Death to SaaS: clean your iCloud edition

My iCloud was full b/c my iMessage has 20GB of attachments. Pay more? Pay for an app to fix it? Nah, Claude wrote me this script. imessage_cleanup.sh.JPG  (download it, unzip it, rename it to remove the .JPG so it's just imessage_cleanup.sh) Put it on your…

Cold email? Start here.

If you’re thinking of cold-emailing me or asking to “pick my brain,” start here. I’ve been writing online since 1998. I’ve built companies, invested in others, taught, experimented, and tried to write down what I was learning along the way. Many of the questions I get are…

Everything is fine…

Topic Good / Bad (since Jan 2025) Confidence Inflation rate (CPI YoY) 🟢 Slightly lower; gradual downward drift ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Price level (cost of living) 🔴 Higher (prices compound upward) ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Unemployment rate 🟢 Near multi-decade lows ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Job growth pace 🟡 Slower than prior expansion;…

Claude coincidence

OG #10: PJ Parson + new vibier sound on Fred Wilson and Kevin Ryan Tune in John Borthwick (Betaworks) Highlight: Media, art, and agencies at the heart of early NY tech, plus predictions for today’s ecosystem. URL: Owen Davis (Contour, NYC Seed) Highlight: How advertising powered early NYC tech and the post-dot-com transition to consumer and enterprise superstars. URL: Albert Wenger (Union Square Ventures) Highlight: USV’s evolution from consumer apps to deep tech, lessons from Delicious, Tumblr, Foursquare, and frameworks for crypto + AI.

OG #10: PJ Parson + new vibier sound on Fred Wilson and Kevin Ryan

Tune in John Borthwick (Betaworks) Highlight: Media, art, and agencies at the heart of early NY tech, plus predictions for today’s ecosystem. URL: Owen Davis (Contour, NYC Seed) Highlight: How advertising powered early NYC tech and…

PJ Parson, Northzone and Spotify Early look. Full episode guide coming soon.

PJ Parson, Northzone and Spotify

Early look. Full episode guide coming soon.

Team IQ: a short book on how teams work together A few years ago as Knotel was getting really big headcount-wise, I found our people weren't working together super well and wanted to learn about all the stuff you hear about in management books and leadership classes. So I did a version of my old academic cognitive science research and wrote up everything I learned. Here's Team IQ, available for you: Amol's Team IQ Memo. Download it here, Amol's Team IQ Memo.

Team IQ: a short book on how teams work together

A few years ago as Knotel was getting really big headcount-wise, I found our people weren't working together super well and wanted to learn about all the stuff you hear about in management books and leadership classes. So I did a version of my old…

Kevin Ryan, Alleycorp + MongoDB ++ Doubleclick, Dilbert Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech Celebrating 30 years of the New York tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Kevin Ryan joined DoubleClick in 1996, just months after it was founded—and helped turn it into the most important New York technology company of the internet era. From there, he went on to co-found or incubate a generation of defining NYC companies: …

Kevin Ryan, Alleycorp + MongoDB ++ Doubleclick, Dilbert

Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech Celebrating 30 years of the New York tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Kevin Ryan joined DoubleClick in 1996, just months after it was founded—and helped turn it into the most important New York technology…

Why wasn’t China at Davos? “Never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake” -Napoleon From 1775 onward, the recurring plot twist is this: the power that best manages coalitions and finance usually beats the power that wins battles. Britain turned that into an art form; Napoleon turned the opposite error into performance art. 1775–1815: Britain’s two superpowers were credit and patience 1775–1783 (American Revolution): Britain loses not because it can’t fight, but because it’s fighting an expeditionary war across an ocean against a rebellion that can shop for patrons.

Why wasn’t China at Davos?

The Rhineland in the Age of AI That border strip at the Rhine on used to be about moving atoms: coal, steel, troops, grain. Power equaled tonnage times timetable. Rail, river, and road were the operating system of empire. Whoever scheduled the trains won the war. Now power is mostly about moving symbols and instructions: capital, code, designs, patents, standards, narratives. Tonnage still matters, but it’s no longer the headline act.

