Hailey

Workplace to test my thesis with AI
Weekly newsletter:

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

Thinking about the world where LLM is monopolied by one or two companies, the access to the lasted model is limited by 1 million user.

By then, the permenant underclass is for real.

What should we do to avoid this?

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

if you're anxious and don't know where to start with ai learning, just subscribe chatgpt 20 dollars plan, go to youtube's search bar, type 'codex', pick whatever video that looks interesting to you, and start to do step by step.

i guarantee you would feel less anxious after one

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

there is no best tutorial in the beginning, the best one is what you are watching right now.

start doing

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

@OpenAIDevs grownups now have their own toys now

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

The goal is not to catch up with AI, what really matters is your goal. How can you leverage AI to get there.

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

if you want something, build the right system that generates the result

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

distribution is always the moat

[Lenny Rachitsky @lennysan]

My biggest takeaways from @evanspiegel:

1. Distribution is the biggest bottleneck in consumer, not product. The only two consumer social apps to break through since Snapchat—TikTok and Threads—both solved distribution. TikTok spent billions on paid ads. Threads piggybacked on IG’s social graph. Organic app discovery is effectively over. If you’re building a consumer product today, your distribution strategy matters more than your product.

2. Software is no longer a moat. Snap learned this 15 years ago, and everyone is discovering it now with AI. Stories got copied. Lenses got copied. Snapchat+ got copied. Evan has learned that the things that are hard to clone are ecosystems—millions of developer-built AR lenses, creator relationships—and hardware. Thus why he’s been so adamant about investing in hardware. The lesson applies even more today as AI makes software even easier to build (and copy).

3. Snapchat cracked early growth by focusing on close friends, not the most friends. The conventional wisdom was that network effects meant bigger networks were always stickier—there was no way to beat Facebook. But Snapchat discovered that connecting someone to their best friend, partner, or spouse delivered more value than connecting them to everyone they’d ever met. Quality of connections mattered more than quantity. This insight allowed them to grow despite having far fewer total users than competitors.

4. “If you want to have a good idea, you have to have lots of ideas.” Snap’s design team presents hundreds of new ideas every week. New designers present work on their first day. There’s no gate, no filtering process to get ideas in front of Evan. This high-velocity, non-hierarchical structure is what enables Snap to innovate at scale.

5. Stories exist because Snap refused to build what users asked for. Customers kept asking for a “send to all” button to blast Snaps to everyone. But when Snap talked to people about social media broadly, they heard: “I feel pressure. Everything is permanent. There are likes and comments, so there’s judgment. I can only post pretty, perfect things.” Stories solved the underlying problems: easy sharing without spam, no public metrics to reduce pressure, 24-hour disappearance for a fresh start, and chronological order. Listen for insights, not feature requests.

6. Snap had 200 employees before hiring its first PM—on purpose. Evan’s concern was that the traditional tech org structure reduces designers to producing visuals in response to PM direction. By telling designers, “If you need PM support, do it yourself,” Snap locked in a design-led culture before adding coordination layers. The order in which you introduce roles shapes your culture permanently.

7. Snap is mapping every job to be done—across the Snapchatter journey and the advertiser journey—and handing each one to an AI agent. One example: a go-to-market agent takes a product idea and in one shot writes the spec, identifies sign-off stakeholders, does legal and trust-and-safety risk analysis, writes blog and marketing materials, and is starting to build visuals. The organizing principle isn’t “Where can we use AI?”—it’s “What are the jobs to be done?”

8. Successful companies need both innovative flat teams and structured hierarchical teams—and leaders must create healthy dialogue between them. This comes from Safi Bahcall’s book Loonshots. Large organizations need hierarchy and operational rigor to deliver at scale, but that makes people risk-averse and promotion-focused. Small, flat teams are better for innovation but can’t deliver at scale. The companies that win have both types of organizations, and leadership’s job is creating mutual respect and constructive dialogue between them. At Snap, the small design team constantly innovates while the larger org serves a billion users reliably.

9. Snap hires designers almost entirely based on portfolio, and the two things that matter are range and the story behind the work. If everything looks the same, the person is expressing themselves, not solving for users. Range is the signal that separates designers from artists. Most designers join right out of school; diverse backgrounds like 3D animation and electrical engineering are prized.

10. Evan’s contrarian AI take: the tech industry massively underestimates societal pushback on AI adoption. Technology leaders assume people will adopt new tools as they emerge. Evan predicts a period of significant resistance and argues that the industry needs to put humanity’s goals ahead of business goals. Building great AI capability is necessary but not sufficient—earning human trust is the harder problem.

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

Try out AI tool intensively, because these tools will mode who we are.

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

research is not about gathering more information, it's about making decisions faster and quicker.

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

Also, I allow myself to not prioritize money for one year. But the unnegotiable rule is always end an exploreation with a presentable project. Always make sure I have learned certain lessons.

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

When I decided to leave this job and take one gap year, I did a bit research to see what jobs I can do?

After one hour, I put away my phone with confidence. I know I could land a job with my skillset.

The skillset to make money is what makes me feel safe and peaceful.

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

Last week, I resigned my work and decided to give myself a year as a life experiment to fully explore AI.

Every day, I will share my lessons learned online and build in public.

Follow me if you are curious what would happen.

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

shit post is meaningful. it's a skill which you need to practice as second nature.

gem comes from shit posts

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

from now on, only do what i am excited

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

dont let others to tell you whats right or whats wrong to do

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

opinions dont pay the bills

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

@matt_gray_ the future favors the bold, not 9-5

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

@pmitu hell yeah

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

@Ravenismeee don't be afraid of messing up. just do it, hesitation kills creativity. eventually you'll realize there is nothing to be scared.

[Hailey @HaaaileyLiu]

@Codie_Sanchez good or bad?