Tremendous

An angel investor's take on life and business

  • Who Should I Vote For? I Texted Instinct to Find Out.

    I opened my ballot this week. Half the names, I didn’t recognize. Instead of Googling them, I texted Instinct a picture of my ballot.

    Maybe you’ve used Instinct to book flights or manage your calendar. But I may be the first person to use it to help me vote.

    Here’s how it works…

    Instinct: My Political Researcher

    I took a picture of the ballot and sent it to Instinct. I told Instinct to fill me in on the positions of each candidate, focusing on AI, public safety, and immigration. Those are the issues that really matter to me. 

    With just these basic instructions, Instinct produced an incredible report. In only about two minutes, all the info was right in my Gmail. 

    Senate: Booker vs. Murphy

    Senator Booker has opposed new funding for ICE. Instinct’s info is accurate — I verified it on Booker’s website.

    That’s a dealbreaker for me. We need to get illegal criminals out of this country.

    Republican Justin Murphy, on the other hand, called for an end to sanctuary cities and sending the U.S. military to the southern border. 

    I’m going with Murphy!

    House: Menendez vs. Everyone

    Rep. Rob Menendez is running for his 3rd term here in Hudson County. 

    Menendez wants the power for data centers to be 75% renewable by 2035, which is likely impossible. I verified this on his website.

    This means no new data centers and losing the AI race to China.

    He also wants to abolish ICE. This guy is the Jersey AOC!

    No thanks.

    But there’s no Republican running. So whom should I vote for?

    Da’Shone Hughey’s campaign is all about AI. And unlike most politicians, he’s not bashing the technology right before the election in a cheap ploy for votes. 

    Hughey advocates AI education so kids can take advantage of this revolutionary new technology. That’s the energy I want to see in the House. 

    Wrap-Up

    I’m giving Instinct an A+!

    Every bit of information that Instinct gave me was accurate. I also loved the highly readable, bulleted format.

    Until recently, I had only ever used Instinct to find cheap flights. But lately, I’ve been offloading more tasks to this amazing tool. 

    It’s so nice having a genius that lives in your iMessage! If you haven’t tried Instinct, take a few minutes right now and give it a go!

    More from the blog:

    Was the Iran War a Mistake? And What Do We Do Now?

    Why German Industry Is Failing

    Request for Startups: Removable Brain-Computer Interfaces, Chatroulette for Pets, and Doggie MRI’s

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 with great returns.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get $100 in free bonus shares!

  • Why Early Stage Startups Don’t Need Multiple Products 

    “I think you can scale to $1 billion ARR without adding any additional products.” That’s what a VC at a top firm told one of my companies recently.

    He’s right.

    Many early stage startups keep releasing one product after another. But if you’ve chosen your product and market well, you can scale a long way with just one. 

    Best of all, you have the advantage of focus. 

    Successful Startups Focus — Failed Startups Don’t

    I see seed-stage startups doing 2, 3, 4, or even more products all the time. Whenever I see it, I shake my head.

    “It’s hard enough to get one product right!” I say to myself.

    Take another one of my most successful investments: Rilla. Rilla makes an AI coach for outside sales.

    They’ve scaled one product to an $800 million valuation, and they’re not done yet. 

    Take Your Product to New Markets

    If you want to expand your market, find more types of customers to sell to. That’s easier than creating a whole new product. 

    Rilla started by selling their sales coach to home services companies. If you have a sales consultation for a kitchen remodel, the rep might use Rilla.

    Now they’re selling the same product to tons of new markets. 

    Home builders use Rilla to improve their meetings with prospective homebuyers. Home Depot is using it to serve their customers better. 

    All they did is take the same product and find more people who need it. If it works for a startup as big as Rilla, it’ll work for your early-stage company! 

    How Too Many Products Can Kill a Startup 

    Let’s look at the flip side: a seed-stage company with four different products.

    You have four different types of users reporting problems. Instead of fixing bugs in one product, you’re fixing bugs in four.

    What are the odds that you’re actually going to manage that effectively, especially with a tiny team?

    10 times out of 10, you will get lapped by a startup that’s tightly focused on a single problem.

    Wrap-Up

    At the early stage, resources are limited. Pour all those resources into one product.

    Make it as good as possibe. Get feedback from customers and improve it every day.

    If you can do that, you might be the next billion dollar startup.

    More from the blog:

    My Three Early Favorites in YC F26

    I’ve Seen Thousands of Founder Pitches. These 5 Mistakes Keep Showing Up.

