$2B for No Product, Robots Under $3K & Australia's Massive Miss

Scott shares his full week of using the Limitless pendant in various environments, revealing how it functions as both an AI assistant and coach. He discusses building usage rules, end-of-day insights, and surprisingly accurate feedback that mirrors human performance reviews. The device picks up all audio including podcasts, raising interesting questions about workplace recording norms.

• •Built personal rules: never wear at home after it accused him of being mean to his dog
• •End-of-day prompts provide actionable feedback: 'what did I do well', 'where was I at my best/worst', 'what to complete tomorrow'
• •AI feedback after just days of listening matched feedback from actual staff reviews
• •Workplace acceptance: people respond positively when told 'it's my note taker, doesn't care who you are'
• •Picks up audio from phone speakers (podcasts), creating unexpected data capture

Matt challenges the conventional wisdom around deep work, arguing that the future requires humans to become better multi-taskers who orchestrate multiple AI agents simultaneously. The discussion covers new interface needs for managing AI workloads and the shift from doing work to commanding digital workforces.

• •Humans need to become better at multitasking, not just deep work - managing multiple AI agents simultaneously
• •The 'rowing boat' feeling: launching 5 instances of Claude Code and orchestrating them like a conductor
• •Current interfaces (laptop + ChatGPT tabs) are inadequate for managing multiple AI agents
• •Critical question: what is the new interface for the future of work when commanding AI?
• •Traditional management skills (setting goals, tasks, deadlines) remain essential for digital workforce

Analysis of Thinking Machines' record-breaking $2B seed round at $10B valuation with no product - just 30 researchers from OpenAI, Meta, and Mistral led by ex-OpenAI CTO Mira Murati. This represents the new reality of buying teams versus traditional hiring in AI, raising questions about whether talent can succeed outside OpenAI's systems.

• •Largest seed round ever: $2B at $10B valuation with zero product, just talent
• •Team of ~30 researchers mainly from OpenAI, led by ex-CTO Mira Murati
• •A16Z betting entirely on people, not technology or customers
• •OpenAI has lost every leadership member except Sam Altman despite massive valuations
• •Open question: can these leaders succeed without OpenAI's systems and Sam's leadership?

Eleven Labs launches conversational AI (11.ai) combining world-leading voice capabilities with MCP protocol integration, allowing connection to Google Calendar, email, Slack, and other tools. While innovative, the analysis suggests OpenAI will likely steamroll this approach as they add similar integrations.

• •11.ai combines best-in-class voice models with MCP (Model Context Protocol) for tool integration
• •Can plug in Google Calendar, email, Slack - ask about agenda, important emails, next week's priorities
• •Works via voice in the car or on-the-go for hands-free productivity
• •Likely to be 'steamrolled' by OpenAI as they add same integrations with superior underlying models
• •Potential acquisition target rather than standalone competitor

YC's AI Startup School featured Sam Altman, Satya Nadella, Elon Musk, and Jensen Huang - arguably more influential than G7 summits. Elon announced artificial superintelligence in 12-24 months, refocus on robotics after seeing Jensen's 10 robots on stage, and that government work was a 'side quest' that didn't go well.

• •Elon predicts artificial superintelligence (ASI) in 12-24 months - closest timeline from any major figure
• •Announced full refocus on robotics after Jensen Huang put 10 robots on stage: 'either watching the race or in the race'
• •Tesla robotaxis launching in Austin, head of robotics quit (likely couldn't handle Elon's intensity)
• •These tech leaders (Altman, Nadella, Musk, Huang) are more influential than elected officials - 'can't vote them out'
• •AI is like electricity - you either leverage it or get bulldozed, no option to ignore

Analysis of Cluely, the startup that went viral for helping students cheat, now backed by A16Z. The real story: they're solving for intelligence (AI engineers) and distribution (viral influencers) with a 50/50 team split. Their 'cheat on everything' motto is strategic virality, not the actual product focus.

• •Team structure: 50% AI engineers + 50% viral influencers (100K+ followers required)
• •Founder understands platform timing: X is 2 years behind TikTok/Instagram in virality trends
• •The 'cheating' angle is marketing - actual product is background passive AI assistance
• •Solving the two hardest startup problems: intelligence (good product) and distribution (audience)
• •Building millions of followers before product launch ensures instant distribution

Scott announces plans to hire a full-time position dedicated to researching AI tools and automating business processes. This role would spend part of the week researching tools and the rest implementing automation, creating a feedback loop where the business becomes more technologically advanced every week.

• •New role: AI tools researcher who also automates processes - research early week, implement by end of week
• •ROI measured by revenue per head - 10% efficiency gain across team pays for itself immediately
• •This person would use agents to help find and analyze new tools - self-fulfilling feedback loop
• •Companies not heavily integrating AI in 12-24 months will be 'like the Amish - in a different era'
• •The advantage from AI is greatest yesterday, second-most today, diminishing after - timing is critical

Hugging Face, the open source AI model platform, acquired Pollen Robotics and now offers open source humanoid robots for less than a MacBook. This signals 2026 as the year of the robot, with the humanoid market potentially 8x larger than the entire SaaS market by 2050.

• •Open source humanoid robots now cost less than a MacBook (~$3K) from Hugging Face
• •Hugging Face (software company) acquiring robotics companies signals massive market shift
• •Humanoid robot market estimated 8x larger than entire SaaS market by 2050
• •More robots than humans coming - 8B+ robots at $3K-$50K each = hundreds of trillions market
• •Software engineers leaving Silicon Valley for Ohio to start manufacturing businesses with robotics

Practical guide to reorganizing your iPhone home screen for maximum productivity. Scott spent an hour analyzing app usage and reducing from 10 screens to 3: (1) Dashboard with notifications/high-use apps, (2) AI tools screen, (3) Dumping ground. Matt adds the insight that organizing your digital life has scientific benefits for mental wellbeing.

• •Audit your app usage, then ruthlessly cut to 2-3 screens maximum (from 10+ screens)
• •Screen 1: Communication tools and apps you can't miss notifications from (WhatsApp, Slack, WeChat)
• •Screen 2: Dedicated AI tools screen (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, Perplexity, Notebook LM, etc.)
• •Screen 3: Dumping ground for occasional apps, everything else in app library
• •Scientific research shows organizing digital spaces reduces stress and improves mental wellbeing

Deep dive into Australia's massive missed opportunity: possessing 30% of world's uranium, abundant coal, natural gas, and solar potential, yet shipping resources abroad while energy prices rise 10%. The vision: create an Australian innovation hub (Darwin or Geelong) with abundant cheap energy, low taxes, minimal regulation - becoming the Shenzhen of AI and robotics.

• •Australia has 30% of world's uranium, ships 7x more coal than it uses, yet energy prices rising 10% in July
• •Virtue signaling: shipping coal to China to burn there doesn't help global emissions, just hurts Australian economy
• •China's solar capacity will soon exceed entire US power capacity - they understand energy = compute = AI dominance
• •Proposal: Create special economic zone (Darwin/Geelong) with cheap energy, low taxes, minimal regulation for AI/robotics
• •Need to overcome tall poppy syndrome - Americans celebrate success and ambition, Australians cut down tall poppies