VC + Fixing the American Food System 🥕🥩🌱 Founder @ultranative & @centerforminds.
Austin, TX
Joined January 2011
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- Following5.8K
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Ford Smith retweeted
Indoctrinating the youths talking about YIMBYism and @americanhousing while sitting in the densest neighborhood in the entire state of Texas (UT's West Campus).
ngl, I'm kinda living my dream.
@YIMBYLAND explaining the pain points around building more affordable housing in Austin. It’s a quagmire that ultimately can be solved with simple solutions. His solution leverages innovative work at @americanhousing.
There were over 40 students from the University of Texas in the audience, and when polled, 0% said they expected to be able to buy a home in Austin within the next 10 years. Only about 5 students thought they might be able to buy one within the next 15 years.
That’s not the Austin my parents grew up in.
Grateful for @TXreasSolutions for producing this great event.
@greghabitat @jakewegmann @ZoQadri @willdavis_yimby @Jojo_Feng @JoshF @Sylvia_Rzep #afordablehousing #austin
Ford Smith retweeted
Boom! 2 M shares of @SpaceX to the @TrumpAccounts of 2 M kids that will be held until they are 18. Thank you Gwynne & Robert for your extreme generosity. Every child an owner / shareholder in the American Dream! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🚀🚀 @WhiteHouse @MichaelDell
My husband and I are honored and thrilled to participate in the Invest America program and gift a share of our SpaceX stock to a Trump Account for each of more than two million children across our great nation.
Every American child under 18 can benefit from having a Trump Account, but our gift specifically goes to the Accounts of children (ages 11-17) that live in areas with lower average household incomes with a bit more emphasis for those that live near our central Texas home.
We have been fortunate in our careers and hope this gift encourages the next generation to continue the journey of enabling humanity to live and fly amongst the stars.
A huge thanks to all that worked to bring this incredible program to life.
Ford Smith retweeted
Let’s go Team Austin!
@MichaelDell @elonmusk @davidsacks47 @JoshuaBaer @JTLonsdale @travisk @williampbarnes @amandabradford @fordsmith @JacqKD @lons @twistartups @tedcruz @GregAbbott_TX 🐎
Investment in Austin-based startups grew to a record high of $7.19B in 2025, up from $4.37B in 2024 and topping a pandemic peak of $6.1B in 2021 (@bayareawriter / Crunchbase News)
news.crunchbase.com/venture/…
techmeme.com/260328/p2#a2603…
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Ford Smith retweeted
I resigned from OpenAI on Monday. The same day, they started testing ads in ChatGPT.
OpenAI has the most detailed record of private human thought ever assembled. Can we trust them to resist the tidal forces pushing them to abuse it?
I wrote about better options for @nytopinion
Ford Smith retweeted
Justin Mares on the Bryan Johnson vs. Ray Peat schools of thought:
"There are two schools of thought. There's the Bryan Johnson school of thought, which is: we've done all the research. We know that you need to eat a plant-based diet. We know that you need to do caloric restriction, all in the name of longevity."
"In many ways, the Peaters are the exact opposite... The Peaters are like, you should eat as much sugar as you possibly can – mostly in the form of honey and fruit."
"If Bryan Johnson is like, 'I want to eat less and ramp down my metabolism, it means I can live longer', the Peaters are like, 'ramp it up as much as you can. The more energy you have, the longer you are able to use that energy over a long period of time.'"
"It is such a contrarian view to a hundred years of nutrition dogma that says sugar is bad, should be avoided."
@jwmares @truemed @eriktorenberg
"We exist in an environment that systematically outputs unhealthy people."
@truemed CEO Justin Mares joins a16z's Erik Torenberg to trace the roots of America's chronic disease crisis – and what it would take to fix it:
- How $100 billion is subsidizing the ingredients making us sick
- The case against universal Ozempic
- The many chemical compounds allowed in the US but banned in Europe
- Why peptides could be "exceptionally disruptive" to pharma
- The Ray Peat view: more sugar, more metabolism, more energy
00:00 Introduction
0:44 The environment that makes us sick
04:19 What went wrong in the 1970s
6:10 The subsidy problem
8:49 Universal Ozempic won't save us
12:21 Building Truemed
15:59 The zoo animal theory of human health
18:33 The chronic disease crisis as a matter of national security
27:52 Psychedelics as mental health therapy
35:49 Why peptides will disrupt pharma
@jwmares @eriktorenberg
Ford Smith retweeted
Prompt Theory (Made with Veo 3)
What if AI-generated characters refused to believe they were AI-generated?
