Dan Mandelman

Collecting ideas I find interesting 👇
Mainly tech, sports, and literature

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

This week marks 1-year at DoorDash as a GM for DashMart.

We've jumped to no. 1 in convenience delivery ($100B+ opportunity).

And we're just getting started...

10 lessons on execution, culture and growth:

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@joinshiftX Shift. Super cool!

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

Latest Vibe Coding Project:

Automatically grading job applicant case studies against our custom hiring scorecard.

We require a case study for Manager+ hires (like most startups do).

Before: a panel reviews the applicant’s case by hand → shares notes → recruiter synthesizes → hiring manager makes a call. Slow. Inconsistent. Hard to scale.

After: every submission gets a detailed scorecard + go/no-go recommendation in 30 seconds.

How we built it: we reverse-engineered the leading indicators of success from our highest performers in similar roles, then validated them against dozens of real hiring decisions. This tool supplements a hiring manager’s judgment, and gets smarter every time we override it.

3 hours in Claude. Faster hiring, less bias, and better decisions.

(Got some nice DMs to keep sharing what we’re building - will do! Lmk what you’d like to see next.)

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@wjbrooke 🗣️🗣️🗣️

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

I've had the pleasure of investing alongside @lmushin and referring close friends to his incubated companies.

He is a true partner. And even better person.

Check out Forum!

Excited for the founders who will soon see it, too.

[Leeor Mushin @lmushin]

Most startup programs are built for companies.

Today, we’re publicly launching Forum built for the people who are about to start them.

Forum is a highly selective, 6-session series for exceptional future founders who are still pre-company, but not far from starting one.

The best founder talent may not need an accelerator, but they do need the right environment to pressure-test ideas, sharpen conviction, and figure out what is actually worth building. We know this because we have seen the results Forum has delivered for talent - from first-time founders to billion-dollar-exited ones.

For years, Forum has run quietly in the background, first during my time @ Floodgate and now at Formation. Since starting our firm 18 months ago, Solly and I have had the privilege of working with 50+ extraordinary people. Many have gone on to raise millions from the best firms in the world.

Forum is free. Each cohort is capped at 6 people. That constraint is a feature, not a bug. It creates a level of candor, rigor, and peer quality that is very hard to find elsewhere.

We believe Forum is the highest-leverage two months of an aspiring founder’s professional career. Your idea may get stronger. It may get killed. Both are wins.

If you are unusually high-agency and circling your life’s work, apply in the link in the comments. If you know someone who is in this state of mind, send them our way.

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

Best part of running a large org right now: watching teammates rapidly climb the AI skill curve.

It starts with search. Then magic apps like Granola and Wispr. You start thinking *with* Cowork, “vibe coding” native apps. Then the final boss: automating the tedious parts of work and life, to create more space for your zone of genius.

I share this framework with new hires. Especially non-technical folks who seem hesitant to take the first step. Like I was.

The climb reminds me of Maslow's Pyramid and life's big questions. Where to live? What to do? Who to love? Who to become?

Except Maslow takes years. AI takes ~months. Still figuring out both!!

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@samriber DM’d you :))

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

I'm barely technical (think: <1,000 lines of code, lifetime).

Today I automated something that used to take me 20min every week.

Just spent an hour with Claude building a fun script that:

1/ Reads my Google Calendar every Sunday

2/ Calls Claude

3/ Auto-schedules the coming week of workouts, directly into my calendar. Adjusting for conflicts, appointments, and training splits.

20min of manual calendaring → now 0. Neat!!

I thought the coding would trip me up. Instead I just talked Claude through how I actually think about scheduling- and it figured out the rest.

Happy to share the step-by-step, if helpful.

What other annoying tasks have folks automated?

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@isnit0 4th person, just DM'd you🫡

We built something similar!

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@chess_feed o-o-o

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@chess_feed Ra6! Love me some Zugzwang

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@aaditsh AI

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@ankurnagpal GUIDE

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@rbfasho Amazing. I’d love to test.

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@hubermanlab 1/ Efficacy of cortisone injections
2/ How to find great pain docs &amp; physiotherapists (referrals, zocdoc feel flawed)
3/ Tips for sitting and standing posture, esp. for desk workers
4/ When do you know it’s time for surgery? (30-something, 2 annular tears)

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@pejmannozad @pearvc 🔥🔥🔥

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@lmushin @somethingnewp0d @stephmui @dunn lfggg 🚀

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@alxberman Omni

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@joe_portsmouth mega

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@naval good meeting you just now @naval… i’m the book club guy. excited for your next project :)

[Dan Mandelman @DanMandelman]

@wjbrooke (no one bothering me + leaning) &gt;&gt;&gt; (easy access + legroom)