20VC: AI's Biggest Questions: The Commoditisation of LLMs, Open vs Closed: Who Wins, Model Size vs Data Quality, Why Google are Vulnerable and Apple are the Dark Horse
Des Traynor is a Co-Founder of Intercom, and has built and led many teams within the company, including Product, Marketing, and Customer Support.
Yann LeCun is VP & Chief AI Scientist at Meta and Silver Professor at NYU affiliated with the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences & the Center for Data Science. He was the founding Director of FAIR and of the NYU Center for Data Science.
Emad Mostaque is the Co-Founder and CEO @ StabilityAI, the parent company of Stable Diffusion. Stability are building the foundation to activate humanity's potential.
Jeff Seibert is the Founder & CEO @ Digits, building the future of AI-powered accounting. Digits have raised funding from the likes of Peter Fenton @ Benchmark and 20VC.
Tomasz Tunguz is the Founder and General Partner @ Theory Ventures, just announced last week, Theory is a $230M fund that invests $1-25m in early-stage companies that leverage technology discontinuities into go-to-market advantages.
Douwe Kiela is the CEO of Contextual AI, building the contextual language model to power the future of businesses.
Cris Valenzuela is the CEO and co-founder of Runway, the company that trains and builds generative AI models for content creation.
Richard Socher is the founder and CEO of You.com. Richard previously served as the Chief Scientist and EVP at Salesforce. Before that, Richard was the CEO/CTO of AI startup MetaMind, acquired by Salesforce in 2016.
In Today's Episode We Discuss:
Foundational Models: Analysis
Will foundational models become commoditized?
Who are the major players? What are their different strengths?
Who will win? Who will lose?
How important is the size of the model vs the quality of the data?
2. Open vs Closed:
What are the biggest pros and cons of an open ecosystem for LLMs?
Why is it naive to think that open-source LLMs will prevail?
What will determine which method wins?
3. An Analysis of the Incumbents:
Why is Google the most vulnerable? What can they do to regain ground?
Why is Apple the sleeping giant? How could they win the next wave of AI?
What should Amazon do today to compete with Microsoft?
4. The Future: Doom and Gloom?
Why is it ridiculous to assume AI systems want to dominate?
Why will AI create a renaissance of creativity and human freedom?
What role should regulation play in the advancement and progression of AI?
20VC: Why OpenAI Will Become an Infrastructure Play, Why Apple Will Win in an AI World, Why Google is the Most Vulnerable Incumbent, Will LLMs Be Commoditised, Which Startups Are Thin vs Thick Wrappers on Top of LLMs with Jeff Seibert, Founder @ Digits
Jeff Seibert is the Founder & CEO @ Digits, building the future of AI-powered accounting. Digits have raised funding from the likes of Peter Fenton @ Benchmark and 20VC. Jeff previously served as Twitter's Head of Consumer Product, a position he came to following the acquisition of his prior company, Crashlytics. Today, Crashlytics is the de-facto mobile crash reporting solution for iOS and Android and runs on over 6 Billion monthly active smartphones worldwide.
In Today's Episode with Jeff Seibert We Discuss:
1. The Art of the Pivot:
What are Jeff's biggest pieces of advice to founders pivoting?
How do you know when you have enough data to make the decision to pivot?
What are the single biggest mistakes founders make when pivoting?
2. AI: Who Wins and Who Loses:
Why does Jeff believe that OpenAI will transition into an infrastructure play?
What are the most significant challenges OpenAI will face moving forward?
Why does Jeff believe that Apple are best positioned to win in an AI world?
Why does Jeff believe that Google are the most vulnerable incumbent?
What would Jeff do if he was CEO of Google?
3. LLMs: What Happens Now:
Will we see the commoditization of LLMs?
What are the biggest misconceptions people have on training and fine-tuning LLMs?
Will we see LLMs increasingly specialise to vertical-specific models or will they remain horizontal?
What is the difference between a thick and a thin wrapper when building on top of LLMs?