Ford Smith retweeted
I believe it was ram dass who said "and pretty soon you realize that all we're going to do for eternity is listen to synthwave and ride around the neon city"
Ford Smith retweeted
This is the most important request I have ever made:
Bobby Kennedy awakened the conscience of Americans about the need to reverse childhood chronic disease.
🚨📞IT IS IMPERATIVE the 7 Senators below are reminded of the importance of getting him confirmed.
These calls matter. The phones need to be ringing off the hook. If you have never engaged elected reps, this is the time to do it.
If you know anyone in these states, make sure they call and email too.
Bobby touched on something spiritual during the campaign. He brought millions of first time Trump voters to the coalition. He must get into HHS to start fulfilling President Trump’s call to figure out why our kids are getting sick and slanting the incentives of our healthcare system to a more preventative model.
Make these calls and emails like the lives of our kids depend on it:
Susan Collins (ME-R)
DC Number: (202) 224-2523
Email: collins.senate.gov/contact/e…
Lisa Murkowski (AK-R)
DC Number: (202) 224-6665
Email: murkowski.senate.gov/contact…
Mitch McConnell (KY-R)
DC Number: (202) 224-2541
Email: mcconnell.senate.gov/public/…
Thom Tillis (NC-R)
DC Number: (202) 224-6342
Email: tillis.senate.gov/email-me
Bill Cassidy (LA-R)
DC Number: (202) 224-5824
Email: cassidy.senate.gov/contact/g…
Cory Booker (NJ-D)
DC Number: (202) 224-3224
Email: booker.senate.gov/contact/wr…
Catherine Cortez Masto (NV-D)
DC Number: (202) 224-3542
Email: cortezmasto.senate.gov/conta…
Ford Smith retweeted
All of us at Kiss the Ground are so thrilled to share with you the big news announced by our friends and film partners Josh & Becca Tickell of @bigpictureranch that both films: Kiss the Ground and Common Ground will be available for streaming on Earth Day April 22 on @PrimeVideo.
Ford Smith retweeted
Mike Benz just revealed everything.
On JRE, he exposed:
- Why USAID is a tool for control, not aid
- How “democracy” was redefined to silence you
- The chilling truth behind Pentagon-backed censorship
I've never seen Joe Rogan so quiet...
Here are 8 must-see highlights:
Ford Smith retweeted
In a groundbreaking bipartisan move, 80 Congress members urge @POTUS + @US_FDA to support MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD! This transformative treatment could save countless veteran lives and the 13 million Americans suffering.
Bravo to @RepJackBergman (House) + @SenatorBennet & @SenThomTillis (Senate) for spearheading!
News: cnn.com/2024/08/05/politics/…
Ford Smith retweeted
There is an all out war from the medical industry to prevent you from understanding your own brain.
The pharmaceutical industry is coming after MDMA with everything they have because it is a root cause, one-time treatment.
Meanwhile suicide and depression skyrocket.
@DanCrenshawTX @elonmusk @fordsmith @rustyrockets
Thursday was National PTSD Awareness Day, and you’ve got to hear this.
First off, psychedelic treatments show an approximately 80% remission rate for PTSD. That’s huge. Saves lives and money. That's why I passed a law for the Department of Defense to conduct clinical trials on these therapies. The data continues to come in and it’s overwhelmingly positive.
But now we’re hiting a roadblock. An external advisory board, influenced by ICER, a think tank, rejected the therapy proposal. These technocrats think they know better than scientists. Their job is to say NO and support the status quo that makes Big Healthcare plenty of money, let’s be honest.
Worse, groups like Psymposia, which have insulted our veterans, oppose this therapy too. They think psychedelic treatment for vets “perpetuates white supremacism.”
But there's hope. These groups aren’t the FDA. The FDA hasn’t actually made the decision yet. Even if they deny this application, there are many more coming and because of my legislation the DoD has to do clinical trials on these therapies. We must support the science and push past these activist groups.
Let's save lives.
Ford Smith retweeted
After treating severe mental illness for nearly three decades, I've seen firsthand the desperate need for effective treatments for schizophrenia and other serious psychiatric conditions.
PLEASE HELP! Sign this petition.
The Maryland Health Secretary has halted an ongoing, privately-funded, inpatient study of a medical ketogenic diet for treating schizophrenia for no clear reason.
People with schizophrenia deserve better treatments.
chng.it/SbT7zHjNNz
