Jesse Middleton

@JayKapoorNYC @toddsaunders @claudeai Loving your latest pods!

VCs will tell you SaaS is dead. @toddsaunders will tell you they're all full of shit. You know him from his viral tweets about @claudeai supercharging the trades. But Todd spent the last decade building vertical SaaS for flooring. Completed 8 acquisitions. He's raised from VCs, PE, and taken a business successfully to exit. Todd did a lot of things that didn't look like they'd scale: ⚡️Focused on brand early because brand drove sales. ⚡️Gave every customer his cell number. ⚡️Responded to Facebook group complaints himself. ⚡️His ERP pitch: "I can't even demo this well. But if you want a partner for the next 10 years, please sign up." People signed without seeing the product. He got users paid $1,000/month for a site they could get for $45 on Squarespace. But that was the past. I asked him what he would do differently if he was building in 2026... Want to know how to build a vertical business in dirty, dusty, and dangerous industries? Todd will tell you. Link to the full episode on CLIMB 👇

@haleymbryant Our tooth fairy sends Robux or @Replit credits. 😃 🧚‍♀️

who is building in the remembering to get cash for the tooth fairy space

@sri_batchu So you’re telling me there’s a chance… I can get access?

Rarely do I gatekeep a tool (not an investor). But I don't want these guys to jackup prices. Have found truly best AI email tool.

My new setup for my team calls! LFG @flybridge!

@Will_McKelvey @grok What are people in Basic Economy using then?

On a flight right now, and the productivity disparity is GLARING: everyone in first class is using Claude Code everyone in comfort is using Claude Cowork everyone in economy is using ChatGPT everyone in seat 40a is replying "@grok is this real" to dozens of posts

@naveedg Please send. Thanks! 🙏 😃 (Hardware is hard AF.)

a team of 4 people, on the verge of shipping what would normally require millions and a team of 15+. incredibly proud of us so far. it's my first time ever shipping a consumer hardware product end-to-end. so fucking hard, but so fucking worth it. we’re almost there.

🎙️Voice (Preview) We believe that your voice will be the future driver of design: ✨ In voice mode, Stitch can "see" what you are working on and what you click on (“change this screen”) ✨ Stitch acts as a sounding board to give you real-time design critiques ✨ Tell Stitch to make an update, then another one…. and another one, Stitch works on it all concurrently ✨ Ask it to navigate the canvas completely hands-free (“show me the dashboard screen”) As a preview feature, expect rapid improvements in voice in the coming weeks

@Watch_Velocity A beautiful and brilliant approach. This is going to happen across so many categories. Would love to connect. Wrote about this take for kids content too recently

full disclosure: all AI-generated. no real actors or people. inspired by true events but entirely fictional.

Hollywood spent $100M+ and years to make The Social Network, WeCrashed, SuperPumped. they're too slow. introducing Velocity. legendary tech stories, shipped fast with AI. first drop: Twitter Wars which company should be next?

A lot of VCs are backseat drivers. Intentionally or unintentionally, they’ll use their upper hand on terms and deal pressure to steer founders toward decisions that look great on paper but terrible outside of a quarterly report. At @flybridge, we think that’s a recipe for a mediocre company. In fact, we believe that if you blindly follow every VC’s advice verbatim, you’re most certainly going to fail. That’s why, we try to invest in High Agency humans. High Agency humans are people who have a quiet, steady conviction that allows them to absorb our feedback without being steered off their mission. We want you to make the hard decisions. We want you to own the "wrong" calls and the "right" ones. Our job is to provide the capital, network, and sounding board. The best founders we’ve ever backed weren’t afraid to tell us when we were wrong. If you’re building something and looking for a true partner, let’s talk.

@toddsaunders I have an idea... Don't want to tag them just yet. Will DM.

I know an incredible AI pilled CTO looking to transition into an AI transformation role for an interesting growing company that’s not a typical Silicon Valley startup. He’s following this thread but asked I post without using his name. Also he’s based on Boston and remote is preferred. If you are looking for something like this tag your company below and I’m sure he will reach out.

