Mishika Vora

CA/WA/OR state & federal legislators (and voters!) need to be aware of food security and rural economic vitality challenges. Case in point - the 'acreage exodus' in CA is real - From 1997 to 2022, USDA Census data show that California lost 4.6 M ag acres (16% of the total) and 24,857 farms (28% of the total). Straight line these numbers for another 30 years and the numbers go to 9 M acres lost and 45,300 farms lost for 55 years – 32% of acreage and 52% of farms. Other western states - WA & OR - also need to pay close attention to policies that are negatively impacting farming. Labor laws, overtime, L&I, real estate values. It's amazing how much we're seeing ag production moving to LatAm and other areas that are much less expensive to farm. Walt Duflock

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With Waymo announcing the company is now conducting 50,000 paid rides per week in 3 cities, we decided to add some economic context to the announcement. Based on our analysis, Waymo is generating anywhere between $500,000 to just over a $1,000,000 a week in revenue depending on the average fare. Add in 2 more cities/expansions and Waymo is generating north of $100 million a year. How long do you think it will take Waymo to achieve $100 million a year in revenue? Let us know in the comments below. #RoadToAutonomy #AutonomyEconomy #Waymo #RoboTaxi #RideShare #AutonomousVehicle #Autonomy #Google

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Reflections on my first-ever self-driving Uber (Waymo) experience... When I told my family and friends about my first Waymo, autonomous vehicle experience, I was surprised by the reactions. "You are so brave." "Weren't you scared?" "I have driven in SF, that is insane." "I never even knew that was a thing." "That sounds so risky." "Only in California." I reacted by saying that these cars were all over the city, and they seemed very safe, reliable, and even cool. Most importantly, they really seemed to work. In fact, I recall watching people exit the vehicles, and they all looked happy, excited, and really glad they took the risk. I began to reflect on how this experience equates to pharmaceutical companies first choosing to use Mobile Locker over the safer, more comfortable, and more visible choice(s). After all, the small, lesser-known experience is a bit riskier, right? But in the end, it turns out we, too, are "all over the city," with nearly 60 satisfied pharma/med device clients. And yes, I think most would say we are safe, reliable, and...(well, okay, maybe not necessarily cool.) Finally, most every one of our clients is happy, excited, and really glad that they took the risk. Why...because Mobile Locker really works. So if you are seeking to provide more impact and value to your field and to the HCPs you are targeting with your digital messaging... Consider riding with us here at Mobile Locker. #pharmaindustry #meddevices #hcpengagement

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This is f*cking hilarious: TuSimple's pivot from self-driving trucks to AI animation and gaming! 🤖🎮 Right now, everyone’s betting on humanoid and general-purpose robotics startups. But after 5 years in self-driving tech and building Kopernikus Auto, here’s the reality: most humanoid robotics companies will be dead. In the self-driving world, we’ve only seen a few real winners: Tesla, Waymo, and Comma.ai. Why?  - Humanoid robotics isn’t a hardware problem; it’s a software problem. - You either have infinite data, cash, talent, or a clear use case—or you won’t make it, no matter how much you raise. From over 100 companies, almost all in self-driving tech are dead or miles away from profitability. ✨ Don’t get distracted by the appeal of humanoids. Focus on real problems you can actually solve. What are you focusing on? 👇

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Opportunities abound at Apple One thing to note here, Apple’s hardware chip bandwidth alongside their compute per watt approach combine with their Metal high-performance graphics and compute API to provide near-direct access to the GPU on Apple platforms. This in my view sets the stage for significant future opportunity.

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Pathways to Tech Week #2 at  Headstarter: Being surrounded by people who are building amazing software and companies is a truly inspiring experience. My favorite speakers were: • Tariq Ahmed: First Engineer at AppLovin ($30Billion IPO) • Julian Alvarez 🚀: CEO of Wisdolia • Hamza Ali: CEO of Olostep  Here's what I have learned from them: 𝟭- "𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗶𝘃𝗼𝘁" Tariq, one of the first engineers at AppLovin, shared that AppLovin tried several things in their early stages that failed. However, the company had incredible success when it pivoted to mobile advertising; They didn't have expertise in the field. Today if you've experienced in-app advertising, AppLovin was likely behind it. 𝟮- "𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝘆𝗼𝘂'𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻." Julian runs Wisdolia a startup aimed at helping college students actively study. By simply asking what types of students they were. His team found that medical students were the ones the ones who converted the most into paying customers. It seemed evident because they were the most overwhelmed by the amount of information they had cram. But the evidence in their face was a lightbulb moment for Wisdolia. 𝟯- "𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗲'𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗳𝗮𝗿." Hamza, CEO of Olostep, describes his company as "a company that enables AI agents to browse the web just like humans". I was fascinated when I heard that, and as the Olostep team acquires more customers they value scrappy and people that initiative on board. Those qualities set engineers apart when building successful products.

