alex

Who says VCs don’t build?

@akothari Doesn’t redirect for the first time?!???

[New] notion dot com

No thrill better than launch day. I fucking love it.

@nic_detommaso Great. But if this were accurate Shana would be on here.

A Stanford professor analyzed 1,000's of angel investments to find out who's had the MOST unicorns. The results are fascinating. - David Morin tops the list with 23 unicorns - Peter Thiel and Lee Linden follow with 21 each - David Sacks at 20 - Marc Benioff at 19 A few things that stand out: 1) Almost every top angel was a founder or exec at a large tech company first. The clear signal here - they were mostly operators who earned their access. 2) Many co-invested together repeatedly. Thiel, Sacks, and Levchin all overlapped at PayPal and went on to back the same unicorns (Facebook, Airbnb, Palantir Technologies, SpaceX). 3) No women appear in the top 50. Sad. 4) The entry threshold to make this list is 9 unicorns (nuts!). The average unicorns across the top 50 is 13 (more nuts!). I share this for folks to have inspiration to angel invest themselves! There has NEVER been a better time - we are at a major tech inflection point. If you're thinking about angel investing and forming angel syndicates, you should check out Verivend. Automated capital calls, one-click funding for co-investors, real-time visibility into who's in. Seamless software with a great team to hold your hand through it. Try it yourself: lnkd.in/grrJxqxq Full credit to Ilya Strebulaev and his team at the Stanford for this research.

Hard work scales linearly. Automation scales exponentially. Over 17 days, our autonomous ML agent trained 120 models and beat 90% of teams in a live $100k ML competition, with zero human intervention. Weco, now in public beta:

Rudy Arora and Sarthak Dhawan, two 20-year-old college dropouts, are behind Turbo AI, one of the fastest-growing AI notetaker tools. techcrunch.com/2025/10/23/20-…

These testimonials are so cool and show the awesome work the incomparable Dr. Aimee Layton is doing: joinus.cuimc.columbia.edu/index.cfm?fuse…

@srcasm @WeWork That first WeWork labs (and even the second) was incredibly magical

In the wake of the recent news about @WeWork, I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of concern and curiosity from friends and acquaintances, some of whom I haven't spoken to in years. While most are interested in my perspective on WeWork's bankruptcy, I'd like to take a moment to share how I truly feel about this development. First and foremost, I can't help but reflect on the incredible years I spent building WeWork and WeWork Labs. Those were some of the best years of my life. During that time, I had the privilege of meeting and connecting with remarkable individuals who have become an integral part of my personal and professional journey. In fact, at my wedding in October, half of my groomsmen were former WeWork colleagues, while the other half were WeWork members. It truly felt like a family affair. It saddens me to think that many people will not have the opportunity to experience WeWork during its heyday. The electric atmosphere and vibrant energy within its walls were unparalleled. Whenever I pass by a building adorned with the iconic WeWork sign, I am filled with immense pride for the experience and product we worked so hard to create. It is disheartening to know that others may not have the chance to embrace that potential in the future. However, amidst these mixed emotions, I remain hopeful. I am hopeful that WeWork will emerge from this challenging period in a stronger position, ready to rebuild and redefine its purpose. "Do what you love" was a mantra we repeated endlessly at WeWork, and "Better together" was a sentiment ingrained in our culture. These phrases adorned our t-shirts, mugs, and adorned our walls. Today, I hold onto the hope that the next generation of entrepreneurs will find a space that is equally powerful, energizing, and inspiring. A place where they can come together, collaborate, and pursue their passions with unwavering dedication. While the news of WeWork's bankruptcy brings a mix of emotions, I choose to focus on the positive. I will forever cherish the memories and connections forged during my time at WeWork. And I am optimistic that the spirit of community and innovation will continue to thrive, guiding us towards a future where individuals can find a place where they can be better together and pursue their passions wholeheartedly.

@micahjay1 Would check out your shoes. I get sore knees if I’m running in my low drop trail runners, but in more cushiony shoes for longer runs I’m totally fine.

sore knees post longer runs - any advice? compression sleeves? different shoes (have tried many)? give up on distance ;(?

@shaneferro I'd love to know more of the story behind Signature, b/c that one really looked like the govt just saying "We don't like you"

@bnkly It really felt like people learned from 2008 and things just worked (and quickly)

Good @matt_levine today on the bailout, which gets at some tricky questions about the relationship between the government and the banking system #xj4y7vzkg" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

@shaneferro they were absolutely ready. Now, to be fair, mobile banking still doesn't work and I couldn't get a wire out until 4pm yesterday (stability was worse yesterday than Friday AM), but I think that's more of a rush for the exits problem.

@shaneferro I've never seen the government work in a way that was so smooth and took so many of the right actions (and frankly at the end of the day the FDIC likely won't even be net negative, or at least not by much)

@shaneferro I think when it comes to banks its not the worst thing in the world. When it's humans there's usually no power for the human, but when it's a bank it's all about power for the depositor. The govt's ability to spin up a working bank over a weekend was nothing short of beautiful

@beller That’s the last thing it should be. I want those banks wide open!!!!

Tomorrow should be a bank holiday

@daveambrose Same dinner. Just an hour ago so slightly more tense 😂

here’s a moment of zen for the last 72 hours

@TurnerNovak Honestly “that guy” should get free fries for life or something. How else could SVB justify charging barely anything for these lines if there hadn’t been at least one?

@bnkly "That one guy" has a special place in SVB corporate history

According to SVB's mid-Q1 investor update, it's customers are not materially reducing burn

@TurnerNovak And total win win because there’s no way anyone ever defaults on this (except that one guy apparently)

@TurnerNovak Funds love to juice that IRR

@shaneferro Oh and Aimee’s favorite