turbopuffer crossed $100M run-rate in March. 19mo after $1M. Profitable & <$1M raised.
Cursor・Anthropic・Notion・Cognition・Harvey・Bridgewater・Ramp・Linear・Legora・Superhuman・Atlassian・Granola
We’d be nowhere without them. We work like hell to exceed their expectations.
sometimes it feels crazy coming on here and hearing calls for ai yeeting half the world. and then you go outside and the biggest concern of people is affording groceries or gas or one day a house. the number of people who actually care about ai is a rounding error
that’s not to say it’s impact won’t be massively felt across the world (especially the west). it’s just that, tech is an echo chamber and really our biggest problems are so removed from what people are thinking about day to day.
the frontier labs don’t have “comms problems”. reality right now has a comms problem. what is happening is a little scary and there’s no nice words anyone could say, especially not those profiting from it, that’ll make it feel that much better
@ibuildthecloud most of the time, what you pay for is the convenience. too many people on here act like you pay because it was too much work. in reality, you pay because you don’t want to care about it at all
ambition is good. working hard is good. being successful is good. just make sure you don’t lose yourself in an endless game (that also basically nobody cares about besides you and MAYBE 30 other people). world’s big, just enjoy your time here.
i am a big believer in doing whatever makes you happy (as long as it ain’t harming others). many of us find joy (and value) in work so working lots of hours is good! however, run some sanity checks every now and then…
I am young and stupid and my life == my startup. If the startup fails I fail. Why would I do anything else but work if that's my mentality?
If you want to work with balanced life it probably works but only if you are 100% focused during the work hours. It's just not for me. The only way for me to do that is if my startup wins. And I want to win.
The most important part is just choosing what kind of culture you want and making sure that everyone on the team is aligned with it. Anything can work but the company has to be almost a cult.
the point of all this company creation is to bring delight to your customers and do good things. ultimately that’s what is supposed to be driving all your effort. nonetheless…
i truly get the grind all day idea in theory but in practice? this behaviour is just some form of psychosis.
also, cosplaying suffering is just… lame? every single person who is forced to live like this due to financial position will happily tell you there’s no honour it
"If you are not working 7 days per week, you are going to lose".
Corgi Insurance is the most intense workplace culture in startups.
- The company works 7 days per week.
- Founder (@nico_laqua) lives and sleeps in the office.
- He built a cafe in the office because there was no local cafe that was open 24/7.
- 2/3 of the first 30 team members have the Corgi logo as a tattoo.
Today I went behind the scenes with Nico, who has used this culture to scale the company to a $2.6BN valuation in just two years.
My condensed notes below:
1. If You Are Not Working 7 Days Per Week, You Are Going to Lose:
Whatever you can get done in 5 days, you'll get more done in 6 and 7. If you are trying to solve the world’s hardest problems, a standard 5-day workweek will not cut it.
2. Work Trials Repel the Mediocre:
Corgi forces candidates into mock work trials over the weekend. If seeing a full office on a Saturday scares them, they don't belong. True intensity acts as a natural filter to attract killers and repel clock-watchers.
3. Lead from the Front Lines
You can’t demand 7-day weeks while sitting on a yacht. Nico sleeps 3–4 hours a night on a mattress inside the office. If you want your troops to bleed, you have to be in the trenches with them.
4. Culture Only Means One Thing: Winning
Forget superficial jargon like "hackers" or "ex-founders." Strip away the corporate fluff. A great startup culture is aggressively optimized around one single word: Winning.
5. Lifespan vs. Victories
Building something world-historic requires radical sacrifice. When asked if he'd rather build a trillion-dollar company and die at 50, or fail and live to 80, the answer was easy. "I would rather measure my lifespan in victories."
6. Reject the Comfort of "Quiet Quitting."
If you are operating in a hyper-growth environment and your days off happen to be Saturday and Sunday every single week, you are quiet quitting. To win, you must deliberately bypass the off-ramps of personal comfort and low volatility.
Corgi isn't for everyone—and that’s exactly the point.