Jenny Fielding

So, I wrote a book! It's basically a love letter to everyone brave enough to buck convention and start something hard. Pre-sales open today for friends, founders and trolls alike!♥️

@ProulxKerem Keeping us all safe and sound! 🙌🏼

Our autonomous pentesting agent just outperformed the two most popular open source offensive security agents on a benchmark of 60 modern, defense-enabled web apps. Battle-tested in production against our customers' environments from startups to financial institutions, Apex consistently finds and exploits critical vulnerabilities other agents and humans miss. Today we're releasing it open source alongside our internal benchmarks.

@tmhammer @IamChocolateBar Breakfast of champions!

@IamChocolateBar @jefielding

Many VCs in the Bay Area are scouting properties to convert into AI focused hacker houses. They say you need a cool house to attract young founders. Seems a bit extreme but also v cool for all the founders who can live rent free!

@tmhammer Ya gross. And I’ll bump up the valuation if they provide slippers at the door.

@jefielding Bullish on hacker houses, bearish on trad VC involvement. They don’t even take their shoes off.

@hf0 @bnj The original! 🙌🏼

@bnj @jefielding sounds familiar

@scottdwitt I’d say they are getting there. Only half way thru the semester!

@jefielding But have they also pivoted their mental models to think like vertical entrepreneurs?

Proud moment as a prof of entrepreneurship is realizing that half my students (400 in the class) have pivoted to building vertical AI startups. Watch-out world!

@nikunj You forgot VC’s buying hacker houses

VCs buying billboards on 101. VCs buying impressions for their YouTube videos. VCs doing launch events for essays & market maps. Times have changed, I get it. But this has to be, dare I say it, the top? Someone who has done venture for at least a decade, please chime in!

@aliciaemily26 Sure to be a hit!

I’m starting a hacker house for washed up 30 something women who still drink

@arsenisan Plus free rent

@jefielding bullshit. Founders are attracted by the term sheets and the top-up value a VC can bring to the table.

@alicebr_tweets @bradflora Yes that’s true! Where my apt was in Russian hill it was 8:30p during the week :)

@bradflora @jefielding As someone who immigrated to the Bay pre-COVID and stayed through the “down years”, it’s hilarious watching New Yorkers arrive and realize everything shuts down at 9pm

This pains me to say but there’s a mass founder exodus from NYC to SF right now. These founders, all AI focused, believe everything is going to be easier out there - fundraising, hiring, scaling👋🏼

@SelamShivam depends what kinda fruit you like 🍒

@jefielding When everyone runs after one fruit tree while ignoring possibilities of other fruit trees elsewhere, you are likely to become a victim of manipulation and bad opportunity seekers observing your desperation

@stevenjr76 agree and you know i'm long NYC but in the last 3 weeks, a dozen early stage founders I spoke to were moving to SF which really took me by surprise. yes to the frying pan once we get our warm weather back!

We closed 2 investments in the last 2 weeks. Amazing founders/founding teams. Previously had incredible outcomes and multi time founders. They are both in NYC. There are going to be more exceptional outcomes from founders building in NYC than ever before AND SF/Bay will always attract talent especially during the gold rush times. I have heard about Mass Exodus for 25+ years, yet NYC ecosystem is the biggest it's ever been. Sounds like a good Frying Pan discussion :)

@tapir_worf My experience is the opposite. Younger people want to be in the office.

@jefielding my sense is that there’s more senior people willing to come to the office than in nyc but that might just be my network

@DRTiiBiiRD Not true. But maybe for tech. Debatable.

@jefielding SF is just better.

@AriannaSimpson And there you have it peeps.

Perhaps a good time to announce I’m officially back in the Bay! 🌁

@DrewAustin Also true. But this is a particular moment where a flood of founders from NYC (and elsewhere) are heading to SF to be part of the AI gold rush.

@jefielding I don’t see it’s a NY to SF, cause I hear people leaving SF as well. I think big cities are in trouble in general, especially as autonomous vehicles make commuting just an extension of your normal work day. Also , there’s a big push of AI talent moving to cities like Austin.

@tapir_worf Really? In my experience age and seniority determine that.

@jefielding it’s tough to hire people who want to come to the office in nyc real culture issue

@Bonecondor Also true

@jefielding It is “easier”, but that’s not why people come to new york

@enrique_goudet @bradflora Also true

@bradflora @jefielding Having experienced both, I can say there is nowhere on earth like SF when it comes to building a startup