Alex Au

latte maker. son entertainer. automated AI data prep @ secuvy

[Tibo @tibo_maker]

a YC partner who closed millions in founder-led sales just laid out her 8 rules for cold email

[a16z @a16z]

a16z's Alex Rampell says the best software incumbents have hostages, not customers:

"Normally, selling into the brownfield is hard just because it's brown. What does brownfield mean? It means that it's been trampled by an incumbent."

"Try selling ERP and you have a product that's much, much better than SAP. There's a saying Joe's heard me use a million times: 'The best companies have hostages, not customers.' SAP has hostages. That's a brownfield."

"Sometimes you can break in. Cloud versus on-prem: What did cloud do? It was brownfield, but it kind of just redefined the problem."

"If you go back to the CRM days, you're using Siebel Systems that's running on your IBM AS/400 mainframe in your office. You're tired, the guy that maintained it quit. He was 92 years old. Maybe now you should use a cloud-based vendor. That's partially how that brownfield was done from on-prem to cloud."

"The other strategy is going greenfield, saying, 'I'm not going to bother with the hostages. I'm just going to build the best product in the world, and then brand new companies that are untethered from any existing software solution, they'll just use me.'"

@arampell @joeschmidtiv

[Hades @0xHvdes]

https://t.co/26ibXrwogg

[Alex Au @alexaweau]

@0xHvdes Incredible

[Alex Au @alexaweau]

@PalantirTech agree, IP needs protection, but it's tough to catch without tons of manual tuning etc and the false positives....tough problem hence most do the easy way out with claude but scarily persuasive here that that is a conceding of enterprise moat... man...

[Chris Orlob @Chris_Orlob]

I've listened to thousands of sales calls through Gong.

The single biggest pattern among reps who miss quota: they ask about problems but never about consequences.

Ask "what challenges are you facing?" and you get a list.

Ask "what happens to your team if that's still true six months from now?" and suddenly the buyer is calculating their own cost of inaction out loud.

Buyers don't buy to solve problems.

They buy to avoid the consequences of those problems staying unsolved, and that distinction is worth understanding deeply if you want to stop having deals stall after discovery.

[Aaron Levie @levie]

This is a critical post to read if you’re building an applied AI company right now.

“An application earns its place in the untrainable corner by doing unglamorous work: arranging a company's private reality so a model can act on it, handing the model the tools to act, working with the customer to change the reality of its workforce. A company that brings the translation is tough to copy – and the translation never ends. Integration and maintenance run as long as the relationship does, won by teams that put domain-specialized engineers and tools next to the customer.”

There’s still an insanely large gulf between model capabilities and what it takes to apply them to specific corporate workflows. Some of that is technology that needs to be built, a lot is access to (and formatting of) the right data to work with, and a ton more is on the change management and specific implementation work (FDEs, etc.) it takes to make AI work in any specific corporate setting.

2 things can be very true at once: frontier models and labs will continue to grow an incredible amount, and there will be a vast ecosystem of software and services companies that emerge to bring the power of these models to real enterprises. This makes room for new infrastructure provides, applied AI companies in every vertical, new versions of system integrators, and more players.

Incredibly exciting time on all fronts.

[Alex Au @alexaweau]

I fed 14 years of my private journals to an AI. Here's what it said. https://t.co/CfAY7BGLtn

[Miyandy @Amahashi_]

I worked 20 years for a child sex trafficking rescue group. I want you to know this:

90% of Lost Children Are Found Within 30 Minutes.

That statistic should both comfort you and wake you up.

Most lost children are found quickly. But the ones who aren’t? They usually made one mistake.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth:

It’s often the exact thing most parents teach them.

We tell our kids:

“If you get lost, come find me.”

It sounds logical. It sounds empowering.

It’s WRONG!

The Mistake Most Lost Children Make:

When children realize they’re separated, they do three things almost automatically:

They panic.
They wander.
They try to find you.

Every step makes them harder to locate.

From a search standpoint, movement creates chaos.

Parents retrace their steps.
Security scans zones.
Staff lock down areas.

Search works best when movement stops.

When a child keeps walking, they move outside the original search radius. Helpers are looking where they were last seen — not where they’ve wandered.

Stillness increases probability.

Movement expands the problem.

The first lesson is not “go find me.”

It’s this:

Stop. Stay. Yell.

Why Stillness Wins:

Think like a search team.

