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Will McCreadie Profile
Will McCreadie

@McCreadieWill

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Global Resilience @generalcatalyst - climate, defense and industrials | Prev @Lux_Capital

San Francisco, CA
Joined May 2019
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
People don’t understand the difference between a million and a billion. Unconventional way to grasp this: 1 million seconds ≈ 11 days 1 billion seconds ≈ 31 YEARS ht @APompliano
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@naval In general: You trust things created before you were 15. You’re somewhat skeptical if it was built in years 15-45 If it’s created after you were 45, you’re likely to think it’s stupid or dangerous. Applies to tech and culture.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
Takeaways from @APompliano ’s podcast with Cramer. 1. Cramer’s relentless optimism is the key to his success. He’s had plenty of failures, but optimism ensures many shots on goal. 2. Pomp explaining BTC to someone with a legacy finance background is 👌.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
1/ 47% of ALL active satellites in space are controlled by 4 companies. 35% are owned by SpaceX alone Time for a 🛰🧵👇
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@micsolana Great example of a scarcity and abundance dynamic. When most info is static, current, dynamic info was valuable. Now that most information is dynamic, immutable info and opinions are scarce and valuable. Permanence has gone from feature -> bug -> feature
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@paulg There’s going to be a competitive advantage in doing business as usual. Everyone seems to want a snow day, shorter hours, more flexibility, and lower expectations. Firms that focus on getting back to normal, putting the user first again, etc, should outperform here
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
1/ On recent Real Vision, @wolfejosh makes a great point: SPACs foster a deterioration of discipline. Abundance of capital creates a sense of *scarcity* in the M&A landscape.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@naval Introduce a problem, supply a solution. This is business. Introduce a problem, without a solution. This is news.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@patrick_oshag This is a once a decade thing. For me it’s The Big Short
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@paulg 10% while constantly opening new windows
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@paulg Tim Urban has a nice metaphor for this. You start out in a small stream, childhood. Everyone gets funneled into the river of adolescence, swept on mostly the same path, until college, where you’re in a lagoon of optionality (more freedom but less direction. Adulthood is the ocean
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@zebulgar Lux Capital: What sucks, and how does this fix it? Collaborative Fund: Is this good for me & good for the world? SoftBank: Is this the most absurd way to torch $300 M?
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@APompliano Wrath of the Khans - Hard Core History
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
Few people on Twitter are having as much fun as @APompliano ...intense positivity is refreshing
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@chamath I really respect that you actually read them and followed through on this. It’s refreshing in a world where accountability is so rare.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@paulg Favorite stat from this era: In 1989, based on comps, the land under Japan’s imperial palace was “worth” more than all the real estate in California COMBINED Value is a fascinating psychological construct.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@mckaywrigley The science of longevity. Healthspan hacks everyone can take (layers of abstraction over that science): - exercise (strength and cardio) - sleep - limit sugar - eat real food - get uncomfortably hot and cold often - skip breakfast occasionally
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@vcstarterkit VC explaining fixed bedtime and the need to eat vegetables to child: “those terms are standard”
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
5 years
@patrick_oshag Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy. He read 300 books to write it. It’s a dark, beautiful, and genius examination of evil.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
2 years
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@zebulgar @sriramk Love how Mark Zuckerberg couldn’t get the @zuck handle
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@APompliano As long as you consider it in light of the old facts. The easily swayed are not more intelligent than the stubborn.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@patrick_oshag The non-gaming uses of gaming engines are more interesting: - immersive surgery training - dramatic cellular bio lessons - VR assisted architecture - next level data visualizations Major value to unlock by shrinking the gap between simulation and reality as @wolfejosh notes
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@paulg Have you heard of YC?
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@patrick_oshag Short: @Navalmanack Fiction: Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy Sci: Lifespan - Sinclair Business: Elon Musk - Vance
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@naval Life is what happens when you’re busy planning for other things. Be present, but keep moving. don’t be 1. depressed (living in the past) or 2. anxious (living in the future) Take joy in everything, but don’t be complacent. That’s the theory anyway...
