Paola Moretto

Hey folks! Garrett Milster and I have only posted about Sacramento Labs once, so we figured it's time for an update 😊 **What is Sacramento Labs?** We’re a small team focused on launching software products that solve real-world problems. Think of us as a startup lab—constantly testing ideas, learning from feedback, and building tools that matter, and having an impact while doing it. **How do we decide what to build?** We like to build products that: -         Solve real-world problems in mostly ignored industries -         Are small, highly maintainable, and scalable codebases -         Make the world a better place directly, or by donating a percentage of profits to a relevant charity in that space You can learn more about our philosophy at sacramentolabs.com **What you can expect from us** We’ll be posting product ideas that are in various stages of our pipeline: Early Concept, Customer Development, In Progress, Launched, Scaling. We’d love to hear your feedback! **Our latest concept: Self-Hosted Security** Here’s the problem: - Businesses often use third-party URL shorteners to share internal tools, resources, or campaigns, but these services introduce serious risks. Enterprise companies like Google, Microsoft, and Stripe have built their own internal URL shorteners for this reason – but most businesses don’t have the resources to do that. - Phishing attacks are rampant, and links from external services can be spoofed or abused. - Branding and security controls are limited, leaving sensitive information exposed. - You can’t track link activity—who’s clicking what, when, or why. - When employees leave, their shared links still work, leaving potential vulnerabilities. Our proposed solution: Self-Hosted Security. It’s a plug-and-play solution for businesses to host their own branded URL shorteners with: - SSO for secure access tied to your company’s directory. - Link expirations to ensure old links don’t stay active indefinitely. - Audit logs to track activity and improve visibility into link usage. 📢 We need your input! Would this solve a problem for you? What features would make this indispensable? Check out the landing page and share your thoughts: selfhostedsecurity.com Want to chat? Email me at [email protected] 😊 💡 And here’s something we’re passionate about: a percentage of profits from Self-Hosted Security will go to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). Your feedback not only helps us create better solutions, but also contributes to making a positive impact. Thanks for being part of the journey!

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OK so the reality of some conferences is pretty grim - very surface-level, vendor-driven content. I'm NOT a fan of 20-minute sessions... I can barely understand the problem being discussed in that amount of time. It just does not work for me. That's where UberConf makes a huge difference. 90 min in-depth sessions, on relevant topics by industry experts and practitioners. Conference size is limited to maintain a very comfortable environment without the need to walk 15 min to your next session, or it gets filled up. ooh... food is also great, fully catered for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (guaranteed great food)! https://uberconf.com/ I'm excited to join the amazing speaker line-up for a third year in a row. The opportunity to engage, share, and learn with the best (both speakers and attendees) is second to none. I've got a couple of new sessions planned, but I am most excited for: Crafting Consistent APIs at Scale: Embracing Linting and Reusable Models. Turns out that creating resources and building APIs in a distributed model is hard (who knew right?)! As teams expand and projects multiply, maintaining a unified API design can pose significant challenges. This presentation delves into the powerful combination of linting and reusable models as tools to navigate these challenges and ensure consistency across large-scale API ecosystems. Come check it out! Discount Code: uber24-travis4

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📰 News - Humane, known for its innovative $700 AI Pin, is said to be seeking a buyer, according to a recent report from TechCrunch. This comes amid rumors of less than ideal conditions at the company behind the AI-powered device. It's a strong reminder of the volatile nature of the tech industry, even as it continues to evolve with developments in Artificial Intelligence. Such challenges serve as opportunities for other businesses to step in and embrace the potential of AI. Thinking about leveraging AI in your business? Understanding how AI can enhance and automate processes could be the game-changing strategy you need. Take our free Automation Assessment at DylanJWatkins.com/quiz and unlock the potential of AI in your organization today! 🚀#AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Automation #BusinessStrategy

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I've been getting a lot of questions about this recently - what is the PSTI Act and who does it apply to? Eseye's Technical and PSTI Lead Consultant, Kamran Jehangir explains in this short video from our new IoT Uncovered series. #PSTIAct