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Who's got a Waymo experience to share? I just had my first truly bad one. First, I should say I love Waymo. It's not in many places yet, but it's poised to be everywhere soon. The app tells me I've done 26 rides covering 97 miles in SF and mostly it's been an exceptional experience. Apart from some quibbles like getting dropped off a block away up a big hill, it's a zen-like experience and a smooth better-than-human-driver experience on the way to wherever I'm going. But I think we're all bound to experience some hiccups as we journey to the future. In my case, I was taking a trip into the Financial District for an event and I had 6 minutes to spare given the ETA. Then all of the sudden it decides it wants to pull into the left lane, which is filled with parked cars. I sit at first amused at this decision. It pulls up right behind the parked car and waits. Then it goes through a dance of deciding it wants to get back in the original lane (everybody loves to snub a driverless car in traffic!) and pulling ever closer to the parked car ahead. Miraculously the driver of the parked car shows up, loads his trunk and departs with ease. The Waymo decides the next course of action is to pull directly behind the next parked car in the lane. My amusement fades. I call support via the touchscreen. My 6 minute buffer that had evaporated to 1 minute suddenly tells me I'll be 13 minutes late, a driver assistance team is dispatched and on their way. Yikes! Then magically (I think they manually took control), the Waymo behaves like a normal driver and inches back into the normal lane and I'm on my way, arriving 1 minute late to the meeting. So in the end, a bit of time stress for someone who really likes to be on time (I started a time company after all) and not really world-ending. In fact, despite this unfortunate experience, I'll be loyally riding again. And so I guess this ends as a parable about what Product Market Fit looks like. If you can mostly deliver superior experiences, there's room for rough edges. (pictured below, mom's first trip in a Waymo)

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Over the years I’ve seen a lot of things in Silicon Valley. One thing that hasn’t changed much? People making the same mistakes about equity compensation, taxes, and risk. That’s probably because the Bay Area has so many talented software engineers, who tend to have a “do-it-yourself” mentality. However, when dealing with complex matters where human behavior and specialized knowledge play crucial roles, a collaborative 'buddy system' almost always leads to better outcomes. 👥 If you'd like to work on any of the 5 items below and want to try out the 'buddy system', send me a DM. 🤝 #rsus #taxes #microsoft #meta #apple #google #Nvidia #amazon #tesla #magnificent7 

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Ever wondered where the perfect balance between tranquility and innovation lies? For me, it’s Seattle. Unlike the Bay, Seattle has a more serene environment that’s perfect for focusing on building products and businesses. The city’s vibe encourages deep work and creative thinking, free from the overwhelming hustle. But let’s be honest, Seattle’s founder and investor communities aren’t as vibrant as those in SF. Yet, this city holds a special place in my heart – a blend of my love for startups and the charm of Seattle. I believe in Seattle’s potential and I’m on a mission to help ignite its startup community. From connecting with fellow founders to engaging investors, let’s come together to build something extraordinary here. Seattle has all the ingredients to be a startup hub – talent, innovation, and a supportive ecosystem. What it needs is a spark. Let’s be that spark.

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We’ve run almost a billion inference requests at Beam Here are a few things we’ve learned about real-time inference APIs 1. For small models, you can often run multiple workers in parallel on the same GPU and increase throughput 2. Weights should be cached on disk or in distributed storage. You don't want to be downloading large files from cloud storage during an inference request 3. Cross-region latency matters. Regional caching is hard and requires a lot of planning 4. You can't use the same autoscaling strategy for every model. You have to see how your workload performs in the real world and choose a strategy that makes sense When you run APIs powered by large ML models, performance isn’t guaranteed. What other strategies have you employed in your ML pipelines to optimize performance?

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Discover how Waymo's autonomous ride-hailing service is revolutionizing independence for people with disabilities in this sponsored article. Jessie Wolinsky, aka 'Badass Blind Babe,' shares her journey navigating San Francisco with ease, thanks to Waymo. Her story highlights the impact of accessible technology & the importance of embracing new experiences. #Accessibility #AutonomousVehicles #Inclusion https://lnkd.in/g_F2Bd57

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Some context from the #Founder perspective. As liberal as Seattle is as a city with policy and politics, it's incredibly conservative from an investment standpoint. One of the reasons you may not hear big "home-run" type pitches or pitches with sizzle, is simply because investors in Seattle don't like those types of pitches and Founders have been ingrained to not present in that manner. They may say they do, but ask any Founder and they'll tell you how they have been told to size down their pitch or talk about MVPs, first customer, first revenue, etc. or how what matters more is what you can do first couple years rather than the home run. Those early metrics are important by the way, but different from the big home run. Do you know who is receptive to homerun pitches? Investors in the Bay, NYC, Miami, Hong Kong. Seattle is not great for early-stage Founders with many prioritizing raising outside the city. We will be raising capital in the fall and as of now, have no plans of reaching out to Seattle-based VCs. I should also add that our company has a blockchain component and sadly Seattle VCs have not embraced crypto or blockchain. Welcome to #Seattle, Kyle Lui! Hopefully, you can help change the narrative! GeekWire

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⚡ Self-Driving is going through a very interesting inflection point. A lot of companies are going bankrupt, but others are going All-In like Waymo Wayve and Waabi (The 3 W's) given their recent raises in the $5B, $1B and $200M+ range 🦾 . It will be interesting to see how these companies spending budgets and priorities evolve as new AI models will see that scaling laws fail when going in the OOD/Adversarial regime and when the tide shifts in the next years or so to favor smaller architectures&data over larger models&data in robustness.

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🌟 November Bay Area CRE Jobs Update 🌟 It's been a big month in the Bay Area. Now tracking 27 CRE roles with phenomenal companies, including Amazon, Electronic Arts (EA), Meta, TikTok, Waymo, Cloudflare, Coinbase, Intuit, Uber and more. 🚀 Let's Connect in DC! I’m currently attending the CoreNet Global Summit in DC. If you’re here, let’s meet up to chat about the latest trends in real estate or just say hello – message me to connect! 💼 Hiring? I’m passionate about connecting top talent with exceptional companies. 💡 Need extra bandwidth? Resource Consulting offers flexible support tailored to CRE needs Know of any other roles? Please share in the comments. Let’s continue building and supporting each other! 🌐 #BayAreaJobs #CREjobs #RealEstateLeadership #CoreNetSummit #Networking

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