Life's hardest moments shape who you become. My brother Brandt Andersen (Hollywood producer: Lone Survivor & Everest) on why he no longer runs from hard things: "No great sculpture's been made out of clay. They're all made out of stone." "I don't run from the things that are hard anymore. When I get stuck in something hard now, I'm like, 'Let's do it.'" "And I had to climb my own way out. But having done that, I'm now good at getting out of it."

My interview this week with @adityaag, GP at South Park Commons, a very unique investment firm with $2B under management. Aditya was an early Facebook engineer and CTO of Dropbox. We talk about the reshaping of AI engineering and how super intelligence is already here. Timestamps: 06:27 — From Oracle to Facebook: Betting on the Unknown 17:23 — Why Contrarian Startup Ideas Face Rejection 18:58 — South Park Commons: Finding What’s Worth Building 29:41 — AI Is Changing the Value of Coding 33:15 — The 15-Second AI Diagnosis That Surprised a CTO 37:15 — Why the AI Revolution Is Still Early 39:43 — Why He Believes Superintelligence Is Already Here 40:39 — Can Small AI Startups Compete With Big Tech? 42:08 — AI Safety: Can We Really Slow Down? 45:26 — Imposter Syndrome: Learning Beats Knowing 46:37 — Beyond Success: What Actually Matters

Sometimes the thing we dream of is not the best thing for us right now. No matter where you are, it’s where you’re suppose to be.

Dating coach Blaine Anderson says finding the right person is all about saying and looking the right way in the place. “Approaching a woman on the gym floor is not going to yield the same result as approaching her when she’s sitting on a park bench.” “You don’t need the perfect line. You don’t need to seem super suave or funny if you are confident and direct and clear and you just say something along the lines like, hey, I noticed you from over there, and I wanted to say hello, or hey, I’d kick myself later if I didn’t introduce myself. That’s enough.”

Eric Ries (Lean Startup, Incorruptible) on why customers are still the key to business success in spite of AI advances: "Although you can build things faster with AI, you can't necessarily learn anything faster unless you yourself have that as your goal." "I meet teams all the time that show me amazing demos, and it's like, have any customers ever seen this? ... For the entrepreneurs that actually have some kind of long-term vision, customers are an intrinsic part of that vision."

SF Tech Week kick off with Alphabet’s Captain of Moonshots @astroteller and so many awesome @GoogleStartups people.