    From Cold DM to Wire in 5 Days: Why I Move Fast on Great Startups

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 with great returns.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get $100 in free bonus shares!

  • The Best Founders Take Time to Rest

    On Friday, I was chatting with the founder of the fastest-growing startup I’ve ever seen. “How are you holding up?” I asked. 

    His answer might surprise you.

    Inside the Daily Life of a Top Founder

    “I went out with friends last Friday evening. It was great! And I even managed to get to the gym the next day.”

    This would be normal life for most people. But in startupland, we’re all obsessed with working 100 hours a week and never taking a night off.

    This guy was different. He was taking time to recharge.

    And the results were showing in the numbers.

    If You Don’t Rest, You Don’t Grow

    I recently started doing Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Pump Club workouts. They’re very challenging.

    But wouldn’t you know, even Arnold recommends rest!

    He has you rest at least one day after each workout. This gives your muscles the time to repair and grow larger.

    Even at the peak of his bodybuilding career, Arnold still took at least one rest day per week. 

    What’s true for our muscles is true for our minds. If we never relax them, we can’t make any progress. 

    A Practical Plan for Founders

    If you’re a founder, taking an entire day off may not be realistic. 

    But try to take a single evening off and go meet some friends. Socialize. Try not to talk about work.

    And don’t forget to move around! 

    Keep in mind the credo of the old WASP prep schools: “mens sana in corpore sano.” That’s Latin for “sound mind in a sound body”.

    Those blue bloods knew what they were talking about! If our body isn’t right, our brains won’t be either. 

    Wrap-Up

    You can idolize working 120 hours a week and never sleeping.

    But our goal isn’t to work more hours. It’s to grow our businesses!

    That means we need rest.

    Try to get out for an evening once a week and see some friends. Try to make it to the gym at least a couple of times a week.

    If you can find a little balance, I’m confident your startup will grow faster than ever.

    More from the blog: 

    You Finally Closed Your Funding Round — Time to Panic?

    Why “Don’t Meet Junior VC’s” Is Terrible Advice

    Request for Startups: Removable Brain-Computer Interfaces, Chatroulette for Pets, and Doggie MRI’s

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 with great returns.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get $100 in free bonus shares!

  • Fundraising: The One Thing You Can’t Outsource

    A founder on Reddit is trying to raise money. But he’s getting nowhere. Time to outsource?

    Here’s why that’s a terrible idea…

    Investors Only Want to Hear From You

    Investors only want to hear from the founder. You set the company’s direction. You have the necessary information.

    You’re who I need to talk to.

    I don’t care whether you’re raising from angels or the biggest VCs. You need to contact them directly. 

    You Cannot Outsource or Delegate Fundraising

    If you hire an outside fundraiser to help you, that shows me that you don’t know how fundraising works. It also shows you’re not confident in sales. 

    Those are two bad signs.

    You can’t delegate fundraising either.  

    You can’t have your assistant do it. You can’t have some investor relations persons do it.

    Outsourced Fundraising Is Often a Scam

    There’s another reason not to outsource your fundraising. Outside “fundraising experts” are often a scam.

    They promise you a bunch of intros. They charge you a ton of money.

    But they don’t deliver.

    Don’t allow yourself to be scammed. Do the work on your own. 

    What To Do Instead

    “But Francis, I’m not getting anywhere fundraising on my own! No one even returns my messages.” 

    I can practically hear the founder on Reddit saying this. 

    He has a point. If he’s not succeeding on his own and he can’t outsource, what is he supposed to do?

    First, start with making sure you’re fundable. Your startup should check these boxes:

    • Builder founders
    • Launched product
    • Couple of paying customers

    Next, build a fundraising funnel. 

    Contact 200 investors who invest in your region, market, and stage. OpenVC can help you build this investor list. 

    Follow these steps and you should get plenty of meetings. 

    When Outside Help Is Okay

    There are two acceptable forms of outside help:

    • Intros from fellow founders
    • Intros from your investors

    Know other founders who have raised venture capital? Ask for intros to their investors.

    If Ali at Micro1, the most successful founder I’ve ever backed, introduced me to someone, I would meet with them immediately. I would cancel everything else on my calendar. 

    Once you’ve managed to pull in a few checks, those investors can also introduce you to more investors.

    Say you pull in a single angel check for just $1,000. Not a lot of money, right?

    But that person could introduce you to other angels and VCs. 

