@levelsio

📸 $89K/m
🎮 $44K/m
🏡 $27K/m
👙 + @X $17K/m
🌍 $11K/m
💾

[@levelsio @levelsio]

How to code with Kimi K3 (better than Fable and no restrictions) today:

- Ask Codex or Claude Code to install OpenCode (yes it will 😂!)

- Go to https://t.co/XcwJM0YyGa, make an account, pay for membership $19/mo, get an API key at https://t.co/JstMqGOAlA

- Run OpenCode, do /connect and connect to Kimi Code, paste API key

- I recommend set to BUILD mode with Shift+Tab, u can set bypass permissions (like I do in Claude Code always) in /settings

[@levelsio @levelsio]

Thanks everyone got OpenCode working with Kimi K3

First I tried OpenRouter but immediately it said "rate limited upstream"

So that upstream being Kimi's servers, so I signed up to Kimi, paid $19, got an API key and off we go!

Unlike Claude Code it doesn't block me every 5 minutes now for just making Windows XP work in the browser (zomg cybersecurity!!!!11), ridiculous being belittled by your AI model all day

Yesterday I asked about monocytes vs lymphocytes ratio in my blood cause I saw someone post it here and Claude started a whole tirade how it's worried about me because I ask him about my health, the actual fuck?

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@skyzer4ever @cartainc on*

[@levelsio @levelsio]

💸 You think this is crazy low but ~5% ownership probably the most common final % most VC funded startups will have when they work out, especially when you have a co-founder

Raising money is not free, people don't give you money out of charity, they buy a little slice of your company every time they invest, so in every funding round you sell a share of your company's ownership for money, that money you use then to grow more, in the hope that your part becomes more than the ownership you just gave away

Median ownership for single founders (via @cartainc):

Seed: ~56%
Series A: ~36%
Series B: ~23.5%
Series C: ~16.5%
Series D: ~10%
Series E: <10%

Now if you have one co-founder (most startups!):

Seed: ~28%
Series A: ~18%
Series B: ~11.75%
Series C: ~8.25%
Series D: ~5%
Series E: <5%

What if you're one of 4 co-founders:

Seed: ~14%
Series A: ~9%
Series B: ~5.875%
Series C: ~4.125%
Series D: ~2.5%
Series E: <2.5%

Now imagine you get acquired after one of these funding rounds for $1,000,000,000 ($1 billion is a lot!), how much are you left with?

Money made with $1B sale for single founders:

Seed: ~$560 million
Series A: ~$360 million
Series B: ~$235 million
Series C: ~$165 million
Series D: ~$100 million
Series E: <$100 million

Now if you have one co-founder (most startups!):

Seed: ~$280 million
Series A: ~$180 million
Series B: ~$117.5 million
Series C: ~$82.5 million
Series D: ~$50 million
Series E: <$50 million

What if you're one of 4 co-founders:

Seed: ~$140 million
Series A: ~$90 million
Series B: ~$59 million
Series C: ~$41 million
Series D: ~$25 million
Series E: <$25 million

But let's be more realistic, the median acquisition value for a VC-backed startup sits at approximately $71 million:

For single founders:

Seed: ~$39.8 million
Series A: ~$25.6 million
Series B: ~$16.7 million
Series C: ~$11.7 million
Series D: ~$7.1 million
Series E: <$7.1 million

Now if you have one co-founder (most startups):

Seed: ~$19.9 million
Series A: ~$12.8 million
Series B: ~$8.3 million
Series C: ~$5.9 million
Series D: ~$3.55 million
Series E: <$3.55 million

What if you're one of 4 co-founders:

Seed: ~$9.95 million
Series A: ~$6.4 million
Series B: ~$4.2 million
Series C: ~$2.9 million
Series D: ~$1.8 million
Series E: <$1.8 million

Okay last one (this post is getting too long 😊), we know 1) the median time of acquisition is around Series A (quite early actually), and 2) we know the median acquisition value is $71M, so now we can tell you the median expected outcome for a startup that gets acquired:

Single founders: ~$25.6 million
One co-founder: ~$12.8 million
One of 4 co-founders: ~$6.4 million

Getting acquired itself is a remarkable event though as most startups are by definition doomed to fail, only ~15% of startups ever get acquired, so the expected outcome with probability included is:

Single founder: ~$3.84 million
One of two co-founders: ~$1.92 million
One of four co-founders: ~$960,000

P.S. we did not include taxes and liquidation preferences, the investors may receive their preference before common shareholders receive anything, meaning founders receive even less, but we also didn't include taking money off the table in earlier rounds by founders to be fair, so they balance each other out a bit

Not saying this is bad btw, it's just how the VC game works but good to write it out and be aware of how it works

VC-backed startups shoot for the moon, it's one of the few ways you can have a crazy big payout and become an actual billionaire which is very rare as a bootstrapped founder with your own money!

