PIN (Power in Numbers)’s Post

OpenAI is offering $1 MILLION to 15 aspiring founders. This is part of their Converge program to make big bets in early-stage startups. It is a 6-week program for: ↳ Product builders ↳ Researchers ↳ Designers ↳ Engineers That use AI to reimagine healthcare, climate change, education, and more. AND it gets better... You don't need any prior AI experience. I repeat... ZERO AI experience required! 🤯 The program itself consists of: ↳ Tech talks ↳ Office hours ↳ Social events ↳ Conversations All with leading practitioners. AND it gets even better... It's open to EVERYONE from ALL backgrounds, driven to impact people's lives!! So just imagine... → What if that late-night app idea becomes a reality? → What if that impactful startup gets its funding? → What if YOUR vision shapes the future? If you've got the grit to inspire change in 6 short weeks, then the time is NOW! BUT... There's only 11 days left. You need to apply by Friday, January 26, 2024 at 11:59 PM PST. Interested? Apply here: https://lnkd.in/g9jtkMtA P.S. Repost this so others get the opportunity ♻️

I had a chance to talk with Hao N. about my experience of joining progressively smaller companies in my career and what I've learned along the way. If you're interested in going smaller (or bigger), don't let the gatekeepers get in your way. You bring an alternative perspective which is valuable, so make sure you join companies that value what you bring to the table. Also, small company designers, would love to get your take on operating design at this scale and speed. In the interview, I spoke about how tools like Slack and Loom have changed how I run design critiques. Curious what you're finding successful at your organizations!

Week 2 of Software Engineering Fellowship at Headstarter I had the privilege of listening to amazing founders and engineers at the Pathways to Tech event. The speakers included: - Dennis Crowley, Founder of Foursquare - Tariq Ahmeh, Engineer at AppLovin - Julian Alvarez 🚀, CEO of Wisdolia - Hamza Ali, CEO of Olostep "Key Insights:" - Dennis Crowley: Startups fail mainly because people quit. To achieve long-term success, mindset is key. A good engineer fills the gap, taking on any role needed in a startup. - Tariq Ahmed: Surround yourself with people who share your goals. Become an engineer with curiosity and a desire to stay updated, as AI will replace those who are not proactive and are just coders. True engineers are creators who take initiative and communicate effectively, safe from AI. - Julian Alvarez: A startup is like a lab, and you're the scientist. Test hypotheses, run experiments, and analyze them. Real failure is when you fail to learn. Learning is success, even in failure. - Hamza Ali: Shared insights on his product Zento, which uses agents to scrape data from webpages and tells users when it's the right time to buy on Amazon. Thank you to all speakers for providing their valuable experience. However, I found Hamza's talk particularly inspiring as an AI student. His work resonated with me, and I'm excited to explore this further. Thanks to Yasin Ehsan 🚀 and Faizan Ahmed, for this opportunity! #SoftwareEngineer #Fellowship #HeadstarterAI #PathwaysToTech #Startups #AI #MachineLearning #StartupSuccess

Hi [Potential Investor's Nickname or "Future Hero/Heroine"], Hope you're seated because here's something that'll make you want to throw money at us: We hit 20,000 users in June at verbalate.ai. 🎉 That's right, while most people were busy not achieving 20,000 of anything, we were gathering an army. And now, like any army that’s too big for its barracks, we need a bigger castle. Translation: We’re looking for funding to hire more than an intern and some volunteers who currently get paid in fist bumps and experience. 👊 Last month, we smashed it with a 70% increase in customer growth. We’ve been riding this rocket with an average 50% growth rate monthly for the past four months, which is good because rockets are way cooler than not rockets. 🚀 At this rate, we expect to reach 1 million users by this time next year. That’s not just optimism; it’s science (or maths, but who’s counting?). We are aiming to turn the world of e-learning into our playground, making it as accessible as coffee in Melbourne. ☕ Our team is small, nimble, and fully bootstrapped, like the Little Engine that Could, but the startup version and with more caffeine. We consist of two founders (not quite Batman and Robin, more like Batman and also Batman), an intern who’s worth their weight in ramen noodles, and a few volunteers who believe in our cause to 'Make e-learning accessible to everyone'. 🌏 Interested? Slide into my DMs or share this with anyone you think might want to be our fairy god-investor. Let's make magic happen. 🧚♂️ 🪄🦄 (Not an investor? Please like, share, and comment for reach. Thanks.)

Here is a list of things that I'm working on. In general I am creating a new version of talent hub & tech companies. Most of slow things will disappear in the future that's why we're very selective and left with a mission of definining new sets of values. The rest of ecosystem is still busy lining up a long list of partners to show, attract and wait. We just simply go out there and Go back doing new startups ! 1. PRIME-X Cloud: One-stop AIO 3D Solutions for everyone. We're bringing 3D and AI solutions to enhance & boost any industry. Starting with e-commerce. https://prime-x.cloud/lib (incubating phase) 2. BlackFox: Our own money-printing machine. Just kidding, an investing solution. Algorithmic trading and Market Data Analysis. Soon will be equipped with a broader trading platform. Hint: order matching engine included (real deep stuff). https://blackfox.finance (fully operational since 2023) 3. Brainee EdTech (pivoting) The ultimate platform for education. Interactive learning revolution. New details await. 4. Tech hub (designing) !!!