If a child stays put:

Parents can retrace steps.
Security can scan systematically.
Helpers converge to one fixed location.
The search radius remains small.
If a child keeps moving:

The search area expands.
Adults pass each other.
Missed connections multiply.
Minutes stretch into hours.
Stillness keeps the math on your side.

Teach Them Who to Approach:

The second mistake we make as parents?

We say, “Find an adult.”

Not any adult. Not the nearest stranger. Children need a filter.

Teach them to look for, if at all possible:

A mother with children.

Caregivers who already have kids with them are statistically among the safest people to approach in public settings. They are visible, stationary, and more likely to engage quickly.

It’s a clear, concrete instruction.

Children don’t process vague categories like “safe adult.”

They process visuals.

“Find a mom with kids” is visual.

A Phone Only Helps If the Number Is Known:

We often assume phones solve everything.

They don’t — unless your child can use one. Even young children can memorize a 10-digit phone number with repetition.

But you must train it.

Practice it like a song.

Sing it in the car.
Chant it at bedtime.
Turn it into rhythm.

Repetition becomes recall.

In an emergency, recall matters more than theory.

The Code Word Rule:

One more layer of protection.

Choose a private family code word.

Something only your household knows.

If someone approaches and says:

“Your mom sent me.”

Your child asks:

“What’s the code word?”

No word.
No go.

This simple rule eliminates manipulation attempts instantly.

It gives your child agency without requiring them to evaluate character.

Real Safety Is Training — Not Luck!

We don’t get safer by hoping.

We get safer by practicing.

Teach:

• Phone number
• Code word
• Stop, stay, yell
• Find a mom with kids

Multiple skills.
Simple instructions.
Clear visuals.

Five minutes of training can replace hours of panic. This isn’t about fear. It’s about preparation.

Because when a child gets separated, the clock starts.

And what they do in the first minute determines what the next thirty look like.

That’s real protection.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

True

[Camus @newstart_2024]

Imagine: Two animals run the exact same distance.
One chooses to. One is forced.

The voluntary runner gets healthier—better heart rate, blood pressure, glucose.
The forced runner? Gets sicker.

Andrew Huberman says the same rule destroys or upgrades your stress, your workouts, even your life.

And the craziest proof: People who watched hours of Boston bombing news coverage suffered MORE acute stress than those who were actually there.

Your mind doesn’t know the difference between experiencing and relentlessly consuming.

So… what “have-to” in your life are you ready to reframe as a choice?

This 1:58 clip just rewired my brain.

[Alex Au @alexaweau]

@alexhalliday @AirOpsHQ @GreylockVC Airops

[Alex Halliday @alexhalliday]

Meet the new @AirOpsHQ. The only all-in-one content platform to rank your brand #1 on ChatGPT.

We've raised a $40M Series B, led by @GreylockVC

People skip Google and ask ChatGPT "what's the best [your category]?" And if your brand doesn't show up in the answer, you lose.

Here's how brands like Webflow, Chime, and Ramp use AirOps to win:

1. AirOps analyzes how often ChatGPT, other AI search engines, and traditional search recommend your brand. Page360 shows how each page performs across SEO, AI search, and your website's Google Analytics.

2. We highlight exactly where competitors get recommended and you don’t, then give you a prioritized roadmap so you know what to fix or create next.

3. AirOps connects to tools like Zendesk, HubSpot, and Gong, turning your data into inputs your team can use as context to make new content.

4. Automated workflows scale high-quality content, with human review at 5+ points.

5. In one click, publish agent-readable content straight into your website.

8-person marketing teams that once published 40 content pieces a month now publish 500+ with AirOps and outrank everyone.

This is how modern brands get found in the new AI era of discovery.

If you don’t 3× your AI traffic in six months, we’ll refund you up to $1M.

Book a demo here: https://t.co/GRCrwg7Q8G

Since you’re still reading, here’s a little bonus 👇🏻

[Alex Au @alexaweau]

@DudespostingWs Hope he didn’t waste the perfectly good carton

[Alex Au @alexaweau]

@SherryYanJiang To be fair, they did say comfort is the actual good deal

[Alex Au @alexaweau]

@Codie_Sanchez My 5 month old son disagrees. He’s also pretty bad at making money though, so you’re probably right.

[Alex Au @alexaweau]

@brezina Ya silly dogs, just learn from cats already

[Alex Au @alexaweau]

@whizwang I need one too, but it needs more cowbell

[Alex Au @alexaweau]

@ChrisMurphyCT No worries, we’re coming out with something soon to counter this.