MAFIA EP 001

Today we're introducing Commit Capital: a $15M fund investing in technical founders at the earliest stage of building. We invest in B2B software, with a focus on dev tools and infrastructure. The unique structure of our fund follows from a simple observation: Get engineering moving faster, get to PMF faster. - There are five of us (@kevinsimler, @aaymeloglu, @laura_yao, Brandon Burr, and Javier Lopez) , which is a staffing ratio that would make a normal fund's LP base raise an eyebrow. That gives our founders more hands-on resources per dollar invested than any other fund. - Four of us were among the earliest engineers at Palantir, where we built and led development of the commercial product for over a decade. We've shipped software at speed and at scale, managed the kind of technical debt that accumulates when a product grows faster than its architecture planned for, recruited and managed one of the best workforces in tech, and spent a long time in the rooms where the hardest engineering calls get made. - We don't want to be VCs. Okay, one of us is a normal, card-carrying VC, but the other four are spending the majority of their time embedded in our portfolio companies, working alongside the teams. Not advising (we don’t believe in advice) but building. If you raise from us, you get engineers who have done this before helping you ship sh*t faster. We've been writing checks for several months already. @hydra_db , @sazabi , and @VibiumDev are a few we can talk about; several others aren't public yet. If you're building in dev tools or infrastructure and want engineers in the (virtual) room, not just on the cap table, please reach out!

Before limited-releasing Claude Mythos Preview, we investigated its internal mechanisms with interpretability techniques. We found it exhibited notably sophisticated (and often unspoken) strategic thinking and situational awareness, at times in service of unwanted actions. (1/14)

Applications for Sourcing Camp Cohort 6 are OPEN! Learn how to find top talent for fast-growing tech startups in this FREE 4-week program. Open to undergrads & fresh grads. Apply: tally.so/r/zxe1gZ Deadline: April 7 Info session this Thursday: luma.com/deqjgot4

Here against my own true free will. Here because 1 million uncoordinated tweets won't solve our problems. Please read this essay, fill the form if you can. We're all one bad policy away from disaster. notion.so/motitomi/When-Prop…

RFK JR: I’m looking at kids as I walk through the airports today...and I see these kids that are just overburdened with mitochondrial challenges, inflammation—you can tell from their faces, movements, and lack of social connection

This week on @DevAndResearch, I sat down with @incredutility to talk about: • are there profitable investments in global public health? (and are there hundreds of millions of dollars of them?) • what makes investing in public health is harder (and easier) than conventional biotech VC, • which clinical trials cost an order of magnitude less than you'd expect, • which applications FDA reviewers love to see cross their desks, • the 40% tax credit attracting early-stage clinical trials to Australia, • and the looming rise of a “less unipolar” biotech world. Timestamps: 01:03 Introduction 01:27 Why is infectious disease commercially difficult? 05:26 Where do our healthcare dollars go? 07:49 GHIC: the Global Health Investment Corporation 10:07 Alternative business model #1: Selling to pharmaceutical stockpiles 12:59 Alternative business model #2: Priority Review Vouchers 18:06 Alternative business model #3: Making your own investment opportunities 21:10 Portfolio composition: New tech vs known platforms 23:00 Evaluating (counterfactual) impact 26:26 Working with company management 28:55 “Most people are in this business to improve the world” 31:09 More expensive and slower: “We’re in it with everyone else” 38:44 “Burning tens of millions of dollars a year in overhead” 42:06 Can trials cost less? 48:02 Clinical trials outside the US 54:13 The rise of Chinese biopharma 57:41 Ex-US / ex-China drug development 01:01:09 Who should regulate drugs for the world? 01:05:30 The future of global public health