your host, alicia

14 dinners got me everything I ever wanted in this world. This is a love letter to everyone who came to a Family Meal in the last 12 months. You took a chance on someone who wasn’t the traditional fit for this community, walked into dinners blind (a hidden guest list and no guarantee of what you’d get out of it) and gave me the one thing in this world you can’t buy back: your time. Growing up I was drawn to lot of startup movies/shows (The Social Network, Silicon Valley) and all I ever wanted as someone 10,000 miles away from where all of that was happening, was to be in it. In the restaurant industry, family meal is a moment when bartenders, servers, cooks, dishwashers eat together and get to know each other outside of service. Too often as founders, researchers, investors, engineers, you’re expected to always have the right answers, be “impressive” and in a constant state of being “on.” In a world where everything is so transactional, Family Meal was created to take you off your proverbial line and give everyone a break from the performance. For 14 dinners I’ve kept Family Meals sponsor-free to keep the intention behind it all pure. I didn’t want homework from anyone to deliver insights, founders, or potential recruits on a platter. In our world, money is a commodity and protecting what makes these dinners feel genuine is a price I’d happily pay. I think it has served us well. And through this experiment I’ve found some of the most non-transactional, inspiring, and quietly brilliant people that put me in awe everyday. 14 dinners got me everything I ever wanted in this world, and it has been a great pleasure being your host. Season 2 starts in 2026. your host, alicia

in a past life all i did was live & breathe cars

FM19: hidden location @EverettRandle @MikeyyTully @victoralazarte @shosquared @philip_bogdanov @malharhar @frederickk_1 @i_am_bolun

@chongz much insightful

FM19: hidden location @mattlmckinney @mavolpi @jonluca @philip_bogdanov @AryaTschand @_gongy

@premqnair respectfully of course

Devining at the SF Symphony (respectfully, during intermission)

FM19: hidden location the boys and our cars

FM19: hidden location @malharhar @andrew_wagle @shosquared @jonluca @mavolpi @victoralazarte @frederickk_1 @mattlmckinney

@androo_sy @0xtigs @vivianmshen @DavidhNie @aidaniil @catheryn_li i love

the "irl connection economy" aka friends

FM19: hidden location @_gongy @i_am_bolun @mavolpi @EverettRandle @mattlmckinney @jonluca @andrew_wagle

@philhchen @tkkong big marina vibes

I’ve started a new company with @tkkong! TK is a driving force behind a lot of Ramp’s success, building much of the core product, incubating the procurement platform, and leading Ramp Labs. We’re a team of IMO and Physics Olympiad gold medalists, and we’re hiring the most talent-dense team.

@tkkong @philhchen leather jackets hits

I’ve started a new company with @philhchen! Phil built frontier LLMs across research & engineering at OpenAI, DeepMind, and Scale. I was shipping AI experiments at Ramp Labs. We've been heads down building personalized AI coworkers for every business. We’re growing our team of researchers, designers, and IMO gold medalists. Reach out if you're interested!

@bernhardsson @_gongy and it’s a MANUAL ⚙️

This is @_gongy. He leads our LLM inference team. He has a car that goes vroom! You can work with us and have a car that goes vroom! modal.jobs

@ryanjdaniels may the billable hour rest in peace 🪦

The neofirms of the future won't just be faster, they will be better. They're powered by a new business model with better inecntives. In other words: fewer billable hours, more innovation. This is something to celebrate... and so we did :)

@ryanjdaniels @crosbylegal so fun

💔4/9/26 @crosbylegal mourned the passing of a business model

@ypatil125 @appliedcompute big L to anyone who doesnt join this team

Today we’re announcing $80M in new financing for @appliedcompute, to help enterprises go from general to specific intelligence. Our view is that the winners of this era will be the companies that turn their information, and expertise into intelligent systems that compound over time. They’ll have agents that get sharper every week by learning from real decisions, outcomes, and feedback.

@appliedcompute the future is here

FM18: San Francisco @justoutquan @JoanneZPeng @philhchen @TheManMikeTan @romainhuet @zodichalat @bryceehunt @Tiffanypianist

@8vc @theodormarcu @cognition @vvkgopalan @bryceehunt @moritz_stephan dream team

There's a reason @cognition keeps winning deals against companies 10x their size. @vvkgopalan sat down with @theodormarcu, @bryceehunt and @moritz_stephan (all former founders!) to discuss hiring philosophy, infinity stories, enterprise coding agents, and what it actually takes to compete. (00:00) Introduction (03:45) Cognition team & hiring philosophy (06:00) Infinity stories (13:15) Product surface area and future goals (17:20) Activation energy, experimentation, and customer-driven innovation (19:00) Adoption, operational changes, and ownership (22:05) Vibe coding hot takes (24:15) AI-first engineering organizations and managing AI agents (28:40) Future of software engineering roles and misconceptions about Devin (30:00) Model development, learnings, and Cognition's journey in vertical integration (38:10) What should you do as a new grad?

FM18: San Francisco @cocohearts @CarlSchoeller @Tiffanypianist @zodichalat @romainhuet @JoanneZPeng @AlexanderMclane @justoutquan