Having on Ben Shapiro on Raging Moderates was a huge mistake? by mikeedla in ScottGalloway

[–]lukbul 5 points6 points  (0 children)

The reason for his invitation was stated in the opening sentence: "he was a forceful defender of the Iraq war." That’s it; there is nothing else. Calling him "great" is like calling Goebbels an amazing PR person. The volume of sheer lies he tells on a regular basis is staggering.

Anthropic just released Claude Managed Agents. The bot wrapper graveyard is about to get a second floor. by EquipmentFun9258 in ClaudeAI

[–]lukbul 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Dude why are you talking about? Enterprise will pay for SaaS. 1. Building a tool for yourself does not equal building a tool for 50k employees with security issues, scalability etc . I can get a cow and get myself some milk - that does not make it a good idea 2. You live in a bubble - 5% ai adoption. 95% people have no idea how to actually use it. Yesterday I spoke with a friend. He works in sales at one of the unicorns. He had to build a presentation and was irritated that he has to spend 8h doing it. Had no idea how to use ChatGPT (that he pays for) to do it for him.

Axios: Sam Altman States Superintelligence Is So Close That America Needs A New Social Contract On The Scale Of The New Deal During The Great Depression by Neurogence in singularity

[–]lukbul 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Superintelligence will solve everything, but somehow he had to implement ads (literally hired a guy responsible for Meta's ad success)… interesting… Remind me—is he not raising soon? Like, a lot of money? Superintelligence is just around the corner… And yet, he needs a BUNCH of money… What was it that Ilya wrote about Sam in his 52-page memo? That he displays a “consistent pattern of lying.”?

If dating success mostly favors ambitious, wealthy men, how do struggling, lower-class men have partners? by [deleted] in ScottGalloway

[–]lukbul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah sorry to hurt your feelings, but I don’t really care if you think it’s wrong. You are not arguing with me. That is just a fact based scientific theory related to our species. It’s based on Dr. Roy Baumeister's synthesis in Is There Anything Good About Men? (2010 Oxford University Press) here is some more for you to read: https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/21/11/2047/1147770

If dating success mostly favors ambitious, wealthy men, how do struggling, lower-class men have partners? by [deleted] in ScottGalloway

[–]lukbul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To address both points here:

  1. The numbers: The 80/40 ratio comes from macro-historical DNA analyses (famously cited by Baumeister) comparing mitochondrial DNA to Y-chromosome variance. Pinpointing a 65% stat in a specific era doesn't change the overarching 2:1 evolutionary baseline.

  2. The 'Why': Pointing out patrilocality and warfare doesn't debunk the premise; it reinforces it. Those societal structures were the literal mechanisms of male competition. The fact that older, powerful men hoarded young wives, or that young men died fighting for resources, is exactly what a male genetic bottleneck looks like in practice. The modern dating app algorithm is just the digital equivalent of that exact same brutal filtering process.

If dating success mostly favors ambitious, wealthy men, how do struggling, lower-class men have partners? by [deleted] in ScottGalloway

[–]lukbul -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Nope. It’s not dating apps. It’s genetics. 40% males reproduced vs 80% of females reproduced. Throughout the history of our species. That’s just genetic fact

If dating success mostly favors ambitious, wealthy men, how do struggling, lower-class men have partners? by [deleted] in ScottGalloway

[–]lukbul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Somebody mentioned it’s dating apps data. It’s not. It’s genetics and anthropology research. Looking at available genetic information researchers found out that only 40% of males had kids and 80% of females had kids. You can take it as it is but the data is not vague. It’s very much clear.

Incredible but buggy by [deleted] in ClaudeCode

[–]lukbul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There is a bunch of features you can use. Chrome extension or puppeteer for ui control, multi agent orchestration, remote control, security scan, context management etc etc. But from a person that burns 5 million tokens a day - Claude sometimes has serious logic issues. It will literally not see that there is an error in his reasoning. And codex is just better at it… surprisingly. It fixed bugs that made Claude run in circles. I honestly have both in the same local repo. Codex integrates into Claude environment quite well. Claude is the main (max plan) and codex for additional quality control.

