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My son tried out for his high school basketball team three years in a row and got cut every time. He's a good kid, but he's five foot six and not very fast, and the third time it broke his heart. He'd practiced every single day that summer. He came home from the final cut list and went straight to his room. The next morning, the coach called our house and asked to talk to him. He said he had a problem.
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This post looks like the start of a VERY sophisticated and well-funded PR operation to get support for Democrats to regulate AI into oblivion. Let me show you how it works:
1.) This guy, with minimal followers and no previous account activity, goes to the Wall Street Journal which publishes an exclusive with quotes from him on his resignation 18 minutes BEFORE this post goes up. Planning was clearly done in advance.
2.) Within hours, it has tens of thousands of reposts and the account has 100k+ followers. The post is punchy, quotable, it almost seems professionally written. The first three accounts to quote tweet it all do so within 15 minutes of the initial posting. Remember, this account had basically zero engagement beforehand, so an organic reach explanation seems unlikely.
According to Grok those accounts are @_NathanCalvin (General Counsel at Encode AI), @peterwildeford (Head of Policy at the AI Policy Network), and @DKokotajlo (Head of the AI Futures Project), all of which are up-and-coming AI-Doomer policy advocacy nonprofits.
The AI Futures Project website says it is funded “primarily” by the Survival and Flourishing Fund, which says on its own website that it has advised Jaan Tallinn, Skype creator and one of the leading investors in Anthropic, to grant over $2.5 million to the AI Futures Project since 2024.
Encode AI says on its website that it is ALSO funded by the Survival and Flourishing Fund, which in turn says that it told Anthropic investor Jaan Tallinn to grant $516,000 to Encode AI in 2025.
And wouldn’t you know it, the Survival and Flourishing Fund ALSO says it told Jaan Tallinn to grant $2 million to the AI Policy Institute, the 501(c)(3) affiliate of the AI Policy Network, as well.
What are the odds that the first three quote tweets of Coxon’s post would all be major AI-restriction policy advocates funded generously by the same donor, who also happens to be one of the leading investors in, and a board member of, Anthropic, the company Coxon was resigning from? And all within 15 minutes of posting (two within ten)?
3.) Jacob Coxon doesn’t have much of a resume, but we do know that, in 2022, he got a $20,159 scholarship for the “long term future scholarship program” from the Good Ventures Foundation, one of the philanthropic vehicles of Dustin Moskovitz, a notorious AI-doomer who has spent tens if not hundreds of millions on policy advocacy to strictly regulate AI, while also being an Anthropic Investor himself.
It also just so happens that the 14th person to quote Coxon’s post was @MaxNadeau_ (27 minutes after posting) who is the program officer for the Technical AI Safety team at Coefficient Giving, another of Moskovitz’s philanthropic spending vehicles. Max is not a frequent poster, his last posts before quoting Coxon were before Labor Day, but he was remarkably quick off the mark for this one.
4.) Basically every major Democrat politician and candidate has suddenly glommed on to this post, and conveniently, as the people cry out foe answers, Bernie Sanders already has a bill written to “ban super intelligence” and regulate AI into oblivion, and will be releasing later this week. The bill, among many other things, will create “a new cabinet-level federal agency to safeguard the public from the dangers of artificial intelligence” that will be “advised by an Artificial Intelligence Advisory Board comprised of experts on artificial intelligence.” Do you think, perhaps, Anthropic and its many investors who fund AI policy advocacy might have interest in getting to place a pet “expert” on the board of an entity that dictates what AI is and isn’t allowed to do? And isn’t it fortuitous that this whistleblower came forward with his oh-so scary stories so close in proximity to the release of the most radical piece of AI legislation ever introduced?
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JUST IN: Trade unions threaten to withhold political support from candidates opposing data centers, warning thousands of blue-collar jobs could be lost.
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I’m a plumbing company owner and I’m using Grok @bot to automate a ton of office manager work. Here’s what I’ve done in the last 24 hours:
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BREAKING: Major Australian critical-minerals company @iperionx plans to redomicile in Texas, creating a new U.S.-domiciled player in the critical-minerals market. The company already operates titanium and critical-minerals facilities across the U.S.
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Replying to @BigJohn043
Happy to list them John:
1. No pressure to deploy. A fund clock forces you to buy in every vintage, including the rich ones. I can sit out a frothy market indefinitely...
2. QSBS. Each eligible deal gets a fresh C-corp wrapper qualified under Section 1202. Pooled fund structures make this far harder...
3. No mandate box. An LPA locks you into a strategy and concentration caps written years before the deals are found. I can own whatever I want. No LPAC to deal with...
4. Ability to concentrate. No diversification covenant forcing capital across 10 deals when I have strong conviction in 2. Funds are structurally prohibited from acting on their best ideas at size...
