Tremendous

An angel investor's take on life and business

  • Amazon’s Nova Model: Cheap and Underrated

    Did you know Amazon has its own AI models? Until yesterday, neither did I! This morning, I took them on a test drive.

    Amazon’s models are called Nova. They can output text or images and even run workflows for you.

    The Nova models are designed to use within applications running on AWS. Nova models are much cheaper than the more advanced OpenAI models, which is great for developers.

    You can use Nova as a consumer too. Let’s see what this tool can do!

    Stop Francis From Getting Fat

    This afternoon, I’ll be meeting one of my founders who’s in town for New York Tech Week. We’re headed to Dominique Ansel Bakery, home of the famous cronut! And no it’s not hype — they really are great.

    I wondered, can my figure afford one of these greasy treats? Let’s ask Nova how many calories they have…

    Nova gives us a wide range, from 240 all the way up to a shocking 1,300 calories. I think I like the 240 number better. 🙂

    Nova also provides 3 citations. I clicked through on each. The first two are relevant, but the third contains the calorie count for croutons, not cronuts.

    Still, Nova gave me some good and useful info. I’ll give this round a B+.

    Spicing Up My Exercise Routine

    I find myself doing the same lifts over and over at the gym. Maybe Nova can help…

    Nova had some interesting ideas, including dumbbell rows. I’m not quite sure how to do those, so I’m going to watch a few YouTube videos.

    What I’d really like to see Nova do is include a video in its output, showing me how to perform each exercise. That would be incredible!

    But still, this was helpful info. I’m giving this round an A-.

    Researching a Startup

    Last night, I met with a startup creating a tool for laboratories. After the meeting, I wondered…how many labs are there in America? Let’s ask Nova…

    My first 2 questions were pretty simple, and I ran them on Nova Pro. For this last one, I’m using Nova Premier, Amazon’s best in-house model.

    Nova finds that there are around 60-80,000 research laboratories across academia, industry and government. That’s a big number, but the citations Nova provides are pretty shaky.

    They have some basic data for the government. But when I click through on the other sources, they don’t have any relevant info.

    It’s hard to trust this number. But since the government lab count seems plausible, I’ll give Nova a C on this round.

    Wrap-Up

    I was surprised how well Nova performed!

    Overall, I’m giving it a B. If Amazon improved the citations, it could reach an A.

    As Nova improves, Amazon may no longer need to partner with Anthropic. That could leave the Anthropic team out in the cold as OpenAI and xAI raise mountains of cash.

    Give Nova a try! You may be surprised how good this unknown model is.

    More on tech:

    Testing DeepSeek’s New Model

    How Grok Saved Me from Getting My Identity Stolen

    Google Glasses: A Computer for Your Face?

    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!

    Misfits Market

    I’ve used Misfits for years, and it never disappoints! Every fruit and vegetable is organic, super fresh, and packed with flavor!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order. 

  • Testing DeepSeek’s New Model

    DeepSeek just dropped a new model, R1-0528. Has China leapfrogged the US? This morning, I tested the model to find out.

    DeepSeek shocked the world with its R1 release in January. But when I put it up against the best from Gemini, DeepSeek lost.

    Let’s see how DeepSeek’s latest release performs…

    Timing My Workouts

    I need to get a brief HIIT bike workout in this morning. But I’m not sure of the best time to do it.

    I ate a light breakfast about an hour ago — is it too soon to work out? Let’s see what DeepSeek says…

    DeepSeek gives me a variety of options in a nice table format. My breakfast was on the larger side in the context of their table, although I’d still consider it light for me. I’m an eater! 🙂

    So, it sounds like I need to wait around 2 hours. Guess I’ll blog instead!

    This was a pretty good response, although I wish they had quantified the breakfasts in terms of calories. I’d also like to see some citations to experts on exercise.

    Overall, I’m giving this answer a B.

    SaaS Companies Making It Big

    In 4 years investing, I’ve had a few companies go bust. But luckily, I also have a few that are beginning to break out.

