If you never really fit the standard path, this is for you. 

Harvard researchers spent years studying people who achieved serious success even though nobody saw them coming. They called them dark horses. 

And here's what they ruled out first. It wasn't raw talent; plenty of talented people stay stuck on the wrong path their whole careers. It wasn't grit or work ethic either; the dark horses worked hard, but so does everyone who doesn't make it. 

The real answer surprised even the researchers. Every single dark horse succeeded by optimizing for fulfillment — not passion, not prestige, and not what looked good on paper. And those are completely different things. You can be passionate about one thing, but if you'll never master it, it won't fulfill you. The dark horses found work they could get genuinely great at and let the success follow from that. 

A separate study from MIT and Northwestern analyzed 2.7 million founders and found the average age of the most successful ones was 45 — not 25. A 50-year-old founder is 1.8 times more likely to build a top company than a 30-year-old. The nonlinear path, the pivots, the years that looked like detours were the preparation, not the delay. 

The researcher behind the Dark Horse Project, Todd Rose, started it thinking he knew what he'd find. Well, he didn't. The results changed his mind so completely that he left Harvard — because he said it was hypocritical to stay at an institution built on the exact opposite of what his own research proved. 

So the takeaway isn't that you need to blow up your career. It's: are you building toward what actually fulfills you, or toward what you decided looked good at 22? Because those two paths lead to very different places. 

A few ways to figure out which one you're on: notice what you do when nobody's watching or paying you. Pay attention to what you keep coming back to even when it's hard. And stop measuring your path against someone else's timeline.

So why did investors just put $350 million into a company that refuses to use Nvidia chips? 

The company is called TensorWave. It just raised $350 million at a $1.55 billion valuation, and its entire cloud runs on AMD and AMD only. 

This is interesting when we remember how AI has developed over the last few years. Most people think Nvidia won AI because it built the best chips. But Nvidia's real advantage is CUDA — the software platform that AI developers build and run AI models on. AMD's version is called ROCm, and for years developers complained it was harder to use, which made switching away from Nvidia incredibly difficult. 

TensorWave's bet is that something has changed. 

The company was founded in 2023, right in the middle of the GPU shortage. And their insight was surprisingly simple: customers don't actually care whose logo is on the chip. They care about getting enough compute to run their models without waiting in line behind OpenAI, Meta, or Google. 

For what it's worth, betting against Nvidia hasn't exactly been a winning strategy. People have been calling AMD the next Nvidia challenger for years, and the software gap always proved harder to overcome than expected. 

So what's different this time? 

First, that software gap is finally starting to narrow. TensorWave spent the past year working directly with AMD on ROCm. Developers used to complain that it was buggy, difficult to use, and nowhere near Nvidia's tooling. TensorWave says the experience has improved dramatically. 

Second, look who's writing the check. AMD itself co-led this round. AMD isn't just selling TensorWave chips — it's helping fund one of the biggest real-world tests of whether its ecosystem can compete with Nvidia's. 

And third, companies are already running production workloads on it. Customers like Fireworks AI and Luma AI aren't using TensorWave for experiments. They're using it to power actual products.

AMD clearly has a competing chip, so the question is whether developers are finally willing to leave Nvidia's ecosystem, and if its software moat wasn't as permanent as everyone thought.

The old Siri was basically a voice command system. Set a timer. Send a text. Play a song. It couldn’t hold a conversation, had no memory of you, and was notoriously bad at anything complex.

The new Siri AI is a completely different product. It understands what’s on your screen, remembers context across conversations, takes actions across multiple apps, helps draft emails, and handles more complicated requests than Siri ever could before. It now lives as a standalone app — similar to how you’d open ChatGPT or Claude. Public beta

launches in July and full release in September alongside the iPhone 18. The real story is bigger.

Apple just changed who gets access to over a billion devices.

For the past year, OpenAI occupied a unique position inside Apple’s ecosystem. When Siri couldn’t answer a question, users were handed off directly to ChatGPT — and only ChatGPT. No other AI company had that. If you’re trying to build the world’s dominant

AI product, that kind of invisible default placement on a billion devices is worth more than almost any marketing spend.

Now Apple is opening the door much wider.