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Great lessons from Perplexity (founded less than two years ago; fewer than 50 employees; generating over $20 million ARR; recent fundraise of $63m values the company at more than $1 billion) Summary from Johnny Ho, the company’s co-founder and head of product: - Leveraging AI: Perplexity uses AI tools like GPT-3 to answer questions and guide decision-making throughout the product development process. This helps them be efficient and explore new ideas quickly. - Focus on Flexibility: With a small product management team, Perplexity prioritizes flexibility and initiative in their employees. Team members wear multiple hats and adapt to changing priorities. - Decentralized Decision-Making: They encourage parallel work and asynchronous communication. Team members own projects and make decisions with minimal reviews. - Data-Driven Planning: Perplexity sets aggressive quarterly goals and tracks progress with clear metrics. They iterate based on data and user feedback. - Embracing Bottom-Up Ideas: While high-level direction comes from leadership, a significant portion of new ideas come from engineers and designers. They are empowered to experiment and iterate. - Transparency and Communication: Despite a flat structure, Perplexity prioritizes transparency. They use tools like Notion and Linear to maintain a shared understanding of projects and goals. - Rapid Iteration: Perplexity embraces rapid prototyping and iteration. They use hackathons to quickly build and test new features. https://lnkd.in/gPRFmiA6

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Part 3/5 - 2025 Predictions and Trends 5-7 Yesterday, I covered what I think are the biggest and arguably most common trends and predictions that most people in the industry are already following. In simpler terms, my “no sh*t, Sherlock” stuff. Today’s points might be a little more controversial and open to interpretation, but let’s dive in: 5. Walled Gardens Continue to Win—And Win Big Eric Seufert has been saying this for as long as I can remember, but I truly believe that while we’re seeing the democratization of areas like app stores and the IAP landscape (which is great for developers), walled gardens and companies with the most varied and expansive datasets will continue to dominate. A clear and recent example is AppLovin vs. Unity. AppLovin is now approximately 12 times larger in market cap and could potentially swallow up Unity if it wanted to, a major contributor to this growth and success is because of extremely smart data plays with the acquisitions of MoPub and Adjust. That’s a scary thought for my old colleagues! The sheer scale of these data-driven giants means their dominance is set to grow even further. 6. AI Becomes Central to Game Ideation and Design AI adoption has been significant in areas like marketing (e.g., UGC and AI-generated actors for content) and within big studios for tasks like automating QA by mimicking user behaviour. However, very few companies are leveraging AI in the earlier stages of game ideation, design (beyond level creation), and production. I predict that in 2025, we’ll see the first game where over 50% of its foundation, such as the core loop, base code for the game mechanic, and initial documentation (GDD), will be generated by AI. A human team will polish it to completion, but AI will play a significant role in these early stages, changing how games are created. 7. Transmedia and IP Gain Traction in a Overly-Competitive UA World Cue Eric Kress rolling his eyes, but hear me out. Transmedia and integrated holistic experiences will begin to engage users on multiple levels. Think series, movies, and games all built around the same IP, drawing audiences deeper into their favourite characters lore and worlds. A great example is Arcane Season 2, but I think other players SEGA and The Pokémon Company International are following suit. Pokémon’s TCGP launch is a case in point, I believe it will generate at least $1 billion in the next 12 months (Phillip Black, mark my words). The real advantage of transmedia IP is clear: it enables mass-market acquisition for free (thanks to an established audience), effective cross-promotion across mediums, and cheaper UA through better creative performance driven by brand recognition. These may not feel as obvious as yesterday’s points, but there are enough recent signals to justify these assumptions. Tomorrow, I’ll round things off with points 8-10, and on Friday, I’ll try to get input from some industry friends before consolidating all of this and resharing!

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I am so proud of this podcast interview with my friend Jim Griffin. It is absolutely worth your time to listen or watch as I discuss my book 𝗛𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽 and how Stern Devops Group serves clients. I give valuable information on how to secure your business and position security as a selling point. We talk about specific cybersecurity concerns and solutions for those in AI. I also describe the one thing you should do now if you want to make sure your organization can survive a ransomware attack. If you're not already following Jim for cutting edge info on the state of AI, please do so. His videos and podcasts are insightful and a huge contribution to the AI community. #cybersecurity #ai #devops #startup