Two personal updates: my wife and I welcomed our first son, Theo, into the world, and I started a new job. After years of working as an operator in companies, I have joined Nat Friedman and Daniel Gross investing in startups. We lead rounds from seed to growth, investing between $1M and $100M at a time. I'll be meeting one-on-one with 1000s of founders this year, so please reach out if you are working on something great! I had the fortune to first encounter Daniel online in 2018. I received a grant for tracking street art around the world, using computer vision and social media exhaust. From there, when I started my first venture backed company, Daniel was the first institutional investor that I partnered with. While I transitioned from startup to working at OpenAI, Daniel's career advice helped me navigate various teams and responsibilities. In my new role, I want to extend my recent experience working in OpenAI to founders in the A.I. field, and my experience working across industries, company sizes, and product categories, to help startups grow. For startups with product market fit, please reach out if you want help understand where A.I. fits into your strategy! For engineering and product operators considering your next project, please reach out if you want to talk through ideas and opportunities I am seeing. For company leaders working at in larger organizations, please reach out if you want feedback around staffing or building out A.I. expertise in your organization.

Don’t kill me for saying this, but startups can afford lots of juniors in the company 💥 I recently saw a post that said otherwise 🤔 I disagree ❌ If team leads are qualified enough to teach the juniors, you’ll be fine 💫 Startups are places for innovation, learning, and growing 🍀 You will have seniors and mentors to grow the company, but if you don’t have juniors, seniors can’t do their job properly because they will have lots of work they can’t handle 💼 Before growing our team, we had that problem at Decktopus AI 🐙 Now, we have many seniors and juniors working together in harmony ✨ So, I have to admit that in every company, we need juniors. Even though you are a startup, they need to be there to support the whole team 🚀 Plus, you would have opened doors to new talents 💯 Next time you are hiring a junior, remember that you need them as well as the rest of your team 😊

Introducing the Next Level of Devshired: AI-Driven Development to build your product in days! Hey LinkedIn Community! We're super excited to announce a game-changing update to Devshired! 🌟 Tired of the endless wait to launch your tech product? Tired of searching & vetting hundreds of tech agencies and developers to build your MVP? Ever had a startup idea and wished for a future in which you could launch that idea as a fully functional product in just days? Dream no further, with AI and No-code we have brought the future of software development today! At Devshired, we harness the power of AI to match your project with a custom team of the best no-code developers to build your product from our large talent marketplace. After you hire a lead developer, our AI divides the project into blocks (different features that needs to be built), and matches each block to developers with prior vetted experience in that area, allowing you to choose your preferred developer for each block. The result? Your idea turns into a fully-functional product in mere days, not months. From concept to launch, we're talking days. Yes, days! Love our traditional single-developer model? It's still here. Prefer the new AI-powered team approach? Dive right in! For startups, entrepreneurs, and tech visionaries – the future of rapid tech development is here. Embrace the power of AI and no-code with Devshired and turn your tech dreams into reality faster than ever. Ready to experience the future of development? Visit us at www.devshired.ai and let's make tech history! 🚀🔧 #Devshired #no-code #ai #startups

The newly incepted startup, Nustom, announced on its website that within 10 years, the majority of software will be created by people without technical backgrounds working alongside AI. Nustom provides SaaS for those who lack experience in building or running software. Announced by co-founder Jonas Templestein, the new AI startup is co-founded by Oliver Beattie, who previously worked as Monzo’s VP of architecture. The startup is still in the fundraising stage as it hires and recruits employees from around the world. As per Nustom’s website, it will “have human engineers guarantee the quality of the software until our AI agents are reliable enough to do it without assistance”. Obviously, it doesn’t mean that coders will go jobless today, however, the threat is very real for the upcoming coders. It also verifies a recent viral statement by NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, who actively advised parents not to teach their kids to code. Nustom’s Ambitions: Essentially, Nustom wants to “make it possible for everyone to build software.” It believes that In 10 years, the majority of software will be made by non-technical people who want to start businesses and get jobs in the technology field. Its website further adds: “What today takes weeks or months and a team of specialists will be accessible to everyone, take only minutes, and cost very little. Instead of one-size-fits-all products, everyone will make their own tools, customized to their needs.” Strategy to phase out coding staff: Nustom wants to replace coders with AI. - simplify the problem of building reliable AI coding agents - Start by building SaaS products and expanding from there. - offer solutions for those who lack experience with building or running software. - Create upgraded tools for OpenAI, Anthropic, Mistral, and others. - assign human engineers to ensure software quality until AI agents are reliable. #startups #startuppedia

The Power of Focus When my partner and I embarked on creating an IT company years ago, we dabbled in various endeavors as a small team, ranging from traditional web projects to AI applications. After a while, it became evident that sustaining this broad approach was challenging. A smaller company faces limitations in resources and expertise, making it difficult to cater to every client request effectively. As a result, we made a strategic pivot, focusing solely on developing and supporting web platforms using Scala. The breakthrough came when we decided to streamline our focus. In a relatively short timeframe compared to our previous diverse ventures, we not only multiplied our revenue but also significantly enhanced the quality of our work. Specializing in one direction proved to be more efficient and manageable. This case serves as a testament to the idea that narrowing one's focus can be intimidating, as there's a fear of missing out on potential earnings. However, a concentrated focus on a single direction often lays a solid foundation for successful market entry and facilitates smoother scalability. Introducing new directions becomes more feasible as the company expands its resources and capabilities. #companygrowth #startingabusiness #storytime