Aaron Bailey

Building // Founder @builtfirst (acq @Appdirect) // SF

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

The best stories in the valley are domain acquisition stories

[Akshay Kothari @akothari]

We're finally shedding the .so (thank you Somalia!), and using the .com for @NotionHQ. And for this beautiful moment, I want to share a fun story:

Back in 2018, I had just joined Notion, and one of the first things @ivan asked me to do was figure out how we could own https://t.co/BxoFvc83VG. I had never done a big domain purchase before, so I reached out to a few domain brokers to understand the landscape. We tried different brokers, kept things anonymous, and attempted to surface a price the seller might consider.

A year went by… nothing. Meanwhile, it was pretty clear this was only going to get more expensive as we grew. We needed a different approach. A fellow founder connected me to a broker who took a very different tack. Less transactional, more long-term relationship builder. He spent months getting to know the domain owner. Turns out owner was a fellow entrepreneur in the west coast… and a huge Grateful Dead fan.

So we figured, why not get creative? Something beyond just price. So I called up our investor Ronny Conway and asked if there was any way he could help set up a private meeting between the domain owner and the Grateful Dead. Ronny is one of those people who somehow makes impossible things possible. A week later he calls me back: “New York City. Halloween. 15 minutes after the concert. Done.”

The broker went back to the owner with an offer: some cash, some equity, and a private meeting with the Grateful Dead. That got his attention. He didn’t take the band meeting in the end, but he did lean into the equity (great call, in hindsight). We shook hands, and a few weeks later, the deal was done.

I’ve been waiting years for the day we move our product to https://t.co/BxoFvc83VG. Looks like 2026 is finally the year. Safe to say I’m unreasonably excited about this update!

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

Witnessed a CRAZY interaction on the Embarcadero this morning.

A runner started heckling this guy with a @tbpn shirt on (the old one with all the logos).

I couldn't really make out what he was saying but 60 seconds later he turned around and started running back and heckled the guy AGAIN. This time within earshot of me...

He was screaming about the fact that the guy was wearing logos of all these companies that had all this money and "owned all the buildings downtown" and how he should be ashamed of himself for associating with them. Like this runner was very mad.

Super bizarre interaction.

I went up to the guy after, he said he used to be a contractor for TBPN but after the OpenAI acq they stopped working with all contractors. Says he works for MTS now ironically lol.

I don't think I've witnessed such vitriol toward like harmless B2B saas companies before...OpenAI and Anthropic, I'd get it (sorta flavor of the week for normie SFers to hate on AI companies). But like @tryramp? @turbopuffer? @TrustVanta? What possible reason could the logos of those companies trigger a person?

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

I think this was probably classified info that he just revealed

Spaceforce has 9 cameras that can read the name tags on a persons coat.

That’s crazy high resolution from space.

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

@pitdesi @sporadica I agree but then I think about Cambridge Analytica

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

@tr_babb Ice caps melt.

Oceans rise.

I’m moving into the wind caves of Mt Diablo until the government fixes all this!

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

@pitdesi @daringfireball YCs biggest stake being a non-profit started by a former YC President, not following any of the advice he gave out is priceless SV history

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

Garages are residential labs, which is why America is better at innovation and EU is not.

Love this take

[Paul Graham @paulg]

It could actually be a significant problem that Europe doesn't have enough garages. This sounds like a joke, but I'm serious. Garages let you work on stuff that doesn't matter yet, which is how big things often start. The outliers of ideas need the outliers of space.

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

First angel investment in a year.

Met the founder at church.

Palantir for the electric grid.

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

@madeinphantom @Clara_Gold https://t.co/emq1c7XgTL

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

@pabloantonio and team would say Star of the Sea if you're Catholic

I go to Eucharist, an Anglican church in the Mission

The people of God are all over the city though:
Epic (where @garrytan goes)
RealitySF (biggest church in the city - many founders)
ChristChurch (Toby Kurth is an amazing preacher)

etc.

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

@pabloantonio and team would say Star of the Sea if you're Catholic

I go to Eucharist, an Anglican church in the Mission

The people of God are all over the city though:
Epic (where @garrytan goes)
RealitySF (biggest church in the city - many founders)
ChristChurch (Toby Kurth is an amazing preacher)

etc.

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

@DrIanWeissman Cc @BenSasse !!!

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

Rough way to make a livin’

Red Bluff Round Up

California has everything

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

Got my lifer Great Horned owl tonight.

Clean shot! Up in Sacramento.

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

Founder vs Anthropic

How this battle goes will be very telling for many industries

[Tommy Geoco 🇺🇸 @designertom]

I’m rooting for @zoink and the @figma team.

It’s because of this insane dude that so many designers have been able to participate in the financial gain of the golden age of software.

I remember when they opened their office 2 blocks from my apartment and Dylan was placing a bet on multiplayer canvas.

A loud minority of designers swore it was a terrible idea, and he dgaf. Full send conviction.

An absolute dawg.

From the rise of Sketch to Figma, and now what appears to be Claude if our latest survey is any indicator, software design has only been made better by founders with some big fookin balls.

I don’t envy the fight Figma has ahead of them. But this team has done it in their DNA.

And frankly, it’s design founders like Dylan, Karri, and Jorn that have directly inspired me to place an absurd bet on myself with design storytelling, an area that is quickly becoming saturated by people with more resources than our small team.

And I also dgaf. Full send.

It’s easy to criticize the efforts of people trying to fight for good design by placing insane bets like these.

But this is how lore is written, becomes canon.

This is also exactly why this is still the best time in history to be a designer.

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

Spotted new Tesla on the Bay bridge

Steering wheel in place

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

Straight up just doxxing Ken Griffin

[Acyn @Acyn]

Mamdani: When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich

Well, today we're taxing the rich...

[Aaron Bailey @aaroncbailey]

@wolftivy @pabloantonio Mind linking? not showing up on spotify