nickbytes

My 70something mother-in-law walks through estate sales snapping photos of random trinkets asking Claude what they’re worth and flips them for profit. Product-market fit.

@gbrl_dick @eriktorenberg @a16z this rocks

i’m joining @eriktorenberg on the @a16z new media team. the most important conversations in the world happen online. we’re building the team that starts, shapes and shares them—for our founders, but also for tech.

@johnpalmer Man this stuff is so fun

New work for TBPN is now live on the Area website. Check out the site to see more of the graphics. And of course, tune into TBPN live weekdays at 11AM PT to see the full system in action.

🎯🎯🎯

@brian_lovin TIL: Close Tabs > After One Week. Thank you!!

Uhh so this is actually better

@jacob__titus @Eric_Erins I need some South Bend photography in my life.

Industry used to be part of the city. You could walk to work.

Excited to share that @theclearingco is joining @coinbase to continue building at the frontier of prediction markets.

First we announced prediction markets on Coinbase. Now we’re bringing in the specialized talent to take our plans to the next level. Welcome to Coinbase, @theclearingco.

@johnpalmer After “hybrid athlete”, we go back to just being good at sports?

@yrechtman A lot of people suggesting Wispr, but @superwhisper is worth a look. The “modes” have been pretty clutch for me switching between different types of work.

Getting wrist surgery next week and won't be able to type until January. What's the best way to control my laptop with voice?

@ripe0x i like these

recurse

@elirousso Always thought these two were cool. (Every engineers initials in second photo)

covert authorship and messaging

@bkclaims If they allowed fighting in the MLS, it would immediately reach product-market fit.

A new prediction market startup with a team of ex-Polymarket, ex-Kalshi people and the nondescript name “The Clearing Company” has applied for a CFTC license and aims to launch next year; “We want to be Switzerland” wsj.com/finance/invest…

@sferik Whole album is pretty good tbh

I just learned that the Chicago Bulls intro music is a song by The Alan Parsons Project, called “Sirius”, which wasn’t created for that explicit purpose. It’s so hard for me to imagine that song existing in any other context.

@varadh @jacksondahl x.com/wwwjim/status/…

@jacksondahl @nickbytes in case you know anyone!

Short notice ask: need a Seattle - based videographer / producer on Tuesday morning Nov 25 for ~3 hours. Please dm if you or refer if you know someone!

Re-reading The Lord of the Rings and this line gave me a genuine chuckle

@jordihays Refreshing

Rage Baiting is for Losers Yesterday, YC announced Chad IDE aka “the brainrot code editor.” Chad is an AI code editor that allows you to gamble, watch TikTok, and use dating apps while working on coding tasks. Their launch rightfully got a lot of attention. On one hand it’s funny. On the other hand, what are we doing here and why does this belong on the official YC account? To understand Chad IDE, Cluely, Icon, Friend, and the new class of Gen Z startups, you have to understand the online environment these founders grew up in. If you grew up on the internet and studied how and why certain people would regularly go viral, you know that making people mad has and always will be a highly effective way to get attention. The feedback loop is simple: 1) make something (product or ad) that makes people angry; 2) people comment/ share/ dunk; 3) because feeds are optimized to show posts with high engagement the most, you get more reach. Rage baiting for commercial purposes was pioneered by course bros. People like Tai Lopez realized that making the masses mad was an effective way to drive course sales. They could flaunt Lamborghinis, make a bunch of people angry, and as long as a handful of people found their way into their course, it was a viable, repeatable strategy. Historically on X, rage baiting was a marketing strategy, not a product strategy. Accounts like @sweatystartup frequently post things to get an angry reaction and subsequent reach, but behind the scenes he's always been running a normal commercial real estate fund. In 2025, rage baiting has become a product strategy. Cluely started as an app for cheating on coding interviews. Chad IDE’s only known differentiation from the other hundred AI native IDEs is that you can gamble and swipe on dating apps in it. The rage bait is sitting at the product level now. It’s becoming clear that while rage bait might occasionally work as a marketing strategy, it really should not be employed as a product strategy. Running a successful VC-backed company requires you to build a coalition of people that want to see you win. Getting media, investors, talent, and customers on your side is not an easy task. Rage baiting (whether at the marketing level or product level) is the most effective way to get people (who could be potential investors, customers, or team members) to actively pray for your downfall. YC has long provided some of the most durable, high quality, generalizable advice for startups and I believe it has had a tremendously positive impact on the companies that go through YC and even those that don’t. Launch now, make something people want, do things that don’t scale, ignore your competitors, etc. As someone who believes that YC is one of the most important and influential institutions in tech, I believe it might be time to include this in their list of essential startup advice: “Rage baiting is for losers.”

All sorts of good moments in latest Cheeky Pint w/ Dave Ricks