Founder @askzeta (acq by @acorns). Ex @guildeducation @ga @ashoka @honesttea @donorschoose. Obsessed with dogs, finance & sugar.
Washington DC
Joined July 2011
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Dear Dems, you won big. Congratulations! But I do have some advice for you (coming from a mere mortal). Take it or leave it. But I hope you’ll at least hear it.
1. Don’t gloat.
This isn’t about Dems vs republicans. It was about voters saying we don’t want whatever this is. We’d like something better, irrespective of party. Don’t use this opportunity to alienate or judge some of the people who voted for you. Don’t forget, you were on the other side of a losing streak a few years ago!
2. Don’t bring back the playbook.
It’s time for a new approach. Let’s move past impeachment or identity politics or other distractions. This isn’t about making him pay, it’s about serving the American public. Focus on that! People from all corners want to see the country as a more affordable, innovative and prosperous place but with decency and respect for all humans.
3. Nurture your new talent.
So many new, exciting, in touch, young talent on the game board. Use this opportunity to elevate them versus serve the same old players. I’m not trying to be a jerk, but Newsom/Harris/Booker are old news. The country actively did not select these leaders. This is not an indictment of them, just a note to say they weren’t able to carry the vote. Let’s move on.
4. Bridge the divide.
I deeply dislike the divisive, tit for tat politics we’ve experienced over the last decade. I beg you to break that cycle. Do more bipartisan stuff. Republicans are smart people. We agree on a bunch of stuff! Move those needles forward and quickly. It’s depressing how long it takes to enact change in our country today. We need to make those mechanisms faster.
5. Innovation is king.
We have built this country’s story on our ability to build. Do not turn into a risk averse place. Focus on where we need to win. Listen to the people who think deeply about these issues (immigration, AI, family-first policies). This is just non negotiable and our last attempts at this were stifling. Again, republicans have good ideas here!
6. We need a budget
Just spending more money is bad policy. We’re taking on landlords that we’ll have to repay one day. It isn’t worth it. Get fiscally tighter. Be honest about where our government is bloated. Invest more smartly. Make change cheaper to enact. Don’t use this moment to act like the bill doesn’t matter or the answer is more taxes. Maybe it is! But tax wisely not randomly.
I am excited for the rejection of what we’ve become because it felt ugly and corrupt. But I also don’t think this is a “everyone is a dem now” message. It’s a “let’s try something better” message. So let’s be better.
I’d built a slew of agents on codex to help me reduce some cognitive load and they were working really well. With the introduction of dots (who are always on) I decided to try moving over. It’s been a surprisingly underwhelming experience for a few reasons:
1. My dot is not proactive. I constantly have to ask my dot about things I asked it to do rather than it surface those things to me. It feels like I have yet another person to manage versus someone who is managing my life.
2. My dot doesn’t seem to know me. I’ve fed it a lot of context before we started and for some reason it doesn’t really use that when engaging. Feels like I’m just talking to some random person versus someone who knows me and how I operate.
3. My dot doesn’t seem very smart. It told me I was missing an integration so I went and added it and told it so. It left the original request blocked until I asked why we hadn’t gotten that thing done. More intern behavior than chief of staff behavior.
4. My dot waits for me to engage. I’ll often have to follow up on what’s next or waiting for me versus have it manage where to focus. Muse actually does this really well without being annoying. Dot’s could learn a lot here.
5. I wish my dot helped me get better at using dots. OAI has so many product names, I often get lost (dots, spaces, work, codex, gpt, etc). Why doesn’t my dot help me figure out how to use the universe of OAI products better, including other dots!
Hoping this gets much better in some of these ways! Cc @thsottiaux
I can never tell if people are richer or poorer than they seem.
SF always felt like the first and NYC often felt like the latter.
A friend is 3 weeks from having a baby. Here’s a list of things I sent her/her partner to do in the next 3 months:
1. Wills/revocable trusts
2. Guardianship agreement
3. 529
4. Trump account
5. Social Security @ hospital
6. Passport (USPS)
7. Freeze credit
8. Life insurance
The many ways AI has saved me money in the last few months:
- $1,100: found me unclaimed property (Instinct)
- $87: re-priced my ticket after I booked it (Autopilot)
- $50/month: found savings after I fed it our car insurance policy (Instinct)
- $25: found me a coupon code for an item I bought (Muse)
- $200: returned an item for me past it's return date (Instinct)
- $0: reviewed my property taxes and told me I might be underpaying (Chat GPT)
Takeaway - there's a solid list of first time things AI can do but after that, the key is integrating it into your daily use so that it captures all the micro-savings (coupon codes, managing returns, finding the cheapest hotel, etc).
Aditi Shekar retweeted
When my kid asks "How are babies made?", I'm going to say "A doctor combines a sperm and egg in a test tube, and then freezes it until Daddy's startup has a liquidity event"
Ok someone please explain what reading to a baby even means. I’m sold on the point that it’s critical but my 16 month old mostly shuts the book every time I try to read to him or flips it upside down. Is that what I’m supposed to be doing?!
Aditi Shekar retweeted
I'm hiring my next Chief of Staff. You won’t know every field I work in. What matters is how quickly you learn, the questions you ask, and whether you can think from first principles. You’ll help evaluate opportunities and work with founders building consequential companies. Technical background preferred. Three-year commitment. Menlo Park, in person. Apply: jobs.ashbyhq.com/khoslaventu…
Most of my healthcare experiences (at every price point) have been so poor but without a doubt @KPMidAtlantic has been my best experience yet. The doctors are great. The support is useful. The app tries. I don’t know very much about healthcare but is this the model?
Have you ever tried to use Apple TV? Ya no thank you.
NEW: Apple - in an unusual partnership with LG - is readying a Doorbell, Deadbolt Lock, Thermostat, Indoor Camera, Outdoor Camera, Floodlight Camera and more to rival Amazon and Google as part of its major smart home reboot. bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
