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Alex Konrad Profile
Alex Konrad

@alexrkonrad

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Senior editor @Forbes covering venture capital and tech. Edit the Midas List, Cloud 100 and 30 Under 30 VC. Plus one to @N_Sportelli . email: akonrad @forbes .com

Joined March 2009
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
28 days
News: CEO Sam Altman has said he holds no shares in OpenAI. Startup bets like Helion, Stripe and Reddit have now made him a billionaire. @_pheebini and I poured through filings and spoke to a dozen-plus people for the closest accounting yet, in @Forbes :
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
6 years
My aunt sent a gif of Steve Harvey clapping to the whole fam and my grandma went to the Verizon store to make it stop
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
Whoever rebranded “skipping breakfast” as “intermittent fasting” is a goddamn genius
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
It’s up to 20 degrees outside so of course there’s an impromptu dance party happening in the Union Square subway station 🔥 #iloveNY
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
lord give me the confidence of young VCs submitting to 30 Under 30 after joining a firm six months ago from a banking job
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
6 months
if the CEO of Microsoft still pulls all-nighters, so can you 🫡
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
Always a crushing blow when you get served a second CAPTCHA test
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
7 months
this was peak boy math, never forget
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
congrats to sheryl sandberg on her new job at a16z
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
7 months
lol this entire Taylor Swift / Travis Kelce thing is a stunt by Ryan Reynolds' marketing agency, perfect 🙃
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
What's your favorite strategy for catching up on email? Mine is to open Twitter, then reddit, then Twitter again
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
Best part of Mailchimp’s $12 billion sale: the company was bootstrapped, so zero “proud early investor” tweets
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
11 months
Big VC news: Sequoia is splitting into three firms. Sequoia China is now HongShan. Sequoia India is now Peak XV Partners. And Sequoia’s U.S. and Europe business continues as Sequoia Capital. I spoke to the leaders of all 3 firms exclusively for @Forbes :
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
1 year
@TrungTPhan please DM their name for a magazine cover, thx
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
6 months
Scoop: OpenAI investors were caught by surprise by Friday’s board ouster of CEO Sam Altman. Key firms like Khosla Ventures, Sequoia and Thrive Capital got no advance warning of the board’s shock plan, sources told @Forbes . By me and @kenrickcai :
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
1 year
Twitter committed about $20M to back Black, Latinx and women VC fund managers after the murder of George Floyd. Under Elon Musk, it's now trying to quietly sell those stakes -- while not wiring the leftover millions it promised. My story in @forbes :
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
pro tip: if you name your startup after a fresh word from Lord Of The Rings you can still raise 20M without a deck, no cap
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
Zapier reached a $5 billion valuation without an office and barely raising any venture capital dollars. CEO @wadefoster explains how his startup reached $140M ARR working with mom and pop shops -- and why he's avoided the VC "hamster wheel."
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
1 year
congrats to Sam Altman for being named new head of R+D for Microsoft 👏👏👏
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
Zoom's IPO wowed Wall Street yesterday. Behind the $16B market cap bonanza: new billionaire Eric Yuan, the immigrant founder whose video conference app just works better. Here's my exclusive deep dive into how he did it, in the next issue of @Forbes .
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
cooking at home 3x a day creates just a truly stunning amount of dirty dishes
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
When you agree to a chat and they send a calendar invite for 1 full hour 😱
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
In a work from home world, Zoom is seemingly everywhere. I spoke to CEO @ericsyuan about coping with high demand and his newest commitment to battling coronavirus: Zoom is now giving away its video tools to any affected K-12 school for free.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
9 months
tech influencers on X are like “no one achieves greatness working just 5 days a week” and on Instagram stories they’ve been in Capri and Fiji for the past 6 weeks
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
Exclusive: Patrick and John Collison built Stripe into one of the world’s biggest startups. But they're facing new challenges as they look to “grow the GDP of the internet.” I flew to Dublin to learn more first-hand for my newest @Forbes cover story.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
The sign-off to this angry reader email made me lol
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
emails like this from my fans make it all worthwhile
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
I, too, had a chance to invest early in Uber and passed. I remember it well, just like it was earlier today.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
6 months
Scoop: Elon Musk's X has begun selling defunct usernames for as much as $50,000, per emails obtained by @Forbes . A dedicated "@ handle" team is overseeing the new marketplace, which was rumored to be in the works for months.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
PR person: please just reply, even a no is so helpful Me: ok fine no PR person: while i have you, wait here are 3 more things to check out Me: no PR person: ok lets just get coffee Me: ....................
