Brenda Li

Great builds are to come… Great people are inside… Great ideas come from within. @akatoshouse x @BDC_Capital x @Canada x @HackTheNorth x @cansbridgeproj ❤️

@amandabradford @TheMingjie @RetentionAdam @dailycopywriter @theleague @akatoshouse sick! would love to have you here

@TheMingjie @RetentionAdam @dailycopywriter @theleague @akatoshouse Haha so many insane stories! Love speaking to founders Email is amanda dot Bradford at gmail

THIS IS AN INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT ACQUISITION FOR FOUNDERS: What's not said in this "we only raised $8M and sold for $105M" is the little-known fact that the reason they only raised $8M was that several years ago, nobody would do a Series A for that biz. Which is why Kennan replaced himself as CEO and moved on to ICON. He was upset about it at the time. That moment he couldn't raise was the single best thing that ever happened to him. Here's why this matters for founders: > Selling a business for $105M when you only raised $8M is LIFE CHANGING. > For the same reason he couldn't get the Series A done, I'm not sure a business like that (sticky but sells to a small TAM of elite Shopify brands at $500/mo) is saleable at $500M+. > Had he been "lucky enough" to get the A done and raised at a $200-250M valuation, the exit hurdle would've been $600-750M. > Recharge likely wouldn't be a buyer there ($2.1B val at absolute peak valuations). Not sure anyone would be because if you're buying Skio at $600-750M, you think it's going to $2B. > Skio (which would be the same, GREAT business) would very likely be stuck in a zombie state, pushing for a valuation it was never meant to reach. Like so many others. Ryan Allis said something on my show that's stuck with me: "If you have to raise money, keep it at 1x your ARR at the time." All because it maximizes your optionality. You can sell a great biz for $100-150M and go do whatever you want. You can keep running it. Or you can keep the equity, hire someone else to run it, and go bigger (like Kennan). If you're a founder, keeping a low 9-fig exit on the table is an incredibly smart move. Kennan did it by accident. You should do it on purpose. You only need to get rich once. Have as many paths to that place as possible. (Oh, and PS: the other reason he was able to sell? They were a growing, profitable business. Why do more people not live life this way?!?!)

@faisal_sayed05 exciting! congrats - any pics during the dive?

i imagine this is what humans will be doing post-agi

Not sure how China as a whole ingests protein/h2o! Met a body builder in Ningbo who struggled with the early protein rations through Covid: ~100 grams of protein were distributed to Shanghai households (per person) for a period of ~3 days. Every time I visit family, relatives may drink as little as <500ml of water per day! I think water intake is a concern in the country, for certain demographics. Did a dive here: chat.deepseek.com/share/22la8hm8…

Random story: Wolfgang puck at SH airport tastes great! On another note, I almost ate at a Cantonese restaurant in the airport. Asked for protein portions and had the young lady (staff) inform me that their portion sizes were half the menu display. She chuckled; I left.

guys, if you’re not on this; you’re missing out.

Food in sf airport lowkey slaps

@alexmarley @madhu___s absolutely!

@madhu___s If @madhu___s is running the institute it’s sure to be incredible!

i'm starting alethia. i've been quiet because it feels premature to announce something while so much is still being figured out. but i feel compelled to be earnest about my hope for this project and what i can realistically promise this coming year. i'll try to share updates as it gains more contours. tldr: alethia is a research institute for independent r&d labs. i'm giving researchers stable conditions—stipends // housing // food // compute // support + a serious peer environment to pursue work that isn't well-housed in academia or a typical startup. this much i can provide for now. how much of my larger vision will actually materialize in the next year—or at all—is tbd. in the meantime, here are some stream-of-consciousness rambles in the thread, and an invitation to reach out if any of this resonates.

@madhu___s finger snaps (agreement)

in these early stages, i'm open to both: 1) use-inspired research that's still early 2) work closer to commercialization, if it's highly impactful and a culture fit the organizing principle is research integrity. and i want reverence for technology, not reverence for tech. the role of the inventor has been subsumed by the entrepreneur. i have a lot to say on this (essay long-suffering and overdue w @JvNixon ). companies are one of the best ways for research to touch the world—when the work is ready for that container. but we also need institutional space for invention itself.

