TikTok trend are always pretty fascinating anthropological stories. Here the focus is on Pink Stuff, a British cleaning paste, which was #CleanTok mainstreamed to a quadrupling of revenu ..read more

I read a lot of stuff and here’s a few worth passing along to you! China’s Age of Malaise [Evan Osnos/New Yorker] – A loooong read but essential stuff if you are interested in China from an sort of view (cultural, economic, geopolitical, startup). When I return to China these days, the feeling of ineluctable ascent has waned. The streets of Beijing still show progress; armadas of electric cars glide by like props in a sci-fi film, and the smoke that used to impose a perpetual twilight is gone. But, in the alleys, most of the improvised cafés and galleries that used to enliven the city have b ..read more

Great interview with surviving cast members of Happy Days, which was a number one TV show itself, as well as producing FIVE spinoffs. Worth reading the whole interview but one particular part stood out for me involving the producer Garry Marshall and star Henry Winkler. WINKLER He [Marshall] was generous but also was structured. He took no bad behavior. One time, when he was announcing the guest cast, I said, “Garry, we have to hurry up because I’m flying to Arkansas.” He nodded, put down the microphone, grabbed me by my shirt, put me against the wall and said, “Don’t ever do that again ..read more

Lots of venture capital transitions underway. Here’s what I predicted in Allocate’s 2024 Outlook Last week Pitchbook asked me (and others) for background on how a VC actually gets fired (or more often ‘transitioned’) Darwin moves slowly in venture, but these investor changes can be very disruptive to the founders who were backed by the exiting partner. Since writing “Oh Shit, Your VC Just Quit Her Fund! What a Good CEO Should Do Next” in 2019 I’ve seen plenty of startups get effectively stranded within a firm. We had one of these early in our existence that in hindsight I wish we were more a ..read more

When the founder of WordPress/Automattic says all he wants for his birthday is for you to blog, well, you blog. I’ve known Matt for, gosh, 15 or more years, and although I don’t see him as much as I’d like, I do admire what he’s built here and the spirit with which he lives. Here are some things to read: There’s No Money in Free Software [Ben Werdmuller] – The provocative titles refers to Ben’s experience trying to build a startup around an open source product. To be intellectually honest he supplies a few examples of companies which have navigated this tightrope walk but ends up ultimately b ..read more

I *think* Daniel and I met at a VC happy hour many years ago. But outside of the history, he’s one of my favorite people to chat about the roller coasters of company building. He’s founder and CEO of Greenhouse, a ‘hiring operating system’ for companies which spans recruiting and onboarding tools for enterprises and SMEs. Originally backed by venture capital, in 2021 Daniel worked with TPG, a large private equity firm, to make them the majority investor. This means the company is predominantly owned by the management/team and TPG. It might ‘exit’ again at a later point (anything from a sale to ..read more

I love to write. And don’t maintain a ‘schedule’ per se, but have always said that ‘if two weeks go by and I haven’t posted, it means something is amiss.’ Well, something is definitely amiss in the world so maybe easing back in is best done by sharing others’ work. Tech is a Tool, not a Religion [Philip Rosedale/Second Life +++] – I worked for Philip during the early years of Second Life, which was an amazing experience coming out of grad school. He’s a lifelong technologist and I’m appreciative of his voice in this discussion of techno-optimism. “Fairness is a Requirement” for maximization i ..read more