    Two have cracked $20 million ARR so far. But how rare is that, really?

    Let’s ask DeepSeek how many companies make it to that level…

    DeepSeek estimates that only 1 out of every 200-500 SaaS startups ever cracks $20 million.

    DeepSeek gives some citations, but there’s no clickable link to verify the info myself. That makes me wonder if it’s even real.

    So, I tried to verify the data on my own. And guess what that involves?

    A trip to Google! I may as well have not even bothered with DeepSeek.

    This query demands a data driven response. The whole question involves statistics. But DeepSeek couldn’t get it done.

    I’m giving DeepSeek a C here.

    Startup Research

    This evening, I’m meeting with a company that’s using robots to automate scientific research. I’ve never seen anything like it.

    But I wondered, is anyone else doing this? Let’s ask DeepSeek…

    DeepSeek gave a pretty strong answer here! It turns out that although automated, robotic research is new to me, it’s not exactly new.

    A company called Strateos is doing it, as are several major drug manufacturers. I’ll look into their platforms more this afternoon before my meeting.

    I would’ve liked to see some citations here. Instead, I have to go hunting on my own.

    But overall, DeepSeek gave me a pretty good answer. I’ll give this round a B+.

    Wrap-Up

    DeepSeek’s answers would’ve been impressive 2 years ago. Not anymore.

    The responses were informative and seemed reasonably accurate. But without any citations, it’s hard to know how accurate.

    I can get similar responses from many models. Llama, Claude, Mistral, they could all easily do what DeepSeek just did here.

    DeepSeek is behind the leaders, OpenAI, xAI, and Google. Those products do much deeper research with better citations.

    Overall, I’m giving their new model a B-.

    So far, DeepSeek is mostly hype.

    More on tech:

    DeepSeek vs. Gemini Deep Research: Which Model Is King?

    How Grok Saved Me from Getting My Identity Stolen

    Google Glasses: A Computer for Your Face?

    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!

    Misfits Market

    I’ve used Misfits for years, and it never disappoints! Every fruit and vegetable is organic, super fresh, and packed with flavor!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order. 

  • The Iron Monster: China’s Massive Bridge Building Robot

    China is building bridges with massive robots. Is America hopelessly behind?

    This weekend, I heard about China’s bridge building robot on The All-In Podcast. The idea of building a bridge at warp speed with robots intrigued me.

    So this morning, I decided to learn more…

    The Iron Monster

    Many Chinese bridges are built with a massive robot called the SLJ900/32, also known as the Iron Monster. It can move big sections of pre-built bridge into place in a matter of hours.

    Looking at the Iron Monster, it’s easy to view America as pathetically behind. We use cranes that take weeks to do what the Iron Monster does in a few hours.

    But actually, each country is using the method that best suits its needs.

    Is America Behind?

    The Iron Monster is great for building the same type of bridge over and over, especially for high speed rail. China is building a ton of bridges right now, so they need that type of construction.

    America has been a developed nation for a long time. We already have tons of bridges, so we rarely need to build a new one.

    We also have little need for high speed rail. Our country’s population density is low and we have tons of airports.

    What’s more, new technologies on the way may make high speed rail obsolete. Self-driving cars and eVTOLs can satisfy the same need at a fraction of the cost.

    What we need isn’t a bunch of new bridges. It’s maintenance of the bridges we have. For that, the flexible, crane-based methods we use make more sense.

    Wrap-Up

    It’s easy to see a viral video out of China and think “Wow, we’re screwed.” It fits the meme that China is way ahead of us.

    The truth is usually more complicated. There’s a reason America is still much richer than China — we’re doing a lot of things right.

    Dig into the facts behind these viral clips. You’ll often find that things aren’t quite what they seem.

    Have a great weekend, everybody!

    More on tech:

    Did a Robot Try to Attack Humans?

