Current: Google | Former a16z, JPL-NASA, CLG, ESPN, Yahoo | Melee Stats Guy | Bus Email: [email protected]
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Joined August 2009
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Tafo retweeted
Gemini 4 Argon is here.
It’s available globally today for developers and enterprises in the paid tier of the Gemini API and the Gemini platform, for Ultra subscribers in Google Antigravity, and Ultra and Pro subscribers in the Gemini app and Search.
Hope you all enjoy it!
Tafo retweeted
Introducing Gemini 4 Argon, our new frontier model, rolling out to cyber defenders starting today, and more widely as soon as possible. I am really excited by the progress we have made here. Argon is priced at $2 in and $10 out during introductory pricing!
Tafo retweeted
Kawhi Leonard reportedly did not have any knowledge of the salary cap circumvention that was going on, per @ShamsCharania
(Via @GetUpESPN / h/t @TheNBABase )
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
Here's a photo of Kawhi's signature on an agreement with Aspiration Partners, the organization involved in the circumvention:
x.com/PabloTorre/sta…
Tafo retweeted
you read one line of poker jargon and somehow understand less than when you started. 😭♠️ @tafokints
Tafo retweeted
some of the most interesting innovation has always been at the edges. I did my phd in a highly interdisciplinary field called computational imaging where I worked with generative models to solve real world scientific imaging problems. I worked with domain experts to blend messy data with mathematical rigor.
my biggest takeaway wasn’t really technical. it was that the most interesting problems live between fields and you can’t shortcut your way there. you need to get real depth in both domains.
near the end of my phd, I got really excited about program synthesis despite not having worked on it at all. I found it so deeply satisfying that there were fields of AI where you could guarantee whether or not you were correct (shout outs to @atharva_sehgal who introduced this to me) but most fields of science can’t be confined to strict logic.
that asymmetry is everywhere. AI is sprinting towards math because verification is built in. but in other fields, like in geophysics, biology, law, and medicine, it’s so much harder to tell if a hypothesis is actually correct. being able to quantify this is one of the biggest unlocks
it’s part of why @hanhanhan_kim and i started Fearn, building verifiable programs for IP law. we’re grounded upon the foundation that interesting work is at the edges where rigor hasn’t shown up yet
Patent systems are first-to-file. It's produced a quiet two-tier system: well-funded companies file in 48 hours. Everyone else waits weeks.
Today we're announcing @fearn_ai's $5.5M seed to end that gap. 🧵
Tafo retweeted
ok - dropping big dates/news for a16z speedrun:
- starting TODAY, founders can apply for the 2026 program that runs July 27 to Oct 11 in SF
here's the link: speedrun007.a16z.com/ac
- we will be investing up to $1M and funding 70+ companies over the next few weeks
- But there's also $5M in credits/tokens/etc from AWS/GCP/Open AI/Azure/NVIDIA/Deel/Stripe/etc. You'll also work with our amazing operating team (GTM, talent, brand, people, and more), and join our community of elite founders
- we offer a Global Founders Program for international founders, to help with visas, banking support, relo recommendations
- yes you can be solo (but better if you're further along, and have built a team). No you don't have to have an idea yet. Yes you have to know how to build (even if you're not technical)
- Also, in other news: speedun is officially moving full-time to SF. (prev it alternated SF/LA) this is for all the obv reasons
- we've continued to have an insane lineup of speakers, including the founders of Carta / DoorDash / Twilio / Figma / Zynga / Airtable / Twitch / and of course, lunch/dinners with Marc/Ben alongside a16z team - and much more
- the deadline for applying is May 17!
Tafo retweeted
We are HIRING.
Join the a16z speedrun team to help us build world-class programs for founders creating the future.
Currently open jobs here: portfoliojobs.a16z.com/our-j…
Tafo retweeted
a16z's @stuffyokodraws built a benchmark for LLMs playing Tetris. It revealed distinctive personalities in each model, and the differences between human and AI strategies.
