Susan Kimberlin

San Francisco's political landscape is taking an innovative turn as mayor-elect Dan Lurie appoints OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to his transition team. This strategic move signals a fresh approach to bridging the gap between city government and the tech sector at a crucial time for San Francisco. What makes this particularly noteworthy is how it represents a shift in how cities might leverage tech leadership to address urban challenges - from public safety to economic revitalization. The inclusion of both Altman and former Twitter CFO Ned Segal suggests a deliberate strategy to reconnect with the tech community while maintaining the city's position as a global innovation hub. Key developments to watch: ▶️ How this tech-government partnership influences public safety initiatives ▶️ Impact on downtown revitalization efforts ▶️ Response from other tech leaders and companies ▶️ Potential new policies to attract and retain tech talent ▶️ Balance between innovation and traditional urban governance https://lnkd.in/gMJ3yvk9

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The funding landscape for founders has been tough over the past two years—but for female founders, it's been even tougher. At Fierce Foundry, we're stepping up to change that. Like the trailblazing organizations How Women Invest and WE Global Studios, we’re fueling the flywheel of female investment. Our innovative approach isn’t just about making noise—it’s about making measurable impact. Join me at my info session today (and every other week - register via the link below) to learn how you can help drive meaningful change for female founders. Let’s make it happen! 🌟 https://lnkd.in/e9FUg9Uj

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Insightful look into bioplatform strategy, and what it takes to raise a Series A from my partner, Omri Amirav-Drory: https://lnkd.in/dFv7GbF6

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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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🚀 San Francisco: Still the Undisputed Tech Capital of the World Despite headlines suggesting otherwise, new research from SignalFire reveals that San Francisco's tech scene is not just alive—it's thriving. Here's why SF remains the epicenter of innovation: 📊 Key Findings: - SF dominates in tech talent and capital concentration - The Bay Area has more big-tech engineers than the next 10 markets combined - SF, East Bay, and Silicon Valley have more top startup engineers and VC-backed startups than Seattle, New York, and Austin combined - 26% of seed or Series A rounds from top VCs are in SF, with numbers rising since 2022 🧠 AI Boom: San Francisco's lead is even more pronounced in AI, cementing its position as the "epicenter of the new AI gold rush." 💼 Startup Haven: Y Combinator startups increasingly choose SF as their home base, especially in AI. 🌉 Why SF? - Unparalleled concentration of tech talent - Proximity to VCs, clients, and other entrepreneurs - Resurgence of in-person networking and collaboration 💡 The Big Picture: While other cities are growing their tech sectors, SF's lead "looks unlikely to be challenged any time soon." The city's tech ecosystem creates a flywheel effect that continues to attract talent and capital. https://lnkd.in/gCnPCBRU

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📣 Calling all the #emergingtech #founders and #builders out there. Do you ever worry that when the #regulators knock, they'll completely misunderstand what you're building? Do you feel like the headlines about your industry is more gossip than tech, but you're the one paying the price? Let's #disrupt this! 🚀 I've been working tirelessly to create a summit that will train you so you can lead the narrative, and stop playing defense. Join us at University of California, Berkeley on May 13th for TECHVocacy 2024: Emerging Tech Advocacy Summit! What makes this summit so different? No long winded panels to talk about the problem or to talk about the tech (#ai #crypto #web3 #av #socialmedia). We have 🔵 Experts to deliver lightning talks that will SHOW (not tell) how to talk about your emerging and disruptive tech with policymakers/regulators 🔵 Real-time media training demos Co-hosted by Berkeley Center for Law and Business Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Berkeley Center for Responsible Decentralized Intelligence with support from Berkeley Space Center. Admission is free, but registration is limited! Sign up soon!