4. Angel Portfolio in Review:
How many angel checks has Jeff written? How many failed? How many home runs?
Does Jeff believe that company valuations are being kept artificially high?
How did Jeff make 200x selling through the secondary market for a now failing company?
What are Jeff's three biggest pieces of advice for angels today?
154 - Sign-in With Ethereum with Wayne Chang
✨ DEBRIEF | Unpacking the episode: https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/debrief-wayne-chang-sign-in-with-ethereum
------ ✨ COLLECTIBLES | Collect this episode: https://collectibles.bankless.com/mint
------ Wayne Chang is the co-author of EIP4361, otherwise known as the Sign in with Ethereum (SIWE) Standard. He’s also the co-founder and CEO of Spruce, a company that is working to grow SIWE adoption to make the internet more user-first.
Can Ethereum help us take back our identity on the internet? There will be two phases of crypto–in phase one we take back our money. In phase two we take back our identity. Tune in to find out how.
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------ Topics Covered
0:00 Intro 8:50 Identity on the Internet 17:15 Current State of Identity on the Internet 23:25 Web2 Log-in Risks & Incentives 25:50 Authentication vs. Authorization vs. Identity vs. Identifier 30:52 Sign-in with Ethereum 36:12 The Benefits of SIWE 39:15 The Rest of the SIWE Iceberg 40:50 Bringing Your Own Data Vault 46:19 Data Representing Identity 48:54 Identity & Data Vaults 50:40 Dapps & Use Cases 56:16 The Future of SIWE 1:02:33 Zero Knowledge Proofs & Minimal Disclosure 1:07:09 Bots 1:08:30 Deep Fakes 1:09:39 Session Keys & No More Cookies 1:15:14 Ethereum the Blockchain’s Role 1:17:25 Ethereum & Identity 1:19:40 Why Log-in with Ethereum? 1:22:30 Censorship Resistance 1:24:40 Festival of the Commons 1:29:40 SIWE Next Steps 1:31:43 Why SIWE is Important 1:32:52 Closing & Disclaimers
------ Resources:
Sprue https://spruceid.com
Read EIP 4361 https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-4361
Wayne Chang https://twitter.com/wycdd
----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.
Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures
20VC: Framework For Hiring The Best Talent 100% Remotely, Raising $32M From Benchmark and GV Pre-Launch and How To Think Through Capital Efficiency and Runway Today with Jeff Seibert and Wayne Chang, Co-Founders @ Digits
Wayne Chang and Jeff Seibert are the co-founders @ Digits, the company that gives you a complete, real-time understanding of your expenses, all in just a few clicks. To date, Wayne and Jeff have raised over $32M for Digits from some of the best in the business including Peter Fenton @ Benchmark and Jess Verrilli @ GV and then with the most incredible base of angels with the founders from Box, Github, Stitch Fix, Tinder, Gusto and more. Prior to Digits, Wayne and Jeff co-founded Crashlytics, acquired by Twitter for a 9-figure sum in Jan 2013 and then acquired from Twitter by Google in 2017. If that was not enough they are also LPs in some of the world's most exclusive funds and angels in the likes of Gusto, OpenDoor and SoFi to name a few.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How did Jeff and Wayne make their way into the world of tech and startups? How did Wayne crashing a startup dinner start everything for them?
2.) How did Jeff and Wayne's prior success with Crashlytics impact their operating mindset scaling Digits today? What worked? What did not work? What gets easier with time? What gets harder the second time around?
3.) What have been Wayne and Jeff's biggest lessons from having a remote team from Day 1? What structure and framework do they use to hire the best remote talent? How does that change at the exec level? How do they think about optimising product management for remote teams?
4.) How would Wayne and Jeff summarise their design philosophy with Digits? Why does Wayne believe "minimalism only favours the designer"? When does it make sense to actually add some complexity to your product?
5.) Digits raised $33M pre-launch, why did they favour this approach? How do they think about when to transition from lean and iterative to aggressive and pouring fuel on the fire? Why did they choose to work with Peter Fenton? How do they think about optimising their angel network?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Wayne's Fave Book: Enders Game
Jeff's Fave Book: Creative Selection: Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs
As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here!
