I’ve heard one too many stories from friends about SPV fraud It’s one of the biggest stories in Venture Capital not being told, in part because it’s embarrassing to admit you got scammed Beyond the usurious fees that have become standard (20 or 30 percent for mere access). Theres a shocking amount of “ghost shares” being sold by outright fraudsters. In other words: they never had shares to sell to begin with And the stories I’ve heard have all come from sophisticated, professional investors. Not your typical “dumb money” If these people are being scammed, I’m certain the problem is 1,000X worse under the surface I want to blow the lid off this story and drive reform. I’ve never seen such an influx of bad actors into startup investing in the 13 years I’ve been an investor. It’s “Wolf of Wall Street” bad, or worse. More to come on this; but I’m lining up meetings in DC to speak with folks in both the House and Senate on the issue. A few already on the books. I’m serious about this. I’ve never been a big fan of government regulation, but I think it’s needed. And I’d love to speak about this issue on podcasts, traditional media, etc. If you’ve been personally affected, please DM me. I’ll keep your story in confidence Finally: this story isn’t just about fraud. It’s about how the average American investor has been systematically cut out of the upside of our most promising technology companies If you had believed in Apple or Amazon early: you could have just bought shares on the open market Now you have to deal with some of the scummiest middlemen charging usurious fees, selling shares that might not even exist These small investors have few advocates. They’re regularly mocked by VCs as dumb money. All while risking their own hard-earned money, no LPs backing them, no management fees to fall back on. 100% skin-in-the-game They deserve our respect, and a square deal. I’ll always respect someone putting their own money on the line to back something they believe in — no matter how small the check In many ways they’re taking on more risk than the VCs mocking them. It’s pretty easy to take risks with other people’s money versus your own They deserve access, like they had back in the 80’s / 90’s / early 2000’s We turned an open market into a toll road. I’m sure the folks operating the toll booths will not like this post, or the reforms I’m going to try to push. But my DMs are open to anyone who wants to help eliminate the tolls for the average American investor ❤️🇺🇸

We need a bit more shame. People used to avoid certain self-interested behaviors to avoid shame, private and public. Law and customs assumed this. Now, 38% of Stanford students claim to be disabled. 40% of young women (under 35) claim mental illness, and SSI disability payments have gone up 400% in a single generation. It isn't good for anyone, least of all people who are actually disabled, when everyone looks the other way as friends and family and peers con the system with a level of shamelessness no architect of our safety net ever imagined could be possible in America. When everyone is disabled, nobody is.

Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada spoke about the contradictions of human nature: “Some people dream of having a swimming pool at home, while those who have one hardly ever use it. Those who have lost a loved one feel a profound sense of loss, while others often complain about their living relatives. Those without a partner long for one, while those who have one often don't appreciate it. The hungry would give anything for a meal, while the satiated complain about the taste of their food. Those without a car dream of owning one, while those who have a car are always looking for a better one.” The key to happiness is gratitude: truly seeing and appreciating what we already have, and understanding that somewhere, someone would give anything for what we take for granted.

I love & defend Miami, but I couldn’t help but laugh at this from the 4th of July drone show This wasn’t America’s Bicentennial. That happened 50 years ago 😅 But maybe they didn’t have enough drones to spell out “Semiquincentennial” for 250 😂

🇯🇵 Dear American friends, I will never forget this for as long as I live. 😭 March 11, 2011. 2:46 PM. The Great East Japan Earthquake struck. Magnitude 9.0. The largest earthquake ever recorded in Japanese history violently shook the Tohoku region. 🌏 Then, dozens of minutes later, a tsunami beyond imagination swallowed the coastline. 🌊🌊 Around the world, many governments advised their citizens to leave Japan. Some embassies reduced their staff or temporarily relocated their operations. Sendai Airport filled with people desperately trying to leave Japan. ✈️ March 11. The earthquake. The tsunami. Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant lost all electrical power. The cooling systems failed, and the reactors began to melt down. ⚠️ March 12. Unit 1 exploded. 💥 The reactor building was torn apart, and the images spread across the world. Fear of radiation spread across the globe, and many people tried to keep their distance from Japan. But then… 🇺🇸 America came closer. Within hours of the earthquake, the decision was made. On March 12, Operation Tomodachi began. 🤝 24,000 service members. 189 aircraft. ✈️ 24 ships. ⚓ They headed toward the disaster area. Even with the fear of explosions still lingering, they carefully managed the risks of radiation while delivering food, water, and medical supplies, and continued their relief operations. 🚢📦💧 It wasn’t only the U.S. military stationed in Japan. From the American mainland, from across the Pacific, and from Americans living in Japan, an overwhelming desire arose 「We want to help Japan.」 😭 They helped restore Sendai Airport. ✈️ They delivered emergency supplies. 📦 They searched for and rescued survivors alongside the Japan Self-Defense Forces. 🛟 And they stayed by Japan’s side for as long as they were needed. 🤝 The name of the mission was… Operation Tomodachi. 「Tomodachi.」 🥹 Perhaps that name was chosen carefully. Or perhaps there simply wasn’t any other word that fit. A kunoichi trains for years never to show emotion while on a mission. To observe. To report. To act without being ruled by emotion. And yet, every time I remember those ships sailing toward Tohoku, I cannot count how many times I have cried. 😭 Even today, I cannot find words in any language to express what I felt back then. 💙😭 When so many people were trying to leave Japan, you came. 😭 When fear and uncertainty covered our nation, you stayed by our side. 😭 You rescued survivors, delivered hope, and stood with us when we needed friends the most. 😭 A kunoichi remembers everything. Even now, more than fifteen years later. 🕊️ Happy 250th Birthday, America. 🎉 Japan will never forget the friendship you showed us on those days. 🇯🇵🤝🇺🇸 Never. Forever… 🥹❤️ #A250inJapan

"I’ve never seen such an influx of bad actors into startup investing in the 13 years I’ve been an investor. It’s “Wolf of Wall Street” bad, or worse." The amount of funky SPVs I've seen especially during the past 12 months has been obscure.