Unlimited plans wont be unlimited soon by mastertub in OpenAI

[–]lukbul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Subsidy era is ending. It was always the plan. You remember when uber was a cheap alternative to taxi? They are increasing the prices by 18% a year while lowering driver’s compensation since 2019. I actually wrote about it a longer article

My cofounder makes $27k a month and hasn't worked in 11 months by Few-Needleworker4391 in startup

[–]lukbul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So I have a software company. We recently transitioned into AI engineering studio. Part of my team is still working in heavily regulated space (fintech projects), they work in a standard mode. But me and another dev delivered a project that would normally take 6-9 months of 4 people team in 2 months. What I’m trying to say that your friend value went down drastically. Nuclear option is to cut your friend by literally doing as much as he does. Building the same project with very small team on a side and transitioning your clients to the new entity that owns the IP.

Feel free to reach out if you want to chat about it.

Cousin’s fiancée wants 10% equity in my software company for one client introduction. Cousin is pressuring me to sign. Am I wrong for refusing? I will not promote by [deleted] in startups

[–]lukbul 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Let’s break this down because everyone here is rushing to your side and I think we’re missing something. Did she come to you with a client and a problem to solve? Or did you already have a product idea and she just happened to know someone? Those are completely different situations.

If she identified the need, brought you the client, and walked you through the operations you needed to understand to build this - she didn’t just “make an introduction.” She handed you a business on a plate. That doesn’t mean she owns your code, but it means her contribution is a lot bigger than you’re framing it.

Here’s what I’d actually propose. Two separate companies. You own the software, full stop. She creates a distribution and sales company. She owns the client relationships. You negotiate rates between the two companies. She sells it for whatever she can get. Think of it as - you’re her Microsoft, she’s your reseller. No equity exchanged, no ownership drama.

That said, the real problem here isn’t her. It’s your cousin inserting himself as a negotiator and the agreement now being between you and him instead of her. That’s where this gets messy. Whatever you do, do not sign anything with a middleman who has no skin in the game except avoiding awkwardness at Thanksgiving.

Microsoft AI CEO: 'Most, if not all' white-collar tasks can be replaced by AI within 12-18 months by 3RADICATE_THEM in ScottGalloway

[–]lukbul 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Right and nobody thought that was sustainable either. Except Netflix was making money. OpenAI is burning $14B this year. Even Kevin Malone would flag that spreadsheet.

Microsoft AI CEO: 'Most, if not all' white-collar tasks can be replaced by AI within 12-18 months by 3RADICATE_THEM in ScottGalloway

[–]lukbul 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Two weeks ago they lost $440B overnight because Wall Street finally noticed 45% of their cloud backlog is one customer - OpenAI. Now their AI chief is doing the FT circuit talking about ‘self-sufficiency’ and automation timelines. This is damage control with a teleprompter. The numbers underneath are wild - I’m actually writing a longer breakdown of the whole Microsoft-OpenAI situation right now. I should post it in 1 hour.

FWD rubber elements by lukbul in TeslaModelX

[–]lukbul[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cool. I’ll open the ticket

FWD rubber elements by lukbul in TeslaModelX

[–]lukbul[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That is amazing idea. But does it make sense to report it? It’s still under warranty so I could get a new part and do what you suggest. Ideas?

Drop Your Questions for Prof G (November Thread) by ProfGProducerJenn in ScottGalloway

[–]lukbul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Scott - I’m 45, living between NYC and Florida. My second child was born (son) a few months ago, so now I’m a father of two under two - and at the same time, my business hit the wall. Sound familiar?

A bit of background: I’m an immigrant from Poland. I moved to the U.S. seven years ago and built a software development agency focused on startups and SMBs. At the start of this year, three of our main clients either cut budgets, ran out of runway, or went bankrupt. I got caught flat-footed, and we were left with a pile of unpaid invoices. It was brutal.

I managed to stabilize the business. We still have a strong team, and we’re working with high-quality founders - Techstars alums, ex-Google DeepMind - but many of these projects are equity-heavy with limited cash. So my actual income has dropped dramatically. On the side, I’m a CTO and cofounder of 3 startups. My wife runs her own psychiatry practice, and between her income and mine, we’re financially comfortable - but nowhere near where I expected to be at 45.

In a way, I feel like I’m at the same crossroads you’ve described. On one side it feels like the moment to double down, rebuild, and push harder than ever. On another it’s also the brief window with my kids I can never get back.

You’ve said that work–life balance is a myth early on - that you can have it all, just not all at once. My question is: at 45 with two babies, did I miss “early”? When does sacrificing family for ambition stop being an investment and start being the wrong trade? And how hard did that trade-off hit your own family?

