Block Eyes Cash App Score for External Lending Partnerships
Block has said that it's going to explore leveraging its Cash App Score (i.e., its internal underwriting model) to help customers qualify for products and services from external providers (auto lenders, credit card issuers, landlords, etc.) I have so many questions about this, including: - How helpful will the Cash App Score be to other lenders for originating higher-dollar, longer-term loans given that Block almost exclusively does small-dollar, short-term loans? Is the predictive lift really as good as Block claims? - Since the Cash App Score requires customer data from the Block ecosystem, that data would qualify as a consumer report under FCRA if it is used to establish eligibility for credit, insurance, employment, or other authorized purposes. Is Block planning to become a consumer reporting agency? - If Block didn't want to become a CRA (and I doubt that it does), is there an option to let lenders access its data (with consumer permission) through an open banking data aggregator that is set up to be a CRA, like Plaid? Put differently, could Plaid resell the Cash App Score to lenders looking to evaluate Cash App customers, the same way that the credit bureaus resell the FICO Score? Note: This strategy would require Block playing nicely with the data aggregators to make its data easily accessible, which it has not done historically. - How is Block planning to distribute its data and score to other lenders? The open banking option mentioned above would be one way. I guess another would be to embed offers from external lenders inside Cash App, similar to a Credit Karma or NerdWallet. This wouldn't solve the FCRA problem, but it would streamline the user experience. However, I worry it would create incentive issues if they don't get the business model right. Block wouldn't want to risk damaging customer trust by recommending the products of whoever pays it the biggest referral fees.
AI Agents Shift From Commands to Autonomous Supervision
We're building systems that need babysitters. People think agents are smarter chatbots. Ask a question, get an answer, move on. Background agents are different. They check your email while you sleep and schedule things without being asked. These systems run on their...
Tailor Your Branch Strategy to Your Identity
Branch strategy cannot be copied from another institution. It must be defined by who you are as a company and who you serve. https://t.co/O3hS87zXrw
NTLA Plunges 25% Despite Hold‑lift Skepticism
$NTLA down >25% since the cultists tried to dunk on me after the hold lift. Down >15% since the high $15s when I made the post below *before* the hold lift, saying that a potential hold lift wouldn't actually...
Real‑time Context Is AI’s Decisive Competitive Edge
Your AI models are starving for context. 58% of companies admit their data isn’t ready for AI. The other 42%? They’re getting data, but they’re getting it too late. In the AI era, context is the only differentiator. When a...
AI-Driven Competition Slashes Figma’s IPO Gains
Figma had one of the biggest IPO debuts in years. Six months later, its stock is down 75%. Here’s how AI crashed the IPO hype 👇 When Figma went public, the story looked clean. The stock jumped over 250% in...
NASA Resumes Fast Liquid Hydrogen Fill for Artemis II
NASA has resumed core stage liquid hydrogen fast fill for the Artemis II WDR. https://t.co/i9nMY7JSu0
Google AI Snippets Use Meaning, Not Exact Words
Interesting - when Google's Web Guide uses AI to generate custom snippets (meta descriptions) for the page, it can incorporate words from the search query, even if those exact words aren't contained on the page. It looks for 'meaning' - not...
Intentional Culture Shapes Future Alumni Impact
When you create a company culture, it carries forward not only into your startup but also into where your alumni go in the future. One more reason to be very intentional about it. You're putting something into the world. Make sure...
Underinvesting in Brand? Search Data Shows Hidden Cost
Instead of being asked why we should invest more in brand, it might be more important to ask if we're actively underinvesting in it right now. Very typically, leadership takes the position that more (or any) brand marketing needs to...
Discussing AI's Employment Impact and Human‑Driven Answers
This was a fun conversation. We talked about some of my research on AI's effect of employment and on productivity, as well as what we can do to improve things. They also had Gemini ask me a question, but I...
Artemis II Delayed: Liquid Hydrogen Loading Issues Persist
Artemis II WDR status -- as of 2:25 pm ET, "troubleshooting liquid hydrogen loading into the core stage continues." NASA graphic (which appears periodically on NASA's YouTube stream: https://t.co/5OqAxjZZ1n) https://t.co/ipFvMbh1cO
Mass‑generated Resume Pages Suffer From Duplicate Templates, Bad Schema
This is a subfolder on a resume site with 500+ programmatic pages for "resume examples for ____ career" All use the exact same formula Page templates are highly similar All pages misuse AggregateRating Schema Lots of obvious AI content Worked until it...
AI Will Shift Sales to 80% Selling Time by 2026
As the AI era evolves, one of the most difficult aspects of predictions is how quickly humans will be abstracted away from today’s “point of work.” Take something as simple as building a toy. The first level of abstraction is...