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On our most recent episode of Oxide Computer Company and Friends, Adam Leventhal and I talked about the RTO mandate at Amazon: https://lnkd.in/gv6kFtvi A theme that we heard from many is that their teams are distributed -- and that they are being forced to commute to an office only to be on video calls all day. As Matt Amdur phrased it, such an obviously foolish mandate destroys the goodwill between contributors and management. It increasingly seems that these RTO mandates are deeper than mere corporate nonsense or shadow layoffs, but they reflect truly antiquated ways of work from executive leadership teams that grew up in a different era. And as we talked, it occurred to me that RTO mandates for otherwise distributed companies look like another antiquated construct: work dress codes. As it turns out, I was not the only one to see this comparison; 🤘 Justin Garrison pointed out me to this Inc. Magazine article by Joe Procopio that compares the RTO mandates to a call for office formal wear: https://lnkd.in/gujNa2jJ Remote work is a generational shift; companies that master its nuances (not easy!) will not just attract the best talent, but (not unrelated?) enjoy the highest productivity -- to say nothing of the many benefits of a workforce bonded by trust and goodwill!

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🚀 Elevate your engineering leadership with top lessons from Stripe, Uber, and Carta! 🌟 Avoid common pitfalls like over-engineering and build a culture of psychological safety. Learn actionable strategies to enhance team productivity and drive innovation. 💡 Real-world examples offer insights on navigating the challenges of tech management. Perfect for leaders scaling startups or managing large teams. 🔧👩‍💻 #Leadership #Engineering #TechTips via First Round Capital

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Talking about Hivenet distributed compute approach - I am frequently getting as feedback : "does this really work? cause if it does, it's amazing" when it comes to leveraging distributed resources for high demanding compute jobs. Well, the World Community Grid just turned 20 this year and this tech for good initiative just demonstrates that distributed compute (cpu based) works. Of course there are new challenges with GPU based needs for AI nowadays - but if we did it there and then, why couldn't we do it now for AI needs? #foodforthoughts #compute #hivenet

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Accelerate AI implementation through a four step framework that actively involves Engineers, Product Managers and your leadership team. 1. Teams that already use AI - Use them as your benchmark 2. AI for Optimization - Rapid decentralized execution 3. AI for Innovation - Thoughtful product driven direction 4. AI for the future of the business - Vision defined by leadership Thanks to Monica Bajaj for brainstorming the framework and reviewing the article.

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Anthropic introduces Autonomous AI Agents that use a computer mouse and screen to perform complex tasks independently. Currently available for developers only through the Claude 3.5 Sonnet API.

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I'm typically not this effusive with praise, but Will Larson is one of the best engineering leaders out there. I've never worked with him directly, but I recently read two of his books (An Elegant Puzzle, An Engineering Executive's Primer), and I'm floored by the elegance and practicality of his recommendations. If you support engineering teams in any shape or form, you should be reading his blog. The linked article below is an exceptional example of what a Technology Strategy document should look like.

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Fascinating. "...Stock price and revenue growth are not inputs in the ranking. 'This speaks to the fact that [Nvidia is] building the company of the future, with a clear strategy and a very clear purpose.' CEO Jensen Huang has also created a culture to reinforce that strategy, organizing the chip company around projects instead of hierarchies to allow for transparency, speed and access... Good leadership pays off. The ReturnOnLeadership Index (+49%) has outpaced both the S&P 500 (+26%) and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (+11%) over the past three years." (Also, Apple is not in the Top 10 of this list.) #CEO #Nvidia #Jensen #Huang #leadership #stock #valuation Jensen Huang's Nvidia bests back-to-back winner Microsoft to be named Fortune 500's best-led company https://lnkd.in/eEm9xZiY

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"Our mission is to create things that can live for decades. It's our team and the community. These are the things that we think that we can build, own, and defend over a long period of time." -Alexander Seropian, creator of Halo & Founder of Bungie. Just one quote, among many other incredible insights Alexander Seropian shared during his keynote at our Product x LiveOps Symposium. If you're interested in listening to the entire keynote, you can watch here: https://lnkd.in/dEWYfydR #liveops #gaming #product #whatsnext #ethicalbusiness

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One of the most interesting and impactful projects I had the honor and pleasure of working on involves precision agriculture in Hawaii. Collaborating with local growers, native and State governments, educators, businesses, and technology experts was key to its success. As populations grow, we need to become smarter about production and utilization of resources for farming. Also taking into account sustainability best practices to help optimize elements in the entire supply chains. Learn more about the project's innovative approach to the future of farming: [Link to the article] #PrecisionAgriculture #FarmingInnovation #Collaboration #farmbeats #aiforgood #Aifarm #learnitall #msadvocate

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