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
did salad write this
@WebMD
WebMD
3 years
People who ate french fries or hash browns 2 to 3 times a week were more likely to die early, according to one study.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
In 2020, ex-WeWork CEO Adam Neumann invested in a women-led startup called Alfred. Less than two years later, his new company Flow – backed by $350 million – sounds strikingly similar. @_IainMartin and I spoke to 8 sources to investigate for @Forbes :
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
Someday I’d like to open a Japanese restaurant on Wall Street and name it Ponzu Scheme
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
6 months
A number of OpenAI employees are already quote tweeting Sam Altman to express support, almost at once. My serious read: this is a public rallying cry / show of strength that staff are behind Sam to the board. Also not something you’d maybe do if close to an agreement.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
Visa is acquiring startup Plaid for a whopping $5.3 billion. Wondering what Plaid does? I profiled the fintech unicorn in the April 2018 issue of @Forbes :
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
If you’re a VC and you aren’t spending your Saturday dunking on one bad tweet by an investor you’ve never heard of, are you even pro-founder
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
thought people in SF wanted more liquidity
@Katie_Roof
Katie Roof
5 years
Raining so hard in SF that people started screaming
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 months
A secretive firm called Newlands has amassed nearly $10B in tech stocks and is now quietly building a startup portfolio. Led by an ex-Sequoia partner, Newlands is mostly bankrolled by one person: WhatsApp billionaire Jan Koum. My latest for @forbes :
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 months
Figma gets $1 bil from Adobe for 15 months of limbo, and is now back on its own. A huge VC exit, un-exited. Last valuation: $10 bil (2021) Valuation at sale: $20 bil (2022) If Figma were to raise again now, what kind of valuation could it command on the private market?
@zoink
Dylan Field
5 months
After an intense 15 months of review, today Adobe and Figma have decided to end our pending merger, as we no longer see a path toward regulatory approval of the deal.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
The most successful CEOs I know: —peak in their 40s —wake up at 5:30am —go to bed by 8:30pm —shun caffeine, tomatoes and nightshades —sleep in special bioceramic underwear —work out and play brain exercises daily —have won 7 Super Bowls —are literally just Tom Brady
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
is it acceptable to cut one groomsman from the wedding because he's making the group chat green y/n
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
Australian startup founder Melanie Perkins faced long odds and VC doubts. She built Canva into a profitable $3.2 billion global design software leader anyway. I went to Sydney in June to find out how she did it for my newest cover story for @Forbes :
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
@mcwm this is one of the big weaknesses with the MCU... it's like all these stories are happening concurrently but walled off. an Egyptian moon god blocked out the sun? a god killer is about to kill all gods in the universe? meh, seems like a one-hero job
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
how some VCs think journalism works *cries a single tear*
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
When Matt Huang and Fred Ehrsam raised $400M for their new fund Paradigm in 2018, they did something bold: put it all into Bitcoin. The trade is already up 3x. But the ex-Sequoia partner and Coinbase cofounder have a bigger goal: bring crypto mainstream.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
Scoop: Twilio has agreed to acquire fellow cloud company Segment for $3.2 billion, sources tell @forbes . The startup was last valued at $1.5 billion in 2019.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
Immigrants Pejman Nozad and Mar Hershenson faced skepticism when they launched their debut VC fund in 2013. One of their first five investments: DoorDash. Here's the story of how the Pear VC founders turned $1.9 million into a $440 million windfall.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
6 months
the biggest mystery two weeks from now will be what Brian’s role was in tweeting this
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
Buying Slack would make a lot of sense. But if Salesforce really wants to own where people spend their workdays it should try buying Twitter again.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
shoutout to that person who joked that the NYT would buy wordle a few days ago, you are now their head of biz dev
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
🚨startups🚨 my dad just sent me this pic from the San Francisco harbor, you are saved
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
Yes, I had a great Fourth of July weekend No, your email doesn't find me well
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
do you ever wake up and remember how Game Of Thrones ended and think, that was still some bullshit
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
Personal news: today is my 10 year anniversary starting at @Forbes 🎉 I honestly can’t believe it’s been a decade covering tech here with so many amazing colleagues over the years.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
My new cover story for the next @Forbes issue is live! Valued at $8 billion, Flexport is Silicon Valley's answer for global supply chain woes, and CEO Ryan Petersen has emerged as the public face of solutions. So why do insiders hope his startup sinks?
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
Investor Lee Fixel turned bets on Flipkart and Peloton into billions for Tiger Global. Now with his own $1.3 billion fund Addition, the low-profile VC is looking to do it again.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
Three years ago, UiPath was an unknown little Romanian startup. Today, it's a $7 billion global leader in a red-hot new area of tech called RPA. Beyond excited to share my latest @Forbes cover story on UiPath CEO Daniel Dines, the first bot billionaire.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
after all these years on twitter, looks like it’s finally time to say goodbye so farewell, and see you all here tomorrow
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
8 months
tech CEO: I’m stepping down twitter: amazing! congrats! CEO: …and I’m becoming a VC twitter: more amazing, more congrats! CEO: …actually, I’m coming back twitter: omg EVEN MORE CONGRATS
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
@AndyRichter @espiers @hels Do you want the editor’s real name or Snoop name?
