Press Scarcity Forces Founders to Hoard Big Announcements
The press landscape in Silicon Valley has fundamentally shifted over the past decade, and it's creating some fascinating dynamics that every founder should understand. 10+ years ago, getting a funding story was straightforward. Now there are so many startups getting funded that it's not even newsworthy anymore. Most tech publications won't cover funding rounds unless they're absolutely extraordinary. The competition for press coverage is fierce. You have to be doing something "out of this world" to get attention. This scarcity has completely changed how companies approach PR strategy. Smart companies now hoard their big news for strategic moments - like when they need buzz for their next fundraising round or to attract key hires. Press isn't reliable for customer acquisition, but it's powerful for these specific goals. This means the "news" you're reading is often 6-12 months old. That competitor who just announced their Series B? They probably raised it half a year ago and are much further along now than the story suggests. In Silicon Valley, timing your press isn't about when something happens - it's about when you need the world to know about it.
Founders Need Ambition Density, Not Just SF Location
The debate about whether founders need to move to San Francisco misses the real point. It's not about capital. It's about density of ambition and understanding competitive pace and landscape. More >>
From Near Shutdown to $40M in Five Months
🚨 Last call 🚨 This week, I'm sitting down with @EricSimons, Co-founder & CEO of @boltdotnew, to talk about how they went from weeks away from shutdown to $40M in 5 months. If you're a founder, investor, or just trying to understand...
From Stanford to Bootstrapped Comedy Empire, No VC Needed
In 2021, @zoyagarg_ had a Stanford CS degree and Silicon Valley at her feet. She walked away from all of it and built a bootstrapped family comedy empire to multi-7 figures instead. No VC. No safety net. Just vision. 🧵...
Free Startup Events: Lessons, Pitch Feedback, Community
Founders & investors, we’ve got a few great events coming up. Come join us: 💻 April 16: How @boltdotnew Went From Failure to $40 Million in 5 Months Webinar ⚾ April 27: Batter Up! San Francisco 🌲 May 11–13: Camp Hustle From big startup...
Camp Hustle Turns Travel Into Lasting Business Connections
You know that feeling when you leave a conference and think "...why did I fly across the country for that?" Well, you won't be thinking that at Camp Hustle. Campers leave with deal leads, co-investors, and friends they're texting a week later....
Great Investors See Beyond a Single Bad Pitch
The best investors don't write founders off after one bad idea. I know someone who pitched a terrible idea in 2011. Truly awful. The kind of pitch that makes you wonder if they understand their own market. More >>
Policy Shift Pushes Overdue OpenClaw Optimization
Anthropic's policy changes just forced me to optimize my OpenClaw setup, and honestly... it was overdue. While I'm not super happy about this, I get it - they have a company to run, and they are losing so much money....
Unicorns Take Years, Not Quick Wins, Investors Overlook
One of my biggest pet peeves: investors who write off companies too soon. Building a unicorn takes YEARS, even when things go phenomenally well. While there are exceptions, most $100M+ rev/yr companies didn't get there fast. More >>
AI Agents Run Your Company While You Set Vision
I tried Paperclip - an open source project that lets you set up an "autonomous company" with multiple AI agents. The concept is wild: you act as a board member setting vision while agents coordinate to build and run the...
Diverse Investors Unite to Back Any Great Founder
At Camp Hustle, investors don’t look or think the same, and that’s the point. Different backgrounds. Different strategies. But with the same goal: backing great founders. as @ericbahn always says: “Great hustlers can look like anyone + come from anywhere.” Join us and...
AI Product Scaling Hides Costly Infrastructure Expenses
Building AI products today? The hidden cost crisis is real. I built an email triaging tool that costs me $1-2/day. Sounds cheap? Try scaling that to a $30/month SaaS - you'd be net negative before accounting for ANY people costs....
Combine AI Parsing with Rule-Based Judgment for Consistency
After playing with this, I've found that abstracting rules from judgement works best for me. E.g. use rules to take in a request. Use AI to interpret the request and push to a JSON format. Use rules to interpret the...
Balance AI Judgment with Rule‑based Code Wisely
The struggle is real: AI is pure judgment, traditional code is pure rules. Sometimes you want judgment (creative problem-solving), sometimes you need rules (consistent execution). The art is knowing when to use each. 2/5
AI Agents Blur Rules and Judgment, Causing Unexpected Behavior
After months of building with AI coding tools, I've discovered the key challenge: separating rules from judgment. Traditional code follows rules exactly. AI agents? They do whatever they want - mine has even skipped scheduled tasks because it "thought I...
