Builder of things. Always curious.
Toronto
Joined January 2008
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Alex de Bold retweeted
This is the same mental model I’ve been using for the new companies I’m building
The “how” has increasingly become a commodity.
They why, the story telling, and ability to break through the noise is harder than ever.
.@balajis says every startup now needs a founding creator. Someone who speaks for the product before it ships.
"The founding engineer is the how... The founding creator is the why."
If you're outsourcing content, you're outsourcing your edge.
Alex de Bold retweeted
Wondering how to actually use AI in your day to day?
Our team @a16z asked some of AI's biggest names to nominate their favorite products of 2024 - this is a great starting point 👀
Here are their picks! ⬇️
For general AI assistants:
- Perplexity (@perplexity_ai) - AI search engine
- Anthropic (@anthropicAI) - general assistant, Claude
- ChatGPT (@chatgptapp) - for Advanced Voice Mode!
For help getting work done:
- Granola (@granola) - AI notetaker
- Wispr Flow (@WisprAI) - voice dictation
- Gamma (@gammaapp) - AI decks, docs, websites
- Adobe (@Adobe) - Acrobat AI PDF summarizer
- Cubby (@CubbyApp) - collaborative workspace
- Every Inc. (@every)- Spiral writing assistant + Cora email product
- Lindy (@getlindy) - AI agents to automate workflows
To build an audience:
- Delphi (@withdelphi) - AI clones
- HeyGen (@HeyGen_Official) - studio quality avatars
- Argil (@argildotai) - social media avatars
- Overlap (@JoinOverlap) - video editor
- Persona - agent builder for creators
- OpusClip (@OpusClip) - video editor
- Captions (@getcaptionsapp) - avatar generator + video editor
To build a product:
- Cursor (@cursor_ai) - AI code editor
- Replit (@Replit)- automated web developer
- Anychat - multi-model developer platform
- Codeium (@codeiumdev) - Windsurf agentic IDE
To get creative:
- ElevenLabs (@elevenlabs) - text to speech
- Playground (@playgroundAI) - graphics generator
- Suno (@sunomusic), Udio (@udiomusic) - music generators
- Midjourney (@midjourney), Ideogram (@ideogram_ai) - image generators
- Runway (@runwayml), Kling (@Kling_ai), Viggle (@ViggleAI) - video generators
- Krea (@krea_ai) - creative canvas
- Photoroom (@photoroom_app) - image editor
To learn or grow:
- Rosebud (@joinrosebud) - AI journal
- Good Inside (@GoodInside) - parenting app
- Ada Health (@adahealth) - health management
- Ash - AI counselor
- NotebookLM (@notebooklm) - learn anything w/ AI
- Particle (@particle_news) - personalized news
To have fun:
- Remix AI (@getremixai)- AI social platform
- Meta Imagine (@AIatMeta) - AI-first social tools
- Grok (@grok) - chatbot from xAI
- Curio (@CurioBeta) - AI toys
Alex de Bold retweeted
Some key takeaways:
1. Get comfortable with looking dumb, especially in public. The best way to learn is by asking dumb questions, trying new things, and failing in front of others. You’ll uncover truths that others won’t, and more often than not, you’re not alone in having those questions. Everyone else is just too scared to ask.
2. Pair programming is a secret weapon. If you’re not doing this yet, try implementing it in your team’s workflow. It doesn’t just improve code quality; it forces intense collaboration and leads to faster unblocking.
3. Weekly updates, even if they seem like a time investment, create momentum and urgency. Parkinson’s law is real—if you set a time limit for something, it will get done in that time. Regular reviews force you to keep things moving forward, identify roadblocks early, and correct course quickly.
4. Time spent eliminating unnecessary code is never wasted. A streamlined codebase is easier to understand, less error-prone, and quicker to navigate. Make it a habit to revisit and refactor regularly, cutting away complexity. In software development, simplicity often leads to faster, more reliable results.