Instead of funneling users toward a single AI provider, Apple is expanding support for multiple models — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok can all now be set as your default AI on iPhone. The assistant on your phone is no longer tied to one company.

That may sound like a small product update.

But it’s not. For the last two years, everyone has been focused on which company will build the best AI model. OpenAI. Anthropic. Google. xAI.

Apple is making a different bet.

They’re betting that the most valuable position isn’t owning the model. It’s owning the platform where the models compete. Every major AI company wants access to iPhone users. Every major AI company wants to be the assistant people use every day. And now they’re all fighting for space inside Apple’s ecosystem.

Now — the obvious question. What about Android? Android users have had Gemini doing most of this for a while already. So in some ways Apple just caught up.

But here’s the difference that matters. Android’s AI routes everything through Google’s cloud. Apple built a three-tier system where your most sensitive data never leaves your device. Simple requests stay on your phone entirely. Only the most complex queries go to the cloud — and even then, through Apple’s own private infrastructure, not Google’s. For anyone who cares about privacy, that’s a meaningful edge.

For years people talked about Apple as if it were behind in AI. The question was never whether Apple could catch up. It’s what will happen now that they have.

Forage just raised $40 million at a $225 million valuation that was led by Mouro Capital, with participation from Nyca Partners, PayPal Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, Intuit Ventures, NextLadder Ventures, Pivotal Ventures, and FJ Labs.

Nearly one in eight Americans, approximately 40 million people, rely on SNAP to meet their nutritional needs. That’s one of the largest payment ecosystems in the country. But yet for years, a lot of the technology behind it lagged behind the rest of modern commerce.

That’s the opportunity Forage saw.

The company built the technology that allows retailers and platforms to accept benefits like SNAP online. Today, that infrastructure is used by more than 100,000 stores across all 50 states, including companies like DoorDash, Uber Eats, Dollar General, Gopuff, and Save A Lot.

Last year, Forage facilitated tens of millions of grocery orders and grew payment volume 13x.

They’re now expanding beyond payments. In late 2025, the company launched a free consumer app that lets users check EBT balances, find stores that accept SNAP, see what items qualify, and earn rewards on everyday purchases. The app has already passed 100,000 users.

The lead investor called SNAP one of the largest and most underserved payment ecosystems in America. That’s probably why so many investors showed up for this round.

Because while most fintech startups are competing for the same customers, Forage is building for 40 million Americans that much of the industry ignored.

Stord just raised $250 million at a $3 billion valuation. The company was valued at around $1.5 billion just last year, so the valuation doubled in about twelve months. Investors in the round include Kleiner Perkins, Founders Fund, Franklin Templeton, and Baillie Gifford — many of whom were existing backers that increased their positions.

Amazon spent decades building its own logistics network, fulfillment software, and delivery infrastructure. Most independent brands can’t afford to build any of that themselves.

Stord is building what it calls the “physical intelligence layer” for commerce. That means fulfillment centers, logistics software, and AI systems all integrated into one platform for brands.

The company now operates close to 100 fulfillment facilities, works with more than 1,000 brands, and processes over $15 billion in GMV annually. Their network reportedly reaches nearly one in four U.S. households each year.

With the new funding, Stord is launching Stord Labs in Atlanta, a 10,000-square-foot facility focused on robotics, automation, and agentic AI for warehouse operations.

They’re reportedly testing these systems using real customer orders instead of simulations. The company also runs internal “mystery shopper” tests where employees place fake orders as consumers to evaluate things like delivery speed, packaging quality, and the overall customer experience from checkout to arrival.

Because all of Stord’s fulfillment centers run on the same software stack, improvements tested in one warehouse can quickly roll out across the rest of the network.

Stord says its system processes roughly 8 billion operational events every year, which helps train models for things like warehouse routing, inventory placement, forecasting demand spikes, and reducing shipping inefficiencies.

Logistics infrastructure becomes increasingly important as more commerce moves online. So instead of every independent brand trying to build its own version of Amazon’s system, companies like Stord want to provide that infrastructure as a shared platform.

The company is called Cognition. Their product is an AI software engineer named Devin. And unlike coding tools like GitHub Copilot or Cursor, Devin doesn’t just help you write code. You give it a task, it figures out how to do it, writes the code, tests it, fixes bugs, and completes the work.

