Vice Chairman and Co-Founder, 15Five | Technologist | Entrepreneur | Future of work | AI + human potential | Mission-driven leadership | Former EO & YPO

San Francisco, CA
Joined March 2008
David Hassell retweeted
ai might be terrible for society but holy shit it has been great for the timeline
What really happened after the State Dinner. The lost Xi camera roll has been found.
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David Hassell retweeted
At the #FortuneWorkplaceSummit, 15Five CEO @dhassell said annual performance reviews haven’t kept pace with today’s rapidly evolving workplace: "Annual reviews made sense when the world was pretty static and we're at an accelerated pace of technology and change, and the practice just hasn't kept up." bit.ly/42GBMkk
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I've been personally playing with Claude Code recently and building little niche apps to help manage my life. I built something over a weekend that will save me 2-3 hours a month, that previously just wouldn't have made any sense to build and maintain from an ROI perspective but now does. I think what Aaron is sharing is 100% spot on and that we're going to see an explosion of software.
Jevons paradox is happening in real time. Companies, especially outside of tech, are realizing that they can now afford to take on software projects that they wouldn’t have been able to tackle before because now AI lets them do so. We’re going to start to use software for all new things in the economy because it’s incrementally cheaper to produce. Marketing teams at big companies will have engineers helping to automate workflows. Engineers in life sciences and healthcare will automate research. Small businesses will hire engineers for the first to build better digital experiences. And as long as AI agents still require a human who understands what to prompt, how to review when an agent goes off the rails, how it guide back, how to maintain the system that was built, how to fix the ongoing bugs, and more, we will still have humans managing these agents. This is why all the advice you get of not going into engineering is wrong. The world is going to increasingly be made up of software, and the people that understand it best will be in a strong economic position. This will happen in other roles as well where output goes up and demand increases.
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Will AI replace people or amplify them? As a leader you get to choose. At 15Five we’re choosing the latter and working on building product to support that future.
Jensen Huang just called out every CEO who’s been firing people “because of AI.” Jim Cramer asked him why companies are laying people off if AI is supposed to make everyone MORE productive. Jensen's answer: "For companies with imagination, you will do more with more. For companies where the leadership is just out of ideas, they have nothing else to do. They have no reason to imagine greater than they are. When they have more capability, they don't do more." Read that again. The man who built the most important tech company on Earth just told you that if your CEO is using AI to cut headcount, it means one thing: They have no imagination. They have no vision for what comes next. They got handed the most powerful tool in human history and their FIRST instinct was to fire people. This is the CEO of NVIDIA. The company whose chips power every AI system on the planet. If anyone on Earth has the right to say "AI replaces workers," it's Jensen Huang. And he said the OPPOSITE. He said every carpenter could become an architect. Every plumber could become an architect. AI elevates capability. It doesn't eliminate it. But here's where it gets really interesting... During the same interview, Jensen revealed something nobody's talking about: He said AI startups like OpenAI and Anthropic are seeing their revenues increase by one to two billion dollars a WEEK. And he wishes these companies were public so the world could see what he sees. One to two billion per week. That's a $50 to $100 BILLION annualized run rate. For companies that most people think are burning cash and making nothing. The entire Wall Street narrative that "AI companies aren't profitable" might be completely wrong. Jensen sees their numbers. He sees their compute orders. He sees their growth. And he's saying the revenue is real. So if the money IS real, why are other companies firing people? Because they're not building AI products. They're not creating new revenue streams. They're not using AI to expand into new markets. They're using AI as an EXCUSE to cut costs because they ran out of ideas 3 years ago and need something to tell the board. Jensen's company added $500 billion in new orders in 5 months. He expects $1 trillion in cumulative revenue through 2027 from just two product lines. That number doesn't include the new chips, systems, or partnerships announced this week. And he's not cutting people. He's hiring. Because when you have imagination, more capability means MORE opportunity. Not less headcount. Meanwhile Salesforce cut thousands. Meta cut thousands. Amazon cut thousands. All blaming "AI efficiency." Jensen's response: You're out of imagination. He also said something that stuck with me. Cramer asked if he ever thought he'd build a $10 to $20 trillion company while waiting tables at Denny's. His answer: "I was just trying to make it through the shift." Biggest tip he ever got? Two, three dollars. Now he's building tech that increased computing demand by one million times in two years. He announced OpenClaw, which he says is as big as ChatGPT. And he's got 21 months of new business that isn't even counted in the trillion dollar figure yet. When asked how long he plans to keep working? "I'm hoping to die on the job. And I'm not hoping to die anytime soon." This is a man who believes every single thing he's building. And his message to every CEO using AI to justify layoffs is simple... You're not innovating. You're surrendering. The technology wasn't built to shrink companies. It was built to make them limitless. If your leadership can't see that, the problem isn't AI. It's THEM.