    Wrap-Up

    When you’re failing, it’s tempting to throw up your hands. 

    “I can’t do this. I need someone to do it for me!”

    That just won’t work with fundraising.

    Investors need to know your vision for the company. They can only get that from you!

    Get your startup into a place where you’re fundable. Then, start pitching tons of investors.

    This is a job only you can do.

    More from the blog:  

    I’ve Seen Thousands of Founder Pitches. These 5 Mistakes Keep Showing Up.

    Fundraising Friction is Killing Your Round – Here’s How to Remove It

    You Finally Closed Your Funding Round — Time to Panic?

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 with great returns.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get $100 in free bonus shares!

  • Three Things I Can’t Live Without: From Kitchen Essentials to the Most Comfortable Pants on Earth 

    I really appreciate a well-designed product, even when it’s very simple. Here are 3 of the most awesome things I’m using these days…

    Roka Vapor Nano Glasses

    I wear glasses any time I’m awake. Without them, I can barely see a thing.

    But my old glasses were driving me nuts!

    They were really heavy. They kept sliding down my face. The lenses seemed to scratch just by breathing on them.

    These new glasses from Roka changed the game.

    Including lenses, they weigh just 15g. They’re the lightest glasses on the market. I can barely feel them on my face.

    The titanium frames should be very durable and the high-index lenses are incredibly clear.

    I found out about Roka from listening to the Huberman Lab podcast. He’s a professor of ophthalmology at Stanford Med and says that Rokas are the best glasses you can buy.

    After using them for the last couple of weeks, I couldn’t agree more! You can use code HUBERMAN to get 20% off. 

    Lodge Cast Iron Griddle

    My favorite breakfast these days is protein pancakes. They’re made with whole grains, protein powder, and no added sugar. Healthy and delicious!

    But cooking them one by one takes too long. With this griddle, I can make a whole batch at once!

    For $40, this griddle will last you the rest of your life. Best of all, it comes pre-seasoned, so you can start cooking right away!

    Uniqlo Easy Pants

    Passing by Uniqlo in Shinagawa Station in Tokyo in May, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye. 

    “Those look like the most comfortable pants I’ve ever seen,” I thought. 

    A few days later, I came back and bought two pair. Let me tell you, these are the comfiest pants I’ve ever worn.

    The drawstring waist and wide leg let me move comfortably and easily. And with summer turning into fall here in New Jersey, the medium weight is perfect for the weather coming up.

    They’re so comfortable I’ve even worn them to the gym! Maybe I should get another pair… 🤔 

    Wrap-Up

    All three of these items are highly durable, well-designed, and a joy to use. They’re not the cheapest, but they’re reasonable.

    Whether you’re making cast iron pans or software, try to make products like that. I promise you, they will sell.  

    What products are you loving these days?

    More from the blog:

    Meet My New Personal Trainer: Arnold Schwarznegger

    My New AI Assistant is Finding Me Cheap Flights to Japan

    Zuck’s New Personal Assistant Muse Lags Behind Instinct

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 with great returns.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get $100 in free bonus shares!

  • To Compete With China, We Need Cheaper Energy

    Why did England industrialize first? Cheap energy. 

    Now, China has some of the cheapest energy in the world. To compete, the US and Europe need to cut energy costs. 

    England’s Early Energy Cost Advantage

    In the early 18th century, England’s massive coal reserves meant energy was some of the cheapest in the world.

    Energy cost more than 10 times as much in France or China. No wonder England could afford to produce tons of manufactured goods and undercut other countries!

    England industrialized decades before France or the US, and centuries before China. That’s how decisive an energy cost advantage can be. 

    China’s Energy Costs Are Among the Lowest in the World 

    Today, China has far cheaper energy than the UK or Germany.  

    France is able to produce electricity at about the same price as China.

    America is actually slightly undercutting China on electricity costs. We’re the only major country that can say this. 

    But China is building power plants far faster than we are. Soon, they may undercut us on energy costs.

    Germany shows us what happens once energy costs spiral out of control. They’re rapidly losing industry, with VW cutting 100,000 jobs.

    To Lower US Energy Costs, We Have to Build

    China has cheap energy because they’re building power plants like crazy.

    Meanwhile, building anything in the West is very difficult. Environmental reviews, lawsuits, and other NIMBY barriers mean plants take many years to build, if you can do it at all.

    We already have much higher labor costs than China. To compete, we need to massively undercut them on energy. 