Mercedes-Benz had a legacy software modernization project that its engineering team estimated would take eight months. They handed it to Devin, and it took eight days.

Aside from Mercedes-Benz, the company says customers already include Goldman Sachs, the U.S. Army, and the U.S. Navy.

So how does Cognition use Devin internally? Well the company says 89% of the code committed by its engineers is now written by Devin. They aren’t just selling the product. They’re using it to help build the company itself.

The CEO says Devin isn’t replacing engineers. Right now, it’s somewhere between a junior and mid-level engineer. It’s good at the long, tedious work that tends to sit on engineering roadmaps for months. This includes legacy migrations, platform transitions, maintenance tasks, and technical debt.

The idea is that engineers spend less time on repetitive work and more time on the creative parts of building software.

But there’s still a question nobody really has an answer to.

If Devin can already take projects that used to take months and finish them in days, what happens when it gets better? And if it’s already writing most of the code at Cognition, what does software engineering look like a few years from now?

Cognition was founded in 2023. In less than three years, it went from zero to a $26 billion valuation, more than doubling in just eight months.

Right now, Devin operates somewhere between a junior and mid-level engineer.

But if it can already turn eight months of work into eight days, it’s worth asking what happens when it reaches senior level.

I had a beautiful baby girl two weeks ago. Scary labor this time. She came out in one push and got stuck. The OB said “the second usually takes a quick 20 minutes” and what she meant was 30 seconds. It turns out it stuns the baby which creates complications. That and shoulder dystocia. Will spare you the details, but she is here and absolutely beautiful. Eats constantly, sleeps a lot and loves to be snuggled. January is a god awful time to have a child running a VC firm. I sent out a term sheet to a pre-seed co the day before I gave birth and met the founder for coffee in person 5 days postpartum. I wish that meant anything or that it won us the deal. If you’ve had a child you would realize the level of insane commitment to the job that is, but the founder was 19 and who cares. Still in a diaper myself, healing from stitches.

Thank you so much to our premier sponsor Rho who offers better business banking for startups. Open accounts instantly, earn yield on your cash, and run all your finances in one platform built for startups.Several of our portfolio companies use Rho and absolutely love it. If you are interested in learning more, reach out to Will@rho.co

VC Market Right Now:

• For the first time in 20+ years, the number of VC funds is contracting. Worth the read from Beezer. The graduation rate from Fund I to II is 50%, Fund I to IV is 17% and from Fund IV to Franchise (Fund VIII) is 4%.

• VC raised in SF by startups is 6x more than NYC based startups

• The top IPOs to lookout for in 2026

Interesting Reads:

• Great tear-down of the he California Wealth Tax Impact

• Sam Parr published via Hampton how rich people manage their money

• AI agents are projected to account for over 60% of software economics by 2030 according to Goldman Sachs Research

Interesting New Tech:

• GluFormer: Theres a new foundational model that sits on top of your CGM(continuous glucose monitor) data can predict Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular deaths

• Clair launches a first ever noninvasive continuous hormone tracker for women. Niche content if you’re not a woman attempting to get pregnant but its really hard to properly track your fertile window (a 24h period where you’re chances of getting pregnant each month is the highest) It tracks estrogen, LH, progesterone and PdG in real time. If this works and is accurate, its truly fantastic for women.

• Scott Nolan - co-founder of General Matter and his plans to make the US dominant in uranium enrichment (great tear down by Mario)

Inside Fuse Energy: $400M in Revenue in Three Years and a $5B Valuation

Full Episode Here

Inside Deel: How They Scaled From $0 to $1B in Revenue

Full Episode Here

A very special thank you to our sponsor Public.com. Public is the investing platform for those who take it seriously. You can use AI and a wide variety of asset classes, from stocks and bonds to crypto and options, to build your portfolio for the long haul.

Jobs in Tech:

If you are looking for a great job in tech, look no further than our portfolio companies. Several are hiring!

I covered a lot of bases in the last post about what I learned investing last year, what I learned about life (in a few bullets) but skipped the details. A lot of that is largely because I am still digesting why on paper last year was absolutely fantastic but I felt so utterly terrible on the inside.

