Dakota Hedden

Financing Arkansas’ greatest founders and businesses.

[Dakota Hedden @dkhedden]

@SoveyX Sam the banana man would be proud @davidsenra

[Will Ahmed @willahmed]

You have no experience.
You’ve never started a company.
You’ve never had a full time job.
Nike is going to kill you.
You’re a kid.
You don’t have technical skills.
You shouldn’t build hardware.
Apple is going to kill you.
You can’t build hardware.
You can’t measure heart rate non-invasively.
Athletes don’t care about recovery.
Under Armour is going to kill you.
It won’t be accurate.
You don’t listen.
You’re an ineffective leader.
You can’t recruit great talent.
You’re going to have to pay every athlete.
You can’t measure sleep non-invasively.
It’s too expensive to research.
Athletes are a small market.
The product costs too much to make.
The product costs too much to sell.
Your valuation is too high.
Consumers aren’t going to want it.
Hardware is too hard.
You should measure steps.
Fitbit is going to kill you.
You can’t build a marketing engine.
You can’t raise enough money.
You need a real CEO.
Google is going to kill you.
You can’t be a subscription.
You can’t build a brand.
You can’t do consumer in Boston.
Your valuation is too high.
You shouldn’t make accessories.
You shouldn’t make apparel.
Lululemon is going to kill you.
You can’t predict Covid.
Stay in your niche.
You are going to run out of money.
You can’t build a health platform.
Amazon is going to kill you.
You can’t measure blood pressure.
You can’t get medical approvals.
The market is too small.
You don’t understand AI.
The market is too competitive.
It won’t work internationally.
The supply chain is too complicated.
You can’t build an AI.
You can’t raise enough money.
It’s too competitive.
Healthcare isn’t going to want it.
…

Just keep going ✌️

[Peter Robinson @p_m_robinson]

Now that President Trump has announced that he'll be nominated Kevin Warsh to chair the Fed, I thought I'd repost my interview with Kevin of last spring. A fascinating overview of the economy, the Fed, and Kevin's own mind. "Inflation should be so low nobody even talks about it."
https://t.co/iLizv3nVBC

[Gavin Baker @GavinSBaker]

Revenue per employee up 75% for the top decile of AI/software companies in 2025. Probably doesn’t slow down in 2026 given the December revolution in AI coding agents.

Nothing to see here, move along.

No evidence of AI productivity anywhere.

[SMB Attorney @SMB_Attorney]

With a week to reflect, I’m convinced this was the greatest moment in sports history.

A 2-star recruit leads the worst program ever to a national championship, beats his hometown team that wouldn’t let him walk on, and finishes it by running over the same guy who knocked him out the year before, with his mother battling MS watching from the stands.

If it was a Disney movie, you’d say it was too much.

[Dakota Hedden @dkhedden]

@FoundersPodcast @ethan_frost1 I wish there was a network for people that have crossed 100 Founders episodes. 50 is cool and all but when you cross 100 it couldn’t possibly be more clear that you get it.

Clear signal of who to:
Hire
Work for
Partner with
Invest in
Raise from
Collaborate with
Loan to
Etc

[Dakota Hedden @dkhedden]

“Every major shift, from the printing press to electricity to the steam engine, sparked fears of job loss and social collapse. In 1800, 70-80% of Americans worked in agriculture. By 1900, it was roughly 40%. Today it’s <2%. We didn’t become obsolete. We found new callings.”

[Alfred Lin @Alfred_Lin]

https://t.co/IO5GIKkX6A

[Andrej Karpathy @karpathy]

Agency > Intelligence

I had this intuitively wrong for decades, I think due to a pervasive cultural veneration of intelligence, various entertainment/media, obsession with IQ etc. Agency is significantly more powerful and significantly more scarce. Are you hiring for agency? Are we educating for agency? Are you acting as if you had 10X agency?