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@paulg Similar: Germany mines coal with this Bagger 288. 315 ft high, 13,500 tons. Note the 90 ton bulldozer for scale in the left corner... We need to approach decarbonization with the same intensity.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@mckaywrigley Be uncommonly good at two unrelated things
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@naval Necessary to achieve any of these are: 1. time 2. effort 3. focus Anything cool is hard.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@micsolana Creation is hard, criticism is easy. And that’s not even insightful criticism. Really not sure what people get out of shitting on others’ work like this.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
Huge day for an important company. In the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy, @bznotes pledged to fight gun violence + helped form Evolv. Almost a decade later, the world is safer because of this commitment to action.
@bznotes
Bilal Zuberi
3 years
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
Early versions of Amazon, Apple, GoogleMaps, and New York Times websites. You can see how some people missed how big the internet would be, even as late as the early 2000s. Great things come from humble beginnings (images from @VersionMuseum )
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@naval Curiosity is the path to getting over the hump in any subject, from running to cooking to piano or math...how far can I go with this? “ What makes this interesting to the people who are great at it?” is a good question to ask.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
12 days
Hardware engineers deserve modern tools, and @Nominal_io is upstream of progress in everything from subsea drones to satellites. So excited to partner with @CameronLMcCord , @brycestrauss , @jrshoch and the entire Nominal team!
@generalcatalyst
General Catalyst
12 days
Industrial resilience demands alignment of physical systems & digital breakthroughs. 🏭 Thrilled to lead @Nominal_io ’s $20M Series A & welcome @CameronLMcCord , @BryceStrauss , @jrshoch , & team to the GC family! By Paul, @AlexaLiautaud , @McCreadieWill
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
All of @EricJorgenson ’s Navalmanack is worth rereading each year...but if you could learn just one thing from it, my current pick is this:
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
2/ One of the top 4 is incredible Lux portco Planet Labs, which helps people: • track climate change + deforestation • monitor crops • guide nat. disaster response • uncover human rights abuses + hidden Chinese missiles More from @wolfejosh
@wolfejosh
Josh Wolfe
4 years
1/ "What It Looks Like From Space When Everything Stops" Lux family co @planetlabs with STUNNING before + after satellite photos... Starting with Kaaba in Mecca...
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@zebulgar We need to make PhDs in the hard sciences as lucrative as ML PhDs
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@naval Social climbing is off putting, but the desire for status is a byproduct of evolution (safer in the group than on your own, safer at the top than st the bottom of a hierarchy). It goes beyond obvious virtue signaling, often altruistic behavior is subconsciously status related.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@paulg These email screenshots are gold.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
The most influential thinkers offer: - concise, specific insights - honesty - humility - data-driven predictions @chamath @wolfejosh @profgalloway @PeterZeihan do this well Together, these traits foster: - credibility - clarity - audience loyalty - differentiated views
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@zebulgar Real life: you bullied yourself in middle school and, doing some self reflection decided to schedule a catch up call with your subconscious
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@paulg @mckaywrigley Clever edge case. Which book that’s not your own though?
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
3/ Here’s a detailed breakdown of the other large players in space.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
4/ People often think space is dominated by gov, but falling launch costs + rise of smallsats have changed the picture Today, 71% of all active satellites are solely commercial.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@patrick_oshag The best content is often free.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@zebulgar Anything perceived as a secret path to a desired outcome is quickly discovered and the advantage is competed away.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
1. You can learn more in a dinner with @bznotes than in an entire semester of most classes. 2. The world needs more @zareens_CA Thanks BZ!
@bznotes
Bilal Zuberi
3 years
Internship at Lux is not complete without a meal at @zareens_CA !