I never thought in a million years I’d have a net worth above six figures in my entire life. I made more money last year from personal investments than my entire career combined. I bought a really big house in Nashville and bought an Aston Martin DBX 707 (I still love that car) and felt completely empty. My marriage had never been worse and we are best friends going on ten years. Parenting a toddler was the most humbling thing I’ve ever done. If you looked at our family from the sidewalk of our house and saw us in the living room you would think “man, thats it right there” but only because of how perfect the tangible things were. Everything intangible, what really matters, was gone. We packed up and left and took a huge leap of faith that a move to SF was the right decision. We are five months in and our lives have completely changed for the better. I wouldn’t say this because it’s about where you live, but it is about aligning your life with your values. I truly value intellectual conversation and ambition and was dying a slow death in Nashville. In the most loving way, the average IQ was south of 100 and I don’t think I had more than three dinners with other people where I wasn’t bored out of my mind. I had to get on a plane to find “my people”. So much of my focus was the lifestyle, oh but we get this big house and we get this car and we have these THINGS. My God, did I have all of that and was I absolutely STARVING for connecting and meaning.

Building a venture capital firm from there was doable because I traveled every week. I loved every bit of it. Though being in SF and having the most interesting conversations on a daily basis is the highest high for me personally. I am thriving. All of the ambition in the world is just outside of your doorstep. Who cares about the big house and the nice car if that’s it?

A lot winded and rambling way of saying that I’ve found an inner peace - even with a lifestyle hit living wise in SF - and a lot of clarity around what really matters to me (and my family). I’d also say while I sit here 38 weeks pregnant, being forced to move more slowly has made me do a lot of introspection (that I f*ing resent but need) on the life I want to build. I will make all of the money I want to make in this life. I can’t screw up the family. Balancing that is act two! That is where this year starts..

Wischoff Ventures & Starting Your Own VC Firm:

I am so proud of the firm I am building. We are two full-time investors, an HQ in SF in Jackson Square and a small office in NYC. We are actively hiring in SF for investors and am in desperate need for a social media hire. We are also always looking for scouts and interns. I’m doing whatever I can to learn this media company side of the universe to continue to build and offer massive distribution to our portfolio companies. This job is my life. We have 53+ companies and every day is a new day. Will also need a head of ops at the end of the year as all things fund admin are soul crushing. (Side note: AngelList is the worst fund admin product on the planet). Our companies that we invested at at zero revenue/pre-product are tracking closing to $100M ARR (our largest one) and towards Series C. It’s been almost four years. I was a bit more annoying in past years online (X) about our progress and our companies but this job is really hard and I’ve been humbled by that. One year a certain company is breaking out and the next they can’t fundraise and are almost out of business. I am strapped in for a rollercoaster ride daily. My first two calls today: “You are requested to appear in court for a subpoena” and the second “we are getting acquired by this massive company in Nebraska”. I started this firm in late 2021 when I had no idea what I was doing. Someone told me a few days ago that I was “lucky to be early and one of the first solo GPs, have a big head start” which made me laugh out loud. Everything is hard, people forget.

We have a huge opportunity to build something meaningful at pre-seed and seed. There are very few funds that have endured and for good reason. A big reason is that the reason people start funds is because they think they can finally do deals that they want to do, don’t have to deal with politics and that they get better economics. While those things are true, thats maybe 50% of the job. I’m never worried about what other managers are doing, how much they raised, etc. Very few funds make it to Fund II, III, IV. We are playing our own game and that’s the best part. We get a chance to do it our way, to build in public, to watch our companies grow and help in any way we can towards their achievements. The great news is, things are working. Still on first base!

I am writing from a furniture stores corner cafe. The sun is finally shining in San Francisco though Christmas is supposed to be very rainy. My 1.5 year old will be dressed as Santa all day and will be inhaling coffee cake beginning at the crack of dawn. This is the first day in what feels like a year where I have a few free moments to do some reflecting on life, the firm and the future. I’ll start with motherhood though no one asked. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I got pregnant in May, 11 months post-partum and boy did I underestimate how hard it is to be pregnant with a very active toddler who risks his life 100x per day. We moved twice, with a big relocation to SF end of August. I opened an HQ in Jackson Square (love). All I think about aside from keeping two babies alive is how I keep reinventing the firm, maintain momentum and run at a breakneck pace to build the best pre-seed and seed stage firm that I can.

