Dave Hafford

@agazdecki How dare you imply they should lower themselves to “running a business”

Startup founders when they realize building the product was actually the easiest part:

@exgenesis Minimum participation to be rewarded for sharing for other ppls insights lmao room temp iq

I want a semi private space to share links and discuss w my elite collective intelligence friends but both slack and discord feel like too much activation energy and a gc feels thin and hard to keep up with - I want lightness of a gc with threads and ai summaries

Track record is totally meaningless if you aren’t in said groups because that would require said groups admitting that someone with significantly less resources can do a lot more. A principal at a previous fund smirked at me when I said I’ve returned my fund. How dare I do in six weeks what he couldn’t do in 10 years. Lmfao

Let the scoreboard do the talking Part of why I started Equal 7 years ago was because I didnt belong anywhere else in this industry. Yes, I had a strong track record and thesis, but the opportunity of starting a fund didn’t outweigh the shame/embarrassment I felt when attempting to leg up my career elsewhere. No one else wanted me. From having GPs who never returned a dollar ask me “do you think you can intellectually keep pace with us?” to trying to break past initial screening interviews where I would routinely get passed on by someone 10 years younger than me because i looked too old, didn’t go to the right schools, weren’t in their social circles or simply didn’t have the right “vibe” It was clear that performance was not the limiting factor, so I set out to create my own vibe for me, the people I wanted to work with and the types of companies we wanted to work with It’s still Day Zero here, but if you told me we would be where we are today 7 years ago, I wouldn’t have believed you - I’m proud of what we’ve built (both with Equal and the Emerging Manager Circle) and have outlast many of those who passed on me in the hundreds of VC job interviews I failed through Earlier this week, I had an abrupt experience that rekindled a lot of these feelings. Someone that I interviewed with more than a decade ago was at the same event and we’ve stayed friendly with each other since. They are no longer in VC, but they started their career alongside a bunch of other VCs, so despite not working in the industry still come to VC events. There were a few managers from our EMC community who I hadn’t previously met who recognized me and wanted to connect. While they asked for advice, I assured them “I have accomplished nothing more than you have. I have no advice to share other than learnings from my failures along the way.” A dozen years in this business, I’ve learned a lot more of the wrong paths, than the right ones. Things were very pleasant until one of the other managers said some complimentary remarks, which I thanked them for, but assured them that I was undeserving of. The individual that passed on me a decade ago and was no longer in VC didn’t take kindly to someone giving me compliments… They proceeded to bombastically call out “I’ve known Zullo longer than any of you! Back when he was BEGGING me for a job.” I shrugged it off with a muddled awkward laugh, but they continued to talk about everything from how desperate I was to get a job to my poor taste in clothes. They took it a step further and even grabbed my stomach and tried to forcibly lift up shirt while telling people, “I knew Zullo when he was FAT!” I went home…that person stayed out and went to get more drinks with folks afterwards This behavior really upset me, not just because of an isolated incident, but because its frequency. This shit happens ALL the time. Honestly, it’s part of the reason why I’ve tried to attend less VC events, because the majority of events have some flavor of “I knew you when you were pathetic/desperate/fat and want to remind you that no amount of success will change that”. If I’m being honest, these interactions have left me in tears more often than I would care to disclose. I’ll survive…it’s what I do. But this pattern is destructive. Insiders and nepo hires control the pipeline of talent and ignore performance for the comfort of their own self-preservation. Even as you breakthrough and the scoreboard tilts in your favor, insiders relentlessly try to put you down to preserve the validity of their pedigrees, prestige and social circles. It isn’t fair but it isn’t going to change, so you just need to relent even harder than they do. While they’re out getting the next round of drinks, get back to work. Go read, go research, go build something that gives you an edge. Make yourself better each day. There will always be another asshole to remind you that you didn’t come from the same cloth, screw them Let the scoreboard do the talking

is this the new-age traction slide or am I not in fact, a software engineer

@signulll mmo mice + side button if you like... really hate yourself

these dudes build & ship genuinely great stuff, in this case a fundamental shift in how we interface with our devices. aqua is the best way to input on both your phone & your mac. i have my acqua plugged into my foot pedal at my desk & now i'm using this ios keyboard as a primary input. great tools need to be acknowledged. this is a well crafted tool in every dimension.

@joshearle That’s bait

if you live in sf and can bench this much (315lbs) pls dm me

Me, 3 glasses of wine in: I don’t think I’m being too vulnerable at all why do you keep saying that Mythos:

@JuliusYRitter @AGIHouseSF If Silicon Valley ever learns that caloric deficits don’t require drugs it’s so over

Peptides are taking over Silicon Valley. This Sunday, we're launching The California Peptide Club - a hub for founders & doctors on the frontier to exchange protocols, sources & the latest science in the first peptide club. 7 experts on stage @agihousesf. RSVP below.

@DSox Honestly 23% ain’t bad I’ve wasted more on both sides of the table

I recently had a call where a VC wasted 23% of our meeting time by being late and then looked down most of the call while they were texting on their phone, even when they were speaking. Most disrespectful call (out of 500+) I’ve ever had with a VC. Great resume on paper tho.

@training_loop No scale yet*

@dhafford2 there is no scale that accommodate your idiocy

vers.sh is now open beta! we got tired of everyone being proud of running 5 claude codes at once. we think you should be running 500.

@lessin Owning the founders is the point lmao literally braindead answer

At what point does YC decide they don't need the founders, and can just make the 50 apps they want for demo day themselves and own more? :)

@ColinGardiner Interesting analysis. I can’t think of a single other option myself

If you can't make it work investing at YC valuations, then figure out how to invest before companies go to YC.

@Ricburton down af

Anyone in SF want to learn kitesurfing? A group of friends is booking lessons to get on the water this season 🌬️

at least claude says it

What accelerator/hacker houses have a gym asking for a friend minimum eight plates required

@creatine_cycle What biceps

due to popular demand i sat down for 40 minutes by myself and talked about my arms (very normal) and where to train in san francisco. also this is a call out to startups: ad space on my arms are for sale and i believe will become some of the most valuable real estate in san francisco 01:00 - addressing the arm allegations 03:31 - @JostConstine reaction 04:31 - @fareehasala @dylanpatel stephen citrus party 06:29 - @AlexanderTw33ts reaction 07:13 - @varunram reaction 08:19 - @pronounced_kyle reaction 10:00 - addressing chesky’s arm routine and compound movements vs machines 15:25 - my training philosophy (by popular request) 20:09 - my bicep routine 24:20 - my supplement stack 26:45 - gyms in San Francisco 33:22 - you have 12 months to get jacked in order to escape the permanent underclass 38:45 - you don’t need peptides for this

@beffjezos Soon ™️

Has any single AI neo lab that had a monster seed round due to founder pedigree actually worked out?

Building something that creates simulations of how every single strategic finance decision and thereby business actions could be altered by small shifts in transaction categorization, and so on, to show 5 year effects of minor optimizations at scale. I need sandboxes to continue my idiocy

If you're building something with OpenClaw/any agent framework/RL environments and need sandbox infra at scale, we can give you $10k in credits instantly. You could be bootstrapped or a newly minted pre seed company or building a weekend side project that has potential. Reply with what you're upto below and if it fits the bill, we'll reach out!