    Wrap-Up

    England used cheap energy to industrialize. Centuries later, China is following the same playbook.

    For America to compete, we need dirt cheap energy. 

    So if you’re building a startup that lowers energy costs or makes it easier to build power plants, I want to hear from you! 

    More from the blog:

    Why German Industry Is Failing

    Was the Iran War a Mistake? And What Do We Do Now?

    Request for Startups: Low Cost Missiles, Easy Calcium Scans, and Pill Robots

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 with great returns.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get $100 in free bonus shares!

  • Meet My Latest Investment: Brick

    Sam Altman and Satya Nadella say that energy is the biggest constraint on AI. My latest investment will fix it.

    Brick uses hardware and AI agents to cut your energy use by up to 35%. It
    does this without compromising comfort or the function of your facility.

    Founder Sebastian Sheng lived through dangerous blackouts growing up in
    China. This made him want to solve the problems in our energy system.

    Brick is a huge help in data centers, saving many millions on power costs.
    Sebastian is also putting Brick into factories, large apartment buildings, and all sorts of commercial facilities.

    Cut everyone’s power bill by a third, and it’s like building a ton of new power
    plants. All that without the permitting and construction delays!

    Think about all the pieces we need to put together to do AI…

    NVIDIA handles the chips. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and xAI have the
    algos. Companies like my investment, Micro1, get us the data.

    Brick makes sure we have the power.

    Startups that help us use our existing resources more efficiently can become
    massive companies. Uber increases utilization for cars. Airbnb fills up your
    spare room.

    Both are among the most successful startups of the last 20 years.

    I think Brick could sit right alongside them. So I’m delighted to call it my
    latest investment.

    If you have a commercial facility, check out how Brick can save you a ton of
    money on your power bills!

    More from the blog:

    My Three Early Favorites in YC F26

    Why “Don’t Meet Junior VC’s” Is Terrible Advice

    Fundraising Friction is Killing Your Round – Here’s How to Remove It

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 with great returns.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get $100 in free bonus shares!

  • My Three Early Favorites in YC F26 

    We just had YC Demo Day. But 57 companies in YC F26 have already launched! Here are my 3 favorites so far, from robots for data centers to Duolingo for social skills …

    Lambda Robotics — Robots to Run Data Centers

    I recently went past one of the world’s largest data centers near Port Washington, Wisconsin. It’s the biggest construction project I’ve ever seen.

    You keep driving and driving, and the site just goes on and on. Hudson Yards was tiny compared to this.

    To build and maintain these massive data centers, you need tons of labor. That skilled labor is in short supply. 

    Lambda is building robots to help build and maintain AI data centers. This company should have a huge tailwind from enormous AI capex. 

    Micora — Solar Farms in a Box

    Utility-scale solar is one of the cheapest forms of energy. But setting up a solar farm is a ton of work. You need skilled workers that are in short supply. 

    Micora solves that by giving you a solar farm in a box. You can ship it anywhere in the world and get it up and running without skilled workers.

    Put this together with some batteries, and you could have power for a data center faster than any other method. 

    Micora will also be wonderful for developing countries. They could open up a few Micora boxes, put them together using unskilled laborers, and have all the power they need. 

    Quippy — Duolingo for Social Skills

    I was at a restaurant recently with my mom. When I saw what the table next to us was doing, my jaw dropped.

    A whole family, two parents and two children — all on their phones.

    “Talk to each other, for heaven’s sake!” I almost hollered.

    We have terrible social skills these days. 

    Part of it is being locked up for years during COVID. Part of it is staring at phones all day. 

    Quippy helps people improve their social skills by practicing real situations. 

    Nervous about a first date? Quippy can roleplay with you. 

    As each generation integrates more and more with technology, we’re losing our ability to relate to each other.

    I hope Quippy can reverse that. 

    Wrap-Up

    I like this batch because it’s not just a bunch of AI agents. There are companies in every area, from robots to consumer. 

    We’re just getting started with the F26 batch. Another 150-200 companies will launch in the next couple of months!

    Which YC F26 company are you most excited about? 

    More from the blog:

    Request for Startups: Removable Brain-Computer Interfaces, Chatroulette for Pets, and Doggie MRI’s

    I’ve Seen Thousands of Founder Pitches. These 5 Mistakes Keep Showing Up.

    Fundraising Friction is Killing Your Round – Here’s How to Remove It

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 with great returns.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get $100 in free bonus shares!