What we all know is that there has never been more early stage VC firms than there are right now. Thousands. I hear of a new firm weekly and it never ends. A question I ask myself every day is: do we have a right to be here? Would the world be better with us in it? While I’d like to believe so, there is still a lot of work to do. We are almost four years old and our companies are nearly the same age (the oldest). We don’t have any fancy headlines of quick exits for $1B+ or huge IPOs. It takes time. The push and pull of this job is dramatic. We chase new deals constantly, having seen on average 500 per month. Averaging 1 per month. You have to have the utmost sense of urgency to win. On the flip side, you’re managing a massive portfolio that takes years to grow and blossom, or fail. On any given day, I get the worst news and I get the best news. Founders with mental health crises stepping down, companies waiting too long to pivot and run out of cash, the dog in the founder is gone and they want to sell, one company just closed a $10M ARR contract, raised a mega $40M Series B from a top fund, landed an insane exec. I love the rollercoaster and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t love the pressure. In a loving way, working at a blue-chip and thinking about two deals per year and a very large salary sounds so comfortable, but how boring… Maybe its envy but I never have to worry about internal politics. Nothing is more suffocating for an ambitious person than working with incompetent coworkers or being unable to do deals because of internal politics. (No one come for me)

Thank you so much to our premier sponsor Rho who offers better business banking for startups. Open accounts instantly, earn yield on your cash, and run all your finances in one platform built for startups.Several of our portfolio companies use Rho and absolutely love it. If you are interested in learning more, reach out to Will@rho.co

2025 Lessons (VC Firm and Personal):

Don’t be too conservative: TLDR: 2025 kicked me in the teeth. We made 13 investments, met thousands of companies and feedback for myself from 30,000 feet is that we were a little too conservative. We passed a lot on great founders based on price. A few keep me up at night. Every other year that we have been investing, giving the first term sheet to a team meant a lot and our chances of winning the deal were over 90%. That was not the case this year. Moving first meant your chances were around 60%. Every blue-chip decided to swim at seed on top of the thousands of early stage funds I still know nothing about. Don’t get me wrong, I love competition, but this job is largely a math problem. Our model is 10% ownership and typically for sub $2M checks which means $30M+ post breaks our model. Not that I believe we settled at all for the deals we did do, but we walked on a handful of what I still believe to be great companies because they were priced sky high and we wouldn’t match. Sure, we lose for other reasons like not moving quickly enough/being late to the deal but price was a real pain this year. Most early stage funds decided to take 5% ownership and to do the deals, which again, if you do the math, in some cases with a large enough exit, it can return a fund, but I’m not convinced this is worth it most of the time.

The best funds in the world have humble beginnings: I went on many walks with GPs at a handful of the best firms in the world today. A very common theme from all of them: they had very humble beginnings that they never talk about publicly. More specifically, many that manage billions spent a few years stitching together SPVs because no LPs believe in them yet to invest in a fund. You only ever hear the beginning of their story on podcasts to be some flashy first deal that exited massively. They skipped Chapter One. I think of my $5M fund I raised back in 2021, look at the $75M in AUM and candidly feel like a pathetic loser that will never cross the chasm. No father to anchor me, no signal from a wealthy family that grew up in Atherton. The truth is, it takes time. We are in incredible companies that need time to bake. Never be discouraged by the journey or your starting place in line. Don’t quit.

No one knows what the “perfect” founder looks like: Every year I survey the portfolio, rank the companies from who is performing best and who isn’t doing well. Every year this shifts dramatically. Some years it seems obvious: top CS degrees, technical, chip on shoulder. Others make no sense. Non-technical PM founder, no childhood trauma, decent IQ and very high EQ, total dog in them.

The world is headed where it’s headed, and no one knows where: My favorite part of this timeline we are living in is the amount of content you can absorb online. The smartest people on any given topic write incredible blog posts, sit for long interviews and let you inside of their mind. Even better, not a single “expert” is aligned on the future of AI, enterprise adoption of it, are data centers being overbuilt, if we are in a bubble, etc. Stay the course, whichever yours may be.

