The majority of early-stage startups skip one of the most important steps: Defining their user personas and testing assumptions about them. This is how founders get to the root of a problem. And it’s accomplished through design thinking. You may think you know your user’s

Trying to serve everyone is the fastest way to fail at scaling. Chasing 10 different use cases looks ambitious. But it creates churn and confusion. Companies that scale are ruthless about picking one lane and only one lane that compounds. If you don’t make a choice, the

A slow pace is a founder’s worst nightmare. The inbox stays empty. Metrics barely move. The product feels half-finished. Yet energy gets drained. The founder’s job is to create it and sustain it. • Celebrate small wins • Remind people of the mission • Keep the rhythm

Do we really need Scarlett Johansson as our personal AI assistant? At @Workmatelabs, I spend a lot of time thinking about what it means to have an EA and “who” that EA really is. The more you can define and constrain what an EA does, the easier it is to automate. But there are

The same words always land 10x harder when the CEO says them. If the CEO... → Recruits → Builds the product roadmap → Or even does customer support You better believe ears will perk up. Get it right and the whole org runs in the right direction. Get it wrong and the trust

“AI startup” is about to become a meaningless label. AI isn’t fading, it’s just becoming as ordinary as having a website. It’s almost a default that products are “powered by AI” but, even then, they eventually will just be referred to as products again. It’s the same way

I thought cybercrime was scary already. But now it’s being done with no technical skill required. A hacker ran a full operation with AI. Network scans. Malware builds. Ransom notes. Extortion emails tuned with “vibe coding.” The barrier to launching attacks has collapsed.

I used to think I needed strong engineering chops to lead a startup. I studied models, learned architectures, and thought my technical depth would help carry the company forward. This was the wrong approach. In a fast-paced startup, it’s always better to find the best people

YC just released their Fall 2025 “request for startups” list. It’s not exactly what you would expect… The list consists of: → Video generation as a primitive: AI video generation to build games, create content, or even have a video call with a loved one after they have

If you’re context-switching all day, you’re self-sabotaging. Studies show it takes at least 23 minutes to get back on track after an interruption. Even without distractions, most people can focus for 60-90 minutes tops before performance drops. Protecting focus is one of the

Developers!

RIP to lazy business models. AI isn’t just going to copy features, it’s going to collapse the idea that you can charge monthly for clicks and dashboards. Get ready for a market that would much rather pay for guaranteed outcomes over managing endless tools.

There are two ways to look at this. 1️⃣ You see a low base salary, thin equity, and a high cost of living city. 2️⃣ You see leverage and the chance to shape a product from zero, earn the title of founding engineer, and learn faster than you ever will in a safe job. Your career

Wasn’t expecting that reaction

“Spend 5am-2am with me”

Sora 2 is wild. Here are some of my favorites from the last 24 hours.

Everyone at your company should be able to sell. Whether it’s actually taking calls or simply explaining the company to a neighbor. If they can’t sell it, they don’t see the vision clearly enough.

The industry is converging on AI coding best practices and baking them in to the tools.