Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:
Why Do A.I. Chatbots Use ‘I’? – The New York Times
Shneiderman and a host of other experts in a field known as human-computer interaction object to this approach. They say that making these systems act like humanlike entities, rather than as tools with no inner life, creates cognitive dissonance for users about what exactly they are interacting with and how much to trust it.
i’m just having fun
all the things i know i learned by experimenting with them, or by reading books or posts or man pages or really obscure error messages. sometimes there’s a trick to it but sometimes it’s just hard work. i am not magic. you can learn these things too.
Deadstock Coffee Is Stepping Out of Old Town
“I know we’ve been in Old Town holding the block down for a long time, but it’s time to move on. Sometimes real good things come to an end,” Williams said.
2025 LLM Year in Review | karpathy
2025 has been a strong and eventful year of progress in LLMs. The following is a list of personally notable and mildly surprising “paradigm changes” – things that altered the landscape and stood out to me conceptually.
Crunchbase Predicts: IPOs Picked Up In 2025 And The Outlook For 2026 Is Even More Optimistic
The IPO market for new technology listings picked up in 2025. So far this year, at least 23 U.S.-based companies have listed above $1 billion in value, compared to nine in 2024, per an analysis of Crunchbase data.
How To Raise Capital When You Don’t Sound Like An Insider
In today’s market, where early-stage capital is shrinking, your ability to communicate is as critical as your product. Forty-four percent of U.S. unicorn founders are immigrants, and many of them started as outsiders. You may not “look the part,” but that doesn’t have to stop you from raising money. It certainly didn’t stop me.
The Proof Narrative: How Investors Decide If Your Data Is Real
A proof narrative is not a collection of metrics. It is the transformation of messy, imperfect signals into coherent evidence that demonstrates the company understands its own engine. The founders who raise well at Seed through Series B are not the ones with the most data. They are the ones who understand what their data actually means.
Reflections on AI at the end of 2025 – <antirez>
The fundamental challenge in AI for the next 20 years is avoiding extinction.
The Portland Startup Saving Millions of Inner Tubes from Landfills – Alliance for American Manufacturing
Lanette Fidrych shares how Cycle Dog grew from sewing dog leashes out of discarded bike tubes to becoming a nationally distributed, U.S.-made pet product manufacturer. She discusses scaling production from her home to a full factory and retail/tavern space, the brand’s commitment to sustainability, and the importance of creating meaningful manufacturing jobs.