SF is the probably best place to build, if you are in build mode: If (when) I had a billion + in net worth, would SF be my top choice of places to live? Probably not. But its the very best place to be when you are still at the peak of your career, right on cutting edge of your potential and want to accomplish incredible things. I moved back five months ago and the density of brilliant minds and your access to anyone on any topic at any moment is unbeatable. I wasted countless total days of my life on planes traveling to CA. Best way to be on a fast track (though there is no real fast track) is to get here and get in the mix on a daily basis and let things compound. Access to the best investors, the best founders, best LPs, all here. If you will do whatever it takes to win, I highly recommend the “sacrifice”.

The bigger house won’t solve a single problem: I have journal entries from when I was 12 years old, living in a tiny 1200 sf home with 7 people, dreaming of the white picket fence, the big house on a few acres, THE home to host everyone I love. Earlier this year I moved my family from a home we lived in for five years that we loved, modest 3,800 sf (for Nashville), .25 acres, cute. I was having more financial success from a few personal investments and wanted something to show for it, the thing I dreamed about. We find this house across town, 8,000 sf on an acre, right next to my favorite coffee shop. This is it I told myself. I hired movers that ended up breaking 50% of our personal items, had a horrible 5 day move in. We were under tornado watch on day 6 and had to wake up our 10 month old and move him to the basement multiple nights. The house was new construction and very loud, appliances that made no sense for someone that actually cooked (tiny fridge for one, appliances that were so fancy you had to read a 500 page manual to get the over on), etc. It’s a complete mess somewhere at all times. You either spend all of your time cleaning or hiring people who never leave your house. It was a revolving door of people doing things, too many stairs for a small child and poorly insulated. It was so clear we made a huge mistake. We left our home because I wanted “more”. Needless to say, we moved to SF. I don’t know that we ever would have left Nashville if I didn’t tear us from a home that we loved, but I do think it was the right thing. No big huge fancy houses in SF or ever again! You don’t need them.

The unexpected beauty of being with someone for almost 10 years: I think my husband and I can honesty say this was the most challenging year of our lives together. It’s been almost 10 years. We are both growing our own companies, moved twice, one huge move to SF with a one year old and my parents. Raising even a single child is a huge endeavor, especially when he wakes up one minute after 5am. We disagreed on a few important things this year when we are usually very aligned on values. I used to think when we first started dating that at any big intersection where we weren’t aligned perhaps we weren’t meant to be. Dating is such a funny thing, constantly evaluating the other partner on marriage material, do we have a real future together, etc. But when you make that commitment, and you spend years of trials of miles together, these forks in the road are an incredible opportunity to get to know each other again. Kids are a gift but they also ruin the closeness you had for a period of time. There are no late nights staying up talking about things anymore. I’ve had numerous moments this year where I’ve never been more sure that the one thing I’ve gotten really right in my life is who I married. 10 years grants you this silent understanding and acceptance - you have so many years of compounding proof of we will figure this out together. What a sacred gift in this life, especially when most things are so fleeting.

Daily inputs will take you anywhere you want to go: I am extremely hard on myself and feel like a pathetic idiot who has accomplished nothing in my life and so I challenged myself to sit down and make a list of things I haven’t accomplished in the past that I put everything into. The short answer: almost nothing. In college, I ran 80 miles per week to go to the NCAAs and break the 5k and 6k record at my college. I did both in three years. Every job I’ve ever really wanted I’ve gotten. Every fund I’ve gone out to raise, I’ve raised. One thing I have yet to do is run a sub 3 hour marathon, but I did run 3:09 in Boston and I’ll take that for now. Sure, some small things don’t workout, but anything I’ve put countless hours, days, months into without quitting have worked out. You are what you manifest - AND what you work at daily.

A very special thank you to our sponsor Public.com. Public is the investing platform for those who take it seriously. You can use AI and a wide variety of asset classes, from stocks and bonds to crypto and options, to build your portfolio for the long haul.

Latest Episodes on the Show:

Inside Valar Atomics: $130M Raised to Change the Future of Nuclear Energy

Watch here on Youtube!

