Don Nichol
200 posts

Don Nichol
@DonWNichol
Father, Software/Web Developer, Writer, Kilt wearing Server.
Katılım Ocak 2013
335 Takip Edilen37 Takipçiler
Don Nichol retweetledi

There's a shocking fact about AI that nobody tells you: You can catch up to the public AI research frontier in just 2 weeks. Yes, really.
I've built a $150M annual revenue startup over the last 8 years and If I were to start a company today, I’d drop everything and go all-in on AI.
But like many busy software builders, I felt lost—overwhelmed by the noisy, crowded and fast-moving modern AI landscape. And I wasn’t alone.
So I spent my entire holiday diving deep into AI research—reading 30+ papers, watching hours of lectures, analyzing trends, and catching up to the research frontier.
✨ Here’s what I learned:
- You don’t need months (or years) to catch up.
- You don’t need a PhD or decades of ML experience.
- You need fewer than 20 papers and 2 weeks to understand the major breakthroughs shaping AI today.
It's because the technology is extremely nascent and most techniques that came before are no longer relevant:
- ChatGPT is barely 2 years old and Transformers are only 7 years old.
- Most game-changing discoveries happened within the last 4 years, driven by a few breakthrough ideas, scaling laws, and efficient matrix multiplication.
The biggest secret?
Many groundbreaking AI papers with thousands of citations are surprisingly simple and applied, like adding "let's think step by step" to the prompt, or simply asking the LLM over and over again to improve its answer (Self-Refine).
I realized there are tons of founders and builders in the same boat—wanting to dive deeper into AI but unsure where to start.
I've created an essential AI Guide that helped me catch up, in just 2 weeks, to the frontier of public AI research to figure out where the next opportunities and gaps were:
- Curated list of only the most important papers
- Simple explanations of key concepts
- Clear pathway to understanding the frontier of modern AI
It’s perfect for:
- Founders expanding into AI
- Builders wanting to innovate at the frontier of AI
- Investors looking to separate the signal from the noise
👇 Want the full guide?
- Like and Share this post
- Comment "AI Guide"
- I'll send you the complete guide
(ps, I’m also teaming up with @VishalVasishth, co-founder of @obviousvc with @ev (focused on large-scale societal impact companies like Twitter, Medium, Beyond Meat), to host a small meetup to discuss what's working and needs to be solved in the AI stack in SF. Message me if you're interested)

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Don Nichol retweetledi

This space really highlights how global our community is and we want to say thanks to everyone who joined, to those amazing dragons from Nigeria all the way to our friends in Canada. 🌍🐉🇳🇬🇨🇦
It’s also great to hear all of your questions, so let's summarize a few of the key things we went over:
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Don Nichol retweetledi

🐉 #SMOG X Space Recap 🐉
#Dragons came out in full force on Friday to make our latest X space a roaring success.
Listen back to the positive vibes and hear some top-notch roars here 👉
x.com/SMOGToken/stat…
SMOG@SMOGToken
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Don Nichol retweetledi

#Heads up Dragons! 🛡️
🚨 Remember, #SMOG won't initiate contact with you first!
Avoid fake SMOG accounts! ❌
✅ Trust only this verified $SMOG profile! 🐉
#CryptoSecurity #Memecoins #Altcoins
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Don Nichol retweetledi

Just a quick update regarding the winners of the previous X Space #Giveaway! 🎉
The 4 winners have been chosen! 🏆
@H000CH13
@Janekturysta98
@G11000Carol
@ChicVintageVixn
Congratulations #Dragons! 🐉🎊
#SMOGSOAR #SMOG #Memecoisn #Altcoins

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Don Nichol retweetledi

S2 of the greatest #Airdrop of all time is blazing hot! 🔥
Buy, trade, swap, and burn to earn the most XP in Season 2! 💰
Complete community Quests on @zealy_io for even more XP! 🎮
Get ready for the kick-off of Phase 1 of the airdrop coming soon! 🚀
🌐bit.ly/SmogAirdrop

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Don Nichol retweetledi
Don Nichol retweetledi
Don Nichol retweetledi

Starting the week off with some strong fire #Dragons! 🔥
#SMOG Season 2 has now reached over 15,000 participants! 🎉
In only 4 DAYS! ⏰
Now that’s a great milestone! 🌟
Let’s keep the momentum going, join #Zealy now and complete some daily quests! 🚀
bit.ly/SmogAirdrop

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Don Nichol retweetledi

Feeling prepared to level up your #SMOG journey? 🌟
Jump aboard our #Discord for an exhilarating voyage! 🚀
Progress from #Airdrop Explorer ➡️ Trading Apprentice ➡️ Dragon’s Advocate! 🐲
Every tier reveals new quests and greater incentives! 🎁🔥
🐉 discord.com/invite/WBRBkk9…

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Don Nichol retweetledi
Don Nichol retweetledi
Don Nichol retweetledi
Don Nichol retweetledi

Who’s ready for Season 2 of the $SMOG #Airdrop? 💨
Earn XP through on-chain activities and by completing quests on #Zealy! 🎮
Keep an eye on the leaderboard and stay tuned for updates. 👀
Let's make this season even more epic than the previous one! 🚀
bit.ly/BuySmog

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Don Nichol retweetledi
Don Nichol retweetledi
Don Nichol retweetledi
Don Nichol retweetledi

🔥#SMOG Season 2 is on fire!🚀
We have collected the latest statistics from @zealy_io showing how strong #SMOG S2 is going!📊
🎯Quests Completed: 235,704
🐲Live Participants: 13,194
Get involved now, start trading $SMOG, and complete more quests!💰🎮
bit.ly/SmogAirdrop

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Don Nichol retweetledi