The Rhineland in the Age of AI

Telecom cage match

Telecom cage match

Morrissey’s politics and his lost album Alert! New album coming soon. My favorite naive comment from people about Morrissey who know only two things is the second one (the first involves 'mope') -- Morrissey's politics are offensive to someone somewhere, mainly about the "England for the English" line and remixes thereof in song and comment ("Bengali In Platforms"..."life is hard enough when you belong here.") Well, interpret the artist and the songs and the public performances...

Morrissey’s politics and his lost album

Alert! New album coming soon. My favorite naive comment from people about Morrissey who know only two things is the second one (the first involves 'mope') -- Morrissey's politics are offensive to someone somewhere, mainly about the "England for the English"…

Damon Wayans

Damon Wayans

Flaming Lips play Madonna

Flaming Lips play Madonna

Dane Cook

Dane Cook

A walk in Nepal In the Kumbu region, near Mt. Everest

A walk in Nepal

In the Kumbu region, near Mt. Everest

Howard Morgan, First Round and BCap Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Howard Morgan started as an engineer and professor in the early computing days, and ended up building three (four? five?) huge and import investment groups. Renaissance... Idealab... and listen for more on the early computing gods through to Bitcoin and AI.

Howard Morgan, First Round and BCap

Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Howard Morgan started as an engineer and professor in the early computing days, and ended up building three (four? five?) huge and import investment groups.…

Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Fred Wilson's USV is kind of a 'nuff said, to borrow NYC comic book language. Hear the very early days and listen past through into the epilogue to hear Fred on music scenes and the process of discovery.

Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures

Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Fred Wilson's USV is kind of a 'nuff said, to borrow NYC comic book language. Hear the very early days and listen past through into the epilogue to hear Fred on…

Alan Patricof, APAX, Greycroft and Primetime Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Alan Patricof's been at it since he graduated from Columbia Business School just a couple years apart from Warren Buffett. And you might as well think of him in that same legend league, in Alan's case for Venture Capital. We start from the very early days and go right through today.

Alan Patricof, APAX, Greycroft and Primetime

Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Alan Patricof's been at it since he graduated from Columbia Business School just a couple years apart from Warren Buffett. And you might as well think of…

Is Tesla overvalued? TESLA AT ~300X P/E — HISTORICAL CONTEXT WITH AMAZON, APPLE, MSFT, NVIDIA (All text preserved, no rich formatting, headings in CAPS) AMAZON (AMZN) Peak valuation moment: Peak P/E (TTM): approximately 563x Dec 2015 quarter: P/E 563.23 with price $33.79, EPS $0.06 (cite: turn14search0) Approx market cap then: about $320B (2015 year-end) (cite: turn6search16) Net income in 2015: $0.59B (cite: turn8search3, turn8search10)

Is Tesla overvalued?

Developers, developers, developers! That famous line is now Basketball, basketball, basketball. In this interview, Ballmer quite rehabilitates what I thought about his tenure at MSFT: the age of Azure (he owns more of MSFT than Bill Gates.)

Developers, developers, developers!

That famous line is now Basketball, basketball, basketball. In this interview, Ballmer quite rehabilitates what I thought about his tenure at MSFT: the age of Azure (he owns more of MSFT than Bill Gates.)

New states, no states vs United States Balaji at Network School: “we think the government should be 5% of GDP Vs the US (what would you zero out?) Federal spending is about 23–24% of U.S. GDP in recent years. Think of it as a big, lopsided pie with a fondness for retirees and missiles. The rough allocation looks like this: Elderly: Around 10% of GDP. This includes Social Security (~5% GDP) and Medicare (~5% GDP).