    Climb, Crawl, Fly, Swim: Jake Loosararian at the All-In Summit

    Google Glasses: A Computer for Your Face?

    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!

    Misfits Market

    I’ve used Misfits for years, and it never disappoints! Every fruit and vegetable is organic, super fresh, and packed with flavor!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order. 

  • What’s Your Value Prop?

    People buy your product for 2 reasons: you make them money or you save them money. If you want to grow fast, make that value proposition crystal clear.

    A clear value prop is one of the biggest things I look for when I meet with founders.

    It needs to be as simple as one sentence. And it needs to be measurable.

    Let’s look at two strong value propositions, using case studies from my portfolio…

    Save Them Money

    North is one of my most successful investments. They plug into your cloud stack to optimize your spending. North can cut your cloud bill by 50%.

    That could save a company hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars a year. All that money flows straight to the bottom line.

    “We’ll take one of your biggest costs and cut it in half.” That’s a clear value prop!

    Make Them Money

    Saving customers money is great. But you can also help them make more money.

    That’s what LedgerUp, another great investment of mine, does. LedgerUp automates your invoicing to make sure you collect all the revenue you’re owed.

    Founder Joseph Johnson recently worked with a startup that was missing $900,000 in revenue. They had booked the sales but never collected!

    Believe it or not, this is super common. Joseph helped them collect that extra $900,000, a huge boost for the startup.

    “Pay us a modest SaaS fee and we’ll bring in tons of revenue.” I’m reaching for my wallet right now!

    Weak Value Props

    Saving you money or making you money are strong value propositions. They’re clear, measurable, and compelling.

    For a lot of startups, the value prop is much less clear.

    “We enable better team collaboration.” Okay, but how do I measure that?

    “We help improve employee satisfaction.” Great, but how does that impact my bottom line?

    If your product gives the customer a vague benefit they can’t measure, you’ve got a weak value prop. And you’re going to struggle in sales.

    The problem is, the cost of your product is always measurable! I know it’s $1,000 a month, but I don’t know what benefit I’m going to get from it.

    At that point, I’m out.

    Wrap-Up

    Startups win when they provide value to customers. You want that value to be clear, measurable, and large.

    Save the customer money. Make them more money. Pick one and lean into it.

    I have 34 investments so far. Over and over, the startups with clear value props have grown fast. The rest haven’t.

    Practice getting your value prop down to a single, clear sentence. Then work hard on delivering exactly what you promised.

    If you can do that, your only problem will be keeping up with the inbound!

    There will be no blog tomorrow. I’m speaking at the Single Family Office Summit in New York City. If you’re there, come say hello!

    We’ll be back on Friday!

    More on tech:

    Get Rid of Your Investment Minimum

    Small Investors Lead to Big Investors

    Why It’s Easier to Raise $3 Million Than $300,000

    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!

    Misfits Market

    I’ve used Misfits for years, and it never disappoints! Every fruit and vegetable is organic, super fresh, and packed with flavor!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order. 

  • Get Rid of Your Investment Minimum

    They wanted $100,000, minimum. I politely bowed out. This is how startups sabotage their funding rounds.

    How Investment Minimums Work Against You

    Some startups insist on a minimum check size. This excludes helpful investors and makes it harder to close the round.

    At $100,000, this startup was excluding most angels.

    A typical angel check is around $25,000. Smaller checks are common as well. I write $5,000 checks direct on the cap table all the time.

    I recently was in a deal with a very high profile, billionaire angel investor. Even that investor only put in $250,000!

    That gives you an idea of how rare the big angel checks really are.

    Small Investors Are the Key to Closing Your Round

    With most angels excluded from the round, this founder wasn’t just losing out on one small angel check. He was losing crucial help to close his funding round.

    Freshpaint, a YC startup that raised a seed round recently, is a great example.

    The smallest check they took was $5,000. That small investor did more than any other person to help close their round.

    The small fry made a series of introductions. This chain of intros led to $700,000 in investments!