5. Traditional interviews are poor predictors of success. Instead:
a. Use extended trials when possible
b. Focus on real work product over interview performance
c. Look at why candidates made career moves, not just what moves they made
d. Leverage internship programs as extended interviews
e. Make the interview process as close to the actual job as possible
Opting into @NotionHQ AI pilot has been the hugest headache every - 2nd month in a row being charged for a product which I disabled and is re-enabled on the backend. Doubling the cost of Notion with no recourse but to pay the bill and then request a refund.
How isn't important in the beginning - but what and why is more important as there are many paths to the same outcome
Alex de Bold retweeted
The main challenge with Consumer is moats. AI 🤖 doesn’t necessarily solve that. The key challenge is finding data lock-ins that make switching hard.
B2B is a lot more natural at that because businesses have a lot of data to compute with.
It's crazy to think that the immense amount of money required to build an LLM like OpenAi is eerily similar to the cost of IBM building the earliest mainframes. The caveat here is that AI itself will lower the cost of compute as a new field of spatial Ai emerges.
Alex de Bold retweeted
At Llama Lounge, the event series I run, 10 startups are selected to demo.
3 slots min are reserved for Women AI founders, often we're at parity.
Our data indicates only 5-10% of submission are Women founders.
We seek more Women founders to apply. We proactively reach out. Please spread the word.
It's important we have gender representation in AI, or we will have industry collapse in the mid-term.
Alex de Bold retweeted
Let fires burn
Vlad Loktev (@vladimirloktev) taught me more about product management than anyone else I've ever worked with, and his mentorship was directly responsible for the biggest inflection in my PM career.
Vlad spent 10 years at @Airbnb where he started as an IC PM and quickly advanced to lead product, and then GM the entire Airbnb homes business, managing over 1,000 people and reporting directly to CEO @bchesky. He recently left Airbnb and joined @IndexVentures as their newest partner. Prior to Airbnb, Vlad spent a year at @Zynga, where he helped grow Words with Friends to over 14 million daily active users.
In our conversation, we discuss:
🔸 Insight into Brian Chesky’s leadership style
🔸 Why success as a PM is all about impact, impact, impact
🔸 Why chaos can be good
🔸 Why as a leader it’s OK to let some fires burn
🔸 Why you should learn to “poke the bear”
🔸 Balancing product release speed with quality
🔸 Lessons on prioritization, decision-making, and organizational design
🔸 Advice for founders on building company culture
🔸 Much more
Listen now 👇
- YouTube: youtu.be/apfL7ULrQ-I
- Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5Gv…
- Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
Accidentally stumbled upon a great reel with @danmartell and @tobi framing a startups role is removing friction. Shopify removed friction block by block, to increase the size of TAM from SMB going online. You see this even today when the @shopify team released components allowing big consultancies to build with components creating a whole new customer class.
Love this. 100% believe this - As smaller companies modernize using a new AI-native stack of technology, they no longer need to grow their team to scale their ambition. - implications.com/p/the-era-o…
Being a purpose driven founder for me is key. It just astounding to see the trends in global eye care impairment. WHO specifically calls out “Integrated People Centered Eye Care (IPCEC)” and adopting Ai based based technology is core to success. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article…
Alex de Bold retweeted
I explain this to founders -
Any decent piece of software takes 2 years to build to the point where customers can actually use it.
Why?
First of all business complexity - modern workflows are complex and sophisticated and to capture them correctly, to reflect the nuances takes time.
Secondly, if it was easy to build then your startup wouldn't exist -- there would be million copies.
The fact that it is hard, complex is a good thing - this means that it is worth building.
Lastly, what you hear that AI will just build this in 10 seconds is complete and utter nonsense.
So, founders, ignore the noise, and keep building!
Build beautiful correct software that captures workflows and solves real problems and you will win big.
Agentics = Fancy terms for orchestrating very powerful bots to even more powerful outcomes than cron jobs.
Alex de Bold retweeted
Product Management is not about:
- Asking customers about the requirements.
- Writing detailed specifications.
- Creating prototypes and wireframes.
- Assigning tasks to developers.
- Verifying and accepting the work of others.
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If you're building models for AI it's important to note that acquiring and integrating proprietary data streams for training is critically important to build a MOAT for startup.