Calum Forsyth

A few months ago I set off to experiment. I've set up Tanis Labs as a small home for this, somewhere to hold the building, the advisory work, the writing, etc. Here's what that looks like so far: Building - I've been deep in Claude Code. The way I work has completely changed, a big part of my day is in the terminal now. I've built tools for problem framing, hypothesis development, go-to-market research, narrative development, and fundraise workflows. A lot of it comes from what I've seen across hundreds of early-stage companies, and feeds into the hands-on work I do with founders. A couple of things are public too. Tools I built around Lenny Rachitsky's and Every/Dan Shipper's podcasts. It's been cool to see people using them, and they've led to some really interesting conversations. Advisory - Part of the experiment has been working with founders and research teams. Breaking down what needs to happen for this to be big, designing experiments to test it, and refining the narrative as they learn. Writing, thinking, talking about - Antimemetic ideas: insights that resist spreading. - What's actually happening to knowledge work. - Why the way companies get built is changing faster than the advice around it. Link to Tanis Labs in the bio.

I've been thinking about this quite a bit - specifically, the fact that the 'floor' of AI production is getting closer to the ceiling of what 'great' is. In other words (as you suggest), the band that humans can compete/differentiate in is getting smaller. To compound this even further - many industries will be quite content with the 'floor' version of the product. I explored this topic recently here: substack.com/home/post/p-18…

Despite everyone saying everything is easy now with AI, it is much, much harder. AI basically takes away 99% of the job that was always easy (time-consuming but still easy). And the 1% was hard. Now, everyone competes on this 1%. It means: > every minute of work is super intense now. You can't take it easy by spending a few hours reading emails or moving the div or writing a function... > the sheer load on our brains is gonna be insane, most brains gonna overheat and collapse > the stress levels gonna go 100x, because now you have to make an important decision every minute, vs every week in the past > we gonna see monopolies formed in all niches, because every niche gonna have the smartest and most capable person win it and hold that position for a long time > people that can't handle this(99%) gonna be mostly watching/learning/simulating, but practically absent from the real competition (just like the gap between top athletes and the rest in any of the sports. e.g. take top10 boxers and put them against top1000 (which is still 0.00001% of the athletes), the fight gonna look like a lion vs dog puppy > most people gonna think they have a chance to be in 1% so they will invest a lot into their education and networking, both segments becoming the fastest growing and doing 100x (everyone will be spending 10% of their monthly income on education) > networking becomes super important, because for rich people that's the safest way to place their kids into the right circles, because ai brings true meritocracy and now suddenly 8 billion people can compete on anything, so being born in a rich family doesn't bring any serious advantage if one plays any of the competitive game, so the rich kids gonna mostly go into politics and non meritocratic orgs(gov connected corporations, regulated corporations, etc) What to do? - learn 4h a day - act 8h a day - find a niche that's small enough that you can dominate and monopolize it - narrow it down by the location/auidence/anything-else

@bendell I’ll allow it 😉

@cdforsyth hey just a heads up that I’m unfollowing you on here as I’m moving over to Bluesky

@brianmwang Congrats, Brian and family!

Happy to announce that Liam Oisín De-Lin Wang was born on August 29th at 10:15am. Mom and son are both doing great. His older brother is proud to be promoted to big bro status. Welcome to the world Liam!

@axeliaklein “What has surprised you about user behaviour?” is a favourite of mine. Grants insight in to: quality of hypotheses, analytical skills, open-mindedness etc. Great way to give founders a foothold from which to lay out their journey (important at pre-seed/seed).

All VCs have their favorite question to ask founders. Mine is: "Why this problem of all problems you could go after?" From which you can tell; passion, grit, insights, and depth Other VCs: Which one is yours and why? Founders: What do you think VCs should ask?

@bvajresh Interesting topics for sure, look forward to reading along, @bvajresh

I joined #ship30for30 so I can develop a consistent writing habit. Here are the 3 goals for the next 30 days.

@MacConwell @danielreilly @TD_Lowe @DerekjAndersen @StartupGrind Hah - @MacConwell and I go way back. Pleased to say I knew him before he was internet famous 😉 Always happy to help - can pick up in DMs, not far to pop up to Edinburgh?

@danielreilly @TD_Lowe @DerekjAndersen @StartupGrind in manchester and london

I have an Ask community. I'm planning to be in the UK the week of March 21st. Do you know any LPs or Family offices in the UK I should meet with? If you are an LP, VC, or Family offices in the UK, let me know and let's spend some time together IRL

Having said this, I'm always happy to help founders, based in Scotland, navigate the funding landscape. So please do feel free to reach out if this is you - if enough people have similar questions/challenges I might organise a couple of dinners or something. Thanks!

These sessions are, primarily, for founders that are thinking of raising a round in the coming months. We've actually met several portfolio companies via our Office Hours sessions!

It's been a while but I've blocked out some time over the next few weeks to restart our Office Hours sessions. I'm super excited to be doing this again - more info and apply 👇 bit.ly/3gZq2Pf

@brianc13 @jamiesunde @turingfest @christophmccann 💯 - bit of a self-perpetuating cycle with support programmes focussing on ‘pitches’. Which, as you say, is often how syndicates will interact with founders.

@cdforsyth @jamiesunde @turingfest @christophmccann 100% agree Also feels like they’re often for the benefit of local “angels” rather than founders. Best Scot founders thus usually skip them, making them even less useful for the ecosystem. Meanwhile, team building, product building, GTM - the key stuff! - all underserved

Something that has stayed with me from @turingfest is @brianc13 and @christophmccann chat highlighting that product/customers beat any pitches, and in Scotland there's too much focussed on pitching.

@brianc13 @jamiesunde @turingfest @christophmccann The reason pitching/elevator pitches are so ubiquitous is a result of an over-supply of ‘support programmes’ - easy to make a spectator sport out of pitching.

@brianc13 @jamiesunde @turingfest @christophmccann As an investor based in 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 - I have never asked a company to ‘pitch me’ nor do most VC investors ask for this. It’s a two-way process where folks have a conversation - some firms will ask for a presentation as part of IC but you’re pretty deep in if this is the case.

@thattallguy gm

We're hosting our first Seed Club Demo day next Friday. You'll get a first look at the most exciting community DAOs and projects. If you want an invite, share a gm below and I'll send you details.

@chrismccann @mobyinsights @solanalysis @cryptowazza thanks, @chrismccann!

@cdforsyth @mobyinsights Not exactly but: 1) @solanalysis 2) @cryptowazza - SolanaFloor

Thrilled to announce we @TechstartVC co-led a £313k pre-seed investment in @reath_id Reath is building digital infrastructure that empowers organisations to switch from linear production & delivery methods to more sustainable circular methodologies♻️ 👉bit.ly/3ym27m1

Excited to announce that @TechstartVC has invested £300,000 in @rufflyhq's pre-seed round. Ruffly helps teams estimate, plan, and communicate a project’s scope as it changes 🛠 Read more in the @UKTNofficial piece 👇 uktech.news/news/scottish-…

This was a year of challenges and heartbreak, but also one of optimism and innovation. Creators from all over the world used @HeySummit to build businesses, share knowledge and create amazing experiences. Here are some stats to paint a picture heysummit.com/blog/2020-numb…

Incredibly proud of the team. 2 million attendees served, from every country on earth. This is what impact looks like.

Delighted to be backing @HeySummit as they power the next generation of Virtual Events for the Passion Economy. 🌍 4,500+ Summits, 1.9M attendees! The $1M round included ourselves here at @TechstartVC, @activecapitalvc, & @ankurnagpal Learn more 👉 bit.ly/35iz1HG