20VC: How To Run The Perfect Fundraising Process, Why Time Kills All Deals & Why You Have To Get VCs Out Of The Board Room with Wayne Chang, Serial Entrepreneur & Angel Investor
Wayne Chang is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor. His latest company, Crashlytics, was acquired by Twitter in a 9-figure acquisition, its largest acquisition at the time. 5 years later, Crashlytics was acquired again, this time by Google. Wayne is also a prolific angel investor with a portfolio that includes the likes of OpenDoor, SoFi, Gusto, JetSmarter and Planet Labs just to name a few. If that was not enough, Wayne is also a limited partner in several prominent funds including the likes of 137 Ventures, Baseline Ventures, and Boston Seed Capital.
In Today's Episode You Will Learn:
1.) How did Wayne make his way into the world of founding tech companies and what was the founding story with Crashlytics?
2.) Why does Wayne believe that one of the first hires founders must make is a recruiter? What are the benefits of having this as a dedicated function so early? What must founders look for in these early recruiter hires?
3.) Why does Wayne believe that with regards to VC, you "must avoid the board room"? What is a better environment to interact and pitch? How can early stage startups look to stand out in the rather process driven pitching game?
4.) What is the optimal way for founders to be put in touch with VCs? Should founders speak to associates in the fundraising days? Why does Wayne believe the power of the warm intro is lopsided?
5.) How can founders look to create a sense of urgency within the VC community when raising and closing their round? How can founders look to create a sense of FOMO within the investor class they are pitching? Should they name other funds they are seeing?
Items Mentioned In Today's Show:
Wayne's Fave Book: Enders Game
Wayne's Fave Blog: Hacker News
As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Wayne on Twitter here!
Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
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20 VC FF 032: Jeff Seibert on Lessons From Being Acquired By Twitter & Box and Now Leading Twitter's Consumer Product
Jeff Seibert is an experienced serial-entrepreneur and currently Senior Director of Product at Twitter. Previously, Seibert was the CEO of Crashlytics, which he co-founded in 2011 with Wayne Chang. Crashlytics delivered crash analysis tools for iOS and Android apps via an SDK that reached 300 Million mobile devices worldwide. Crashlytics was acquired by Twitter in 2013 for $259m. In 2007, Seibert co-founded Increo and served as its COO and lead architect until its acquisition by Box in August of 2009. He subsequently oversaw the integration of Increo’s document preview and annotation technologies into the company's cloud-based content platform.
A special thank you to Mattermark for providing all the data displayed in today's show and you can find out more about Mattermark here! In Today's Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Jeff made his move into the wonderful world of tech?
Today we are going to break up your story into 3 chapters:
1.) Acquisition by Box:
What was it like going to Sand Hill Road to raise in 2009?
How much runway would Jeff advise for a startup and how can companies know whether a strategic acquisition is optimal or whether they should continue building with a further round?
Jeff has spoke before about being overly transparent with this team about the acquisition. What are the problems with being overly transparent and how can you balance the two?
2.) Acquired by Twitter:
At what point did Jeff transition to thinking the acquisition by Twitter would be a beneficial and viable and why?
A reason for Jeff being favourable to the acquisition was Twitter's agreement of continued investment in the space. How can founders negotiate and ensure that this occurs with their acquisition? One of the mistakes stated about the acquisition by Twitter was the reporting structure. How can founders ensure that they are speaking to the VPs of engineering, CEOs etc and attain the support they need?
3.) Life at Twitter:
How life is following the acquisition? What are Jeff's plans for the future as Senior Director of Product at Twitter?
Items Mentioned In Today's Episode: Jeff' Fave Book: How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie Jeff's Fave Blog or Newsletter: Daring Fireball As always you can follow The Twenty Minute VC, Harry and Jeff on Twitter here! If you would like to see a more colourful side to Harry with many a mojito session, you can follow him on Instagram here!
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