Busy writing this weekend. Hoping to finish the first draft of my book if all goes well. I do need a recommendation for the best AI art generator that can maintain persistent characters. What works best?

I'm back in the Founder's seat and can say that Fundraising mode is a whole different beast when you're the one pitching. Having sat in both chairs, here's some candid advice for VCs looking to up their game. Founders are in the trenches, and small things make a huge difference in building trust (or killing it). 1) Be genuinely nice. Ditch the dismissive or arrogant vibe. Fundraising is hell for most Founders. It's a world of endless rejections and is a high stakes, emotional rollercoaster. The last thing we need is someone who treats it like a power play. In one of my pitches recently, I had a VC lean back, elbows out, and smirk. The first thing they said was "pitch me." Instant no from my perspective. I wasn't going to play that game. Respect the journey, show empathy, and you'll stand out. Founders remember who made them feel valued vs. interrogated. 2) Come prepared or don't bother. Do your homework on what the Founder is building and the ecosystem around it. Sounding like a beginner is a killer. It wastes time extracting the basics and signals you might not add much value beyond cash. Well-prepped VCs validate their expertise, position themselves as strategic partners, and build rapport fast. Being prepared takes work but it's what Founders crave. 3) Build in flex time to go long if the conversation is flowing and interesting. Nothing makes a Founder feel more special than extending the meeting when it's just getting good. A hard cutoff and sharp exit screams "whatever's next is way more important than you." Just remember that stretching the call is a massive positive signal because it shows real interest. It can turn what otherwise would have been a standard meeting into something memorable. If you nail these three, you'll be miles ahead of most VCs in landing the deals you want! Thoughts from the Founder and VC community welcome!

Writing a book: 10% inspiration, 90% arguing with characters who have their own ideas. But I feel like I'm arguing with myself since one of the characters in the book is channeling my advice and frameworks. Coffee fueled schizophrenia.

In an age of widespread cognitive atrophy, nothing is more punk rock than the love of learning for its own sake. Brain-destroying tech is being peddled by those who seek to make a nation of illiterates. They don’t want you to read, and that is why you must never stop.

Being in a hot sector matters if you're a Startup seeing venture capital. It's obviously best to be a hot company in a hot sector. What I wonder is whether it's better to be an unsexy company in the hot sector or a cool company in an out of favor sector. Both are hard.

Editing is less fun than writing. Writing is about the creative process of moving ideas from the brain to the page. Editing is realizing how bad the initial version is and how much work it will take to fix it.

I've been trying to determine if Doomerism is on the rise and unfortunately there's no definitive source of data out there. But, the proliferation of related online content and media coverage since 2018 collectively supports the view that its a growing cultural movement.

Grok is making me crazy right now. I had a long conversation with it last night and again this morning where it said it was going to deliver me detailed word documents via email by a specific time. It asked me to confirm my email address and confirmed sending the files. Nothing showed up. I then asked it again about the delivery and it said that it doesn’t have the ability to send files via email. I pointed to its last conversation with me and it can’t find where it offered to send emails or any of the details —- even when I specifically pointed to the details in the conversation. What’s going on here? Pretty maddening to have it lie directly to me and then ignore what it said.

Great day with the team working on the music business and talking to potential investors. Hoping for the same tomorrow and Thursday. Great night ahead writing and editing. Having fun turning what's in my head into actual words. Lots of work to do.....but life is good.

More writing completed today. 15-20 hours this weekend and about the same last week. Flow state is a real thing!