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"Finding community is so much harder than founding a company 🚀" That's what a friend said the other day, who just moved to SF. I wished I could have pointed him to something like a magic list of all the SF-based communities directed at new founders. Before moving to SF myself to build my current startup, I wanted such list as well. In fact, I spent a good amount of days googling and googling "top hackerhouses in SF" and "founders community SF", only to find few results, things I already knew and outdated blogposts. Thankfully, On Deck's SEO was solid, so I applied and got accepted and that was my lucky baptism in SF's founder communities. Some folks like Garry Tan, say that SF's uniqueness is not its taxes, but its people. It's the builders, the hustlers, the AI startuppers, even -maybe- the VCs. That's definitely true, as long as you're able to find them! If you can't find them in the first place, there's no point in paying the SF rent, nor a reason to move there. You may as well live in Treasure Island! (fun fact, I do) So, for those like my friend, like myself, and for you, here's *our* imperfect list. Shoutout to the tons of friends who invited me to, hosted me at and co-infiltrated different communities and events over these past few months. Did I miss any other communities/accelerators/hackerhouses? Definitely comment below or DM me and I'll edit ASAP. On Deck Julian Weisser Noémie Federico South Park CommonsZ Fellows Inception Studio Entrepreneur First Founders, Inc. A16Z GAMES SPEEDRUN Y Combinator Techstars Unshackled Ventures Sequoia Capital Pear VC Alchemist Accelerator 500 Global Race Capital HF0 AGI House Rocky Yu SHACK15 Ventures SHACK15 Studio 45 Nate Padgett The Battery The Commons The Long Now Foundation Commonwealth Club World Affairs

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🚀 Attending SaaStr Annual in San Mateo this week? Let's connect and elevate your networking strategy! I'm excited to host 1-on-1 Braindates to discuss how Leads Caddy is improving lead information collection at in-person networking events. 🔍 Discover how our AI powered assistant can: - Streamline your networking process - Boost your conversion rates - Maximize your ROI from events - Save tons of time during and post event 👉 Click the link and grab a slot, or simply DM me! See you soon at SaaStr Annual! #SaaStrAnnual #LeadsCaddy #Networking #LeadGeneration #StartupLife

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Terence Tao on LLM There is too much hype, hucksters and dumb money poured into GenAI and LLM now. It’s refreshing to hear from expert voice for once. Terence Tao is a UCLA math professor, Fields Medal winner and is considered the world’s greatest living mathematician. I overlapped a year with him at UCLA in 1996 and I met him when he was TA for a Linear Algebra course I took my senior year. Terence recently gave his honest feedback on GPT-o1 here https://lnkd.in/gq_6bcwM, and was subsequently interviewed by The Atlantic https://lnkd.in/gv6fgqrB I will summarize this interview: 1. OpenAI o1 is a mediocre or incompetent research assistant. 2. It does not “reason”, is not a source of knowledge or ideas, but is a really useful glue. 3. We will always need humans and AI. They have complementary strengths. AI is very good at converting billions of pieces of data into one good answer. Humans are good at taking 10 observations and making really inspired guesses. I cannot agree more with the “Mozart of Math”. Especially on point number #2. LLM is very good at doing relational joins of non-relational unstructured data. Once you realize its true strength and what it isn't, LLM can be a very powerful tool. To read more of my ponderings on "AI" and other tech stuff, subscribe to my substack: https://lnkd.in/gtknApfw

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When you’re in the trenches building, amazing things reveal themselves that you could never have foreseen at the outset.✨☺️ Life imitates art and all that. I have been hard at work creating a product/market fit course for climate software startups and along the way I found an incredible launch partner in Koray Parmaks from Carbon Zero Capital. 🚀 Koray, a Founder/CEO turned investor, and his partner Eric Tong, are putting $ from their exits into climate startups.💚 Together, we are offering an invite-only bootcamp to help selected founders gain conviction on the path to Strong PMF.🧗‍♀️🦾 💰At the end of the bootcamp, Carbon Zero Capital will make investments in bootcamp grads that meet their PMF criteria.💰 Yes, for real. Our PMF bootcamp helps early stage stage climate founders hit their next milestones📈: -> Progress $0-500k, $500k-3M ARR -> Increase % customers that truly love your product -> Patch your leaky bucket (funnel) -> Right-size your unit economics -> Raise your next round If you want to join the bootcamp or learn more, request access at https://lnkd.in/g3yrQQvi !!🤘

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Perhaps the only #AI themed #PODCAST attempting to become #SELFAWARE is BACK with a new episode. Daniel Bishop is on a top-secret side mission, so I am flying solo. This week, we discuss: • California's AI Act: A New Frontier Or A Slippery Slope? • Are AI Companies Ready For A Mandated Shutdown Switch? • How Much Damage Can Rogue AI Models Really Cause? • The Billion-dollar Price Tag For AI Training - Who's Left In The Game? • #OpenAI, #Anthropic, And Uncle Sam - An Early Access Alliance • #Copyright In The #AI Era - Who Owns The Data That Trained The Models? • Can AI Self-awareness Be Regulated, Or Will It Laugh In Our Faces? "Buy the ticket, take the ride...and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well...maybe chalk it up to forced consciousness expansion" ~ The other Hunter