Seeking SF Unitree Go2 EDU for RL Testing
Anyone in SF have a Unitree Go2 EDU I can test deploy a few RL policies to? https://t.co/whZVHLj59P
Big Firms Flood Blogs with Basic Explainer Content
I am seeing the /blog/ sections for various large companies dropping in the last week or two. The blogs seem to be full of tons of explainer content for basic concepts within their niche, like "what is ____" or "how to...
SaaS Built on One Platform Faces Existential Risk
I'm trying to build a billion-dollar SaaS, but the only problem with that is 100% of our business depends on a company that could kill us tomorrow. We make it possible for brands to email people who never opted in. Every...
Align Email with Customer Journey for Maximum Impact
Email works best when it matches where the customer actually is. This is how I think about the customer journey, and what email should do at each stage. Bookmark this. https://t.co/Vd28hv9taT
Open-Source Python Robotics Algorithms for Localization & Planning
A collection of Python robotics algorithms (localization, SLAM, path planning, motion planning). (📍GitHub ) Python sample codes and textbook for robotics algorithms. GitHub: https://lnkd.in/eBZXA22n —— Weekly robotics and AI insights. Subscribe free: scalingdeep.tech
AI‑driven Polish Makes B2B Content Beige; Stand Out
You’re not suffering from incompetence. We're drowning in the opposite. Welcome to the Beige Wall - B2B marketing in 2026. Look around. Everything is now polished. Everything is articulate. Everything is grammatically perfect. A two-person startup in a garage now...
NASA Schedules Post‑WDR Press Conference for Tomorrow Noon
NASA will have a post-WDR news conference tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb 3) at noon ET. https://t.co/SK9RVqtJfP
IROS2026 Convenes Top Robotics Leaders in Pittsburgh
#IROS2026 will convene in Pittsburgh from Sept 27 – Oct 1! As one of the largest & most dynamic robotics conferences, IROS brings together world-leading researchers, educators, govt. leaders, startups, industry innovators, practitioners, & investors👇 https://t.co/zWIb6SZtCO https://t.co/A12L5450Aw
Quantum Insights Sparked at Q2B Conference Conversation
While attending the Q2B Silicon Valley conference in December, I had this enjoyable conversation with Antonella Navarro, host of The Quantum Revolution podcast. https://t.co/RtAHIRh8ns
Klaviyo’s “Waterfall” Ensures Fallback Identity Resolution
These flows look insane, right? It's intentional. We call it the waterfall. If the first identity resolution service doesn't fire, the next one catches it, and on down the line. One of the craziest things I've seen in Klaviyo...
Micro‑lists & AI Boost Cold Outreach Reply Rates
CEO Friend: Is cold outreach working for you guys? Me: It wasn't until mid-November. CEO Friend: What? How? Ours dried up. Me: We closed 50 customers from cold email over the past 60 days. CEO Friend: TELL ME HOW Me:...
Viral Video Earns $1B; Quotes Get Zero Traction
Dollar Shave Club made $1B from ONE viral video. Meanwhile you're posting 'motivational quotes' nobody reads. That's the gap.
Invisible Economies Drive Exponential Value Through Relationships and Design
The most valuable signals are invisible. Most leaders are still optimizing for yesterday's. We're not in one economy anymore. We're in at least 10 at once. These are behavioral ecosystems. Basically invisible overlays intersecting with your brand, culture, innovation pipeline,...
Discover the Quantum Error Correction Zoo Resource
If you work on quantum error correction, be sure to check out The Error Correction Zoo: https://t.co/nLv7pmTq3A The Error Correction Zoo is an open, community-driven resource dedicated to compiling, organizing, and explaining known quantum error correction codes.
Massive Pre‑Product Funding Could Bring AI To
Now that you can raise a 9-figure round pre-product, there's a non-zero chance we see a Super Bowl ad for pre-revenue AI company this year.
We Choose Complexity to Avoid Simple Accountability
We resist simple changes with big impact. We retreat to complexity because it's safer. If the fix is complex and you don't do it, that's logistics. Resources. Timing. Reasonable. If the fix is simple and you don't do it, that's...
Lean AI Delivers $70M ARR with 20 Employees
OpenArt AI just reached $70M ARR with only 20 employees and reached #5 on the Lean AI Leaderboard 🔥 And it’s another data point that the Lean AI curve isn’t slowing down, it’s accelerating. Here’s why this one matters: •...
Designers Soon Won’t Need Prompts Thanks to Lovart
Good morning. Soon designers won’t need to prompt much at all. Love how fast Lovart adds new things. Like entire workflows with a click.