New states, no states vs United States

Balaji at Network School: “we think the government should be 5% of GDP Vs the US (what would you zero out?) Federal spending is about 23–24% of U.S. GDP in recent years. Think of it as a big, lopsided pie with a fondness for retirees and missiles. The rough…

Ben Lerer, Thrillist and Lerer Hippeau Ventures Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Ben Lerer tells us what ideas led to the creation of a whole new type of media company in the 2000s -- Thrillist -- and the age of newsletters and bloggers in New York, and how the powerhouse seed-stage venture firm Lerer Hippeau came from it all.

Ben Lerer, Thrillist and Lerer Hippeau Ventures

Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Ben Lerer tells us what ideas led to the creation of a whole new type of media company in the 2000s -- Thrillist -- and the age of newsletters and…

Vitamin D = NBD Vitamin D. Stop taking it. The last 20 years were a lot of talk about Vitamin D. In the end, it's pointless to take it (though it doesn't hurt, except your pocketbook.) Scientific American roundup and deep dive article.

Vitamin D = NBD

Vitamin D. Stop taking it. The last 20 years were a lot of talk about Vitamin D. In the end, it's pointless to take it (though it doesn't hurt, except your pocketbook.) Scientific American roundup and deep dive article.

Dennis Crowley, Foursquare and Dodgeball Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Dennis Crowley tells us how he got to New York and the early internet culture in the media/Wall Street world: and how it all led to Foursquare.

Dennis Crowley, Foursquare and Dodgeball

Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Dennis Crowley tells us how he got to New York and the early internet culture in the media/Wall Street world: and how it all led to Foursquare.

Albert Wenger, Union Square Ventures Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Albert Wenger tells me about his 20 years at USV, and how NY went from apps-mostly to deep and infra.

Albert Wenger, Union Square Ventures

Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Albert Wenger tells me about his 20 years at USV, and how NY went from apps-mostly to deep and infra.

Taurine and happiness I think it’s an overlooked miracle drug. Taurine’s Interaction with GABAergic Signalling Taurine is a β-amino sulfonic acid abundant in brain tissue and acts as a neuromodulator. It binds and activates certain subtypes of the GABA_A receptor (ionotropic inhibitory receptor) in the human/mammalian brain, although with lower potency than GABA itself — for example, EC₅₀ ≈ 116 µM for taurine vs ~3.7 µM for GABA in one study.

Taurine and happiness

I think it’s an overlooked miracle drug. Taurine’s Interaction with GABAergic Signalling Taurine is a β-amino sulfonic acid abundant in brain tissue and acts as a neuromodulator. It binds and activates certain subtypes of the GABA_A receptor (ionotropic inhibitory receptor)…

Owen Davis, Contour and NYC Seed Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Owen Davis tells us how advertising powered early NYC tech and the big transition post-dot-com-crash to both consumer and enterprise tech superstars from New York.

Owen Davis, Contour and NYC Seed

Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. Owen Davis tells us how advertising powered early NYC tech and the big transition post-dot-com-crash to both consumer and enterprise tech superstars from New York.

John Borthwick, Betaworks Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. John Borthwick tells us the roots story of media and art and agencies at the heart of the early NY tech ecosystem and some of the players, and takes it through predictions for what to expect today.

John Borthwick, Betaworks

Welcome to my series on OG NY Tech -- celebrating 30 years of NY tech ecosystem, from 1995 to now. John Borthwick tells us the roots story of media and art and agencies at the heart of the early NY tech ecosystem and some of the players, and takes it through predictions…

What to know about Tylenol, Folate, Autism Lots of noise lately: RFK, Trump, Tylenol, folate, autism. Even GSK got pulled in. The Harvard/MIT crowd I talk to says: the Tylenol link is weak. Moms take Tylenol because they’re sick, and it’s the fever itself that’s more strongly tied to ASD risk. That’s why the real research is focused on immune pathways, not acetaminophen. Folate and leucovorin? Same story—no meaningful data.

What to know about Tylenol, Folate, Autism

Lots of noise lately: RFK, Trump, Tylenol, folate, autism. Even GSK got pulled in. The Harvard/MIT crowd I talk to says: the Tylenol link is weak. Moms take Tylenol because they’re sick, and it’s the fever itself that’s more strongly tied to ASD risk.…