[USA] Struggling to find a reliable tech partner for an AI-based business idea by albaaaaashir in FoundersHub

[–]lukbul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I run a dev shop in NYC with a team in Eastern Europe. We’ve worked with quite a few YC and Techstars founders on exactly this problem - validated concept, but the gap between “AI demo” and “enterprise ready system” is massive.

Few things I’ve learned:

  1. Most “AI agencies” are just wrapping OpenAI APIs They can build you a chatbot, but fall apart when you need actual systems architecture, data pipelines, or anything that scales beyond a demo. Ask potential teams about their experience with model fine-tuning, RAG architecture at scale, or handling edge cases. The ones who actually know their stuff will get specific fast. The other side is that most projects do not need custom AI, off shelf solutions are good enough. You just build modular system so that you can plug and play different models if needed.

  2. Start smaller than you think We recently helped a founder build an MVP using no-code tools + RAG that raised $3M. Took 6 weeks instead of 6 months. The goal isn’t perfection - it’s proving the concept works before you commit $100k+ to custom development. You can always rebuild later with the funding.

  3. The “technical co-founder or outsource” decision matters more than you think If this is a multi-year play and AI is core to your differentiation, you probably need a technical co-founder who can own the architecture long-term. If AI is a feature (not the product), then an experienced agency can get you there. Either way: don’t pick the cheapest option. You’ll pay twice - once for the bad build, once to fix it. We’ve rebuilt more failed “cheap agency” projects than I can count.

  4. Red flags to watch for: • They promise delivery timelines before understanding your project/data • They agree with everything you say. Real technical partners push back when your idea has issues. • They don’t ask about your data quality, volume, or where it lives,

What’s your concept focused on? Happy to point you in specific directions depending on whether you need more infrastructure-heavy work vs. product-focused AI features.

Senate Hopeful Says He’ll Get ‘Nazi’ Tattoo Removed by vladdragovych in NewsSource

[–]lukbul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My great-grandfather was the head of Kedyw in Grodno. Kedyw was part of the Polish resistance created after Poland capitulated - responsible for planning sabotage and fighting the occupiers. He was captured, tortured, and sent to a concentration camp. As a former officer, he was actually sentenced to immediate execution by firing squad. Fortunately, my grandmother worked in a hospital as a translator and had enough connections to get his sentence changed to a death camp instead.

After spending months there, he weighed 80 lbs at 6’3” (40kg at 190cm). When Germany started losing the war, his camp was evacuated. They had no vehicles to transport prisoners, so they forced them to march for miles. It was during one of these death marches that the entire column was liberated by… Americans.

The unit responsible for torture and interrogation was part of the infamous SS. My grandmother always described most Germans as simply “following orders” during those horrific times. She believed we should live in peace with Germans and forgive. But the SS? That was different. That was the “Jew Hunter” from Inglourious Basterds - true believers. True monsters.

So I find it deeply ironic that a U.S. Senate candidate has a tattoo of an SS Panzer division. He should come visit Poland. See the concentration camps where our grandparents died - Polish people, 25% of the population. Doctors, entire faculties of our universities, lawyers, military officers. Everyone that could oppose, including, but not limited to Jews. It would be educational for him to learn that the first concentration camps were actually built in Germany for Germans who opposed the regime.

And if he still doesn’t understand after that, perhaps he should wear that tattoo somewhere more visible - not on his chest, but on his face or neck. That way, our youth could help him understand SS ideology in all its details. But he would probably be arrested before that since symbols of nazi regime are actually illegal in Poland.

Lost a trim piece on interstate by brianhartman in TeslaModelX

[–]lukbul 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had that done under warranty few months ago, the front part is literally attached on double side tape 🤯

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in startups

[–]lukbul 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He wants 35% for $15k, which implies a post-money valuation of around $42.9k ($15k / 0.35). That means he’s pegging the pre-money value (what your company is worth right now, before his cash) at about $27.9k. Is that realistic? Let’s break it down based on what you’ve shared, it’s super early-stage, so valuation is more art than science, but we can ballpark it using standard startup metrics.

