A positive perspective on startup investing: Investing in startups is a long journey with many failures, but focusing on advancements like the availability of vast amounts of information through the internet can bring optimism for the future.
Despite the long and arduous journey of startup investing, where most ventures fail and it takes a significant amount of time for successful ones to yield returns, Dalton and Michael remain optimistic about the future. They believe that maintaining a positive perspective is crucial, especially when faced with the constant barrage of negative news surrounding technology. By focusing on the advancements made since the 90s, such as the availability of vast amounts of information through the internet, they argue that we live in a time of unprecedented progress. The ease of access to information, from textual data to videos, has transformed the way we learn and connect with each other. These developments, though often overlooked amidst the negativity, are reasons to be optimistic about the future.
Advancements in technology have transformed our lives: Technology has made our lives more convenient, efficient, and accessible than ever before, with advancements in communications, transportation, healthcare, and entertainment.
The advancements in technology over the last few decades have significantly improved various aspects of our lives. From communications, where we now have access to numerous free messaging and calling apps, to transportation with ride-sharing services and digital maps, to healthcare with longer and better lives, and entertainment with an infinite supply of content at our fingertips. These advancements have made our lives more convenient, efficient, and accessible than ever before. It's hard to believe that just 20-30 years ago, we didn't have most of these conveniences. The world has changed rapidly, and it's fascinating to reflect on how far we've come.
From far-fetched ideas to earth-shattering innovations: Technological advancements that seem insignificant at first can have a profound impact on our lives, from revolutionizing internet access to transforming transportation. Keep an open mind about new technologies.
The technological advancements of the past may not have seemed groundbreaking at the time, but looking back, their impact on our lives has been earth-shattering. For instance, the development of Starlink, once seen as a far-fetched idea, is now revolutionizing internet access. Similarly, the evolution of cruise control, which started as a simple solution to dealing with shadows on the road, has transformed transportation. These innovations, while not immediately earth-shattering, will likely be viewed as significant improvements in hindsight. We are currently on the cusp of even more transformative technologies, such as self-driving cars, which may not yet be widely accepted but could drastically reduce accidents and save lives. As history shows us, it's important to keep an open mind about new technologies, even if they don't seem revolutionary at first.
Advancements in Renewable Energy and Space Travel: Renewable energy and space travel advancements bring about significant changes, yet pessimism persists due to lack of awareness or understanding.
Technological advancements, particularly in renewable energy and space travel, have made significant strides since the 1990s and continue to improve at an impressive rate. Yet, despite these advancements, there seems to be a pervasive sense of pessimism. For instance, the availability of renewable energy from sources like hydroelectric and solar is now a reality for many people, and it's becoming economically viable for them. Solar power, once seen as a futuristic concept, is now commonplace and unremarkable. Similarly, the dream of traveling to different parts of the world in just 45 minutes via rockets is no longer a distant fantasy but a tangible possibility. The cost of putting things into space is decreasing exponentially, following a trend akin to Moore's Law. These advancements have the potential to bring about incredible changes in the coming years. So, why the pessimism? It may be due to a lack of awareness or understanding of the current state of these technologies and their potential.
Embrace the future with trade-offs in mind: Recognize the interconnected world and technology's positive and negative aspects, and approach the future with confidence and excitement, acknowledging trade-offs.
While it's easy to get caught up in the polarized perspectives and expectations of a rapidly changing world, it's important to remember that there are always trade-offs. The world and technology are interconnected, with both good and bad aspects. It's unrealistic to expect only positive outcomes without any negatives. Moreover, the pace of innovation is inconsistent, and focusing too much on the problems can hinder progress. Instead, we should embrace the future and the opportunities it brings, recognizing that we all have a role in shaping it. That being said, it's exciting to think about the advancements our children will experience in the coming decades, and we should approach the future with confidence and excitement, rather than cynicism.
Stay optimistic and take action: Focus on making a positive impact instead of criticizing from the sidelines, as optimistic change-makers throughout history have done.
Maintaining an optimistic mindset is essential for making a positive impact in the world. Instead of adopting a cynical attitude and criticizing from the sidelines, it's more productive to focus on what we can do to contribute to solutions. Many influential change-makers throughout history were optimistic by nature, believing that their efforts could make a difference. So, rather than being the cool, snarky observer, invest yourself in making a difference by staying optimistic and taking action. Your heroes weren't people who never did anything but complained about the world; they were those who believed in the power of effort and made a difference. Choose to be one of those people.
Should You Be Optimistic About The Future of Technology?