Here's what happened: a16z.news/p/i-built-tetrisbe…
Tafo retweeted
a16z Speedrun Alpha, for pre-idea/pre-team/pre-everything founders
it's time to bet on yourself, and figure out your startup idea. 2026 is well underway, crazy stuff happening in AI, and you're building agents/apps/whatever every night+weekend. You want to start a startup but you're working or still going to school.
what if you're pre-idea, pre-product, pre-launch, and even a solo founder? You need time to cook
The Alpha Fellowship is for you.
alpha.a16zspeedrun.com/
details:
- $20K equity-free upfront to start building
- up to $250K investment when you finalize
- automatic final interview for a16z speedrun, with up to $1M investment
- 8-week, in-person experience with a kickoff retreat, founder AMAs, and small-group dinners alongside the a16z speedrun community
- targeted to early-career highly technical founders
- deadline to apply is March 6
We ALSO have a "startup track" for the Alpha Fellowship where you can get more founder experience by working for a portfolio company if you're not quite ready to found something.
The Alpha Fellowship places top early-career engineers into full-time roles at fast-growing a16z speedrun and Andreessen Horowitz portfolio companies. For future founders, we provide capital before a team or idea even exists.
We're looking for highly technical students and recent grads who don't want to wait to start building. Fellows take full-time roles at fast-growing portfolio companies - or, if you're ready to build now, receive capital to start your own company - kicking off with a two-month in-person fellowship. Fellows also have access to the a16z speedrun and EO Ventures communities and events.
...
If this is you, want to meet you. If you have people to introduce us to, that would be amazing too.
will have more to say, and lots of ideas coming up here. But excited to get this out! Excited to host y'all soon.
Tafo retweeted
🚀 I’M HIRING AT SPEEDRUN 🚀
Over the last few years, I’ve been focused on building Tech Week at a16z, launching it from scratch and scaling it to 100K+ annual attendees across the major tech hubs in the U.S. It’s become a core gathering for the early-stage tech ecosystem, and a career highlight.
Now, I’m excited to build the next thing and I’m looking for my right hand.
We’re launching a brand-new program at Speedrun centered around exceptional early-career engineers, and I’m looking for someone to help design and run it end to end from day one. You’ll work closely with me,
@justmazer, @andrewchen and the broader Speedrun team to build the programming, community, and systems that support top technical talent and help them plug directly into the startup ecosystem.
This is a very hands-on role. You’ll be:
- Running high-signal, in-person programming and events
- Shaping the community and onboarding experience
- Building the systems that keep everything running smoothly as we scale
- Craft our go-to-market and university ambassador strategy to make sure we’re reaching the right people
It's a full-time role, based in SF
If building community, hosting events, and building systems from scratch on a small, mighty team sounds fun, I want to talk to you!
And if someone comes to mind who’d be a great fit, please tag them below and share 🙏
You can apply to the JD below
Tafo retweeted
BIG NEWS! For the very first time, we’re adding a new city to Tech Week next year… Boston! 🎉
Boston will kick off a full run of back-to-back Tech Weeks, and will run the week before New York, and then we’re back in SF and LA in October.
Boston has one of the most thriving early-stage tech ecosystems in the country, and we’ve seen so much demand from the community there.
Here’s where (and when) we’ll be next year:
🆕 Boston: May 26–31
🗽 NYC: June 1–7
🌁 SF: Oct 5–11
🌴 LA: Oct 12–18
Over 100K people came out across 3,000+ @Techweek_ events this year, from companies like NVIDIA, Google, Anthropic & OpenAI to early startups to launch, hire, and fundraise. Can’t wait to see how it all evolves next year.
