Create The Future | Apply to our startup program: https://xitter.cf/t.co/CDm2GrEGXu
San Francisco
Joined February 2024
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SR008 APPS ARE OPEN. Up to $1M + $10M+ in credits. 12 weeks in SF, Feb through April. Built to help you land capital, customers and talent. Apply by Nov 1: speedrun.a16z.com/apply
$10M+ in credits and a GTM team
speedrun founders land Customers most startups wait years for. Here’s how our GTM team gives you that unfair market advantage.
Trust me, watching this 3 min video can get you over $10M+ in credits, but you gotta apply to @speedrun too: speedrun.a16z.com/apply.
speedrun retweeted
speedrun founders land Customers most startups wait years for. Here’s how our GTM team gives you that unfair market advantage.
Trust me, watching this 3 min video can get you over $10M+ in credits, but you gotta apply to @speedrun too: speedrun.a16z.com/apply.
speedrun retweeted
Today, I'm launching Vene: your AI advocate for healthcare.
I used to spend a dozen hours a week managing care for my dad, a disabled veteran, and my mom, who has a severe autoimmune disease. Healthcare was a full-time job for my family.
Our goal is to end the burden of care for every family:
When you're sick, or caring for someone who is, the hard part is everything after the hospital: the referral that never arrives, the test result nobody calls about, the bill that makes no sense, and everything in between.
For my dad, he spent hours on the phone to book an MRI. When he showed up, they told him to his face that insurance had stopped covering it. Then insurance told him to call a list of other offices and get the paperwork sent over himself, and he ended up giving up.
That’s why we’ve trained Vene to handle the toughest aspects of healthcare:
- Coordinating several specialists at once
- Challenging surprise bills and treatment denials
- Catching missed follow-ups and care gaps
My mom uses Vene to coordinate her primary care and endocrinologist, automatically refill and renew her prescriptions, and manage my little sister’s dental appointments.
They were my first users, and now over 5,000 families use Vene, and we're deploying it to another 50,000 patients across provider networks in the US.
speedrun retweeted
We just wrapped a record-breaking 2026 Tech Week! We started in 2022 with just LA. Coming out of the pandemic, people were moving around and finding new communities. There was a growing tech community in LA, and we wanted to bring people together in person.
The response led us to expand to New York and San Francisco, other cities where we were active. We spent the next three years growing in those cities before adding a new one (Boston) this year.
One thing that’s been interesting to watch is SF. The first time we ran it, it was our smallest Tech Week. We heard plenty of “does SF really need another tech event?” It’s now the biggest Tech Week we run. The center of gravity for tech is still firmly in SF, and we see that in the numbers.
At the same time, Tech Week has continued to grow in every city, year after year. It’s clear there’s demand for coming together in person.
And of course, a big reason we’ve been able to keep growing is the team working on Tech Week year-round. A big congrats to @roseajohnson @TracyMassaro_ @filgran_ @johnsonjanellea @andrewchen.
Excited for next year... Stay tuned for 2027 dates!
speedrun retweeted
Ben Horowitz on treating your story as your strategy, and why founders often skip writing it even though it's one of the most important parts of the job:
"The story of the company is also the strategy of the company... In your mind, you're kind of adjusting that strategy a little bit at a time every day. But then a quarter later, it's actually pretty different than what you started with."
"So it's really important that you keep upgrading your story. The articulation of your story. I would definitely recommend it be in written form."
"Something that you can share with everybody in the company, and everybody you're recruiting, everybody you're trying to raise money from, all your constituents, every customer."
"The problem that I think founders have is it doesn't feel like work. Like, 'What are you doing today?' 'I'm working on my story.' That doesn't sound like work."
"Because it doesn't feel like work, people don't do it, but it's probably one of the most important parts of the job."
@bhorowitz w/ @speedrun GP @Tocelot
NEW: INVESTOR ADVICE FOR APPLYING TO SPEEDRUN (SR008 EDITION)
Every cohort we sit down with our investors to hear what’s top of mind. This time @ndrewlee got in the booth with @kenanhsaleh, @emilybenn12, @seeamshahidnoor, and @tkexpress11 to talk about:
00:00 - what’s changed in apps this cycle
04:15 - team vs. market vs. traction: how we weigh them
08:14 - hot markets vs. ones that feel inevitable
10:36 - spotting the gaps the frontier models leave
13:35 - where speedrun fits in your founder journey
22:26 - how to make your application stand out
30:05 - common mistakes (AI is not your “why now”)
38:46 - the 10-min interview + co-founder dynamics
45:41 - what you get working with speedrun
SR008 apps close Nov 1. Watch the full roundtable here 👇
deadline is Nov 1**** sorry for the mixup at the end! we still review apps on a rolling basis, so anything after Nov 1 gets considered for the following residency. apply here: speedrun.a16z.com/apply
only 2 weeks left to submit your @speedrun app
we’re hosting pop-ups to meet you IRL before the deadline:
SF - wed 10/21, 5:30-8:30pm in north beach
NY - wed 10/28, 11am-2pm in soho
+++ limited edition apparel drop at both (we added more pieces)
rsvp: speedrun.a16z.com/xp
speedrun retweeted
50+ launches in <90 days.
it's not about virality, it's not about doing a video even.
the best @speedrun teams launched, and launched again, and again. articles, interviews, demos, and yes, occasionally something with higher production value.
we provide a fully kitted studio space, direct connects to the best production partners, and our own distribution channels for every single company.
a massive shout to some of our partners:
@osmo_studio, @nencreative, @chrislouie_, @marquilabs, @pushrecord, @ben_aguilera, and dozens of others who aren't here on X
Applications for SR008 close Nov 1st.
If you're interested in applying, check the link below.