Recent Episodes from Y Combinator
Consumer is back, What’s getting funded now, Immaculate vibes | Lightcone Podcast
What's happening in startups right now and how can you get ahead of the curve? In this episode of the Lightcone podcast, we dive deep into the major trends we're seeing from the most recent batch of YC using data we've never shared publicly before. This is a glimpse into what might be the most exciting moment to be a startup founder ever. It's time to build. YC is accepting late applications for the Summer 24 batch: ycombinator.com/apply
When Should You Trust Your Gut? | Dalton & Michael Podcast
When you’re making important decisions as a founder — like what to build or how it should work — should you spend lots of time gathering input from others or just trust your gut? In this episode of Dalton & Michael, we talk more about this and how to know when you should spend time validating and when to just commit. Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/DandM-apply Work at a Startup: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs
Inside The Hard Tech Startups Turning Sci-Fi Into Reality | Lightcone Podcast
YC has become a surprising force in the hard tech world, funding startups building physical products from satellites to rockets to electric planes. In this episode of Lightcone, we go behind the scenes to explore how YC advises founders on their ambitious startups. We also take a look at a number of YC's hard tech companies and how they got started with little time or money.
Building AI Models Faster And Cheaper Than You Think | Lightcone Podcast
If you read articles about companies like OpenAI and Anthropic training foundation models, it would be natural to assume that if you don’t have a billion dollars or the resources of a large company, you can’t train your own foundational models. But the opposite is true. In this episode of the Lightcone Podcast, we discuss the strategies to build a foundational model from scratch in less than 3 months with examples of YC companies doing just that. We also get an exclusive look at Open AI's Sora!
Building Confidence In Yourself and Your Ideas | Dalton & Michael Podcast
One trait that many great founders share is conviction. In this episode of Dalton & Michael, we’ll talk about finding confidence in what you're building, the dangers of inaccurate assumptions, and a question founders need to ask themselves before they start trying to sell to anyone else. Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/DandM-apply Work at a Startup: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs
Where Is The REAL Cerebral Valley? | Lightcone Podcast
In this episode of the Lightcone Podcast, YC Group Partners chart the evolution of San Francisco as the center of the startup world and how AI has brought everyone back to the city.
They also talk about why YC chose to open our new HQ in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco and share their advice for new founders moving to the city for the first time.
Stop Innovating (On The Wrong Things) | Dalton & Michael Podcast
Startups need to innovate to succeed. But not all innovation is made equal and reinventing some common best practices could actually hinder your company. In this episode, Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the common innovation pitfalls founders should avoid so they can better focus on their product and their customers. Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/DandM-apply Work at a Startup: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs
Apple Vision Pro: Startup Platform Of The Future?
In this episode of the Lightcone Podcast, YC Group Partners discuss the launch of the Apple Vision Pro and the potential of this new platform for new startups. This is a deep dive into the technical innovations Apple has made for this product, how this compares to the launch of the iPhone, and advice for founders interested in building in this space.
Should Your Startup Bootstrap or Raise Venture Capital?
Within the world of startups, you'll find lots of discourse online about the experiences of founders bootstrapping their startups versus the founders who have raised venture capital to fund their companies.
Is one better than the other? Truth is, it may not be so black and white. Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel discuss the virtues and struggles of both paths.
Apply to Y Combinator: https://yc.link/DandM-apply
Work at a Startup: https://yc.link/DandM-jobs
The Truth About Building AI Startups Today
In the first episode of the Lightcone Podcast, YC Group Partners dig into everything they have learned working with the top founders building AI startups today. They share the ideas that are working particularly well, mistakes to avoid, and take a look at the competitive landscape among the current AI giants.
Related Episodes
#015 - Sarah Nöckel: Building the Largest Community for Women in Tech & VC (Femstreet and Northzone VC)
Sarah Nöckel is the founder of Femstreet, the largest global community for women in Tech and Venture Capital. She's also a Venture Capitalist, working as an Investment Manager at Northzone. The trio talk building communities, growing side hustles, and female / minority representation in Tech and VC.
Femstreet: https://www.femstreet.com/
Sarah's Twitter: https://twitter.com/SarahNoeckel
This podcast provides regular content on technology investing and technology building. We also write long-form memos on all things tech investing and building. You can sign up for these monthly memo newsletters on the website: https://www.rationalvc.com/
We break everything down to first principles, to simplify the complex technology world. We aim to bring you content that is insightful, logical, and rational.
We cover tech products and tech companies across the lifecycle, from pre-seed to seed, Series A to D+, to IPOs and beyond. We also cover all investing methods including Angel Investing, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Hedge Funds, Public Markets, SPACs etc.
For more information on Cyrus, Iman and the channel, check out:
https://www.rationalvc.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyrusyari/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/imanolya1/
https://twitter.com/CyrusYari
https://twitter.com/iman_olya
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/rational-vc/id1537462327
Your feedback and comments are very welcome. We hope you enjoy listening as we embark on a journey to understand this space; clearly, and rationally, of course.
