Startup Soothsayers

Given the pace we are working at, we look foremost for flexibility and initiative. The ability to build constructively in a limited-resource environment (potentially having to wear several hats) is the most important to us.

#6 — Automated Delegation

In order to delegate something today you need to describe the project, or your goals, to your assistants. There are different ways to do this:

• Text/typing → Slowest


• Voice → Fastest/easiest


• Loom videos → Adds the most context

But what if AI could automatically identify tasks that were able to be delegated to your... See more

It means that many startups have to justify their existence not by explaining why they’ll make the world better, but by actively showing they won’t make the world worse.

Naturally, social media companies will not want to give up this control. But sometimes there are technological forces that are more powerful than even the biggest companies. To me, it seems clear that an LLM-based filtering system will be a naturally democratizing force. It will naturally nudge the world towards putting more control in the hands of... See more

Artificial intelligence will spur two fundamental changes in our relationship with technology. The first is that voice—already the most natural interface for human interaction—will become a dominant interface. Imagine latency reduced to less than half a second, a stark contrast to the sluggishness of touch-based devices. Even silent voice is on the... See more

I submit that we have two big biases when we talk about technology. First, we think about it too much in terms of tools and recipes, when really we should think about it more in terms of process knowledge and technical experience. Second, most of us focus too much on the digital world and not enough on the industrial world. Our obsession with the... See more

There should be Retroactive Public Goods Funding for those founders crazy enough to try something truly new that failed as a business but succeeded in creating useful mutations, maybe even ticker tape parades, and certainly not derision.

I once defined the job of a product manager as to “deliver business impact by marshaling the resources of your team to identify and solve the most impactful customer problems.” Essentially, to be the conductor/quarterback/glue of the team who pulls all the disparate pieces together to create great products and drive the business forward. I believe... See more

“Doing more with less” becomes achievable

Last year, droves of knowledge workers attended ominous all-hands meetings where executives challenged them to “do more with less.” In the past, mandates like this have rightly elicited eye rolls. However, as of 2023, this ask seems less unreasonable.

Today, every knowledge worker can access powerful AI... See more