If this is your strategy, you've already lost.

If someone starts using "SI" instead of AI, run. Seeing this from a number of sycophantic followers of the current admin it's just sad, pick me behavior.

There is alpha in just not being a shameless "pick me" clout-chaser on this app.

I love all of my friends and collaborators who are laser-focused on building exceptional startup communities here in the Midwest. BUT, I think most "flyover country vs SF/NYC" conversations and strategies are incorrectly zero sum. The framing is often "how can we be the next SF" or "how can ensure founders have no reason to leave." I don't think this is a founder-centric POV - it's an ecosystem-centric POV. And while it's perfectly fine to aspire to offer a better experience to founders who live/work in your communities, it's not realistic in the near term to serve all of their capital, talent and customer needs. SF/NYC will, on any reasonable time horizon worth considering today, be the center of the capital and AI talent markets. And that's great - such concentration is actually quite useful and efficient for founders everywhere. Alternatively, there is great distribution across geographies on customer access (esp if you're not selling to other software/AI companies), specialized talent outside software engineering, and unique culture/quality of life considerations. The reality is that these ecosystems need each other - SF/NYC founders largely need customers & specialized talent outside those hubs and non-coastal founders need access to the capital & talent density in SF/NYC. I'm regularly talking to coastal HQ'd founders who are eager for customer and talent connects in the Midwest, for example. And this is clearly true for Midwest companies, who are routinely faced with capital access constraints and regional investors who are looking for pricing arbitrage, not fair market deals. The key is to build bridges that make it easier for founders, capital & talent to connect more efficiently from and to the coasts. When an ecosystem pushes a narrative they are creating an "all-in-one" startup community that presumes to give founder every resource, that's an economic development agenda, not a founder-friendly one. The non-coastal startup communities that will ultimately be the most sought-out by founders will be the ones who build the best bridges. The more we embrace the built-in advantages SF/NYC have, and those that we, the Midwest kings, have, the better outcomes we will create for founders EVERYWHERE.

Was an epic day during the best summer in Chicago history.

Investors when founders ask for feedback on why they passed on the round.

I can barely breathe.

All these VCs selling their value-add but how many billionaire investors are doing customer support for you. @AntonioGracias is a real one.

Is there a more clear sign of a society in decline?

Apparently they don’t teach survivorship bias at the Ivies…

Love to help build bridges from SF <> Columbus. What @suzannexie & team @ Strider are doing with this roadshow is brilliant.

There is no better productivity hack on the planet than a cross-country flight.

Thoughts and prayers for Fall - thanks for all the centuries.