If you need Kubernetes, you'll know. If you're not sure, you don't need it.
Every startup I consult with asks: 'Should we use Kubernetes?'
My questions:
- How many services? (Usually: 3-8)
- How many engineers? (Usually: 4-12)
- Deploy frequency? (Usually: 2-5 times/week)
- Current problems? (Usually: none with infrastructure)
They want Kubernetes because:
- It's what big companies use
- Resume building
- Fear of missing out
What they actually need:
- ECS Fargate or App Runner
- GitHub Actions
- Good monitoring
Teams that need Kubernetes know they need it:
- 50+ microservices
- Multiple teams
- Complex networking requirements
- Custom scheduling needs
- Already outgrew simpler options
Lesson: Don't adopt complexity hoping to grow into it. Adopt it when you're drowning without it.
> be Tiger Global in 2021, peak galaxy-brain VC
> strategy: “Ctrl-C SoftBank, Ctrl-V but faster”
> DD checklist: 1) Is it tech? 2) Does chart go up? 3) Profit (optional)
> Zoom pitch at 9:01 AM, term sheet spammed by 9:07, board seat declined by 9:08
> intern’s job: refresh TechCrunch, yell “unicorn” every time valuation >$1B, get promoted
> 2021 earnings call: “We’re time-traveling to 2030 prices”
> deploy $10B faster than a freshman deploys parents’ tuition on Ripple
> portfolio diversity: 98 % software, 2 % software that ships food to software engineers
> Peloton: “post-pandemic treadmill-to-nowhere still worth 50× revenue, trust bro”
> Hopin: virtual happy-hour platform valued like it replaces oxygen itself
> FTX slide deck literally has footnote “might be fraud, but upside case = 100×”
> skip footnote, write $1.2B check, high-five in hallway, post “genius” on Twitter
> 2022 macro: rates go full Doom Eternal, our NAV goes full flatline
> Excel autosum now just displays “lmao”
> IR letter to LPs: “unrealized losses aren’t real if you never open the portal”
> LPs open portal, see -67%, file lawsuit faster than we filed term sheets
> emergency pivot: rename fund “Tiger Hibernation Management,” charge 2% for naps
> still raise Fund 14 because brand = “prestige loss-coaster”
> final slide: “Lessons learned none, see you at the top in 2029”
> mfw turned due diligence into due negligence
> still charge 2 & 20 because tiger skin rug isn’t gonna buy itself
GenAI isn't just a technology; it's an informational pollutant—a pervasive cognitive smog that touches and corrupts every aspect of the Internet. It's not just a productivity tool; it's a kind of digital acid rain, silently eroding the value of all information.
Every image is no longer a glimpse of reality, but a potential vector for synthetic deception. Every article is no longer a unique voice, but a soulless permutation of data, a hollow echo in the digital chamber. This isn't just content creation; it's the flattening of the entire vibrant ecosystem of human expression, transforming a rich tapestry of ideas into a uniform, gray slurry of derivative, algorithmically optimized outputs.
This isn't just innovation; it's the systematic contamination of our data streams, a semantic sludge that clogs the channels of genuine communication and cheapens the value of human thought—leaving us to sift through a digital landfill for a single original idea.
"Excellence is beautiful from a distance, and brutal up close." - unknown
Probably one of the best ways to describe the madness & obsession it takes to be truly excellent at anything.
Next-level dating move on Wall Street Bet.
User with $1m in trading losses offering to marry someone with $1m+ in short-term capital gains and split the tax savings.