AJ Capital

[David Sacks @DavidSacks]

I’m not surprised to see social media influencers coming forward to say they were offered money to push doomer messages about AI. These are well organized, well funded campaigns.

[Dumb Money @DumbMoneyTV]

Should You Listen To Chris Camillo?? 🤔
@icedcoffeehour

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

Nobody tells you this: 99% of success is just the ability to outlast uncertainty. The one who can tolerate the most uncertainty is the one who will eventually win.

[Pete Hegseth @PeteHegseth]

It’s simple: if Iran shoots at U.S. ships, we will destroy (and sink) their oil tankers. All they have to do is not shoot at @USNavy.

Iran’s oil tanker fleet is defenseless — Iran has no navy or air force. Our planes, ships & subs can strike them all, in @CENTCOM & @USPACOM.

[Tai Lopez @tailopez]

Marcus Aurelius was right, the moment you are disturbed by insult or pleased by praise, you are still a slave.

[David Senra @davidsenra]

My conversation with @dougleone, partner at @sequoia.

0:00 How to Dominate for Decades
3:17 Turning Fear Into a Tailwind
5:40 Immigrant Drive, Hard Work & the Beach Club
12:19 Simplifying Life & Choosing Discomfort
14:37 The Homeless Sequoia Partner With No Plan B
16:49 Stepping Down, Coming Back & Starting Over
20:04 Why AI Is Different From Every Previous Technology Shift
22:13 Doug's Three Investment Heuristics
23:52 The Cost of Selling Great Companies Too Early
25:39 Helping Founders Turn Products Into Businesses
28:28 David Vélez, Nubank & the Psychology of Founder Support
32:25 Why Founders Must Remain the Soul of the Company
36:13 Torturing Yourself Into Greatness
39:57 Don Valentine, Succession & the Sequoia School of Hard Knocks
44:28 Staying Grounded & Developing a Sniffer for People
47:46 Hypercompetitive With a Heart of Gold
50:13 Fred Luddy, Israeli Founders & Radical Directness
52:28 Trust Is the Accelerant of Business
59:57 Starting From Zero & Hunting for the Next Great Founder
1:05:59 Architect Your Board Like Your Product
1:10:24 Truth, Disagreement & the Art of Difficult Feedback
1:13:43 Humanity, Introversion & the Value of Relationships
1:18:18 What Doug Learned From Michael Moritz

Includes paid partnerships.

[James Clear @JamesClear]

A simple rule that makes life easier:

Always strive to give value before you ask for value.

[Joe Lonsdale @JTLonsdale]

Saronic is one of the most patriotic and technically sophisticated teams in the USA; they’re hiring thousands of builders 🇺🇸.

[a16z @a16z]

Affirm CEO Max Levchin on what it was like being around Elon Musk and the rest of the PayPal Mafia in the company's early days:

"We knew the people in the room intimately. We literally exchanged pheromones by hanging out in these sweaty rooms brainstorming, screaming at each other, spending a lot of time at whiteboards and declaring the other person's ideas idiotic."

"We knew the true version of that person. The ultra philosophical Peter Thiel, the go all in every time Elon Musk, the these days gubernatorial David Sacks."

"They all have the presentation layer, then what they're like at a dinner party, and then what they are when they're really stressed out and their head hurts and they don't know what to do."

"So as you watch one of these people go for something really big, like Elon taking humanity to Mars, which is extraordinary, you know he's a human being. I've seen him sweaty and tired and grumpy at the company kitchen a thousand times."

"They're not gods, they're humans. That inspires you to think, if that guy who's just a normal dude, I spent a lot of time with him, he's normal, and he's going for this big of an idea, I should strive too."

@mlevchin

[ErikDPrince @realErikDPrince]

Off Leash update 3 September 2026

VENEZUELA
•U.S. oil giant Chevron announced plans to follow the U.S. government’s lead and significantly expand its operations in Venezuela.
•Chevron is already the largest private oil producer in the country, with production of around 300,000 barrels per day. It now aims to double production to 600,000 within five years via a $7 billion investment, implying an investment cost of about $23K per barrel per day of added output.
•[That sounds like much better return on investment than the plan pitched this week by NABEP, the U.S. government’s partner in Venezuela and the country’s second-largest private producer. NABEP aims to add around 800,000 barrels per day to the 170,000 to 200,000 it’s currently producing at a cost of $100 billion, or $120K per barrel per day of added output.]

CHINA
•Taiwan reported a record 244 sightings of Chinese government ships around the island in July – more than quadruple the sightings in July 2025. [That figure includes Coast Guard and research ships but excludes People’s Liberation Army Navy warships.]
•The Institute for the Study of War assessed that “[China] may be testing the willingness of foreign commercial vessels to accept its supposed jurisdiction east of Taiwan as it calibrates its plans for a future quarantine or blockade.”

KURDISTAN
•BBC reported that the U.S. appears poised to end its military support for the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Peshmerga military force ahead of a Sep. 30 deadline to withdraw U.S. forces from all of Iraq.
•Kurdish leaders say they haven’t been informed that their main source of funding – amounting to $61 million in 2026 - could dry up.
•They’re particularly concerned about that in light of ongoing Iranian attacks on the KRG and Iranian Kurdish groups living in exile in Iraq.

