When did a founder with a life-altering discovery ever fail because they couldn't pitch?
On hard problems, scientists are the only ones who can do the work. The rest is a story VCs tell themselves.
ramzirizk.substack.com/p/res…
I genuinely don't understand the VC hype around Instinct. It only makes sense seen through rose-tinted 2015 consumer hype glasses.
Useful product? Yes.
Thin layer? Replicable? 100% Yes.
How many more companies like this will the bubble take before it bursts? Also yes.
Ramzi Rizk retweeted
I missed this yesterday, but I’m going to explain in excruciating detail why no VC should ever give this person any money for this, because it is possibly the single dumbest thing I’ve ever heard anyone in the valley ever say & that includes Steve Ballmer. This person has no clue how restaurants work, and nobody will EVER use this, because it’s completely fucking insane 🧵
Instinct CEO Noah Shinn says agents will let restaurants give tables to birthdays and anniversaries over whoever clicks first
"And traditionally, because of the way that the internet has worked, at least for reservations, it's been first come first serve. So anyone that comes in, no matter how important or how not important it might be, whoever gets in first gets the reservation."
"But what if you had the ability for the agent to be able to communicate on both sides, communicate, hey, this is important. This is actually the person's spouse's birthday, the 30th birthday, a very special event is coming up."
"And the restaurant too can say, let's actually prioritize birthdays or major decade birthdays or major anniversaries or these certain people, I don't know, whatever it might be, right?"
"So now with the ability, with all of the logistical burden of having to describe exactly what your case is and what's happening and why it's important. Now we have the ability to perfectly match what does the restaurant want? What does the user want?"
"And that will result in more special events for the users being able to actually have a spot in the restaurant."
Some thinking on the tension between tech and journalism. Three threads run through it, and one uncomfortable truth sits underneath all of them: trust used to be free. Now it has to be earned.
open.substack.com/pub/ramzir…
Exactly the kind of reveal I would expect from @khalio. Can't wait to try what team @maisonvyg is creating. congrats!
THE MAISON IS OPENING.
Today, Voyage reveals the Maison for Mind Computing.
We are designers, neuroscientists, philosophers, and engineers building neural interfaces for your inner voice, as objects of desire. Backed by Draper Associates and other believers.
Apply to be a Member of the Maison. Or join us inside — we’re hiring @maisonvyg
--> voyage.inc
Ramzi Rizk retweeted
2026 is a BRUTAL grind in VC. You start in Davos, freeze in Aspen, hit Upfront, survive Milken, then it’s straight to Paris for the French Open. Briefly back in NYC for the Knicks. Then, total blur: SuperReturn in Berlin, Founders Forum in London, then back stateside for the World Cup, back to Paris for Raise AI, Idaho for Sun Valley, quick respite in Mykonos, then the Goldman tech gauntlet, Slush in Finland, NeurIPS in freakin’ Sydney… and *boom*, a productive year of thought leadership and adding value is over, and you’re a wreck.
👏 Thanks for listing me and @WIPCapital!
The best Emerging Managers are hard to access but should not be hard to find.
We mapped the next gen 1,000 managers. $97B AUM.
Browse, filter, create lists and share: emergingmanagermap.com
Found your fund? Hit "Suggest or Edit a Firm" and make the profile do it justice.
.@HugoAmsellem with another beautiful blend of tech and culture!
Fun chatting with you, @slice_fund
In this episode, we go across the pond to Berlin, where @ramz is building a €10M fund as a solo GP backing the scientists and founders most European VCs overlook within bio, neuro and foundational AI
Burning tokens is not the flex you think it is open.substack.com/pub/ramzir…
"I chatted with an LLM today, here's what it taught me about fearmongering and clickbait posts that maximize my reach."
In a world of Haikus, be an Opus.
A brief thought on why we need to pay more attention.
open.substack.com/pub/ramzir…
There is no bigger scam than notaries. Zero value added. Charging a percentage of the transaction fee. Every time I leave feeling like I've been robbed of time and money. Every time I have the urge to scream about it on X.
The fallacy of evaluating the future through today's lens.
ramzirizk.substack.com/p/chr…
On The Inevitability of Cognitive Atrophy
Some cognitive tasks are fine to give up. Others are core to our identity and personality. Do we know which is which?
open.substack.com/pub/ramzir…
AI did to software development what smartphones did to photography 15 years ago. If You Can Think It, You Can Build It
ramzirizk.substack.com/p/if-…
"general first impression is enough"
"be critical but constructive. don't invent things."
Anyone else starting to talk to humans like LLMs?
We have the talent. We have the resources.
We have enough people with great ideas and the right mindset (the rest can follow).
All we need is for the bureaucrats to get out of the way and let us build.
Replying to @sabinedoering
In der USA sind die meisten Menschen enthusiastisch.
In Europa werde ich beschimpft, Leute schreien REGULIERUNG und VERANTWORTUNG.
Und wenn ich wirklich hier eine Firma baue dann kann ich mich mit Themen wie Investitionsschutzgesetz, Mitarbeiterbeteiligung und lähmenden Arbeitsregulierungen abkämpfen. Bei OAI arbeiten die meisten Leute 6-7 Tage die Woche und werden depentsprechend bezahlt. Be uns ist das illegal.