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
Product Hunt founder Ryan Hoover has raised a $10 million second fund to invest in more early-stage founders -- and help others tinkerers take the plunge into entrepreneurship.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
Pro tip: if you're asking to meet someone for their free advice, you don't get to set the location
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
VCs in person: omg did you read that story about the VC “homeless date” in SF VCs on Twitter: to attack venture capital is to attack the very fiber of society and what makes us human VCs on LinkedIn: I’d like to join your professional network on LinkedIn
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
some personal pizza news...
@talkingbiznews
Talking Biz News
4 years
. @alexrkonrad promoted to senior editor at @Forbes :
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
Crazy to think how much we all cared about custom ringers a few years ago... now your phone not being on mute is a good sign you're over 45
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
Just walked into the Rosewood lounge and loudly said the words “blockchain” and “scooter” to confirm every person here is a VC
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
9 months
@anothercohen This is gonna confuse a lot of not terminally online people lol
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
I appreciate ⁦ @alexisohanian ⁩ doing this and fear his Times Square billboard will end up in the background of a lot of tightly-packed tourist group pics
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
Exclusive: Amazon’s consumer chief Dave Clark is joining supply chain unicorn Flexport as co-CEO. Founder Ryan Petersen will move to an executive chairman role next year. @Forbes spoke to both logistics leaders about the surprise move.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh's life was outsized -- and so was his impact on a generation of startup founders, investors and online business owners. Here, I did my best to explain what made Hsieh special, in the words of tech leaders who knew him best.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
my current answer to invitations to moderate all-male panels at your conference
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
1 year
status report
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
GitLab, a DevOps leader with no office, just raised $268 million at a $2.75 billion valuation, more than double its valuation at its last funding one year ago.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
I appreciate Freestyle Love Supreme making you lock away your phone because the internet could not handle @Lin_Manuel rapping about Baby Yoda just now 🤩
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
Oprah:
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
today I met with a CEO for coffee and instead of oatmilk, the restaurant brought him a big bowl of oatmeal his own PR person couldn’t stop laughing for the rest of the meeting that is all
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
i miss overpriced work lunches so bad i just made a shrimp caesar salad and charged myself 25 bucks
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
NYC subway is now at the “act normal but glare angrily when someone coughs” virus fear phase
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
“NYC is back!” — every returning VC who has expensed one (1) cocktail party in SoHo and taken an hourlong Uber to meet a crypto person in Williamsburg
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
I picked the wrong month to quit carbs and drinking.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
6 months
Scoop: investors are scrambling to restore Sam Altman to OpenAI in a shocking return. They lack direct power, but leverage could be used before Altman committed to a new startup, sources tell @Forbes , with Microsoft a key player. By me and @DavidJeans2 :
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
all eyes now turn expectantly to LinkedIn.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
fellow Crash Landing On You fans plz identify yourselves so we can talk about that 2 hour finale 😭
@N_Sportelli
Natalie Sportelli
4 years
me when i find other crash landing on you fans
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
7 months
News: more than 200 venture capital firms have signed a public statement in support of Israel and its tech ecosystem. I spoke to Harry Valner, the U.S.-based startup investor who led the effort since Monday night.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
congrats to tom brady on quitting his job to go all in on web3
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
it's $102 on the menu, $200 after fees
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
they say your engagement pics set the wedding vibe, and we took that personally 📸: @sammblake
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
5 years
Love when VCs request a call and then hand off the thread to their assistants who are like, "X is next available never. Does never work?"
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
Always amusing when schedulers ask if you're free to talk to a CEO or VC at a hyper-specific time a few months away. Like... 6:15 pm on Dec 2? I have no idea what I'm doing at 6:15 pm today, but sounds like a cool plan we can both cancel in a couple months. In.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
1 year
GPT-4 launched today. But 99% of people don't understand how it could have rescued SVB and Signature Bank. Here are 9 things you can do right now to cause and resolve your own bank run, using GPT 👇
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
3 years
What if instead of buying Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, Mark Zuckerberg had just bought Bitcoin
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
This is like 2 million dollars of art 😱
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
7 months
without X, where would we get our geopolitical analysis from VCs
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
SF twitter: a friend just purchased a dormant volcano to live in to escape the virus. do they get WiFi? NYC twitter: lmk when the virus makes it easier to get a table at carbone
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
2 years
Big news in venture capital: Sequoia has named Midas List investor and PayPal veteran Roelof Botha as its new global leader, effective July 5.
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
6 months
wait is Marissa Mayer going to convert a few boomer-energy tweets overnight into an OpenAI board seat?!
@KateClarkTweets
Kate Clark
6 months
The latest: Microsoft may take a board observer seat on OpenAI's revamped board if Altman returns. That would mean no voting power. Other new board recruits could be Bret Taylor, Marisa Mayer, Brian Chesky, Roelof Botha & Reid Hoffman w/ @aaronpholmes
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 years
Inject this into my veins
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@alexrkonrad
Alex Konrad
4 months
ok so General Catalyst really bought a hospital... meh. wake me up when a VC firm is bold enough to buy a zoo
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