ive noticed that founders who come from privileged backgrounds seem to experience stress differently. they can be just as ambitious and work just as hard. but when things get hard, they don't feel the deep painful levels of stress. maybe because somewhere in the back of their mind, they know that if everything falls apart, theyll still be okay. whereas when you come from nothing, failure can feel existential. theres no safety net. no one coming to bail you out.

how to raise your first round if you don’t have a network: a lot of great founders start without access to the usual startup networks in SF or NY. and fundraising can feel impossible when you don’t know any investors personally. so you need to understand what actually gets someone to write an angel check. they need to: - understand what you're building - believe you’re credible / trust you - believe you’re going to keep going if nobody knows you yet, you need to manufacture those signals. the easiest way is to ship in public. start posting every day. launches, demos, walkthroughs, lessons, customer conversations, what you’re building and why. you have an uphill battle, and you solve it with volume. your job is to create hundreds of small data points that prove you can execute. someone should be able to find your profile and quickly understand what you’re building, why you care, and that you’re obsessed with solving the problem. you’re compressing months of “getting to know you” into a public record anyone can audit. your social profile becomes diligence before the first meeting. no one is going to steal your idea. stop hiding. make yourself impossible to ignore.

i'm hiring a founding engineer. we're building the first patient-led health system, for the 500M+ people with chronic conditions and no approved treatments. AI has flipped the power dynamic in healthcare. we're putting patients in the driver's seat, with the tools and the agency to run their own care. product is live and growing quickly. about you: - 7+ yrs shipping production systems - deep in the world of AI agents - US based (remote friendly) about the role: - $150-250k base with founding level equity - you'll partner directly with me to define and ship the product roadmap - small, high ownership team DM me if interested. if you make a successful referral, i'll give you $25K

being a founder in SF is a no-lose game upside - you built a generational company and change the world downside - you experience insane personal growth, and meet the smartest most ambitious people in your lifetime take a swing, and be a part of the next gold rush

i'm hiring a chief of staff - come work with me! 🚀 if you’ve ever wanted to build a company from the ground up, this is that role. you’ll join the founding team and build the operating system that keeps the entire company running. we’re solving a problem that affects millions of patients with chronic health conditions, who are still searching for answers. sf based, in person. if you know someone exceptional, please share this with them! DM me or apply at the link below 👇

hosting a small roundtable in SF next Tuesday (3/3). the topic: AI is transforming healthcare, however nothing is being built for the 100M+ people living with a chronic illness. If you're building in this space or care about this problem, come through. lunch is on me! luma.com/azw4gtmy

just used chatgpt to write a prompt for nano banana to generate an image so cursor could ask opus 4.5 to add it to my landing page hosted on vercel AMA

as a founder, the hardest part isn’t the work. it’s pretending you’re fine when everything feels like it’s breaking, and everyone’s looking at you for confidence.

more than 30% of US adults develop allergies for the first time after age 19. i'm one of them. i developed a new allergy after getting covid. if your body feels “off”, don’t assume it’s random. go get tested. it can change your life.

non-competes are stupid. in the last year, i’ve had multiple founders try to get me to sign a non-compete before investing or advising, and it makes you look really inexperienced. you should avoid it for these 5 reasons: 1. non-competes are legally unenforceable in california, full stop. if you're hiring people in CA (the tech center of the universe)... they shouldn't even be in your agreements. 2. even if they were enforceable, you’d need cash to burn on litigation, which is expensive, slow, and unrealistic for a startup. 3. they’re overly broad (e.g. “you will not compete with any anticipated business of the company”) — wording like that has no clear scope and leaves everything up for interpretation. 4. they’re overly restrictive. as an investor, i don't want to disqualify myself from future opportunities because of a vague, catch-all definition of “competitive activities”. 5. they’re redundant. confidentiality agreements already stop people from sharing or using your proprietary/non-public info, which is 90% of the risk founders try to patch with a non-compete anyways. i understand why founders think non-competes are important, but i promise you, it makes you look very inexperienced. just focus on winning instead.