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
The Lux-Gates portfolio is pretty stacked: Kymeta (metamaterial-based mobile to satellite antenna) Kallyope (using gut-brain axis to fight disease) Evolv (next gen security) Pivotal Commware (metamaterial-based communications + HBF) Echodyne (metamaterial-based radar)
@wolfejosh
Josh Wolfe
4 years
TECH enabling ART If you enter @MuseumModernArt and many other iconic cultural institutions You will pass thru @EvolvTechnology (backed by Lux + Bill Gates)
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@naval Again, side product of evolution. The less you need, the more you can afford to give, the “fitter” you are in a Darwinian sense. It’s Zahavi’s Handicap Theory
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
2 years
@bznotes is the GOAT. Sharing wisdom + tapas w/ new grads + PhD candidates in DC
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@defaultalive Better still: entire content of email is in the subject line. No signature
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@paulg Potential scam form we’ll see in the future: someone creates a bot army shamelessly promoting an upstanding person. As a form of extortion, the target would have to pay to prevent their social credibility from being eroded by the lame bots hyping them up
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
Early versions of Amazon, Apple, GoogleMaps, and New York Times websites. You can see how some people missed how big the internet would be, even as late as the early 2000s. Great things come from humble beginnings (images from @VersionMuseum )
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@paulg Scary story: WeWork SPACs from the grave with a new portfolio of Masa authored NFTs on its balance sheet after merging with Nikola, thunder rolls in the distance as the Reddit horde descends.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@patrick_oshag AMC hut-to-hut hiking in New Hampshire (low key, great views, adventure) -> nature + comfort Stockholm (Vasa museum, island theme park, great history, ferry transport) -> strange, magical city
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@naval People think original ideas are hard. They’re actually easy, just go niche. Original ideas that generalize well are harder.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
7/ Whole interview is great. Also touches on two major Lux focus areas: 1. A new foundational layer of scientific tools. 2. A new economic layer in space. The future is bright.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
11/ All data is current through May 1st, 2021 (raw data is from the Union of Concerned Scientists) Ownership % will shift month to month, but the point stands: satellite mega-constellations are a game changer.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
If you liked this, there are more original space data visualizations on the way. Follow along for updates!
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
2 years
@paulg Inspiration for v2, after you build the MVTree …this one has a sauna, soaking tub, rain shower king bed, fireplace, and pizza oven.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@APompliano It’s fascinating, dramatic, and super long.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
2 years
@pmarca What stat do you find most surprising?
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@naval Sometimes you need to pause. “Don’t confuse action with progress”
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@hackerrdave @justinhj @paulg And the companies that seek it have built a brand around it (Basecamp, Wordpress, etc). Most companies are still asleep at the wheel here. Also, only a small percentage of people actually thrive remote in the LR...there’s an inertia to being at home
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@balajis Good to look at nature as a model here. Can you imagine if a forest was just a few giant trees? Cut one down and the whole ecosystem degrades.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@paulg Agreed. My 15 yo brother has a similar story: Strung together Shopify and two different on-demand t-shirt printers to ride Netflix hype making TV show themed shirts. On peak days he was doing $1,000 revenue/day at high margins
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@zebulgar Imagine an off brand version of Twitter called Thunderdome...built entirely around debate. Top debates are ported into 1 v 1 clubhouse rooms, March madness bracket style tournament
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@micsolana Related (in my limited experience): Be uncommonly good at at least two normally unrelated things. Much easier to add value through differentiation than brute force.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@traestephens @micsolana Billionaires aren’t perfect :)
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
Secrets to @AtomLimbs ’s success building mind-controlled bionic limbs: 1. Confluence of tech (ML, small robotic actuators, 3D printing) 2. JHU research + $100 M in gov grants 3. Interdisciplinary founder @eriktorenberg ’s podcast w/ @thetylerhayes 🦾
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
5/ Just as int’g as the scale of the top 4 projects is their rollout SPEED Planet Labs was the first of the top 4 to make it into space (2013) Starlink + OneWeb didn’t launch their first satellites until *2019*
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
Awesome list 👌 Most progress in society comes from opposing entropy in one of these ways:
@wolfejosh
Josh Wolfe
4 years
7/ Whether that is -producing art -serving others -treating patients -teaching students -promoting justice -accelerating tech progress -advancing cures + treatments -educating or entertaining people -empowering + inspiring others, reducing human suffering Fierce focus on that..