5. Flexible hold periods. No 10-year fund life forcing the exit of a great business at year 6. If it compounds, I hold it, without needing to go down the continuation vehicle path with all the conflicts and fees that come with it...
6. Value-added LPs, deal by deal. I get to hand-pick capital partners who bring something to each specific transaction, industry knowledge, operating chops, whatever...
7. The economics can embarrass a fund. Tiered carry routinely hits 30% at the top hurdles, sometimes beyond, and a preferred/common split can put sponsor ownership at a multiple of what GP carry can deliver on the same deal...
8. No fundraising treadmill. No 18-month roadshow every 4 years. That time goes into sourcing and operating...
9. All the talent without the overhead. Co-sponsor partnerships, operating partners in our network, fractional executives, board talent from my capital partners, consulting group arrangements (ours is with Chameleon Collective) enable us to access the same bench a fund may carry on payroll, assembled deal by deal and paid only when used...
Funds have real advantages, certainty of capital chief amongst them, but in a saturated middle market, the ability to be extremely disciplined and flexible beats having a ton of dry powder in my opinion (and the opinion of many others...)
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I asked AI to create a list of larger capital providers that actively back independent sponsors (partly as a resource for the podcast, but also to get a better overview of the market).
I'm sure I've missed a number of firms. Who would you add to the list?
OceanSound Partners $10M–$100M+
Siguler Guff $5M–$50M+
White Wolf Capital $5M–$30M
Hadley Capital $5M–$25M
L2 Capital $5M–$50M
Gemini Investors $5M–$40M
Capitala Group $5M–$50M
Trivest Partners $10M–$75M
AUA Private Equity Partners $10M–$50M
Align Collaborate $5M–$30M
2100 Xenon Group $5M–$25M
Candescent Partners $5M–$30M
Estancia Capital Partners $10M–$75M
Harris Preston & Partners $5M–$40M
Iron Path Capital $5M–$25M
WestView Capital Partners $10M–$100M
Peterson Partners $5M–$50M
Northstar Capital $10M–$75M
The Brydon Group $5M–$50M
Search Fund Partners $1M–$20M
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Note to Dads who have activities with their kids today.
One day, sooner than you think, those days will be over.
I would give anything, ANYTHING, to get those days back again.
When they strike out w bases loaded: it's a gift.
When they spill their milkshake in the back seat: it's a gift.
Mess up the windows with their muddy hands: a gift.
Complain about how long the drive is taking: gift.
I don't have many regrets in life, but one of them (a BIG one) is not being present enough when I should have been and not having the right perspective at times.
So today, watch the game, enjoy the game, and recognize there are a bunch of people out there like me who would pay anything to be in that seat again.
Those are the moments that matter in your life, and they're fleeting.
The moments that don't matter...
Sending another email. Having another client call. Having another meeting.
Be an amazing dad to your kids. There's no more important job on the planet.
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Flight debrief complete.
No reprimands. No firings. No problem.
That’s the sound of Freedom!
Semper fi and Hooyah.
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Today, we’re announcing that we’ve raised $115 million in funding, including a $100M Series A led by @kleinerperkins.
America has lost the ability to build, and we’re here to restore it. My co-founder, @NoahMcGuinn, and I left our jobs at @SpaceX , where we worked on programs including Starship, Starshield, and @Starlink, to build a company that will solve construction’s greatest challenges.
Infrastructure is the foundation of civilization, and construction is the precursor to innovation. If America wants to build a brighter future for the next generation, we have to make it faster, cheaper, and safer to build.
That’s where @TerraFirma_Inc comes in. We’re a new type of company, a robotic construction company that builds the full technology stack needed to deliver an order-of-magnitude improvement in one of the world’s oldest, largest, most important, but least efficient industries.
We are building technology that expands what’s possible in construction on Earth, and then we'll use that same technology to build megastructures and colonies on the Moon and Mars.
We’ve made tremendous progress over the past year, growing the company more than 10x in the last 12 months. We are performing projects across the world. By the end of October 2026, we are on track to operate 3 of the top 3 largest robotic construction fleets in the world, each on a different continent, bringing unprecedented speed, scale, and efficiency to some of the world’s most complex critical infrastructure projects.
This funding will allow us to step on the gas and scale our manufacturing, software, operations, and construction deployments, including work on massive commercial and government contracts.
We’re building the future of construction right here in Austin, Texas, and scaling it globally. If you want to be part of the team changing the world, now and on Mars, join us.
Our Series A was led by Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Bain Capital Ventures, Glade Brook Capital Partners, BANNER VC, Saga Ventures, Trust Ventures, Definition, PEAK6, Magnetar Capital, and Ravelin Capital. Huge thanks to all of our angel investors, friends, and family who have helped and supported us throughout this journey.