MIGRATION
•Tens of thousands of mainland Spaniards turned out yesterday to protest their government’s handling of the late July border crisis that saw around 72,000 migrants flood into Ceuta.
•Prime Minister Sanchez’s government dismissed the demonstrations as politically motivated, and they surely are: the conservative Popular Party and far-right Vox party have hounded Sanchez relentlessly over Ceuta.
•But the scale of yesterday’s demonstrations suggests lots of ordinary Spaniards are upset about their leftist government’s stance on migration, too.

[Chamath Palihapitiya @chamath]

I turn 50 today. This is a message to my kids but I offer it to you in case any of it rings useful.

I was born in Sri Lanka in 1976 in a country that, at the time, was about to enter a decades long civil war. My father was able to get stationed at the Sri Lankan High Commission in Canada for four years in the early 80s - when some of the fighting was most severe - and which from our vantage point in Canada gave us some respite from an otherwise omnipresent conflict.

He came as a diplomat but then my father filed for refugee status after four years when his life was threatened by militants. We stayed in Canada as refugees. My dad never really landed on his feet and we grew up on welfare.

My mom stepped up. She did an incredible thing and put our family on her back and kept marching forward. Sometimes the steps were very small but she always tried to keep moving forward.

I worked at Burger King starting at 14, giving my paycheck to my mom and dad to support our family in the role that I was assigned - earn enough to pay for our bus passes because we couldn’t afford a car.

I was a loser growing up. Some friends, some good memories but mostly forgettable and lonely. I wasn’t very studious but did get my act together in my final year and got into a great university.

I immigrated to the US soon after graduating and found an opportunity. Things clicked and I have been traveling a path to find myself ever since. Only in America is this possible…

I worked hard, followed the rules, paid my taxes and stayed in California out of loyalty for the opportunities it has given me despite its dysfunction.

I found my wife here. Had my kids here. Found my tribe here.

There have been some very hard times as well - deaths, divorce, financial pain, mistakes of omission and mistakes of commission. You can’t dwell on these things - they are weights that will pull you down if you’re not careful. Learn from them. Respect them. BUT MOVE ON.

To think 50 years ago I could have ever gotten a chance to meet the people I’ve met and have had the experiences I’ve had would have been mind boggling to my parents. It’s mind boggling to me now.

We forget often and try to convince others it’s not true but America truly is the best country in the world. Everything and anything is possible here. I can testify. Be grateful to be here.

This is the only place that gives EVERYONE a chance to live a great adventure. The first 50 years have been that for me - an incredible adventure.

Notice there is nothing here about accomplishments or money. Because it doesn’t matter and it won’t matter.

You will be dust in less than 100 years from now and the decision to be remembered won’t be yours so stop sweating it. It’s not in your control.

So what is in your control?

Be kind. Have fun. Work on something meaningful to you. Find your tribe. Try to find perspective. Find an incredible partner. Have a bunch of kids. Live an adventure. Forgive your parents - they were doing the best they could even if that wasn’t what you deserved.

I will do what I can to make my next 50 years a wild ride.

You should too.

I love you and thank you. ❤️

🙏🏽🙏🏽

[U.S. Department of Energy @ENERGY]

🚨@SecretaryWright: "We have gone at TRUMP SPEED in Venezuela.

Country production is up 25%, exports are up 50%, we think even from production today already elevated, that could double by the end of this decade."

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

@theallinpod AI+robots will solve the debt problem

[Commentary Donald J. Trump Truth Social Posts On X @TrumpTruthOnX]

One of the things I am going to do with the Venezuelan Oil is fill up the Strategic National Reserves which, because of Sleepy Joe Biden, has been virtually emptied. The “topping out” process will begin very shortly, and is a Gift from Venezuela to the People of the United States. Thank you! President DONALD J. TRUMP

( TS: Aug 30 2026, 10:10 AM ET )​​​​​​​​‍‌​​​‍​‌‌​‍‍​‌​‍‍‌‍‍‌‌‌‌‌‌​‌​‍​‍​​‍‍

[David Senra @davidsenra]

“I’ve never said this publicly before. When I was made a partner at Sequoia
I was homeless. I had zero money. I slept in my car. I showered at 3000 Sand Hill Road.”

@dougleone on being the only homeless partner that Sequoia's ever had:

[Tai Lopez @tailopez]

Alexander The Great was right, you will be dead much longer than you will be tired.

[Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong]

Apple didn’t predict Uber, TikTok, or Coinbase. But the iPhone enabled an entirely new wave of companies.

Tokenized assets on blockchains will be similar. We already know the immediate benefits (global access, better utility, 24/7 trading), but a new set of finance companies we can't imagine will be built on top.

[Leila Hormozi @LeilaHormozi]

The fastest way to spot a successful person: watch how quickly they make decisions, respond to messages, and turn ideas into action.

Speed is king.

[Chamath Palihapitiya @chamath]

Incredible. Bessent is so good.