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
6/ There are a TOTAL of 4,084 active satellites in space. Starlink hopes to build a constellation of 42,000.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@paulg @mckaywrigley Love @patrick_oshag ’s learn -> create-> share as the framework for personal & professional growth
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@paulg “Son let me tell you the tale of Juicero, whose funding was broad and whose vision was narrow”
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@lpolovets There’s a lot of nuance abstracted in “combine it with hot water”
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@paulg Child version of Sean Parker
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@APompliano Digital art isn’t worthless. Value is about perceived utility. The utility of this is a combination of: a. Social signaling (display wealth and sophistication) b. Ego validation (be part of history, exclusivity) c. Aesthetic satisfaction
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@paulg Phase 4: People try to disrupt/copy/criticize you because it works. I’m always interested watching the media turn on a startup they supported as an underdog and vilify as a victor. Few companies maintain the warm glow of a startup as a large company. @stripe comes to mind.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@zebulgar Sleep remains underrated. Sleep < 6 hours for 1 week: you’re now insulin resistant. Sleep < 6 hours on avg: you’re 70% more likely to get an athletic injury. Sleep poorly for years: you’re more likely to develop Alzheimer’s, gain weight, have a heart attack, crash a car...
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@APompliano Good point. However, a million dollars isn’t what it used to be
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@paulg Math on this here:
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@zebulgar For anyone newly interested in steel foams:
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@paulg Related: When I was 7 I thought 80% seemed like a lot. When I was 12 I thought 30% seemed like a lot. At 17 5% seemed significant. Now 2% seems like a lot. What changed: Experience, math exposure, appreciation of scale.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@chamath Some other stats: • 80% of all private European homes burning coal in are in Poland. • 74% of the country’s electricity is coal-based. • The country is home to 33 of Europe’s 50 most polluted cities. This kind of asymmetry presents a major climate tech/policy opportunity
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@paulg Austin feels too mainstream, regulatory climate in Miami is favorable. My pick for the next “new valley”: Denver. Inexpensive places to live nearby, great amenities, tons of land, huge airport, good weather and few competing VCs.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
8/ You can solve this by going lower, but the trade-off is that each sat can transmit to a smaller area on Earth. Musk’s answer: more sats! (at far lower launch costs)
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@wolfejosh To add some color to these puns:
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
1 year
1/ Excited to launch a “A Quick Look”, a blog I’m writing with @bznotes . This “lab notebook” highlights lessons from the founders we meet, and our research in evolving fields. Each post shares resources we’ve learned from, and raises new questions. Reach out w/ your answers!
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
@APompliano @kanyewest Let’s get Ye on the pod.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
4 years
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
7/ Why so many? Traditional satcomm used a few large, expensive sats 🛰 ($200 million +) at high orbits to provide coverage to a large region. BUT higher orbit -> higher data latency Result: slow + expensive service
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@patrick_oshag Dogecoin because it speaks to social dynamics and the power of Twitter to build audiences, manipulate markets, and redistribute influence (see Musk manipulation here) Augur is another interesting one but haven’t seen it used at scale yet.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
9/ 81% of satellites already live in low Earth orbit (LEO)...expect this to ⬆️ over time.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@patrick_oshag @ChipotleTweets @zbfuss @jspujji This is a dream breakdown. Two of the best @InvestLikeBest guests in recent memory, bringing different perspectives on an awesome brand and business.
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@McCreadieWill
Will McCreadie
3 years
@patrick_oshag @AmericanExpress Debt as a status symbol :) Actually though, it’s the rewards program and how it offers differentiation, or the way they maintain high merchant fees in a crowded field.
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