[Alex Turnbull @iamAlexTurnbull]

sold my first startup to constant contact for $15M and. moved back home with my parents.

that's what 4.8% ownership buys you

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@skyzer4ever @cartainc It's data from @cartainc in a lot of startups

[@levelsio @levelsio]

Usually it's 3% of that money taken out per year while keeping their principle net worth intact or growing

Aka "safe withdrawal rate"

So if you want $1M/year forever you'd need $33M in assets

Having $1M is $30,000/year forever

If you have $1B you have $30M/year forever and then usually it's about influence like they invest in biotech and longevity and stuff and building new cities for humans to live in

Or at Elon's level, going to space to become interplanetary!

[Mark Quadros @dherealmark]

What's the end goal with all this money?

I don't see anyone going post 1M and even that seems excessive.

I remember when I had my first exist and was having a call with a client, telling them I would handover to the new acquisition co.

They asked me what I would do?
I said just enjoy living.

And then they said okay but don't give up on working.

For context the run a top 10 sleep brand in US Making 100M/y

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@dereko33x @rameerez No read the tweet?

[@levelsio @levelsio]

Okay I got the new V2 version of the

🎧 3M Worktunes Connect (construction worker headphones with Bluethooth audio)

Me and @rameerez are religious believers that passive noise cancelling is superior to active noise cancelling

Passive noise cancelling are construction worker headphones, the ones from 3M that you wear when you're drilling through concrete

Active noise cancelling are the headphones you know from Bose, Sony, Apple etc.

Active noise cancelling relies on listening to your surroundings, then very very very rapidly producing the same sound but in inverse, but there's a predictive element to it, which means the sound that remains the same all the time (like airplane engine noise) is very easy to remove, but random sounds like voices, people moving around, etc. are close to impossible to predict for your headphone

Which results in the funny thing many of us experienced in a plane: with noise cancelling headphones you hear MORE people talking than less, because it cuts the engine sound, but not talking

Another issue I have is I want to be able to use noise cancelling headphones without any music or sound, my expectation is they should be able to kill most sound and give me silence in a loud place, but they don't. Airpods Pro don't, Airpods Pro Max don't, Sony WH don't, Bose don't. They simply can't due to physics

But passive noise cancelling like 3M headphones don't need to predict anything, they just have a thick seal to cut sounds with their superior material, and they've protected construction workers for 75+ years

The problem was always these didn't have sound though, but recently 3M started producing ones first with FM radio (lol) and now Bluetooth called 3M WorkTunes

The previous WorkTunes V1 were good but it was micro-USB and I wasn't able to charge it properly I think because I'd use a micro-USB male to USB-C female plug and anyway it either didn't work or its battery just sucked

Also the sound wasn't great, it was good enough for podcasts, but too tinny for listening music for a long time

This new version absolutely you can listen music, I'd say 80% there in sound quality if you compare it to Airpods Pro 3

They have USB-C and a 40-hour (!) battery life, which is again because they're not doing complex active noise cancelling

They work so well that I was sitting in a loud cafe and someone came up to me after my iPhone alarm was ringing and I couldn't hear it

They're also much cheaper than Sony/Apple/Bose, they're just $69!

[@levelsio @levelsio]

🎧 A few months ago my friend @rameerez brought those massive 3M construction headphones my dad would use while sawing things etc. but for working on his laptop while his gf would do calls.

I wondered about the same thing. Because I've been consistently UNIMPRESSED by the noise cancelling on even the best NC headphones. My favorite ones are Sony WH's series, they're apparently one of the strongest noise cancelling in dB but to me I still hear everything, especially if I don't play any music on them. Same with Apple's Airpods, the noise cancellation is nice but it's still not dead silent.