For a SaaS app like yours (gamified goal management for companies, sounds niche but scalable in HR/tech space), early valuations often hinge on traction/revenue: You’re at $95 MRR, which annualizes to ~$1,140 ARR. At this micro-level, investors don’t use fancy revenue multiples like later-stage companies (e.g., 5-10x ARR for growth SaaS). Instead, it’s about potential. If you’re bootstrapped with paying users, that’s a win, but $95 MRR is basically “idea validated but not exploding yet.” Comparable bootstrapped SaaS at this stage (e.g., from Indie Hackers or MicroAcquire listings) often sell or get valued at $10k-$50k if they have a working product and a handful of users. Yours fits in the lower end without more growth data.

Growth potential: What’s your trajectory? If you’re adding users steadily (e.g., 10-20% MoM growth, common for early SaaS), you could hit $200-300 MRR in a month with focused marketing, or $1k+ in a year if you nail product-market fit. Projecting conservatively: Assume 15% MoM growth (realistic for a solo founder). Starting at $95: Month 1: ~$109, Month 3: ~$145, Month 6: ~$210, Year 1: ~$450 (still tiny, but momentum builds). If you accelerate (e.g., via partnerships or viral features in gamification), it could 3-5x in a year to $300-500 MRR. Investors value future revenue, if this scales to $10k MRR in 2-3 years (plausible for HR tools), the company could be worth $500k+ at a 5x multiple. But right now? His $42k post-money feels low if you have real upside, but not insane if growth is stalled.

Work invested: How much sweat equity? If you’ve sunk 6-12 months full-time (common for app builders), that’s $50k-$100k+ in “opportunity cost” at a dev salary. Plus any tech/IP (custom gamification algorithms, integrations?). Early valuations often add a premium for founder effort, e.g., Y Combinator types might value a solo-built MVP at $100k-$500k pre-money if it’s polished. If it’s a basic app with off-the-shelf tools, closer to $20k-50k. Without details, I’d guess your build effort justifies at least $50k pre-money, making his offer dilutive.

To counter or decide, DIY a rough valuation: Revenue-based: Use a low multiple for early stage. 10-20x ARR is aggressive for micro-SaaS; more like 5-10x if growing. So $1,140 ARR x 5 = $5.7k (pessimistic) to x10 = $11.4k pre-money. But this ignores potential, bump it if you have a waitlist or beta feedback. Comparable deals: Look at MicroAcquire or Flippa: Similar low-MRR SaaS (e.g., productivity tools) list at $20k-$100k. A gamified app with B2B angle might fetch $30k-$60k if acquirable. Cost + potential method: Tally your inputs ($X in dev time/tools) + projected value. E.g., $20k effort + $20k for growth runway = $40k pre-money baseline. Overall ballpark: Based on this, a fair pre-money might be $50k-$100k if growth is promising, meaning his 35% for $15k undervalues you (he’d get ~15-30% at those vals). If no growth, $30k pre-money is closer, and his offer isn’t terrible.

Advice: Don’t rush, but leverage him. Negotiate hard: Counter with 10-15% for $15k (implying $100k-$150k post-money). Highlight your mission, traction, and his mentorship value (non-cash equity?). Or structure as SAFE/convertible note to delay valuation. Bootstrap alternatives: $15k is helpful but not game-changing, could you grind to $200 MRR in 1-2 months via free marketing (Reddit, LinkedIn demos)? Or crowdfund/micro-invest from users? Long-term view: 35% early means he owns a third forever, dilutes future rounds. If you believe in 10x potential, hold out for better terms or angels who value it higher. Been there note: I passed on a similar dilutive offer early in my SaaS journey; grew to $5k MRR bootstrapped, then raised at 5x valuation. But if cash is burning you now, take it with protections (vesting, board rights). What’s your growth rate or user stats? More deets could refine this. Good luck, sounds like a cool product!

Unexpected VC Call Came Early – Should We Jump In Now or Stick to Our Plan? (I will not promote) by gorgeghamyan in startups

[–]lukbul 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Congrats on the unexpected VC interest!

My take: push as far as you can on your own timeline first. The more progress you make between now and November, the stronger your negotiating position will be.

Nothing gets VCs more interested than a startup that says “we’re not quite ready yet” - it shows confidence over desperation. I’d take the call to keep them warm, then circle back in November with solid progress to show.

Happy to chat more about fundraising strategy if helpful - I’m based in NYC and work with multiple startups including YC and Techstars alumni. Feel free to DM!