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Google just released its new AI Gemini to compete with GPT4. We’re at the advent of a future where the way we interact with machines will soon be COMPLETELY different than how we’ve interacted the past 20 years. Think less workflow/manual and more co-pilot/partnership, where now I have a super-intelligent partner in my pocket to help me learn, do, and take care of my life, and where I've got the vision and the machine does it for me. Just like most our society today has at least basic computer and smartphone literacy, everyone will eventually become AI-literate. But also just like the computer nerds who jumped into tech in the late '90s, advantages will accrue to those who learn to fully embrace these tools ahead of the curve. Check out the demo from Google here: youtube.com/watch?v=UIZAiXYc… And also just for fun, if you haven't yet seen Pika Labs recently launched idea-to-video demo, prepare to have your mind blown: xitter.cf/pika_labs/status…
Introducing Pika 1.0, the idea-to-video platform that brings your creativity to life. Create and edit your videos with AI. Rolling out to new users on web and discord, starting today. Sign up at pika.art
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Genocide is defined as “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group” There is no “context” under which calling for the genocide of ANYONE should be acceptable in our society or not considered harassment. This is abhorrent.
The presidents of @Harvard, @MIT, and @Penn were all asked the following question under oath at today’s congressional hearing on antisemitism: Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate [your university’s] code of conduct or rules regarding bullying or harassment? The answers they gave reflect the profound moral bankruptcy of Presidents Gay, Magill and Kornbluth. Representative @EliseStefanik was so shocked with the answers that she asked each of them the same question over and over again, and they gave the same answers over and over again. In short, they said: It ‘depends on the context’ and ‘whether the speech turns into conduct,’ that is, actually killing Jews. This could be the most extraordinary testimony ever elicited in the Congress, certainly on the topic of genocide, which to remind us all is: “the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group” The presidents’ answers reflect the profound educational, moral and ethical failures that pervade certain of our elite educational institutions due in large part to their failed leadership. Don’t take my word for it. You must watch the following three minutes. By the end, you will be where I am. They must all resign in disgrace. If a CEO of one of our companies gave a similar answer, he or she would be toast within the hour. Why has antisemitism exploded on campus and around the world? Because of leaders like Presidents Gay, Magill and Kornbluth who believe genocide depends on the context. To think that these are the leaders of Ivy League institutions that are charged with the responsibility to educate our best and brightest. On the bright side, our congressional leaders deserve accolades for showing tremendous leadership and moral clarity in their statements, by the questions they asked, and the respectfulness with which they conducted the hearing. It was a masterclass of how our government and democracy should operate. If you have time, please watch the entire hearing. Throughout the hearing, the three behaved like hostile witnesses, exhibiting a profound disdain for the Congress with their smiles and smirks, and their outright refusal to answer basic questions with a yes or no answer.
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About to kick of 15Five THRIVE in Denver where we’ll be announcing the biggest evolution of the 15Five platform since our launch in 2012!
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.@SVB_Financial was an incredible parter to so many of us entrepreneurs and startups over the years. It’s a shame that panic got the best of the industry and really frustrating that so many funds told their portfolio companies to pull their money vs sticking with them.
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If the 8th wonder of the world is compound interest, the 9th must be human beings' capacity for taking for granted. How soon until chatGPT is no longer remarkable? Or has that already happened?
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I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the nature of happiness, fulfillment and staying centered, especially amidst the inevitable challenge and choas of modern day life. A lot of great gems in here.
I meditated 15 hours a day for 6 months straight with one of the toughest Buddhist monks on the planet. Here's what I learned:
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Thrilled to announce 15Five’s Series C!
🎉 We’re so excited to announce that we’ve received $52 Million in Series C funding, led by Quad Partners! 🧡 Thank you to all our 15Five customers, employees, and partners. Without you, none of this would be possible. Read more on the blog: hubs.li/Q01hbLLF0
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Spot on. Thank you.
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Proud investor in this project. Huge milestone and congrats to @gabelunao @adamjacksonsf and the rest of the Braintrust team!
It's official: $BTRST is now on @coinbase! Our mission: to spread economic opportunity more equitably around the world. And with this milestone, we're building trust with the global community in building a fair and equitable future of work. #ownit bit.ly/3AszJRb
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I feel like we might have to start asking people “So, which version of reality do you live in?”
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The best entrepreneurs artful navigate the forever tension between their vision for the world and what people need, want and are ready for right now.
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Culture + Strategy + Execution. Get only 1 right, you’re dead. Get 2 right you might do OK. Nail all 3 and you’re unstoppable.
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I’m so sad and shocked to hear of Tony’s passing. We first met in 2009 when he came to speak to @EntrepreneurOrg. He had a huge influence on helping me see and understand what’s possible for people in business, which became part of my impetus for founding @15Five.
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