People have asked me why I am excited about consumer opportunities for startups again. (1) new AI experiences can be very different / 10x better than status quo (2) willingness to try new things is better than ever (3) combine these and new things can become new habits

On July 4 2012 in San Diego, California, 7,000 fireworks accidentally went off all at the same time. What was supposed to be a 17 min show, lasted just 30 seconds, thanks to a computer glitch It is one of the greatest firework shows of all time Happy 250th birthday, America 🇺🇸

Late stage private market SPV fraud is a much bigger problem than most people realize

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me” George Bush famously fumbled that quote, but it’s a very useful operating principle for life You want to be a trusting person. To remain open to new opportunities, and not become jaded. In both business and your personal life You can’t allow the one or two times you get burned close you off to the next great thing that may come your way In business: I’ve invested in a lot of startups over the years. Out of 200 bets: I’ve been outright defrauded exactly twice. Like: literally ran off with the money defrauded. Law enforcement involved, the whole nine yards. In my personal life: I’ve had an ex-girlfriend steal my credit card, and run charges for months until I noticed It sucks, you feel like an idiot when it happens. But you can’t let it change your trusting nature It doesn’t matter whether someone steals a dollar or a million: it’s revealing of their character. But the absolute worst thing you could do in response is to allow it to change your character If I had given up on startup investing after backing one fraudster: I would have missed out on investing in multiple 100 & 1,000X opportunities that have changed my life If I had let that one betrayal in dating close me off to love, I wouldn’t have the wonderful relationship I have now Being a trusting person, and building high-trust circles is so important in life. It’s what makes so many amazing possibilities happen And occasionally, a scorpion will wander into your life. They will sting you. It’s in their nature But never let them change your nature.

The talent density of this group is very high.

Flew out to SF for an early Facebook Design Team reunion dinner Felt like more of a college reunion than my actual college reunions! ❤️ Thanks for organizing @joulee! (photo credit @mosseri)

True

Blade Runner 2049 (2017) Midjourney Medical Spa (2026)

I saw the inside of my arm today. And it was the future! @midjourney announced Midjourney Scanner, the first reinvention of medical imaging in decades. Instead of an hour in an MRI, you dip into water and ultrasound images your entire body, down to the arteries. I was lucky enough to be invited to the launch event (thank you @DavidSHolz for the invite) and get to try the tech for myself (just my arm, the full machine is HUGE). They also announced the Midjouney Spa — a 24,000 sq ft spa with steam rooms, hot tubs and more — because if you’re already wet from the scan, might as well get some water therapy in as well. It feels very much like a throwback to David’s first company Leap Motion, which made one of the first gestures interfaces for computers (I was lucky enough to interview David and see it early as a reporter over a decade ago.) Congrats to @DavidSHolz and the Midjourney team on the launch. Excited to get a Midjourney Scan at the Midjourney Spa!

The fact that orbital compute is (soon) the most efficient way to build datacenters says a lot about how much excessive regulation has harmed progress on earth. It’s more efficient to fly to outer space than to try and build on land. Freedom is always on the frontier. The U.S. constitution was a breakthrough in that it protected citizens from tyrannical government. What it missed, and what we should try to integrate into the next constitution (on Mars, special economic zones, etc), is restraint against unchecked growth of regulation and government spending. I’ve been slowly collecting proposals for how that could work. Might do a post on it at some point.

the midjourney roadmap was public the whole time

Let me explain why an AI art company just built a full-body medical scanner, because almost everyone is reading this as a random pivot. Ultrasonic CT works by firing sound through your body and recording the ripples that scatter back. Half a million emitters the size of a grain of sand, surrounding you in water, each one listening. What comes back is noise. Reconstructing a clean 3D image of muscle and tissue from that scattered acoustic mess is an inverse problem, and it is brutally hard. The hardware is the easy part. Butterfly Network already makes the chips. The reconstruction is where every previous attempt stalled. That reconstruction is the exact problem Midjourney spent years getting good at. Turning ambiguous input into a coherent image is what they do. They aimed it at sound waves instead of text prompts. This is why the scan takes 60 seconds while a full-body MRI takes 60 to 90 minutes. Close to 100x faster, no radiation, no magnets, resolution down to a fraction of a millimeter. Then read the part most people skipped. The scans happen at a spa. Hot tubs, cold plunges, and a machine that quietly images your whole body while you relax. The scan is a side effect. You barely notice it. Run it forward. The plan is 50,000 machines doing a billion scans every month. Midjourney has no investors and no quarterly hardware margin to chase. The payoff was never the scan fee. A billion monthly full-body scans is the largest longitudinal map of human anatomy ever assembled. Every model trained on it gets sharper, and every sharper model makes the next scan worth more. This was always an image company. They just found a kind of image nobody else could generate.

Incredibly inspiring stuff. Bravo! This was on nobody's bingo card, yet makes complete sense in retrospect. Brilliant use of their technology that up until now looked more like a toy

Been enjoying @linear Agent and coding sessions on mobile. Going from a user question or bug report to a fix in minutes, then reviewing the diff and opening a PR right from your phone