@madhu___s how has the first batch been/coming along?

for the first year, i'm doing this in two 6 mo batches starting this march. i recognize that research is messy and you can't get the most meaningful signal in that short amount of time. however, alethia itself is an institutional experiment. i want fast feedback loops in the first year, rather than waiting 2 years to course correct. my hope (and hypothesis) is that 6mo can still produce something useful—a proof of possibility, a prototype, a technical wedge—something that makes the direction legible to the specific subset of outsiders who might become supporters and funders.

@VibeResidency @mielke_jack @0xYudhishthra @tomasmazz congrats!

Vibe Residency showing up 🔥 1200 hackers, 475 projects and @mielke_jack @0xYudhishthra @tomasmazz were one of 10 finalists picked to demo their project. They won 4 different prizes across categories. Vibes out in the world 🚀 -m

so proud, some of the highest density of most incredible people compared to anywhere I’ve seen or been. lots of love ❤️ such a beautiful community. go alchemy, big ty to the organizing team and those who came! so excited for next year, so sad to have missed the big event this year!

insane. there’s no better feeling: 200+ people 330+ registrations x4 socratica nodes x30 demos a core team of 6… (+ a humble group of volunteers) you inspire me. thank you for making Alchemy magical, friends :) @JahanAleeza @Robin_Hylands @maya_l39 @ella_schlags

@ella_schlags so much love ❤️ beautiful community “world belongs to us”

can’t fully describe the last week of my life in words but going to give it a go: there is nothing like witnessing makers in my community remind me why the future is worth believing in at a time when I constantly feel like I’m holding my breath while reading about current events, i have an immense amount of gratitude that it is my bestest of friends and all the people around me that refuse to accept the world as it is. it is these people who give me the most hope for the future of our world and the life our future children will get to live. watching my peers pour their entire selves and purpose into creating things that are meaningful to them, that also make way for a straight up better way of existing is living proof that the courage and creativity necessary for change are not in short supply. and then seeing this energy ripple outwards and ignite something in HUNDREDS and THOUSANDS of other young people all coming from different corners of the world- quite frankly there is no sufficient adjective that describes the feelings of warmth and hope it brings to my soul. this world belongs to us, and we get to decide what we do in it. I am so happy and grateful to call so many people who recognize their strength and impact of their work my friends many problems of the world we have inherited are complicated and big, and many of us are learning that how they get fixed is not very fair or easy whatsoever despite these challenges I whole heartedly trust that the best of us will meet them with integrity and a refusal to look away. @socraticainfo & @momentum_place : thank you for giving me a home where the biggest of dreams are the baseline and a family that has no fixed definition of who I have to be to belong. sooooooo… same time next year?

@SammyTourani @shanebarakat_ @JayChopra_ Absolute banger

In exactly 24 hours, applications for the Polarity Fellowship close. I just spoke with the team. We are officially doubling the budget. We're going all in. To share with you publicly, the current state of this program: I've been given zero restrictions and total creative control. My mindset has always been FOR the creators and FOR the people I bring on. Even though I'm running this fellowship, I work FOR you. Already in the last two days: → Exclusive venues and event reservations have been booked. → Massive budgets for creator merch, benefits, and credits are finalized. → Inquiries from creators with 10k+ followers are actively rolling in. → Conversations for partnerships with top-tier startups in Toronto (and globally) are underway. → Plans are being made for hackathons and marketing initiatives that have never been done before There's extremely high demand for this program. It's going to be a testament to how a real team, passionate about building together, can generate more views than any Super Bowl ad ever done before… and create something LEGENDARY. I kid you not when I say that the plans for this fellowship are so insane, I don't even think the founders are ready for what's about to happen. We just reached 400+ applications. Spots are limited. If this sounds like something you want to be a part of, please apply and give this your ALL. Reply 'POLARITY' below and I'll DM you the application link before the window closes. #polarity :)

Anyone have an entrepreneurship community or connection in Zambia? Asking for a friend.

the sickest thing ever

@akatoshouse ooh @akatoshouse hosts the hottest brunches can confirm

we’re hosting brunch in waterloo! 🥞 if you want to an invite, follow + reply 🫶

@dantemagg Beautiful

just ran final rehearsals for our symposium show this weekend! genuinely some of the most mind-blowing presentations i've ever seen it's going to be a magical experience

Why is there so many yogurts at @akatoshouse

lmao two events at once at akatos legendaries @mayankja1n @TheMingjie and @GoldenVentures @VincentJXue

@palak_agarwal6 @justaskanjali Absolute fav ladies

symposium is just an excuse to catch up with all my favourite people in one place. reach out if if you're around this weekend ! :)