    How I Help Startups Raise Money

    Okay, time for me to brag…

    I can actually beat that $700,000 number. I introduced a founder to a VC fund that gave him an $800,000 term sheet.

    This is the impact of meeting small investors and taking their money: you get access to their network. That network is crucial to closing your funding round.

    Without those helpful angels, you’re stuck cold messaging VC funds.

    Guess what? They get 1,000 of those messages a day. They probably won’t even read yours.

    But What About My Cap Table?

    I can imagine what you’re saying on the other side of this screen: but Francis, it’s bad to take small checks! What about my cap table?

    The reality is, there are dozens of names on the typical startup’s cap table, even at Seed or Series A. If they’re helpful, one more won’t hurt you.

    See if that small investor makes some useful introductions for you. If so, let him into the round.

    And if you’re really worried about your cap table, you can pop up a Roll-Up Vehicle (RUV) for angels. This is a simple LLC that bundles all those angel checks into a single line on the cap table. You even get a free RUV if you use AngelList Stack, a cap table product.

    Wrap-Up

    Some founders have gotten into their heads that they should only take big checks. Nothing could be further from the truth.

    Excluding the small checks cuts you off from helpful people. Those helpful little angels are the key to closing your funding round.

    Meet with all sorts of investors, big and small. And if someone’s helpful, take their check, even if it’s tiny.

    Pretty soon, you may find yourself raising millions.

    More on tech:

    Small Investors Lead to Big Investors

    Three Free and Easy Ways to Meet Investors

    Why It’s Easier to Raise $3 Million Than $300,000

    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!

    Misfits Market

    I’ve used Misfits for years, and it never disappoints! Every fruit and vegetable is organic, super fresh, and packed with flavor!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order. 

  • How Grok Saved Me from Getting My Identity Stolen

    Grok just saved me from getting my identity stolen. Here’s how…

    An Unexpected E-mail

    I recently got an e-mail that appeared to be from X. It claimed to be a receipt for X Premium, a service I don’t have because I’m too cheap to pay for it. 🙂

    “Why would I get a receipt for that? Did I sign up on accident?” I thought.

    I clicked on the e-mail, and it looked legit. But then I thought to myself, “Could this be a phishing attempt?”

    Grok Saves the Day

    I wasn’t sure how to find out. So I took a screenshot of the message and pasted it into Grok.

    Grok nailed it right away. It found suspicious details I didn’t notice, like a date sent that was a year in the future!

    And that stripe.com URL that looked so legit to me? Grok flagged that as well. It contained a bunch of random characters, which it turns out is atypical for such a URL.

    Grok advised me to ignore the e-mail and go to X.com myself to find out what’s what.

    When I went to X.com, it turned out that I had the same El Cheapo subscription I’ve always had. No issue.

    The e-mail was fake.

    Had I given them the info they requested, they might be buying jewelry in Moscow on my dime by now. But Grok saved the day!

    Preventing Identity Theft

    If you get any suspicious e-mails, texts, or phone calls, I highly recommend you confer with Grok.

    Don’t click anything or give anybody any info. Ask Grok or another AI model first.

    The safest way to figure out these issues is to do what Grok told me: go straight to the company website. That way, you know you’re dealing with the actual company, not some scammer. Then, once you’re there, you can find out what’s what.

    Wrap-Up

    Scams are getting more sophisticated every day. And thanks to AI, they no longer come with funny English to help you spot them.

    Don’t click anything. Don’t give any info.

    Ask Grok or another AI model if the message seems legit. And if the message claims there’s an issue with Company A’s service, go straight to Company A’s actual website, rather than clicking any links.

    There’s no foolproof way to avoid getting scammed. But following these rules and using AI to advise you can help a lot!

    There will be no blog on Monday. Happy Memorial Day!

    More on tech:

    Why Airbnb Will Never Be a Superapp

    Using Grok as My Personal Trainer

    YC’s New Request for 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!