NASA Countdown Begins for Artemis II Tanking Approval
Meanwhile, waiting for official word from NASA about whether it was a "go" for Artemis II tanking. The clock is counting down on NASA's website... https://t.co/5OqAxjZZ1n
Metrics Can Gamify Products, Distracting From Real User Value
Now that I'm tracking user and account metrics for Storybook , I'm really starting to appreciate how much they can make you gamify things that don't necessarily improve the user experience. For example, Storybook's data updates monthly, which means that...
No‑code AI Agents Demand Purposeful Orchestration, Not Shortcuts
“No-code AI agents” doesn’t mean no thinking — it means thinking at the right level. This framework is useful because it shows that building agents without coding is really about orchestration, not shortcuts. Key takeaways for leaders and builders 👇...
Hiring Senior PLG PM In‑House Can Cost More Than Expected
Our Senior ProductLed Implementer, Henrique Soares, just watched a SaaS company spend 5 months learning an expensive lesson about hiring for PLG. They needed a Senior Growth PM focused on product-led growth. They looked at the OTE and thought: "We'll...
Artemis Crew Preps for Moon Launch Amid Fuel Checks
Moon rocket about to get fuelled. nasa is making the decision if the Florida weather is warm enough and the systems are GO to start pumping liquid hydrogen & oxygen into Artemis. Expect leaks and problems, but if all gets...
AI Ops Now Cost $50K Monthly Across Business
Our AI bill just hit $50K in a single month. This is what building with agents actually looks like. Support. Sales. Onboarding. Product. Every part of the business now runs on intelligence - and intelligence isn't free. Not gonna lie,...
Artemis II Team Polls Live on Tanking Decision
Artemis II Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson and the Mission Management Team will conduct a poll at 10:45 am ET this morning (in about 5 minutes) to decide whether to proceed with tanking for the Wet Dress Rehearsal. https://t.co/c6C2rRQQ2I
Commitment, Teamwork, and Compounding Growth Beat Time
Lessons only time teaches you: 1/ A great team goes even further than you think 2/ The journey in the end, no matter how long, ends in the blink of an eye 3/ You win by being the most committed 4/ Each year compounds...
PolyAseqTrap Enables Universal Genome-Wide polyA Site Mapping
PolyAseqTrap: a universal tool for genome-wide identification and quantification of polyadenylation sites from different 3′ end sequencing data https://t.co/pwEf2GeYjb github https://t.co/gpfYhyMoX3 https://t.co/oyA5MBFutE
Varo Raises $124M Despite $92M Loss
The sunk cost fallacy is alive & well: Varo announced it has raised ANOTHER $123.9 million. Varo posted a net loss of $91.7 million in 2025, per its just-released call report. https://t.co/iGHX1ILeL9
Master NGS Pre‑Processing: Raw Data Understanding Is Crucial
1/ Many bioinformatics students don’t know much about NGS pre-processing. But trust me, understanding the raw data is essential. Here’s why. https://t.co/WjT1I9haD8
Amazon Seeks FCC Extension, Adds Falcon 9s; New Glenn Delayed
. @Amazonleo asks @FCC for 2-yr deadline extension, buys 10 more @SpaceX Falcon 9s & more @blueorigin New Glenn launches, says anomalies on prototypes launched in 2023 caused 9-month delay in full production ramp. https://t.co/IAYiZYBMkU https://t.co/q8A4DwCyJu
Early Decisions Shape Scalable Culture Beyond the Founder
Culture is what persists after the founder leaves the room. In this clip, @mlevchin explains how early decisions calcify into a company's DNA. Those decisions get embedded early. They compound and (eventually) self-enforce. Once a company scales, culture is no longer a...
AI Generates Full Lead Magnets Instantly for Founders
You've heard of Vibe Coding. But now Vibe Marketing is here better than ever. We're rolling out a v2 of our most popular feature for Instant where our AI will create an entire Lead Magnet, Landing Page and Middle-of-Funnel Content...
Effective SaaS Ads Require
Many SaaS teams believe more ad spend = more pipeline. But here are 3 layers they skip: 1. A pipeline strategy that starts at the bottom of the funnel, not the top. 2. A quality-first mindset that prioritizes best-fit leads...
Dutch Dairy Farm Reports Multiple H5N1‑positive Cows
5 more dairy cows tested positive for #H5N1 #birdflu antibodies on the Dutch farm where a previous cow tested positive. No surprise that if 1 was positive, others would be too. This dairy farm is the first outside the US...
Listing Isn’t Enough—Actively Drive Your Startup Sale
Sometimes founders list their startup and then wait. They assume buyers will just show up, ask questions, and magically move things forward. That almost never happens. Selling a business requires running an actual sales process. After NDAs are signed, you need to reach...
AI-Driven Thought Leadership Turns SME Insight Into Sales
Thought leadership should be a sales tool, feed search results, and build authority. That's a lot. But what if AI could help you surface and scale that internal expertise? By pairing AI tools with intentional workflows, you can capture unique...