Our last of 2023 and biggest event ever! #LongLA

how Marc Andreessen manages meetings, emails, and to-do lists ultimate personal productivity

Who's in LA? 👀 Great to catch up with VC friends Brandon Hoffman of Sunset Ventures and Brian Li of A100x Ventures after many zoom calls. If your actively raising in early stage, these guys run great funds. And If your in LA hmu. 🤙

Ben Affleck comes out hot with this AI question 🔥 “Movies will be one of the last things replaced by AI” “Craft is knowing how to work. Art is knowing when to stop”

If you raised VC money for a consumer social app and are doing this, you’re not going to make it: - Burning 2 months on a “brand redesign” instead of shipping features - Wasting 2 weeks of engineering time on a single animation that nobody cares about - Dropping $100K on a glossy launch video, “behind-the-scenes” content, or user profile series - Paying $18K for 15 minutes of advice from “growth consultants” like @nikitabier I’ve seen startups try all of this, and not one of them has made it. Just because you raised VC money doesn’t mean you should throw it at anything that looks shiny. Money isn’t going to fix your problems or save your app. The companies that win? They’re scrappy, resourceful, and relentless about solving problems themselves. Be creative. Figure it out. Stop outsourcing your success.

I spent the first 20 years of my life being remarkably average at almost everything. - I wasn’t terribly smart. Math and science were hard for me. - I had below-average grades from middle school up until I graduated from college. - I wasn’t overly outgoing or social. In fact, I was pretty damn shy up until 3-4 years ago. I lacked the typical “outlier” traits, like infectious charisma, natural confidence, and raw intelligence, that define the billionaire CEOs of our generation. No matter how hard I pushed myself, my results were always average—often even below average. In college, I'd spend hours studying, only to end up with poor grades. I'd spend months applying for jobs without success and send hundreds of cold emails, rarely getting a reply. Then, I had a realization: If I stayed on this path, I’d be stuck with average results for life. Let me be clear—there’s nothing wrong with average results. They’re fine for some people, but they weren’t fine for me. I wanted something more. But how? I realized I had to stop playing everyone else’s game. I had to stop doing what everyone else was doing because it sure as hell wasn’t working for me, and I needed to create my own game and define my own rules. Everything changed when I came across the idea of the third door (which transformed how I did everything). I write about it here: andrew.today/p/the-hidden-th…

Just a mini-robot doing incredible things... in Crocs. Meet Hector V2 from Laser Robotics! 🤖 #LATechWeek

consumer mobile apps are quietly back thanks to tiktok creators and AI if i wanted to make $1M with mobile apps right now, here’s the exact playbook i’d use: 1. find hidden opportunities on sensor tower. search for apps making $30k monthly with basic or outdated AI, or non-AI apps that could use an AI edge. pick ones with clunky UI or weak UX—those are your goldmines. improve the look, add useful AI, and you’re on your way. 2. master one distribution channel. pick your niche’s top platform and lock into one format that works. post daily, and use claude to analyze the best posts in that space. figure out the language that drives engagement. 3. scale distribution through tiktok creators. search tiktok shop hashtags in your niche "link in bio" find sellers doing $10k monthly in physical products look for 40k followers and high engagement rates bonus if they're already promoting other apps the big insight here is way easier to sell $4.99 app to a stranger than a $49 pillow to a stranger. DM strategy that works: "saw you crushing it with [product]. we're building an app that solves [same problem] at $4.99. most users stick around 6 months. 50% rev share on every sale you drive. interested in early access?" start everyone on 50% rev share track performance for 90 days convert your top 3 to equity milestone-based vesting tied to revenue 4. launch quick, effective landing pages. v0 for mockups, get inspiration from top app store screenshots, and set up a waitlist a simple validation survey. throw ~$50 into tiktok ads to see if your copy converts before committing resources. 5. keep the build stack lean v0 for UI, claude for code, openai for AI features, and revenue cat for payments. minimize overhead so you can iterate fast and keep costs low. 6. scale and rinse launch a related app and cross-promote with the first one. bundle pricing to lock users in and reuse your creator network to scale even faster. congratulations, you didn’t just build an app—you built a mobile holding company. seeing this playbook work again and again last month saw a holdco 2 founders 3 apps 0 VCs 15 creators on the cap table 72% margins $120k/month in combined revenue not based in silicon valley it fires me up.

This man predicts the future. He's been fighting wokeism for years & he invested early in Bitcoin, Twitter, and Uber. And he just said, "A man who regains his voice can never be silenced again". Naval Ravikant's 4 predictions on social media, attention & wealth creation:

Today I'll be hitting the @AfroTech stage with Colin Kaepernick (@Kaepernick7) for a powerful conversation about AI, the creator economy, and owning our narratives. From the football field to founding Lumi, Colin's journey inspires transformation— can’t wait to see you there!

