samar🌿🍋

Took a brief two-week step back into the tech world after my hiatus to help plan a cocktail party for this cool startup launching a new product and celebrating their Series B. Was fun, I guess 😎. Congrats, @browserbase ❤️

I’m starting an initiative called ✨Tech Babe Collective✨ where I spotlight women in tech and their contributions to the tech community 💕 Comment to nominate an amazing woman in tech to get featured 👇🏻

@dianasoyster a few that come to mind ✨ @lizziepika @shreythecray @tinathetechie @bytesofbree @pikacodes

Ramadan Mubarak to all of Elmo's friends! Elmo loves you!🌙 ❤️

@tinathetechiee oooh so prettyyy

day 1 of exploring different types of motion

snapchat filters had a chokehold on us in 2016

I think the only reason I don't feel scared walking around SF alone or taking the bus alone is because I've lived in the bay area my whole life I've never lived outside the bay area so it all just feels very normal to me

@pk_iv GOAT

> be me > 17 year old CS major at a non-target school in 2016 > apply to 500 internships, get rejected from 500 > rejected from KP fellows > miraculously get an offer at twilio > it's time to cook > twilio IPOs during internship, no equity b/c intern > grind internship to get return offer. > working on 500k RPS authentication system in the critical path > senior engineers regularly destroying me in code review > iron sharpens iron > get return offer > jobs not finished > continue grinding at twilio > make senior swe in 1.5 years (youngest ever) > make tech lead 1.5 years after that (youngest ever) > mfw the hedonistic treadmill of promotions isn't hitting > global pandemic hits > locked in a room for 3 weeks > enter introspection arc > start virtual events startup in early 2020 (rip) > raise a $2m preseed > insanely competitive and fast moving market > now THIS is pod racing > can't win enough market share > pivot to prosumer live streaming software > it's like canva, but for live streaming > too lazy to build composition engine > so we run the entire app inside a headless browser and livestream the browser window > video infra devs look at me like i'm insane > notbad.jpg > headless browsers take up basically all my time as CTO > now mid 2021 > can't find PMF within prosumer live streaming > probably spending too much time working on the headless browser infra > pitch an acquisition to our biggest supplier > our tech would be a great sdk for building live streaming apps > it works > now 2022 > working on headless browsers for live streaming at mux, series D video infra company > meet some of the best engineers ever > everyone agrees headless browser infra sucks and nobody except me wants to touch it > realize developer tools companies are my thing > start a blog about infrastructure and dev tools (hawk hill ventures) > get rejected from susa fellows, become an a16z scout instead > invest in a new dev tools start up every month > study their investor updates, be helpful, learn > 2023 - chatgpt launches > immediately using it every day > build side project that enables airbnb hosts to let AI respond to guest messages > name it guestguru > airbnb integration works using a headless browser b/c no messaging APIs > mfw headless browser enters my life AGAIN > hits $5k mrr, sell it to one of our customers > november 2023 - where it all comes together > see karpathy's LLM OS tweet. > the goat says that the browser is going to be an important tool for AI > he doesn't even know how hard browser infrastructure is! > write about the state of browser infrastructure and what's going to change for my weekly blog post (memos.hawkhill.ventures/p/an-internet-…) > same day i write that, i hit a 8 leg parlay and win $2k on football > must be a sign > share my blog post with the smartest people i know, expecting them to find some major flaw in the busines > nobody can find any holes in it > i can't find any holes in it > realize that everything i've done up until this point has lead to me being prepared to build a company in this space > worked with headless browsers at scale almost daily for the last 4 years > saw infra greatness firsthand at twilio and mux > spent all my free time studying writing about dev tools > realize all my story arcs converge on headless browsers > start browserbase > mfw everything in my life is secretly a forced tutorial for browserbase

henna appreciation post

retweet to claim

@MelkeyDev @TheOwlterian how dare you romanticize sf

@TheOwlterian its not the only reason

Moving to SF has been amazing because I get to meet so many new people

my favorite thing about buses in SF is when they honk at each other while passing by to say 'hi'

took my chairs out on a bus ride

@bytesofbree Happy Birthday!!! 🎉🥳🎂

So grateful for the online faces that became friends this year. I felt such a deep sense of community and belonging. I’ve had so much fun learning from you all. And an extra thank you to my unofficial mentors. Y’all are the best 💜

I can tell people are used to automatic bathroom sinks because I've been having to close a lot of faucets lately

accidentally said Saja Pop instead of Soda Pop and now I fear I've created a catchy name for the Saja Boys soda brand

it's only been a little over a month since the semester started, I'm sure I'll be seeing a lot more interesting encounters with AI as it goes on ✍️

an interesting class I’m taking right now is about AI Tech Comm. we’ve been looking at how things completed by “AI”, like content moderation or data training, are often actually just exploitation of underpaid workers overseas. read -> marylgray.org/bio/on-demand/

being back in school has been absolutely fascinating, especially during this AI boom. I've been eyeing how professors & students engage with AI some quick observations 🧵