Grok explanation is ~close:

“Agency, as a personality trait, refers to an individual's capacity to take initiative, make decisions, and exert control over their actions and environment. It’s about being proactive rather than reactive—someone with high agency doesn’t just let life happen to them; they shape it. Think of it as a blend of self-efficacy, determination, and a sense of ownership over one’s path.

People with strong agency tend to set goals and pursue them with confidence, even in the face of obstacles. They’re the type to say, “I’ll figure it out,” and then actually do it. On the flip side, someone low in agency might feel more like a passenger in their own life, waiting for external forces—like luck, other people, or circumstances—to dictate what happens next.

It’s not quite the same as assertiveness or ambition, though it can overlap. Agency is quieter, more internal—it’s the belief that you *can* act, paired with the will to follow through. Psychologists often tie it to concepts like locus of control: high-agency folks lean toward an internal locus, feeling they steer their fate, while low-agency folks might lean external, seeing life as something that happens *to* them.”

[Aaron Levie @levie]

https://t.co/lXehx9mkQJ

[Dakota Hedden @dkhedden]

The Sunday mornings when you get business church before church >>>

🐐@davidsenra and 🐐@patrick_oshag

[Dakota Hedden @dkhedden]

@realEstateTrent Little Rock, AR

[Dakota Hedden @dkhedden]

An incredible business built by Josh and his partners collectively living out their own individual American Dreams 🇺🇸

[Colossus @colossusmag]

This is the category-defining profile of one of the most important figures and institutions in American business, investing, and technology.

Joshua Kushner and Thrive Capital.

Kushner and his partners speak, as do Sam Altman, Jony Ive, Demis Hassabis, and John Collison.

It’s a story of the American dream. One that travels from the Holocaust in Eastern Europe through postwar Budapest, a refugee camp in Rome, Cold War New York and New Jersey, post-9/11 America, the recent history of venture capital, the AI revolution, wartime Israel, and Rick Rubin’s backyard.

It tells, with fresh eyes and ears, what happened during the 2023 OpenAI coup attempt. It takes you inside critical moments at Stripe and GitHub. And it shows how Kushner’s team of émigré and provincial castaways built Thrive into a rampart for the American experiment.

The ending will give you goosebumps.

By @jeremysternla. Only in Colossus.

[Bill Ackman @BillAckman]

In one week, @jaredkushner pulled off the biggest LBO of all time and then negotiated one of the biggest peace deals of all time.

A pretty good week.

[Patrick OShaughnessy @patrick_oshag]

A good day to go back and listen to this

[Rep. Brandon Achor, PharmD @brandon_achor]

Thank you to all our friends and neighbors for making our fundraiser such a great event! A special thank you to Lt. Gov @LeslieRutledge for her encouraging and inspiring speech!

Another Big Thank You to all those who made our evening come to life:

•Venue 10 , Krauser and Rhoades family
•Rachel Ward with La Petite Soirée
•The Ivy Florist & Gift Shoppe
•Cheers in Maumelle
•Maggie's Original Cookie Company

[David Senra @davidsenra]

Nine years ago, I launched Founders (@FoundersPodcast).

Today, I'm launching a new podcast called David Senra.

The first episode goes live this Sunday. Subscribe wherever you watch or listen to podcasts.

Founders will still come out every week.

@scicomm // @hubermanlab

[Morgan Housel @morganhousel]

"We are being afflicted with a new disease of which some readers may not yet have heard the name, but of which they will hear a great deal in the years to come – namely, technological unemployment."

- Keynes, 1930. Same as ever.

[Dakota Hedden @dkhedden]

@nicochristie Need it like air and water.

[Mark Cuban @mcuban]

Incorrect. Independent pharmacies will stay in business , resulting in more

And with the protections more can open

Pharmacies deserve to be paid. Not to be used as a source of rebates to enrich PBMs ans insurance companies

[Ray Dalio @RayDalio]

https://t.co/ML49V4ge2B