Join @lezhangxyz next week @SlushHQ! He's speaking on a panel on #UGC #gaming at a @SignumGrowth @gamefamstudios side event. Hear from @daltonan, @AGoolsbey-@mythicalgames, & @Kurcide-@Sortium 📷 Tues, November 19 10:00 AM – 5:15 PM 📷 Hotel Mestari, Fredrikinkatu 51, 00100 Helsinki, Finland Let's meet!!

Your next job interview may be with an AI. Companies spend a ton of time and $ on interviews - often with low ROI. And, candidates suffer through long and painful processes. New @a16z thesis from me @seema_amble...AI voice interviewers👇

.@antoniokey and I are proud to be early investors in @SpillMob at @sunsetvc Read about @phonz's amazing (rebounder) founder journey that has come out of the last few years of layoffs in big tech 👇

Half a year ago, I reunited my old @acadarena team for a new quest: @bycloutkitchen 3 months later, our first app @backseatgg went viral. We then moved from Manila to LA to be closer to the creator scene Today, hyped to share our $4.45M seed by a16z @speedrun @peakxvpartners!

"How will AI reshape the future of media, creators, IP, gaming, and content creation?" Join @Emerging_LA tomorrow for an exclusive networking mixer & panel The theme will be The Future Generative Content during @Techweek_ by @a16z This panel is stacked!!!

lu.ma/TechWeekPanel #LATechWeek Speakers from @twelve_labs @Patreon @GameOverTalent and @databricks Thanks to @FidelityPrivate , @zendesk, and @SunsetVC

What a memorable launch for the @GenAICollective’s Los Angeles chapter!! 🌴🚀 Nestled into Tuesday lunchtime during LA @Techweek_, we kicked off with the Collective’s signature format that got the whole thing started: intimate 6-8 person discussion groups focused on building genuine connection! Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who joined for our kickoff event and an even bigger thank you to those who helped make it possible: head of chapter @BrandonHoffman_, partners @Emerging_LA, @SunsetVC, and @AILA_Community LEGEND @ToddTerrazas! So glad I have another excuse to visit LA more often!! 🤩 P.S. one takeaway from discussion groups with LA’s content creation extraordinaires? Apparently hashtags still matter! 😅 #LATechWeek #GenAICollective #LATech #AI #Community

Name the best Consumer AI app right now? Our icebreaker today for #LATechWeek event with @Emerging_LA x @GenAICollective My answer, you ask? @snipd_app and @meetgranola They have become core tools that feed into my second brain of notes!!! (𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳) This marked the kick off the GenAI LA Chapter during @Techweek_ by @a16z Love seeing the GenAI knowledge, curiosity, and application grow here in LA. The Creative Capital of the World! — Had to bring the sock shoe swag game! Who am I wearing? GenAI Socks Inc. @RTFKT by @Nike

Space is sick. Today NASA JPL launched Europa Clipper to travel 1.8 billion miles to study Europa, Jupiter’s icy ocean moon ..(& hopefully find a moon megalodon) We got a private tour of JPL, a BTS view after launch from Mission Control, look into NEOs to tract apocalyptic asteroids, the Mars rover, & a fabulous space film on their work (& our tax dollars at play) #LongLA

after an exciting weekend of @SpaceX launches, today we took 40 VCs & founders to tour @NASA JPL we talked rockets, robotics, and asteroids this is our first #LATechWeek event from @Emerging_LA community, with 4 more to go! loved getting a chance to meet many local leaders from LA and many who are visiting for @Techweek_ by @a16z we learned: • origin of JPL and its roots to Caltech • "jets" was preferred term in 1930s over "rockets" • JPL has more to do with Robotics than it Rockets • Apophis asteroid to come close to Earth 4/13/29

Los Angeles 🤝 The GenAI Collective! 🥳 Excited to share that we're launching the GenAI Collective community's LA chapter & kickoff at @Techweek_ by @a16z! We will start by talking about what is next for CONSUMER AI! From hyper-personalized experiences to breakthrough innovations, the future of consumer AI is unfolding right now and... 𝗟𝗔 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗲!! This is going to be a truly special event and the beginnings of something much, much bigger. Sign up if you are a: • Consumer / AI founder or VC • AI expert • Tech enthusiast • Simply curious Consumer AI ​The new LA chapter is ready to make waves – don’t miss out on being part of this exciting journey! A proud partnership @Emerging_LA 🤝 GenAI Collective, among the many amazing orgs, communities, and leaders who are lifting LA Tech. Let’s build the future together! 🤩