year one with @tryterac in the books

Most seed founders think they have a channel problem. It's almost always a messaging problem. Wrote up my playbook based on time at Ramp and OneSchema: substack.com/@willgenesen/p-…

Come join @germanfndezz and I to build the largest on demand expert marketplace. Bonus: you get to work with one of the most cracked engineers I’ve ever met ⬇️

Today, we’re sharing a new state of the art for computer use. Our system holds the two highest verified scores on OSWorld, the standard benchmark for AI agents that operate a computer like a person: 83.6% using Claude Opus 4.7 and 81.5% using Claude Sonnet 4.6. The human baseline is 72.4%. 🧵 1/7

Forward deployed with @tryterac at research week 💻📊

We’re launching @JudgmentLabs today and announcing $32M in funding. As AI agents take on more of the work that creates economic value, they generate massive amounts of production data: the clearest record of how they behave with users, software, and the real world. Judgment builds infrastructure for improving AI agents from production data.

“Founders aren’t made when they start companies. They’re made when they interpret their market correctly.” Episode 2 of @KnuckleUpHQ is live. Qasar Younis (@qasar): Founder and CEO of Applied Intuition. One of the sharpest and most intentional operators you’ll ever meet on the craft of building a company. Full episode ↓ -- 00:00 Intro 01:19 What really makes someone a founder 05:26 The company that almost became Kickstarter 08:12 The most common misread on feedback 13:40 Why most founders don't end up with the best team 19:45 How to pick a co-founder 23:38 Your first 10 hires are really your first 100 28:21 The case for hiring slow and firing slow 33:22 Red, yellow, green: how Applied gives monthly feedback 35:00 The role that knows what’s actually going on in a company 40:01 How to operate with speed and intentionality 42:41 The three things Qasar spends time on 45:57 How Applied is driving AI adoption 52:06 The type of engineer Applied is now looking for 1:01:19 Why this could be the golden age of small companies 1:09:13 Quickfire: red flags, overrated advice, and superpowers 1:12:32 Qasar's advice to his 25-year-old self

“If you’re not sure you’re a driver, you’re probably a passenger.” Frank Slootman: Snowflake, ServiceNow, Data Domain. One of the best operators of our generation. Knuckle Up with Frank is now live. Full conversation ↓ -- 00:49 Introduction 01:21 Why being a CEO is a confrontational job 03:51 Great people are hungry for hard feedback 08:19 Psychographic profiling: how Frank builds compatible teams 09:52 Drivers vs passengers: how to tell the difference 12:39 Why back-channel references beat interviews every time 16:19 "When there's doubt, there's no doubt" 20:42 Inside Frank's Tuesday operating cadence 22:27 The "go direct" rule that breaks org chart politics 26:19 Why bigger goals force better plans 31:27 Standards are the real culture 38:17 The email Frank wrote every Monday for years 41:35 Advice for navigating today's volatility 47:25 Facing demons for breakfast at Data Domain 54:19 Why Frank fired himself as Snowflake CEO 1:05:19 Coming to Silicon Valley "10 years late" 1:07:59 Why AI is an industrial-revolution-scale shift 1:10:01 Frank's advice to his 25-year-old self

Audacious x Terac game night!

Puentes applications are open. 10 fellows from our first two cohorts are already living in the US. They've become close friends and work at some of the best AI companies in the world. Apply until April 3rd.

Our team loves VR

It’s been incredibly rewarding to partner with founders and operators rethinking the role fellows play in the venture ecosystem. With industry turnover apprenticeship becomes de-emphasized. These builders are deeply embedded in our firms operations and investments while also creating far deeper ties with the companies they back, often getting their hands dirty before investment is in the picture. We’re excited to perfect our craft as investors alongside some of the best builders in early stage. Really excited to see what they all go on to do!

sf has some awesome food

I just got taken to a room at TSA because @bryan_johnson’s longevity mix set off their explosive substance alarm

everyday we work out of the @a37_ai office, i am more tempted to get a cat

Last minute trip to HackHarvard to visit our first founding eng

shot a (cinematic) video for @zfellows

Less b2b saas, more apples

Nexa (nexa.farm) builds implantable “FitBits” and AI for cattle monitoring, starting with the nearly 90M cattle in America. They empower farmers with early disease detection and reproductive insights to save time and money. ycombinator.com/launches/OAs… Congrats on the launch, @ZarifAzher, @zhangalvin_, @kennychan256, and @sam14_xie!

Ghostship (@ghostship_ai) helps you find bugs in your product before they hit your users. They spin up agents to analyze your PRs, crawl through your product, and find bugs in your interface. ycombinator.com/launches/O8z… Congrats on the launch, @jesse_choe10 and @TheGauthamRam!