👉 If you’re in Boston and want to be part of the early crew, sign up here: forms.gle/GZ3DNygVVQnawYiB7
Tafo retweeted
[New] from a16z @speedrun:
The Outsider founders are winning the AI B2B race
we used to say founder x market fit was everything
but in this AI wave, Outsider founders who are AI native are outmaneuvering their industry veteran competitors
just look at @TennrOfficial (healthcare), @hebbia (finance), @happyrobot (logistics), @evelegalai (legal) & @DecagonAI (customer support)..... these are all Outsider founders w/ no prior experience in the verticals they now sell into
so why is this?
#1 - right now, AI technical excellency trumps industry expertise
--> These founders combine AI fluency w/ exceptional problem solving skills to quickly map the inner workings of a vertical from an Outsiders perspective and how AI can automate that work
--> many will bring on a "board of Insider advisors" early to help validate their approaches and leverage their rolodex
#2 - new verticals w/out a scaled SaaS player are now in play
--> Agentic AI products don’t just help workers become more efficient, they can take action and complete work autonomously
--> Therefore companies can spend way more for these products as they don't just tap into IT budgets, they actually displace labor spend
--> That means that offline verticals w/ historically small IT budgets and no vertical SaaS winners are now ripe for a venture scaled vertical AI disruptor
= from food distribution to car dealerships to home services to agriculture, it will be Outsiders who will come in and automate the backoffice functions for these verticals
#3 - the barriers for Outsiders to sell into the enterprise have dropped dramatically
--> most companies have a tops-down mandate and dedicated budget to explore AI initiatives. They’re actively pulling new solutions into their organizations and open to experimenting with pilot partners
--> for some products, where PLG and bottoms-up adoption makes sense, Outsiders can let their product and marketing strategies be their ticket into their buyer
so, today, founder - market fit should be based on required skillsets to win in a space, not simply on tenure & domain expertise in a vertical
here at @speedrun we’ve invested in teams of exceptional Outsiders such as @ArtifactOffcial (accounting), Anchr (food distribution), Bead (SOX compliance) + many more
if you’re a team of Outsiders primed to disrupt a boring business, head to sr [dot] a16z [dot] com to apply for speedrun
Tafo retweeted
🚨 a16z @speedrun applications are now open!
we invest up to $1M in new start-ups building at the frontier - but that's just the start. beyond the investment, founders join a legendary community, work with our world-class operating team, and tap into the a16z network. details below:
1) the founder community
- starting a new company is an emotional rollercoaster - being able to talk to founders on a similar journey can make it a bit less lonely
- Speedrun is a tight-knit community of founders who support one another closely - providing advice, design partners, talent referrals, even investing in one another’s startups
- during the program, we open up the a16z offices in SF and LA to founders as coworking space. dozens of founders work alongside each other before establishing their own offices
- we have an alumni community >600 strong that come together every quarter through reunions and events at @Techweek_
2) the a16z operating team
- our operating team is a team of experts at the top of their field who provide specialized programs and hands-on support to founders. a few examples of how we help Speedrun founders:
a) recruiting support to assemble and scale your team - direct intros to top talent in AI research, ML, full stack engineering, etc
b) people support on US immigration and comp guidance for new hires / advisors
c) GTM support on finding design partners and over $5M in credits on cloud, AI, and software spend
d) marketing programs to build your brand and craft the perfect launch video to showcase your product
e) capital networks support to refine your pitch deck and connect you to hundreds of prospective investors at demo day
- many founders consider our operating team to be an extension of their own team in impact and how closely they work together
3) the a16z network
- a16z as a firm has massive breadth and scale - we invest in and have networks across AI, bio/health, consumer, crypto, enterprise, fintech, games, infrastructure, american dynamism, and more
- our network provides our founders an unfair advantage - it’s a rolodex they can tap into for intros to potential customers, employees, partners, and investors - providing a sense of power and reach you dont usually build until you're much farther along
we know the best founders have many choices. if you’re setting out to build a generational company - we're confident you'll get unparalleled operating support, networks, & community from a16z Speedrun - all from day 0
if this sounds exciting, check out the link below!