    Misfits Market

    I’ve used Misfits for years, and it never disappoints! Every fruit and vegetable is organic, super fresh, and packed with flavor!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order. 

  • Why Airbnb Will Never Be a Superapp

    Every few years, Airbnb puts out Experiences with some type of rebrand. They want to be a superapp — but that’s never going to happen. Here’s why…

    The Ultimate Superapp: WeChat

    The biggest superapp in the world is China’s WeChat. You can do anything on Wechat: talk to friends, pay for stuff, even access government services like passports.

    Since you chat with friends and buy things often, WeChat stays front of mind. You open the app many times a day. You basically live in WeChat.

    Why Airbnb Can’t Be a Superapp

    Airbnb will never be that tool for Americans. The core use case, booking accommodations for a trip, is too rare.

    I only travel somewhere where I need to book a hotel once or twice a year. Even if you travel more than I do, it’s probably not too much more than 5-10 times a year.

    Just 5-10 times a year! That’s how often we think of Airbnb, given that it’s primarily for booking accommodations on trips.

    Meanwhile, Chinese folks open WeChat countless times every day.

    The Best Candidate for an American Superapp: Uber

    So if Airbnb isn’t a likely candidate for an American superapp, what is? A company we all know and love: Uber.

    The core use case for Uber is taking a ride. I use either Uber or Lyft about once or twice a week, versus once or twice a year for Airbnb or a hotel chain. Some folks take Uber daily.

    With Uber, we’re getting close to that daily use case. And Uber has put a bunch of other services into its app: food delivery, package delivery, even bike rentals. All these services make sense for Uber: they involve moving something somewhere.

    How Uber Can Become a Superapp

    To become a true superapp like WeChat, Uber needs to get people opening the app many times a day. Here’s one way they could do that: payments.

    I use Apple Pay for everything. I rarely touch paper currency anymore, or even a credit card.

    What if we had Uber Pay? And maybe Uber gives us some sweet incentives, like the credit card companies do, to lure us away from Apple Pay.

    That would get us opening the Uber app many times every day. Once they have that habit established, they could layer on even more services like flight booking or housecleaners.

    Why I’m Banning Airbnb from Releasing New Features

    I’m banning Airbnb from releasing new features until they fix their core product.

    That product is in trouble. People are steamed up about Airbnb.

    Long lists of chores. $200 cleaning fees. I see it on my timeline every day — people are angry.

    But instead of fixing problems in the core product, they’re layering on irrelevant services most people don’t care about and don’t want.

    Fix the core product instead. Cut down the cleaning fees. Ditch the chores. Focus on user happiness.

    Wrap-Up

    So, will Uber become a superapp?

    It’s the closest thing we have in America. But I don’t think it will ever become as dominant as WeChat.

    WeChat is largely a social network. Uber has no social media DNA in its company. Adding a chat wouldn’t make any sense.

    The social network is incredibly sticky, with folks coming back many times a day. Uber will have a hard time replicating that.

    Still, there are some awesome opportunities for Uber to expand its business. Features like payments and travel could add billions to the bottom line.

    Airbnb is no superapp. They need to stay focused.

    Make the stays awesome. Then, and only then, will I give them permission to add new features.

    More on tech:

    Google Glasses: A Computer for Your Face?

    Using Grok as My Personal Trainer

    YC’s New Request for 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!

    Misfits Market

    I’ve used Misfits for years, and it never disappoints! Every fruit and vegetable is organic, super fresh, and packed with flavor!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order. 

  • Google Glasses: A Computer for Your Face?

    Google unveiled its powerful new glasses yesterday. Will we all be wearing these soon?

    A Computer for Your Face

    The new Google Glasses have some incredible capabilities.

    They can see and hear using a mic, speakers and a camera. They can send a text message or give you directions in a heads-up display. Presenter Nishtha Bhatia even gets Glasses to help her remember where she got coffee earlier.