Inside Unlimited Industries: $12M Seed Round to Build The AI-Native Construction Company

Watch here on Youtube. Listen here on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Inside NoCrumbs Cookies: The Most Viral and Exclusive Cookie Company in SF Started in a 1-Bedroom Apartment

Watch here on Youtube or listen here on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Things I Read/Watched This Week:

• From a post on X: Jesse Itzler has sold companies to Warren Buffett and Coca-Cola, owns part of an NBA team, and is married to the woman who invented Spanx. He also once hired a Navy SEAL to live with him for a month just to see what would happen. That guy gave him three rules. No training plan. No nutrition tips. Just three sentences. 30 days later Jesse finished a 100-mile race.
  This is 8 minutes that might rewire how you talk to yourself in 2026.

• Apollo Global Management released their 2026 Outlook

• Freda Duan at Altimeter Capital did a great write up on her 2026 Outlook for ROI as it relates to AI

• The Booming Business of Chinese Peptides (I cannot stop reading/watching this market evolve)

• Battery Ventures dropped their first State of AI 2025 Report

Great News:

• Barnes & Noble is BACK! They opened 58 new stores in 2025. I just signed up as a member this week.

• Lightspeed announced their largest fund to date: $9B. Just when everyone thought venture fundraising was dying out.

• Dragoneer announced a new $4.3B fund!

That’s all for now.

Nichole

The goal of this show is bring the most brilliant people to your ears wherever you want to listen in and learn as much as you can. The world is ever evolving and it has never been easier to get a front row seat to the action. Our goal is to provide that. This newsletter will also highlight things I found super interesting in tech week by week (Founder stories, New VC funds, VC Hot Takes).

Thank you so much to our premier sponsor Rho who offers better business banking for startups. Open accounts instantly, earn yield on your cash, and run all your finances in one platform built for startups.Several of our portfolio companies use Rho and absolutely love it. If you are interested in learning more, reach out to Will@rho.co

What I Read This Week:

Founder Hardship & Triumph:

From Nothing to Running an $8B Company: The Airwallex Founder & CEO Jack Zhang wrote an X post on Stripes acquisition offer for $1.2B back when the company had $2M in revenue. This was a part of his announcement last week that Airwallex raised $330M at an $8B valuation and had reached $1B in revenue. He admitted that the company nearly died three different times. I highly recommend reading his story. While there is plenty of controversy as it relates to Airwallex and data sharing with China, you can’t deny the power of this story.

The Eight Year Journey to $100M ARR: Clays co-founded Varun Anand wrote a wonderful post on X highlighting their journey to $100M ARR. While most companies are rambling on about going from $0 to $40M in 12 months, it took Clay six years to get to $1m ARR and then two more years to go to $100M. He writes about the journey to get there and their priorities.

VC Firm Hot Takes on the Market:

• Meritech Capitals 2025 Markets Update

• a16z 2026 Big Ideas Part I

• Coatues Quick Takes

• Josh Kopelman (First Round) Bull Case for Exit Values Getting Bigger

A Rare Interview:

• In 2022, Scott Shleifer (co-founder of Tiger Global) did a very rare interview about scaling tiger from a Fund I of $99M to raising over $40B in 15 years.

New VC Funds:

• Congratulations to Beth Turner on founding her new VC firm Valkyrie and the launch of a $45M Fund I! She is investing in AI, Infrastructure and Critical Industries.

• Big congrats to the Anti-Fund team Jake Paul, Logan Paul and Geoffrey Woo on the launch of their $30M Fund I!

Looking forward to co-investing with both funds in the future!

A very special thank you to our sponsor Public.com. Public is the investing platform for those who take it seriously. You can use AI and a wide variety of asset classes, from stocks and bonds to crypto and options, to build your portfolio for the long haul.

Inside NewLimit: A $1.6B Biotech Startup Solving Aging with CEO Jacob Kimmel

Full Episode: Watch here on Youtube or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Inside Seel: From Software Engineer to Building a Nine Figure ARR Business With 30 Employees with CEO Zack Peng

Full Episode: Watch here on Youtube or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Inside Paces: The Startup Powering America’s Trillion-Dollar Energy Expansion

Full Episode: Watch here on Youtube or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Inside Superpower: Powering the Future of Consumer Healthcare for $199

Full Episode: Watch here on Youtube or listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts

Inside Stell: Closing $8M in Government Contracts in 60 Days

Full Episode: Watch here on Youtube

Have a great week!

Nichole