If you're interested in plugging in as a partner, DM me!
launch lab
50+ launches in <90 days.
it's not about virality, it's not about doing a video even.
the best @speedrun teams launched, and launched again, and again. articles, interviews, demos, and yes, occasionally something with higher production value.
we provide a fully kitted studio space, direct connects to the best production partners, and our own distribution channels for every single company.
a massive shout to some of our partners:
@osmo_studio, @nencreative, @chrislouie_, @marquilabs, @pushrecord, @ben_aguilera, and dozens of others who aren't here on X
Applications for SR008 close Nov 1st.
If you're interested in applying, check the link below.
If you're interested in plugging in as a partner, DM me!
We have an all-star in house recruiting team for Speedrun
Apply for SR008 to work directly with @justmazer, @nazzari, @thetalentcarver and @joegarciaisme!
founders: getting up to $1M in funding via @speedrun is actually the easiest part of the journey - as you start to build your product, you'll need to build your team... and I have some bad news: recruiting sucks.
Most experienced founders will tell you that they spent at least half their time in the early days trying to woo early missionaries to join their cause.
Your options at the earliest stages aren't great:
• Agencies are expensive + generally have perverse incentives
• You could do all the recruiting... but it's often too time-intensive to do effectively
• Hiring an internal recruiter doesn't make sense yet...
• Job postings... welcome to the nightmare of AI-generated apps!
I want to give you a better option. Our goal as the Speedrunun talent team: lend you our brand and hiring prowess. Not just hollow words and advice... because advice is cheap. Sourced candidates are not.
Our team of internal recruiters spends every single day cultivating relationships with world-class talent from the most heavily in-demand functional backgrounds (AI, ML, Full Stack Eng, Design Eng, Designers, etc), and then we curate and share that talent with founders across the portfolio.
We're on track this year to directly place ~150 hires into speedrun portfolio companies.
No fee.
No perverse incentives.
Just a purely aligned desire with the founders to get them exactly what they are searching for.
One day there will be a solo-founder unicorn, and all this hiring drudgery might go away. Until then, you're going to have to build your team - so let our team (@nazzari, @thetalentcarver, @joegarciaisme ) help you build yours.
APPLY TO SPEEDRUN >>> bit.ly/3UawfBA
speedrun retweeted
founders: getting up to $1M in funding via @speedrun is actually the easiest part of the journey - as you start to build your product, you'll need to build your team... and I have some bad news: recruiting sucks.
Most experienced founders will tell you that they spent at least half their time in the early days trying to woo early missionaries to join their cause.
Your options at the earliest stages aren't great:
• Agencies are expensive + generally have perverse incentives
• You could do all the recruiting... but it's often too time-intensive to do effectively
• Hiring an internal recruiter doesn't make sense yet...
• Job postings... welcome to the nightmare of AI-generated apps!
I want to give you a better option. Our goal as the Speedrunun talent team: lend you our brand and hiring prowess. Not just hollow words and advice... because advice is cheap. Sourced candidates are not.
Our team of internal recruiters spends every single day cultivating relationships with world-class talent from the most heavily in-demand functional backgrounds (AI, ML, Full Stack Eng, Design Eng, Designers, etc), and then we curate and share that talent with founders across the portfolio.
We're on track this year to directly place ~150 hires into speedrun portfolio companies.
No fee.
No perverse incentives.
Just a purely aligned desire with the founders to get them exactly what they are searching for.
One day there will be a solo-founder unicorn, and all this hiring drudgery might go away. Until then, you're going to have to build your team - so let our team (@nazzari, @thetalentcarver, @joegarciaisme ) help you build yours.
APPLY TO SPEEDRUN >>> bit.ly/3UawfBA
speedrun retweeted
Mark Pincus, founder of @Zynga, on "proven, better, new," the product framework that was Zynga's religion:
1. Proven: start with what 10/10 existing users of a category already love, and don't change it.
"You do not have the right to change proven. You have not taken enough time to change proven. It is an art that we do not completely understand."
2. Better: only add what 10/10 users agree is better.
"For Zynga Poker, better was no download. That was it. Turns out you lose half your users every time you click download."
3. New: treat anything you think is better as new, and assume it fails.
"Assume all new fails. Write that on the wall... If all new worked, we'd be using new s**t all the time. But how often do you change what's on the front of your iPhone?"
"Users don't care how innovative it is. All they care about is does it feel better, and they can't even tell you why."
@markpinc w/ @JoshLu
SR008 APPS ARE OPEN. Up to $1M + $10M+ in credits. 12 weeks in SF, Feb through April. Built to help you land capital, customers and talent. Apply by Nov 1: speedrun.a16z.com/apply
speedrun retweeted
Ben Horowitz on the two skills that will matter more than ever before in an AI world: creativity and relationships.
"I think those are things that are hard to get out of today's AI in a very good way. So if you don't have instincts around those things, I don't know if all the AI in the world could help you. Whereas the grind-them-out tasks, AI is already really good at."
"Do you have original ideas? Can you establish and maintain very high quality, high fidelity relationships with people off the rip? I think people don't think about that enough."
"One big advantage I think that we have is we really look for that. Many just ignore that whole thing, like it's not a thing... It's a thing."
@bhorowitz w/ @Tocelot
SR008 APPS ARE OPEN. Up to $1M + $10M+ in credits. 12 weeks in SF, Feb through April. Built to help you land capital, customers and talent. Apply by Nov 1: speedrun.a16z.com/apply
“Traction doesn’t have to be numerical.” – @tkexpress11
Takeaway: if you don’t have revenue yet, show progress. List who you’ve talked to, what you’ve learned and who’s agreed to advise.
SR008 applications close Nov 1, 11:59pm PT.
Apply: speedrun.a16z.com/apply
Full investor Q+A: speedrun.substack.com/p/what…