Alex Roe

building @ ...

prev: co-founder/ceo @ summit (acquired), alum @Cresta, @googlephotos, @georgiatech

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

https://t.co/q7ZNavO373

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

the thing i love about building software for myself is that you can completely overbuild something - not b/c it is going to drive a metric - but because you just really want it and it sounds fun.

i've been using and building my own fitness tracking app - just for fun. it's evolved a lot. from basic lift logging -> visualization -> talking with ai to help me plan lifts / insights, etc.

recently, i wanted to motivate myself to get back into cardio and wanted some way to see progress. i spent way too much time making a pixel art weightlifter that morphs/grows depending on my progress each week - from a skinny boi (like the chatgpt pull up ad boi) to a giga chad.

building with ai makes building in general so much fun, feels like a video game at this point.

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

@Stammy with decaf you want to look for sugar cane processed (or called ethyl acetate or "EA") - swiss water process is 95% of decaf and imo tastes like garbage. in sf coffee movement typically carries sugar cane roasts and sometimes grand coffee has some. can also roast your own!

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

@signulll this is what Summit is - we call it a "will engine"

https://t.co/IA8tmetdIu

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

was fun to demo the latest from Summit at @southpkcommons! lots of🔥demos in the lineup in general

[South Park Commons @southpkcommons]

5/ @summit_coach
3 weeks into the year and your resolutions are already slipping? @alexroe (& @tripproberts) demoed Summit, the AI companion that systematically helps you increase your willpower and achieve your goals. Download now and reach your peak: https://t.co/vVOXDH7ltr

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

Nice lil feature of what we're building with @summit_coach (https://t.co/fuh6NG3a75) this morning in Bloomberg! Has been one of our most interesting product learnings re: what personalities resonate and are most effective with our users

[Bloomberg @business]

Procrastinators Unite. AI Drill Sergeants May Keep You on Task https://t.co/Zk81WIKHtL

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

@NickADobos Yes :)

https://t.co/fuh6NG3a75

https://t.co/ZVepKdiZqz

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

@thesamparr @thesamparr https://t.co/ZVepKdiZqz

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

@thesamparr hey sam - we've built basically this already at summit (https://t.co/fuh6NG3a75). Has long term memory on what you tell it + your specific goals, you can customize the "coach" (I use a "future version" of myself), can call/text/etc.

happy to 1:1 onboard you to it

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

@codyschneider on it https://t.co/fuh6NG3a75

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

@steven_finch @codyschneider 🫡

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

@chrysb we're dealing with literally the same rejection for the same thing (subscription page) when we were previously approved (and are live!) in the app store; insane...

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

@JosephKChoi sup

[Aditya Agarwal @adityaag]

1/ @southpkcommons Founder Fellowship is the best way to start a company because -1 to 0 is when a company actually starts.

Not at revenue or first product. Your company starts even before you have an idea—when ambition takes hold.

And SPC is the only truly pre-idea program.

[Zayd Enam @zaydenam]

STARTING A NEW COMPANY IS A CREATIVE PROCESS.

Every detail, even the name, is part of this journey.

As with all creative endeavors, it’s crucial to be selective about whose feedback you consider. Accepting feedback from everyone will strip away the uniqueness critical for success. I always pay very close attention to feedback from Andy Bechtolsheim.

Andy has always inspired me. Andy is an engineer by heart that deeply understands business. He has the rare ability to combine a bold technical vision of the future with sound business judgement and ability to execute.

An immigrant from Germany, he dropped out of the third year of his Stanford PhD to found the iconic Sun Microsystems. He later founded @AristaNetworks (NYSE: ANET, $112B market cap) and wrote the first check for Larry & Sergey’s PhD project: @Google.

Seven years ago, I too was in the third year of my Stanford PhD, working on what would become @cresta. I had a phone call with Andy on a Sunday evening and asked him to invest in the new company. He said he never invests in entrepreneurs without meeting them in person. He was flying to Germany the next day but asked if I could meet him at the corner of the Gates Computer Science Building on the Stanford campus.

I showed up that afternoon and Andy drove up in his silver Porsche 911, with his signature long flowing hair and Birkenstocks with socks. After a five-minute conversation, he said, “I like you. I’m going to invest in your company.” He got back in his 911 and drove off to the airport, but not before asking me the name of the company.

I couldn’t figure out a name for the company. Out of necessity I incorporated the company under a placeholder name in Delaware — Grey Parrot Inc because the African Grey Parrot is the most linguistically intelligent animal in the world.

He refused to wire the money until we figured out a better name. True to his nature, Andy’s feedback on the name was prescient. Over the next few weeks we worked to come up with the name “Cresta” and filed for a name change in Delaware. Cresta derives from the latin word for growth. Another inspiration, Yoky Matsuoka tied it to the mission of the company: the highest point of a wave is a crest and waves are repetitive - Cresta’s mission was to harness the energy of repetitive work and repurpose it to creative pursuits.

Andy approved, he wired the money and we were in business.

I am excited to share that I am working on something new, and once again, Andy wrote the first check. His feedback has been just as instrumental in shaping this new venture. We are now building a team of extraordinary engineers in San Francisco and Berlin and an engineering culture inspired by Andy’s innovative ethos. Please reach out if you are interested in joining us. More to come…

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

@timshi_ai alas that is the only way to prevent david goggins from waking you up (guess you could add the number to favorites if someone really wanted to!)

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

back with another lil voice x ai mini-app

🤬 wakeup call from david goggins*

1. choose what time you want to get up at
2. get a phone call
3. get yelled at until you confirm you are out of bed

👇

https://t.co/AM9n7T1lPo

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

*may or may not be me or someone else that sounds like david goggins. thx @Vapi_AI for being the 🐐 of voice x ai stuff rn.

[Alex Roe @AlexRoe]

@rbfasho similar w/ Summit. interesting alpha in figuring out "llm seo"