andrew traylor jones

as an investor, i would be ashamed to spend time with a founder and then turn around and back a competitor that can't spend some of their $31.2m (!!) on slightly better branding or design ironically, the famous adage, "good artists copy, the best artists steal" is attributed to picasso and popularized by steve jobs (the vc firm's video i'm referencing is an ill-executed homage to apple) jobs "stole" the concept of the GUI, but he built an everlasting (superior) product and company with his learnings to startups: go after another startup! mimic their marketing strategies, rip off their go-to-market motions. who cares! competition is good, it's healthy, it breeds innovation. but have the self-respect to build a site and infuse some of your passion into the business, instead of stealing another founder's work frame for frame, bar for bar to investors: no one is asking you to grab a megaphone and boast about your high ground. but if you choose to do so, know you are throwing stones from a glass house

important, looking forward to the third animal/archetype that emerges from this dialectic once it stabilizes a bit… the third figure is probably neither pure “VC” nor the well-behaved ‘responsible’ design-literate institutional technologist. likely not native to tech itself either…something stranger, culturally native, with just enough competence to make a dent…

@generalcatalyst @HipCityReg Inspired to pet a dog today bc I love humanity (y’all killed this, more ads like this please)

Meet GC

Excited to announce a new steward for USB Club. A big day for memory, for connection, for shared presence. Grateful to everyone that continues to make it a meaningful place to belong.

USB Club has been acquired. Memory & Hardware is starting to matter again. We’ve been building for that moment. ↓ Learn More ↓

we must end the quirk chungus terrible creative technology project industrial complex (i’m in the @clereviewbooks today about the arts collaborations at Bell Labs and RAND in the 70s!)

@aaronli @zachdive Nice one Aaron

How do we compete with Anthropic? By retardmaxxing.

@hthieblot Just make sure those who count know you exist, and the right select few know why and for what end. One size fits all advice is mostly dumb. Build your own playbook. Timing matters. Stay alive.

Stealth mode is dumb. If no one knows you exist, you don’t exist. Build loud.

@HipCityReg understanding this almost always unlocks a deeper cut of who we are… Ye is one of the most revealing cultural rorschach tests out there

I think it’s appropriate that folks are reflecting on another Ye redemption cycle this Resurrection Sunday Ye’s ultimate art, is his redemption process. Understanding this unlocks a deeper cut of who he is… Slide from my FWB 2023 talk

My dear front-end developers (and anyone who’s interested in the future of interfaces): I have crawled through depths of hell to bring you, for the foreseeable years, one of the more important foundational pieces of UI engineering (if not in implementation then certainly at least in concept): Fast, accurate and comprehensive userland text measurement algorithm in pure TypeScript, usable for laying out entire web pages without CSS, bypassing DOM measurements and reflow

The more VC capital becomes perceivably low status…the more Patronage (of this type) becomes the new alt/niche capital emerging brand.. If these ‘no strings attached’ things were truly for the artist, capital would be provided anonymously… The brand of “patron” is the return on investment.​​​​​​..or attachment etc…

@seanxthielen yes, it’s a great and needed touch. even with patronage of this kind, it’s healthy to keep clear… there’s no such thing as free lunch… the string is the patron…

Big fan of grants that highlight what should be the obvious differentiator of them as a capital product: “no-strings-attached”

Cooking since 2024, my essay on jacked aesthetics in Silicon Valley, biological utopianism, and the destiny of this total cultural turn toward embodiment is finally out. Read it and Understand. writing.tobyshorin.com/body-futurism/

swag is back

“I’m just glad that I could bring Oakland to Milan.” — Alysa Liu The new face of figure skating, and the swag she brings to the new era. nytimes.com/athletic/70603…

@rodbrooksTV “The swag she brings to the new era” @tobyshorin (again, it’s time)

Oakland's best sportswriter on Oakland's best figure skater. The definition of a must read...

If there’s one thing Oakland folks gonna do, they’re gonna rep Oakland WORLDWIDE…

talking neat like a geek!

currently vibe coding & writing with The Incredible Hulk (2008) playing in the background…you know…to get my head in the game let’s see how this goes

I have half a pizza in my backpack rn

I’m listening to the Beatles again That’s a good sign