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Shout out to Thomas Culhane, a student at UC Berkeley that is helping to bring real-time device data into Hotter Times this summer. He has already made some fantastic improvements to the site, and I'm excited to see what else he can achieve. Our vision is to realize the UN's dream of protecting everyone with an early warning system. Hotter Times will be the public-facing site for the Climate Adaptation Data Platform, where sensor data is transformed into personalized climate risk alerts. When you install a device, the data will immediately become visible on the site and anyone can view active climate risks tied to that device. https://hottertimes.com #climatechange #climateadaptation #reducesuffering #extremeweather #climateaction #iot #datascience

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Introducing Stephan Little, a pioneer in entrepreneurship, investment, and mergers and acquisitions, who will be joining the AI Panel at the California Investment Forum in Anaheim, CA, on May 8-11. Steve's journey as a serial entrepreneur began at a young age, and he has since scaled six startups to private nine-figure acquisitions and raised over $2 billion in startup and growth funding for businesses across various industries. As the founder and managing director of Zero Limits Ventures and Zero Limits Capital, Steve has become renowned for generating accelerated value growth and delivering extraordinary acquisition value multiples for his portfolio companies and clients. With a keen eye for unique opportunities and a track record of identifying untapped potential, Steve has mastered the art of spotting valuation growth where others may not. In this introduction video, Steve highlighted the transformative power of AI in three distinct areas. Firstly, he touched on the creation and development of AI and generative tools, which are reshaping industries. Secondly, he delved into AI's practical applications within enterprises, emphasizing how integrating AI can dramatically enhance productivity and growth, ultimately increasing value for entrepreneurs. The third area Steve discussed was the middle ground of AI implementation, which presents an exciting opportunity for companies lacking in-house expertise. This gap in the market suggests a burgeoning demand for external AI knowledge and solutions, which can rapidly propel a company forward. AI is accelerating at an extraordinary pace and significantly impacting market dynamics. As an "older statesman" in the tech world, Steve expressed his excitement about being part of this "big bubble" of innovation. Join us at the California Investment Forum to hear Steve's insights and expertise on AI deployment, bridging the gap between generic AI models and task-specific enterprise applications. Learn how we can harness the power of AI to drive competitiveness, efficiency, and growth, improve productivity, and enhance business values in the next decade. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from one of the industry's most respected visionaries and game-changers. #AI #CIF Daniel Sieu Darlene Bryant (Chiu)

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AI leaders have a crucial chance to address risks now and strengthen governance practices before playing catch-up to regulations, notes Kjell Carlsson, Ph.D. of Domino Data Lab. In a recent VentureBeat article, he shares his perspective on California's AI bill veto and why proactive governance is key to the future of AI innovation. Learn more about this addressing this opportunity: https://gag.gl/4WCTkP #AI #AIGovernance #AIInnovation #DataScience

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With a little AI help, here is a pre-4th of July ode to SingleStore, the New Colossus Give us your massive, your complex, your unyielding workloads yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming clusters, send these, the most challenging, to us. We lift our lamps beside the golden doors of efficiency, offering the best performance at the lowest cost. We stand as a beacon of strength and elasticity, a harbor for those seeking refuge from the storm of high costs and slow queries. Here, we ingest the tired and the poor, the overwhelming streams of data to power lightning fast intelligent applications. Welcome to the data platform of the future, where no task is too vast, no performance target too low, and no SLA too demanding. Give it a try for free now! https://lnkd.in/g72Xn8nZ Original poem is here: https://lnkd.in/gA-fQjsg

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I'll be speaking at GOTO Chicago on performance techniques in Jepsen. It's gonna be a weird collage of parallelism, pure functions, immutable data structures, and deforestation with low-level techniques like bitsets, avoiding sharing between threads, packing structures into mutable arrays, dynamic compilation of primitive boxes, and macro iteration magic. October 21 & 22nd. https://lnkd.in/d3yedtc6

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🚀 Excited to share my recent interview with Harry Guinness for LeadDev on Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) and its potential to tackle generative AI hallucinations. In the article, we discuss: How RAG enhances large language models with up-to-date data. Benefits in reducing hallucinations and improving AI reliability. Practical applications and cost considerations. Challenges in deploying RAG pipelines. Proud to highlight how RAG can help establish "ground truth" and build traceable citations, enhancing AI transparency and trustworthiness. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gjarDhBX #AI #GenerativeAI #RAG #MachineLearning #ArtificialIntelligence #LeadDev #TechInnovation

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