  • Why “Don’t Meet Junior VC’s” Is Terrible Advice

    “Don’t meet with junior VC’s…only partners.” This is terrible advice. Those junior VC’s are the key to closing your round.

    Every founder wants to meet the famous VCs. That’s the problem: there aren’t enough hours in the day for them to meet everybody! 

    If you message them, odds are they’re going to kick your message over to their junior employees. That’s why they hired them.

    If those junior VC’s like what they see, they’ll pass your deal up to the partners. Having their endorsement makes you more likely to get a check.

    If you refuse to meet the junior VC, you probably won’t get a check from that firm. You don’t want to close yourself off from firms for no reason.

    The more firms you’re in front of, the more likely you are to get competing term sheets. This will let you dictate the price and terms. 

    And don’t forget, junior VCs become partners!

    Our industry is very small. The same people work together year after year.

    If you snub that junior VC today, he may not meet with you once he’s a partner.

    This could close off funding you need in the future. People remember slights for a long time.

    Is it possible you’ll waste your time meeting with that junior VC? Sure!

    But lots of meetings with VC partners go nowhere too. So meet with these junior guys.

    If you can sell them on your vision, you just might find yourself holding a term sheet.

    More from the blog: 

    You Finally Closed Your Funding Round — Time to Panic?

    Why Some Founders Raise Millions with a Text — And Others Can’t Get a Single Check: Traction vs. Track Record

    From Cold DM to Wire in 5 Days: Why I Move Fast on Great Startups

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 with great returns.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get $100 in free bonus shares!

  • I Made an App to Learn Japanese Characters in Just 6 Minutes 

    You need to learn 2,000 characters to read Japanese. This morning, I built an app to teach me with Base44. In just 6 minutes, I had an amazing app up and running!

    Designing an App to Teach Me Kanji

    I need a flashcard app to help me learn Japanese characters (kanji). Apps like this already exist — WaniKani is one popular choice. 

    But I want a custom app that looks and behaves the way I want. And let’s be honest…who wants to pay for another subscription?

    To build my app, I opened Base44 and used a trick I learned from JCal: I turned on Wispr Flow and started rambling.

    I asked for an app with a black background and minimal aesthetic. I told it to separate the words by JLPT level from N1 to N5 so I can practice different levels of difficulty.

    Building “Nihongo Flash”

    Base44 took just 6 minutes to build the app!

    Once I saw the app, I realized there were a couple of instructions I forgot to give Base44. I told it to add spaced repetition and make the word banks larger, taking them from around 25 words per level to about 100. 

    I also had Base44 make the text bigger. Even with my new glasses, I don’t see as well as I used to! 

    My app really started to cook after some re-prompting. Base44 gave me exactly what I asked for…huge text and lots of vocab.

    This taught me an important lesson about vibecoding. 

    I kept trying to make the initial prompt perfect. But it’s actually better to iterate repeatedly.

    Sometimes I don’t know what I want until I see the MVP.

    Base44 even gave my new app a catchy name…Nihongo Flash. Let’s give it a try! 

    Learning Kanji With Nihongo Flash

    For starters, I tried the N5 vocabulary, the easiest level. The first word Base44 gave me was “yomu,” or “to read.” 

    I know the word well. But since I mostly deal with spoken Japanese, it’s easy to forget the character.

    On the back of each card, Base44 added buttons for how easy or difficult I found the word to be. 

    This is an incredibly cool feature. It lets me control when I will see the word again.

    I didn’t even tell Base44 to do this. It added the feature on its own!

    Wrap-Up

    Base44 was way better than I expected. So far, it’s the best vibecoding app I’ve used.

    It built everything I wanted in just a couple of minutes. Best of all, it included features I didn’t even think of! 

    I’m giving Base44 an A+.

    I had never used this platform before. You don’t hear much about it.

    But if you’re looking to vibecode an app, Base44 should go to the top of your list. 

    If you want to try learning Japanese characters on my new app, here’s the link. It’s absolutely free!

    More from the blog:

    I Made an Email Agent to Manage My Inbox in Half the Time 

    I Built a Bot to Hunt for Startups

    Zuck’s New Personal Assistant Muse Lags Behind Instinct

    Save Money on Stuff I Use:

    Fundrise

    This platform lets me diversify my real estate investments so I’m not too exposed to any one market. I’ve invested since 2018 with great returns.

    More on Fundrise in this post.

    If you decide to invest in Fundrise, you can use this link to get $100 in free bonus shares!