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Josh Lu
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Josh Lu
@JoshLu
GM @speedrun. Investor at @a16z. Apply here: https://t.co/bbxTvgMK6w You've probably played a game I worked on. Husband, girldad x2, cook, point guard
Katılım Mart 2009
1.3K Takip Edilen12.9K Takipçiler
Advice I've given to multiple consumer founders recently: go spend a week in Tokyo. Your plan: Make friends with strangers and observe/ask them what they do for fun. Japan has been digitally ~5-10 yrs ahead of the US for a while (gacha/collectibles, virtual boy/girlfriends, etc)
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@cristinavanko I’m not making a value judgement on whether something is good or not for society, only that there’s a lot of anthropological (and business) value from observing what consumer behavior might carry over to the US
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@JoshLu do you actually think virtual boyfriend/girlfriends are positive for society?
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@JoshLu This only works if you speak to young people. And if you are an unc this is creepy
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@BrainEngineer I think outside of individual products studying their consumer behavior is still very important. You mentioned China, but for all kinds of reasons the comparison is a little harder imo
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@JoshLu But they did really lead the fluffy pancake trend so maybe still worth a visit
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@BrainEngineer I’m not sure what your point is re digital payments but Japan was early on emojis, collectibles, virtual idols, photobooth filters, and more.
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@JoshLu It took Covid to make that transformation real and China was way ahead of Japan on digital payments by then anyway. I don’t buy that Japan is a leading indicator of digital behavior in the US.
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@BrainEngineer QR codes became popular in the states during covid. 5 years ago they were already on every train, bus stop, etc in Japan.
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@JoshLu i grew up in tokyo for 20+ years. can i get a check from a16z? 😎
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@povkeiran Perhaps niche subcultures individually won’t export but structurally they will (we will develop our own subcultures)
I agree that the east in general is ahead including China
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Initially thought this too (spent most of 2023/24 there) but Japan’s isolation/repression warped its consumer culture into gooner subcultures too niche to export. gacha made it out, most won’t. China is a way better preview of the US in 5-10 yrs: superapps, livestream commerce, AI-native consumer etc
Josh Lu@JoshLu
Advice I've given to multiple consumer founders recently: go spend a week in Tokyo. Your plan: Make friends with strangers and observe/ask them what they do for fun. Japan has been digitally ~5-10 yrs ahead of the US for a while (gacha/collectibles, virtual boy/girlfriends, etc)
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@JoshLu They are as deeply entrenched in technology as we are, but don't have the decline in cognitive abilities we're seeing.
I'd be asking far more about how they integrate technology and don't have their youth failing cognitively. We could learn.
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@rayzhudev My personal favorite way to do this in other countries is to use Reddit and find a local pickup basketball game to join
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@SaidHaschemi I am not an expert here but I’m willing to bet their porn habits also are accurate precursors for the western world… 😂
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@SaidHaschemi Disagree! I think lots of small knickknacks that are popular here now (usb ports, precursors of toys like tonie boxes, etc) were first seeded there
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Except from Akhiabara, whatever you see there, don’t
Josh Lu@JoshLu
Advice I've given to multiple consumer founders recently: go spend a week in Tokyo. Your plan: Make friends with strangers and observe/ask them what they do for fun. Japan has been digitally ~5-10 yrs ahead of the US for a while (gacha/collectibles, virtual boy/girlfriends, etc)
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@sagashiio I’m not suggesting that you copy how they build tech, I’m suggesting that you need to pay attention to how consumers there behave. For instance: QR codes as distribution is not really new tech but it was hugely popular there years before it got big here
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Too obviously true, and too often forgotten by many in the games industry who believe their right to “craft at all costs” supersedes their responsibility to players
“To continue being produced long term, games need to succeed, not just be beloved.
Games are competing with every other option for spending your leisure time and money, and the competition is brutal.”
John Carmack@ID_AA_Carmack
I have been trying to find something meaningful to say about the Id Software layoffs. My “Microsoft will probably be a good steward of the brand” statement isn’t aging well, and this is certainly going to dampen the mood of the founder reunion at QuakeCon next month. I’m saddened, but I can’t muster anger or outrage over it. I don’t have access to the books, but I suspect that Id Software was a marginal business from Microsoft’s perspective. I believe the reports that Minecraft revenues have been carrying several other studios. To continue being produced long term, games need to succeed, not just be beloved. Games are competing with every other option for spending your leisure time and money, and the competition is brutal. You can’t rule out the possibility that executives are idiots, but that shouldn’t be your default belief. I don’t think there is any obvious path that would have doubled the revenue from Id games. Could they have gotten more with a different pricing strategy? Could they have created more things for fans to buy? Could they have cost effectively marketed in a way that reached more players that would have loved and bought the games? Could they have changed the game designs and broadened the appeal to more players without alienating existing ones? Could they have produced the games at a lower cost, faster or cheaper? I really don’t know. The game isn’t over yet, and I hope the studio rallies through.
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Josh Lu retweetledi
Following the amazing reaction to the Marble Curriculum yesterday, we've decided to make it open source 🛰️👇
Everything a child learns in primary school. 1,590 concepts. 3,221 connections across 8 subjects, from Math and Science to Computing and Life Skills. Anchored in the US and UK curriculums, standard by standard (NGSS, Common Core, DfE).
What you will find in the repo: every concept as structured JSON with its age band and the evidence a child must show to master it. Every prerequisite link marked hard or soft, with a written rationale. It's a true DAG you can compute learning paths on. Open license, you can build whatever you want with it.
Now is a unique time in history to be building in education. Getting AI and kids education right is likely one of the hardest and most important problems to crack over the next decade and we need as many smart and creative minds behind it.
We think a common solid basis, accessible to all and that can be built upon, is critical to move fast. That's why we're making this curriculum open source.
It's not perfect but we know it's a robust basis, and we believe that sharing it openly is the fastest way to progress in this field. If you're building in education, share this around you and tell us in comments if you find this useful and if you want to contribute.
We'll keep working and investing on it @withmarbleapp. Credit goes to @guillaume_boni for building this. I just made it look pretty.
Links below 👇
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@kobyjconrad More people need to realize “I want to have it all now” is possible
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Living in SF for 6 years was quite literally the best thing I ever did for my career
But eventually I realized the opportunity cost was quite literally "my family & child"
I'm about to have a baby in 10 days
I have 80h/week help & 2,500 sq ft, literally impossible in SF 👀
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@gabrieljfong @primitivelabsai @speedrun @OliveTreeCap Pumped to be backing you alongside some awesome partners 🎉
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Today, we’re launching @primitivelabsai to build the behavior intelligence layer for the agentic era. We're backed by @speedrun, @OliveTreeCap, Cloverfield Fund, Unexpected Ventures and many more angels.
Generic intelligence designs for averages. Real humans are not averages.
Thank you to the folks that have placed their belief and partnered with us, including @JoshConstine. Can't wait to start be part of the @a16z speedrun 007 cohort. Thanks to the team: @JoshLu @_CallMeMacy, @Chen, @emilybenn12, @tmhammer, @kenanhsaleh, @jmazer
@RoTalluri and I have been pushing each other since we started at AWS together. With @jafarmer26 , we couldn’t have a better, more well-rounded team. If you want to join us, we are hiring!
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THIS is how you win consumer AI. The western equivalent might get the app to app stuff right though an open standard or a ton of gnarly partnerships work but we will be missing the critical social graph that would make this ubiquitous.
Also… this is the real actual metaverse??
open.substack.com/pub/crossingri…
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