    But the wildest part of the demo was the live translation. Nishtha speaks Hindi and her colleague Shahram Izadi speaks Farsi. Each sees a translation on their glasses in seconds.

    Google Glasses can do some amazing stuff. But do we want to wear a computer on our face all the time?

    The reality is, we rarely if ever need translation. And having notifications pop up in front of your eyes all day long could drive you nuts.

    I like them where they are: on my phone. At least I can put it in my pocket and ignore it. But since I’m blind as a bat, I’m stuck wearing my glasses any time I’m awake.

    Augmented Reality for Business — The Killer App

    Help navigating a city or sending a text is nice. But augmented reality will be more useful for businesses.

    Google Glasses could show a surgeon exactly where to cut. They could tell a factory worker precisely where to weld.

    AR for business already exists. I have a small investment in a company called Argyle that uses AR to improve construction. It shows workers where to install pipes and beams, avoiding costly mistakes.

    AR for consumers is a nice-to-have. But for businesses, AR could prevent serious problems like botched surgeries and manufacturing defects.

    For the foreseeable future, I expect B2B to be the biggest market for products like Google Glasses.

    Wrap-Up

    I’m not sure I want a future where everyone has a computer strapped to their face.

    Don’t we already ignore each other enough? Aren’t we on screens enough as it is?

    But I love AR for the business applications. I hope Google Glass makes work easier for doctors, nurses and tradesmen.

    And if it can remind me where I got that delicious coffee, I just might get one too.

    Would you buy Google Glasses?

    More on tech:

    YC’s New Request for Startups

    Using Grok as My Personal Trainer

    Testing the New Meta AI App

    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!

    Misfits Market

    I’ve used Misfits for years, and it never disappoints! Every fruit and vegetable is organic, super fresh, and packed with flavor!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order. 

  • YC’s New Request for Startups

    YC has a new Request for Startups. Here are my 3 favorite ideas, plus one of my own…

    AI for Scientific Advancement

    Group Partner Diana Hu is looking for new ways to apply LLM’s to scientific research. I agree that AI plus bio is going to be the next big thing.

    Powerful new tools like test-time compute could help us discover lifesaving drugs. Then, massive data centers could let us model their interaction with the body.

    There’s actually an exciting company in the current YC batch applying AI to scientific research: Zeon Systems. Zeon lets you describe an experiment in plain text which its robot arms then execute.

    The price of scientific research could drop 90%. That means huge breakthroughs in the near future.

    AI Personal Tutor for Everyone

    I spent most of my school years bored out of my mind. The teacher would repeat the same material over and over.

    “If we haven’t gotten it the first 10 times, what difference will number 11 make?” I always thought.

    Here’s a better model for education: have students learn from an AI that customizes the lesson to them. Then, a human teacher can supervise the process and encourage them.

    YC’s Harj Taggar is trying to find personal tutoring startups, and so am I!

    AI for Personal Finance

    My friend Matt recently saw a “financial advisor.” The results were predictable.

    The advisor worked for an insurance company. Guess what he recommended?

    You got it! Tons of life insurance. This for a man in his 30’s with no kids or even a dog.

    It made absolutely no sense for Matt. But it made all the sense in the world for the advisor — he gets commissions on the insurance.

    Instead of this rotten setup, Group Partner Gustaf Alstromer imagines an AI tool that works only for you. The AI could take into account different ages and risk tolerances.

    And not only could AI give you a plan, it could execute it for you too! The system could automatically buy the stocks and bonds it recommends, once you’ve approved the trades.

    I’ll take that over a tricky “advisor” any day.

    My Request for Startup: The Internal Apple Watch

    These days, everyone you see has an Apple Watch strapped to their wrist. It measures heart rate, sleep, blood oxygen and more.

    But what if it were inside you?

    An implanted device could measure the conditions inside your body. If there are problems, it could immediately alert you and your doctor.

    The device could measure things like kidney and liver function, electrolyte levels, cancer biomarkers and more.

