Tools for progress #50
Media and machines, The last dataset, How to get a job in 24 hours
We (humans) read hundreds of articles on company building, angel investing, and self-management and curate the best ones into a weekly summary—helping founders and operators stay on the top of their game.
As we release issue #50 (yes, you read that right!), we couldn’t be more grateful for the support our community and readership has afforded us. Now, onwards to the next 50!
Better thinking
Media and machines (7 minute read)
Another banger from Anu. Media and machines have fused into a single living system that runs our world, where content creates technology that creates more content in an endless loop. As AI turns language into infrastructure, every builder needs to tell stories and every story needs to build things. We’re now responsible for feeding this machine what matters, not just what goes viral.
State of the private markets (14 minute read)
It’s asymmetric. AI companies like Scale AI and OpenAI command massive valuations, while others like Harry’s and BYJU’s shed staff. Infrastructure and AI platforms are scaling aggressively while consumer and DTC brands struggle to justify their earlier growth. Markets are rewarding companies closest to the AI value chain, even those with questionable fundamentals.
Loudness, the currency of the attention economy (4 minute read)
The attention economy has created a dangerous equivalence between influence and accuracy. We see someone with millions of followers or a large investment fund and assume they know more than they actually do. Truth gets drowned out by volume, and we’ve lost the ability to separate expertise from marketing. The harsh reality is that playing in networked markets means competing with loud voices who may be completely wrong but incredibly convincing.
Operational tactics
Google’s prompt engineering whitepaper (120 minute read)
AI bros selling prompt engineering courses are going to feel this one. Here’s Google’s 69 page whitepaper that covers how to prompt an LLM. It’s extensive, but feels like required reading at this point.
Winning back dead leads (2 minute read)
Atlas lost 160,000 signups for six months then woke them up with one email that converted 12.5% by pre-creating accounts and letting people click straight into the product. Remind them when/how they signed up, pre-create their new account, don’t ask them to fill out forms, one-click sign-in.
The acceptable way to lie in business (3 minute read)
While political figures can lie about economic metrics without immediate consequences, this approach can lead to disaster in business. Yet inexperienced founders often slip into dangerous territory, especially when viewing competitors' seemingly impossible achievements or dreading difficult investor conversations. The problem occurs when founders build business plans around aspirational goals, then face the temptation to fudge numbers when reality doesn't cooperate. The solution is to reserve Silicon Valley storytelling for marketing and unflinching transparency for board level & inner circle communications, where brutal honesty is the only currency. If things go sideways, changing your narrative feels painful but it’s infinitely better than changing facts.
Refer and we’ll send you our favorite books as a “thank you” for spreading the word.
Angel investing
The rise of production capital (10 minute read)
A $68 trillion infrastructure boom is coming, but traditional investors can’t handle it. “Production Capitalists” are emerging to fill this gap – experts who blend venture capital with sophisticated debt structures to help physical tech companies scale efficiently. These hybrid players will own the future by orchestrating complex capital stacks that traditional VCs simply don’t understand.
A former VC shares their disillusionment after leaving the industry. Watching good companies fail because they couldn’t maintain “growth at all costs” while 600+ startups remain stuck between private funding and IPO. Some VCs are pivoting to capital-efficient models targeting realistic exits instead of unicorn hunting. Many funds won’t be raising again. Is VC changing, or is this just a cycle?
The last dataset (1 minute read)
For decades, tech giants have battled for your data. Facebook, known as Meta today, captured your social mask, Google your intentions, Amazon your consumption patterns. But OpenAI? They’ve got your soul. ChatGPT isn't just a chatbot. It's a confessional, therapist, confidant, and co-conspirator. It's where you go when you're too exhausted to perform, and that's where authentic data lives. With memory now connecting conversations, it's not just tracking clicks but creating psychographic x-ray vision into your fears, ambitions, and contradictions. This isn't about whether you clicked an ad but whether you're secretly planning to quit your job. Welcome to the age of soulware, the most valuable dataset on earth.
Managing your career
How to get a job in 24 hours (4 minute read)
In an era of endless job applications and automated rejections, one story broke through the noise a few weeks ago: Julia Fedorin, a University of Waterloo student, posted a 71-second video addressed to Shopify, asking, ‘Room for one more?” Twenty-four hours later, Shopify’s COO responded publicly: “You are hired. My DMs are open.’ In a market that often feels like shouting into the void, Julia’s approach offers signals that you don’t want to miss out on.
How to future-proof your career in the age of AI (15 minute read)
AI is developing rapidly and that means it’s unrealistic to expect that you’ll be able to keep doing your job the way you’ve done it in the past indefinitely. AI currently struggles with limited organizational context, non-digital work, creating competitive advantage, and accountability. To stay relevant, focus on having strong judgment and influencing people to complete work assignments. Developing strong judgment entails knowing what excellence looks like and understanding what actually works in practice, while influencing others requires navigating informal team dynamics and building relationships that help you overcome bureaucratic obstacles. Even though the outputs are being commoditized, getting buy-in and alignment still requires distinctly human capabilities.
Struggling? Network in real life. (5 minute read)
As AI can now seamlessly generate fake profiles and content, authentic relationships have never been more valuable. Yet many people hide behind screens, mistaking online interaction for meaningful connection. If you're struggling professionally, the solution isn't another online course or resume tweak, it’s an in-real-life (IRL) conversation. You don’t need a degree in behavioral economics to understand that humans are social creatures. We remember those who show up. We trust those we’ve seen before. And we bet on those who invest in mutual success.