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Disclaimer: The content and materials provided are solely for informational purposes and do not constitute investment or legal advice. All opinions expressed by hosts and guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of their employer(s).
Swimming to Success, with Fares Ksebati
"Wefunder does not endorse, recommend, or advise investing in any company. "
S2E8: Dr. Amy Abernethy on Closing the Gap Between Clinical Practice and Clinical Research
Physicians make very big decisions in people's lives. Whether or not to put in a heart valve, whether to do a stent or surgery, what chemotherapy to dose. We often make these big decisions with very little data for decision support. This has to change. As we discuss in this episode, the future of medicine will involve advanced machine learning to improve clinical decision making, and better ways to match patients to personalized therapies.
Dr. Amy Abernethy is an oncologist, specialist in palliative care medicine, researcher, previous Professor of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, previous Scientific and Medical Chief Officer of Flatiron Health, and previous Principal Deputy Commissioner of the FDA.
Theory and Practice is a presentation of GV and Google AI.
Hosted by Anthony Philippakis (Venture Partner at GV) and Alex Wiltschko (Staff Research Scientist with Google AI), Theory and Practice opens the doors to the cutting edge of biology and computer science through conversations with leaders in the field.
#032 - Rational Musings: The Generational Shift Within VC, Mimetic Desire, & Hiring Struggles
Cyrus and Iman discuss contrasting management methods in tech, hiring struggles in the marketplace, mimetic desire, environmental factors affecting investor decisions, the Matthew effect in relation to VC performance, and the generational shift within VC.
You can also watch this in video format on our youtube channel to see supporting material: https://youtu.be/Kqf_9v5pGDM
Materials referenced:
AGM on Apple vs Coinbase: https://twitter.com/DavidSacks/status/1443846265582735362?s=20
Fred Destin on Europe Hiring: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/freddestin_talent-wars-in-london-seem-absolutely-brutal-activity-6842174071707324416-MLX8
Nothing is normal anymore: https://twitter.com/fintechjunkie/status/1445377537593516035?s=20
Investor moods being affected by the weather: https://twitter.com/emollick/status/1439757466439503875?s=20
Power laws and path dependence: https://twitter.com/trengriffin/status/1438875618930683904?s=20
The great generational shift within VC: https://fortune.com/2021/09/24/the-great-generational-shift-within-venture-capital/ https://twitter.com/ShaanVP/status/1443002382053380098?s=20
https://bijansabet.com/2021/09/23/stepping-back-at-spark-capital/
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Rational VC provides regular content on technology investing and technology building. We also write long-form memos on all things tech investing and building. You can sign up for these monthly memo newsletters on the website: https://www.rationalvc.com/
We break everything down to first principles, to simplify the complex technology world. We aim to bring you content that is insightful, logical, and rational.
We cover tech products and tech companies across the lifecycle, from pre-seed to seed, Series A to D+, to IPOs and beyond. We also cover all investing methods including Angel Investing, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Hedge Funds, Public Markets, SPACs etc.
For more information on Cyrus, Iman and the channel, check out:
https://www.rationalvc.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cyrusyari/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/imanolya1/
https://twitter.com/CyrusYari
https://twitter.com/iman_olya
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/rational-vc/id1537462327
Your feedback and comments are very welcome. We hope you enjoy listening as we embark on a journey to understand this space; clearly, and rationally, of course.
---
Disclaimer: The content and materials provided are solely for informational purposes and do not constitute investment or legal advice. All opinions expressed by hosts and guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of their employer(s). No copyright infringement intended.
S4E7: Google DeepMind’s Clément Farabet on AI Reasoning
In this season of Theory and Practice, we explore newly emerging human-like artificial intelligence and robots — and how we can learn as much about ourselves, as humans, as we do about the machines we use. As we near the end of Season 4, we explore whether decision-making and judgment are still the final preserve of humans.
Our guest for Episode 7 is Dr. Clément Farabet, VP of Research at Google DeepMind. For the past 15 years, Dr. Farabet’s work has been guided by a central mission: figuring out how to build AI systems that can learn on their own — and ultimately redefine how we write software. We discuss the conundrum in the Chinese Room Argument to explore whether computers can achieve artificial general intelligence.
Dr. Farabet outlines four modules required for computers to demonstrate understanding. These modules include a predictive model of its environment that can create a representation of its world and an ability to store memories. He also points to the ability to perform reasoning about possible futures from its representation and memories. And finally, he explains how the ability to act in the world is key to illustrating understanding.
Dr. Fabaret believes that we can build computers to become more human-like than most people may realize, but the overarching goal should be to build systems that improve human life.