Construction headphones of course don't have electronic noise cancelling, their noise cancelling is old-fashioned, it's passive, and it works! It should work because millions of construction workers use them every day all over the world to not blast their ears out from loudness. So they should work for us right?

I ordered the 3M construction headphones too and used them for a bit but then I missed listening podcasts and music. So I discovered 3M makes these with Bluetooth called:

3M WorkTunes Connect
(not affiliated, not paid, just like the product)

Now, big thing, when ordering them I knew the sound wouldn't be great. The predecessor of these were 3M headphones with an FM radio! So I was expecting FM quality audio.

When I got them I was surprised, I'm NOT going to say the audio is great, but it's not bad either. It's by far good enough for listening podcasts, and pretty okay for listening music. It does sound a bit tinny. Again not GREAT, but it's better than I expected. And good enough for me when I'm working and want to focus.

They're also way more comfortable than I expected. The regular 3M construction headphones feel quite tight around you ears, while these feels comfy. More comfy to me than the too loose Sony WH's.

They're also cheap, about $95, so about 4x cheaper than Sony WH's.

One thing that I checked is the dB reduction vs the electronic NC headphones, they seem to offer similar dB reductions, but in my experience that's just false, maybe cause the construction headphones are tighter but I literally hear nothing wearing them even when I'm not playing sound!

The noise cancelling to me is easily 1.5x to 2x better than electronic NC headphones. It's so strong I can hear my blood flowing.

Obviously they look quite rugged, but I feel that fits kinda with the time. Which guys wants to wear those girly Sony or Apple NC headphones when you can wear these manly 3M construction headphones? 😀

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@fabiensnauwaert @rameerez Me in Pattaya at 4am

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@fabiensnauwaert @rameerez Tight but good

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@martinvars @rameerez AI?

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@melowen I support Europeans not the EU

[@levelsio @levelsio]

If you can't see how defamation takedowns are a slippery slope that in the end results in no free speech at all I want you to read 1984 by George Orwell

Europeans have a very weak sense of free speech and are some of the easiest people to rip free speech away from, they simply don't care to defend it it, much, if at all

Which is odd because just 35 years ago literally half of Europe was under an almost 70-year long communist dictatorship which definitely did not have any free speech

[Fred @hustle_fred]

@levelsio I don't think the defamation law is bad. Why should someone be allowed to spread false info about me or my business?

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@iamtrebuh They literally have guns at home to defend them against a tyrant government

It works as a natural pushback against government overreach

See how effective insurgent attacks were in Afghanistan

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@skyzer4ever No you start a company with 100%

Then you give away equity and are left with median 60% according to @cartainc data

[@levelsio @levelsio]

New 200kbps+ speed record on the dial up modem on https://t.co/RRYOCWqRQq

Hacked Em-DOSBox with AI to increase speeds, I think we're hitting the limits of what's possible but 1mbps on a Windows 3.11 box would be sick 🥹

[@levelsio @levelsio]

If you include the dictatorships of Portugal, Spain and Greece, it gets even crazier. This was Europe just 50 years ago!

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@steebchen A+👌

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@floydophone I didn't say anyone is getting fucked, just that this is the math

The person who becomes a billionaire due to VC funding isn't getting fucked

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@floydophone 1. I did not include any tax in these calculations, the numbers would be worse if I'd calculate tax here
2. True but those are more like a salary, like an earn out
3. True

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@iamtrebuh Does US have more free speech than EU?

Yes

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@nickgraynews I think it's probably superior because you just fall asleep watching something dumb instead of getting hammered by the timeline on your phone

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@thiago_peres Any specific shops?

[@levelsio @levelsio]

Guys I bought this amazing ground cinnamon powder in a Dutch windmill last month like some crazy tourist, but I'm Dutch so I'm not

Anyway it's like the best cinnamon we've ever tasted, it says it's from Vietnam but ground in the windmill, very cool

It literally tastes sweet, and no it doesn't have sugar added, it's pure, but it's better than all the cinnamon I've ever tasted

So anyway, the question is, where do you get your cinnamon from? What's the source? I need your leads, I need the Glengarry cinnamon leads

[@levelsio @levelsio]

@YakultMaffia Nee chef is kkopen