Darren Chow

CoS @extendhq, prev @mrbeast

[Kushal Byatnal @kushalbyatnal]

just packed up the office where Extend grew from 6 → ~30 people

I found a picture from day 1 when we were assembling chairs and desks together on the empty floor

today, we could barely fit everyone in the room for one last photo

onto the next chapter: a full floor in bright and sunny union square

office warming party soon!

[Darren Chow @dchow_]

@bolau_ @jordanalexmeyer 💀

[Darren Chow @dchow_]

@kushalbyatnal @Opendoor Yan is the epitome of a champion

[Kushal Byatnal @kushalbyatnal]

how it started vs. how it's going

@opendoor chose Extend to power document processing for its title and escrow operations

10s of millions of pages, 300k+ homeowners, and we're just getting started

[Kushal Byatnal @kushalbyatnal]

the most satisfying part of building a company isn't your own wins

it's seeing your customers win

[Darren Chow @dchow_]

@kushalbyatnal an absolute whale, many more coming!

[Kushal Byatnal @kushalbyatnal]

few things are more adrenaline inducing than bringing in big deals on the very last day of the quarter

happy Q3!

[Darren Chow @dchow_]

role inflation is getting out of hand...

[Darren Chow @dchow_]

@tferriss also why competition in your segment isn't bad signal - it means the space is exciting and large enough to target. Most competitors die out in the long-run, just need to not die and stay focused

[Darren Chow @dchow_]

everyone (myself included) likes to shit on IB and consulting jobs either the advent of ai

but despite how soul crushing management consulting was, it taught me how to be a good communicator and think from right-to-left. agency is a learned skill

[Alex Lieberman @businessbarista]

I stole this idea and now use it with every single employee.

It’s the best illustration I’ve seen of teaching someone to be high agency.

It says there are 5 levels of work:

Level 1: “There is a problem.”

Level 2: “There is a problem, and I’ve found some causes.”

Level 3: “Here’s the problem, here are some possible causes, and here are some possible solutions.”

Level 4: “Here’s the problem, here’s what I think caused it, here are some possible solutions, and here’s the one I think we should pick.”

Level 5: “I identified a problem, figured out what caused it, researched how to fix it, and I fixed it. Just wanted to keep you in the loop.”

Using this framework, here’s what I say to every new employee…

You will live at Level 4 from Day 1 and as we build trust you will rise to Level 5.

Being high agency doesn’t just mean tackling problems in this way. It means your entire way of working should be oriented to being a Level 4+ employee.

Plz feel free to steal it as well.

And ty @stephsmithio for the framework!

[Darren Chow @dchow_]

OpenAI using a science metaphor for their family of models vs. Claude's humanities metaphor really reflects their positioning and branding in the market

[OpenAI @OpenAI]

Introducing a limited preview of GPT-5.6 Sol, our next generation frontier model, as well as GPT-5.6 Terra, a balanced model for efficient, everyday work, and GPT-5.6 Luna, a fast and affordable model for high-volume work.

https://t.co/OoM83SyISN

[Jing @Jingg_n_Tonic]

seeking a videographer / filmmaker who has a point of view and is not afraid to push boundaries

all these product launch videos look the same and if you're as bored of it as I am, DM me!

and if you know someone who might be a good fit, please put me on 🙏

[Darren Chow @dchow_]

@benln Extend, https://t.co/5GdMN0t9hZ, NYC!

[Darren Chow @dchow_]

@kushalbyatnal genuinely, off the dome. when i realized CLI rhymed with 5, i knew what i had to do

[Darren Chow @dchow_]

me: caveman prompts fable for a beautiful video with the @ExtendHQ logo

fable: procedurally generates 20+ unique animated logos inspired by culture, art, science, nature, etc., overlaid on original music

anything is possible

[Claude @claudeai]

Claude Fable 5 has been out for a couple of days. Some projects people have already built with it:

[Darren Chow @dchow_]

Try the extend CLI today!

[Kushal Byatnal @kushalbyatnal]

today, we're open sourcing the Extend CLI

watch Fable use it to parse and extract an entire corpus of documents — end to end, without leaving the terminal

try it yourself: npm install -g @​extend-ai/cli

it comes with a built-in agent skill, so claude code/codex/cursor know how to drive it out of the box

[Darren Chow @dchow_]

@kushalbyatnal extend loves devs continued

[Darren Chow @dchow_]

This is even more applicable for hiring: good people want to work with good people, it all starts with the founders. If the founders are good (ambitious but low-ego, charismatic yet honest, etc.), then they attract others who fit the same bill.

Culture starts at the top

[Paul Graham @paulg]

I talked to a founder today whose customers are all really nice people, because their initial market happens to be one that attracts such people. The founders themselves are nice for the same reason. They're enjoying starting a startup as much as any founders I've known.

[Andrew Luo @andrewlu0]

Added a file system component built on top of the existing Extend UI file viewers and trees from @pierrecomputer

Code is available below