@rockyblockyabc @attractfund1ng Gas.

@attractfund1ng @srcasm Liquid.

I get a lot of DMs asking the same thing: "HOW DO I ACTUALLY BREAK INTO VENTURE?!?!?" Most people assume you need an MBA from a specific shortlist of schools or a background in investment banking. That couldn’t be further from the truth (just look at me). Which is why, if I were trying to break into the industry today, I’d ignore the job boards and focus on three specific things: 1. Build a "Proof of Work" Portfolio: You don't need a fund to have an opinion. Write about a specific niche, such as the intersection of voice AI and elder care, and find the three best un-funded companies in that space. If you can show a GP a deal they haven't seen yet, you’ve already done 50% of the job. 2. Be the "First Call" for Founders: Before you're an investor, be a helper. Help a founder with their hiring, GTM strategy, or even just organizing their messy Notion docs. When we reference a deal and the founder says, "You have to talk to this person, they've been incredibly helpful," that's the highest signal we can get. 3. Leverage Your "Surface Area": At Flybridge, we built the NextWave program specifically because we know that operators at companies like Anthropic or NVIDIA see the future very clearly. If you're inside a high-growth company, you are sitting on a goldmine of insights. Use them. Venture is a business of serendipity, but you can engineer that serendipity by being the person who consistently brings value to the table before asking for a seat at it.

@TheNewsHam @AnthropicAI @shaig @brettperl Yikes!

@srcasm @AnthropicAI @shaig @brettperl Outside of organs, in the context of NYC, I've never heard "transplant" used with a positive connotation before.

NYC is *a* new home for so many people building incredible things in the AI ecosystem. Hosting an intimate dinner with @AnthropicAI soon. We want to find the best transplant founders building the future in the city. Tag the most exciting new arrivals below. cc:@shaig @brettperl @andruyeung @lindsaykap @TeddySolomon11

@EthanChoi7 @AlphaSchoolATX Elite tech often starts as a luxury for the few. Prices drop as scale and efficiency unlock broader access. Uber was premium black cars before UberX changed transportation forever. Expecting a similiar path for education. Or at least I hope for it.

@srcasm @AlphaSchoolATX 100% agree! Just tough for broader pop when tuition is $40K a year but my understanding is the product is very good. Geniuses of our time - Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Sergey and Larry - all went to project-based learning K-12 schools

@MG_web3 The best people show up when they have zero incentive. Founders never forget who helped when there was nothing to gain.

@srcasm the 'be helpful before asking for a seat' advice is right but the founders who remember you are the ones you helped when it didn't benefit you yet. most people show up when the company is already hot

@EthanChoi7 I've been looking at @AlphaSchoolATX for my fourth grader just for this reason. At least if schools and colleges ultimately are willing to admit that this is a part of the future, that'd be a huge step in the right direction.

@srcasm Appreciate the feedback. I think of it closer to the term “future-proofing” vs a literal interpretation of the wording. :) The article talks about the ways students and colleges should adapt vs. put their head in the sand.

@andruyeung One of my fav spots in the neighborhood, yo!

Was walking thru Flatiron the other idea and this restaurant caught my eye Apparently it has NYC's longest sushi bar and a mix of Japanese x Italian dishes Anyway I'm hosting a CEO dinner here on Mar 24 If you're a seed-series B founder I'd love to invite you. DM me!

@maiab Hosted a bunch of founders, funders, and friends with their kids this weekend. It’s a good way to disconnect from the world as your children run circles around you all, discover each other, and create general mayhem. Wouldn’t want it any other way.

my friends keep wanting to hang out with me without my kids and like idk I feel very conflicted what do we make of that

@JacobyBrandon @Superhuman

@ellenjdasilva Mind… F**king. Blown. 🤯

Extremely specific life advice: you can convert Fahrenheit to Celsius with the stops on the 6 train. 33 St =0° 42 St=5° 51 St=10° 59 St=15° Works to 96th St!