Apply here: jobs.ashbyhq.com/TerraFirma-…
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Morgan Stanley: Bearings
The Big Picture: Bearings as a Core Robotics Play
> Architecture-Agnostic Growth: Bearings offer a diversified way to invest in the robotics sector because they are required regardless of a robot's ultimate design or form factor.
> Massive Market Expansion: Morgan Stanley forecasts a massive ~300x growth in the robot bearings market through the year 2050.
> Low Risk of Obsolescence: Bearings face very low substitution, in-sourcing, or obsolescence risks—you simply cannot design moving machines around them.
> OpenAI Endorsement: In a recent Request for Proposal (RFP) for U.S.-based hardware manufacturing capacity, OpenAI listed precision bearings as 1 of 6 critical components in its robotics category.
Content Scales with Robot Complexity
> Bearings 101: Every single motor in a robot requires at least one or more bearings to reduce friction and support rotating parts.
> Degrees of Freedom (DoF): As robots get more complex, the number of bearings multiplies.
Small quadcopter drone: Requires 8–12 bearings.
Humanoid robot: Requires 70 or more bearings.
> Pricing Variability: Depending on the specific use-case, individual bearings can range from under $1 to as much as $100
Global Bearings Market Dynamics
> Consolidated Supply: The top 6 global manufacturers control over 50% of the global roller market, with Chinese manufacturers making up about 25%.
> Current Demand Split: Roughly 40% of the overall market goes to industrial equipment OEMs, 30% to automotive, and 30 to distribution channels
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A Sail Boston sunrise. Tall ships participating in today’s Sail Boston extravaganza are seen with various stages of this mornings sunrise, starting with a Massachusetts state police helicopter doing a quick scan of the area and then lots of colors. 📸@pictureboston
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Boom also had a board meeting where the board told me to shut the company down. XB-1 hadn’t broken the sound barrier yet. The team deployed in the Mojave desert was exhausted from months of fighting tough technical issues. We had only a few weeks of cash left and no one saw a path forward.
My audit committee chair quit without notice. At first, I was pissed. I told her she would make it look as if we had an accounting scandal when in fact we were squeaky clean.
But eventually, I realized the attrition was a gift. Hard times are a crucible for the truly committed. Boom had acquired some fair-weather friends, on the board and inside the company, and when times got tough, they all ran for the hills.
It was some of Boom‘s darkest days, but we also found out who was really with us. I’m grateful for the team, the board members, and the investors that doubled down with us when the chips were down. We wouldn’t be here without you. Supersonic flight would still be illegal.
Alex Gerko, @paulg , @sama, @reidhoffman , Michael Moritz, @jgebbia, @davidcowan, @avichal, @collison, @ycombinator saved Boom and gave the world a real shot at supersonic passenger flight.
A Tesla executive once described a board meeting where Elon was told by three separate advisors that Tesla would not survive the next quarter.
The money was gone. The Model 3 production line was failing. Media was running daily stories about Tesla's imminent bankruptcy.
One board member suggested exploring acquisition offers. Another suggested a controlled bankruptcy that would protect the brand. The third suggested Elon step down as CEO and let someone "more experienced" navigate the crisis.
Elon listened to all three without interrupting. Then he stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and started drawing the production line changes he wanted implemented by Friday. Not next month. Friday.
The executive said nobody in the room spoke. Not because they agreed with him. Because they realized he hadn't heard a word of what they said. Not because he was ignoring them. Because the possibility of Tesla dying simply did not exist in his reality. It wasn't optimism. It was something closer to a glitch in how his brain processes outcomes. Failure was not a category his mind could file anything under.
Tesla survived that quarter. And the quarter after. And the one after that.
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Compare Calvin Coolidge on America’s 150th anniversary:
“It is often asserted that the world has made a great deal of progress since 1776, that we have had new thoughts and new experiences which have given us a great advance over the people of that day, and that we may therefore very well discard their conclusions for something more modern. But that reasoning can not be applied to this great charter. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth or their soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction can not lay claim to progress. They are reactionary. Their ideas are not more modern, but more ancient, than those of the Revolutionary fathers."
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What an appalling speech the Mayor of New York delivered for the 250th anniversary of the nation.
Sadly, it reflects the view of America propagated for years by Howard Zinn and his like-minded colleagues in the universities and believed by armies of the young: a dark, oppressive country where common people are denigrated by tyrants and oligarchs, where immigrants are treated with contempt, where those with “soft hands” hold the wealth created by those with dirty hands.
No sensible person would claim that our country is without flaws, but the relentlessly negative picture painted by Mayor Mamdani is just absurd.
And it is the fruit of the Marxism that, sadly, is all the rage today.