    This isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. We already have implanted measurement devices for glucose and cardiac rhythm.

    I’d love to see a cheaper and more flexible one that can become the internal equivalent to the Apple Watch.

    Wrap-Up

    How lucky are we to do what we do?

    We come up with crazy ideas. Then, we find even crazier people to execute them.

    And you never know, we might make millions of dollars doing it!

    I’m really excited for startups working on scientific research, tutoring, personal finance, and biometrics. If you’re building in those areas, let me know!

    More on tech:

    My Biggest Lesson from Four Years Angel Investing

    Which Accelerators I’m Investing in and Why

    My Favorite Startups in YC X25 (Part 1)

    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!

    Misfits Market

    I’ve used Misfits for years, and it never disappoints! Every fruit and vegetable is organic, super fresh, and packed with flavor!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order. 

  • Making Beautiful Charts with Grok

    Grok just released an incredible chart making tool. This morning, I used it to visualize some fascinating data, including cloud spend, GDP growth and fertility rates.

    Everything Is Computer

    This morning, I was researching an investment in a cloud infrastructure company. So I wondered, how much do companies spend on cloud compute and what’s the trend?

    Let’s ask Grok…

    Grok came up with a gorgeous chart showing cloud spend for the last 5 years, just as I asked.

    I love the design here — it reminds me of a Bloomberg terminal. You can also mouse over the graphics and see exact numbers, which is super helpful.

    As it makes the chart, Grok explains where the data is coming from. I clicked through and checked some of the sources, and Grok was pulling the data accurately.

    It turns out cloud spend is growing way faster than I thought. It has more than doubled in the last 5 years, topping $800 billion.

    Looks like I need to invest in that company!

    American Exceptionalism

    Let’s move from today’s business problems to some big picture questions…

    In the last few decades, America has begun to pull away from the rest of the developed world. People are calling Europeans the “Europoors,” a term that never existed when I was a kid.

    So I wondered, how real is the divergence between America and the rest? Let’s see what Grok has to say…

    For this chart, Grok produces a lovely line graph.

    That’s a much better way to visualize this data than the bar chart we saw before. I didn’t have to tell Grok to do this…it chose the chart method on its own. Impressive!

    In 1995, Japan actually ranked higher than the US or what is today the EU. Incredible!

    By 2025, the US had pulled far ahead of the pack. America’s GDP per capita sits at nearly $90,000 a year versus Europe at just $45,000. Japan’s GDP per capita has actually fallen in real terms, from $40,000 in 1995 to $33,000 today.

    We’ve gone from being around 50% richer than Europe in 1995 to twice as rich today. And we’re almost 3 times richer than Japan, which is staggering given how technologically advanced Japan is.

    The Baby Bust

    One of the big reasons America is outpacing Europe and Japan economically is our growing population. We have higher fertility than most of Europe. Meanwhile, Japan’s population is in outright decline.

    Let’s graph fertility across these regions….

    Turns out, fertility is falling everywhere. America is doing better than most developed countries, but we need to pump up those numbers if we’re going to remain a superpower.

    I’m looking for early stage startups that can help address the fertility crisis. If you know one, let me know!

    Wrap-Up

    I loved using Grok’s new charts function. It works beautifully, scraping data from all over the web and putting it in a beautiful format.

    I’m going to use this when I research startups. It will help me understand markets better.

    I can also produce some cool charts for the blog. You may start seeing more of those soon!

    Congrats to the xAI team on a great launch. Give Grok charts a try and make some cool graphics!

    More on tech:

    Using Grok as My Personal Trainer

    Using Grok 3 to Manage My Stock Portfolio

    Testing the New Meta AI App

    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!

    Misfits Market

    I’ve used Misfits for years, and it never disappoints! Every fruit and vegetable is organic, super fresh, and packed with flavor!

    I wrote a detailed review of Misfits here.

    Use this link to sign up and you’ll save $15 on your first order.