Sam Matthew

@gdcaplan Sea hawks are cool. But I’d rather get an owl sighting. Especially if it’s a superb one.

@SamMatthew It’s actually a sea hawk

In just a few hours, dyslexic birders all across the US are going to be very disappointed when they turn on the TV and find out there is not a single superb owl to be seen.

@ErikaBatista You never nkow.

@SamMatthew That is 100% how dyslexia works don’t google it

@WhaleEverything @NoLimitGains @grok DONE

@KyleTMack @MiddeskHQ Interesting! Would be cool to see how this compares to: (a) other industries that receive high levels of subsidies; and, (b) other similarly sized US cities.

Like everyone else, I’ve been spending the weekend reading all about this alleged Minnesota fraud and wanted to use the tools that we have at @MiddeskHQ to see what we could learn. Verifying a business is a challenge but not an unsolved problem. There is a difference between a business that is real on paper (i.e. they have registered with the Secretary of State) and one that has legitimate business operations. This evaluation is contextual, so you wouldn’t automatically decide that a business that has only formed last week and doesn't have a credible office location is illegitimate. When we started Middesk, we didn’t really have a business for at least 6 months and were running the company out of my apartment. But there are signals that we can look at to build a more complete picture of a company, even if they are just getting their business off the ground. I pulled 2,000 child care and home health care companies formed in Minnesota with a registered operating address in Minneapolis. To build the list, I focused on companies that mentioned child care or home care in their entity name to expand the scope beyond what we might have found if we only looked at industry specific licenses. I placed the businesses on a graph to show the relationships, which looked like this: Then I looked at clusters of businesses that were using the same or similar addresses as their operating location. You can see the heatmap of address density below, but consider that a single block in MN has more than 100 companies from the sample of businesses that we used for this dive. We can also see some of the businesses visited in the @nickshirleyy video within that block, along with other high density blocks. Next, I looked at the connections between companies, since businesses are easy to shut down and re-open on paper. Connections were based on shared addresses, individuals, and ownership structures. For example consider this cluster of related businesses: 12 companies connected through 3 shared addresses and a shared officer. 2 of the companies in this cluster are visited in the video. These businesses are the red ones. And TBC, it doesn't mean that all businesses in the cluster are fraudulent, just an example of higher risk. To go a bit further, I looked at the online web presence of the entities in the cluster above and found that of the 12 companies, all have no credible online web presence (Google Places page, recent reviews, online/available website, etc.). When you consider that the average age of these 12 businesses is 8 years, this increases the risk of the cluster further. You would expect businesses formed in the last 8 years to have some meaningful online presence. Next step would be expanding beyond Minneapolis and layering in funding data like grants, PPP loans, etc. But the clustering patterns alone tell you a lot.

@jfleming2870 Wordle 234 5/6 🟨⬜🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟩⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 similar vibes

Wordle 234 6/6* ⬛⬛🟩🟨🟩 ⬛🟩🟩⬛🟩 ⬛🟩🟩⬛🟩 ⬛🟩🟩⬛🟩 ⬛🟩🟩⬛🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Phew

@minney_cat Footnotes are my jam. I wish they saw wider use outside of academia and DFW essays.

Footnotes and endnotes. If you include them, I will read them :)

Many startups think “I don’t need a Head of Legal yet, what would they even do all day?” And then they get one, and think “how did we survive without a Head or Legal?”

Announcing ODX, a $100M accelerator to back the next generation of founders. • $125k for 7% from us + the community • Access to our network to hire, fundraise, or find customers • 100% customized for you Apply (or invest) today 👇 beondeck.com/x

@gdcaplan I'm waiting for you to launch a product that addresses slack fatigue in the way that @meetwithspot addresses Zoom fatigue.

Slack is just an all day meeting with no agenda

@ManiMahadevan Seems like a confusing way to change QSBS. (What happens if you have under $400k in income and then a QSBS exit nets you over $400k in returns? Does that count as income that disallows the 100% exclusion rates?) They should just lower the exclusion amount.

One of the biggest tax incentives encouraging investment in startups is at risk under a recent Democrat tax proposal. This incentive, the Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) exemption, is critical to the angel investing ecosystem has enabled startups in America to flourish

@gdcaplan Altra. 0mm heel to toe drop, good cushioning, and a toe box that is actually shaped like a human foot.

What are your go-to shoes for a long walk? 👟

@HurricaneZara Do you need me to drive you to Walgreens again?

@gdcaplan Yes please. I walk (and/or pace) for most meetings. I often turn off my video to prevent other participants from getting motion sick. Can’t wait to see what you’re working on!

Sick of *sitting* on zoom all day? We are building an app for walking meetings Looking for alpha testers to give us honest thoughts and feedback Want to try it? 👇comment below

@HurricaneZara There once was a party boy named Brett. Apparently he really liked to bet. "I LIKE BEER" he spat, face redder than a MAGA hat. We're still wondering who paid off his debt.

@jfleming2870 @MiamiLawSchool I can't figure out why so many people (many of them lawyers) ignore § 230 of the Communication Decency Act and pretend that Stratton Oakmont v. Prodigy Services is still the controlling precedent.

LOL. This is embarrassing for @MiamiLawSchool

@HurricaneZara You were Mickey (the trainer) in that situation.

@jfleming2870 I twitter-retired & @HurricaneZara reeled me back in. It's like Rocky III w/o muscles or fights. (It's nothing like Rocky.)

@HurricaneZara I just assumed it was warmed by a mix of body heat and microscopic particles of hot brake dust.