Daniel Russell

investor & lawyer interested in AI infra, energy, aerospace, robotics +
longboarding, skiing, hiking, tennis

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

I love this space race so much.

11/18 - Google drops @antigravity
11/19 - OpenAI launches 5.1-Codex-Max

9/30 - Sora 2 release
10/15 - Veo 3.1 release

9/5 - Anthropic ships Opus 4.1
9/5 - ChatGPT-oss announced hours after

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

Friends,

I'm excited to announce that I’ve launched @AlthingVentures, an early-stage venture capital fund.

The fund will have its first close next month and start making initial investments shortly after.

I’m grateful to have an elite Venture Partner team of experts and veteran entrepreneurs supporting our sourcing and diligence. They're truly world-class.

We'll be making seed and pre-seed investments in AI infrastructure, energy, aerospace, and robotics.

Do you know founders building in any of these areas? I’d love an introduction.

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

Mega funds require a ridiculous amount of dollars in returns to make sense, yet Thrive is one of the few that seems to be capable of doing that

[Joshua Kushner @JoshuaKushner]

We are pleased to announce the close of Thrive X. Exceeding $10 billion, Thrive X comprises $1 billion designated for early-stage investments and $9 billion designated for growth-stage investments. We do not view this as a milestone, but as a commitment to the long work ahead.

We view Thrive as a company. Our product is partnership - the willingness to commit deeply to a small number of founders, and to stand with them through momentum and adversity. This is the discipline we bring to our work, and the responsibility we accept when founders partner with Thrive.

We do not hedge. Concentration demands loyalty to the founders and missions we back. In this moment, exposure alone is not a strategy. Judgment without commitment is not enough. Advantage will accrue to those who choose deliberately, commit deeply, and endure through difficult moments.

Thrive was founded to be an enabling technology for the world we want to see. We are deeply aware that we are not the main character. The founders that we are fortunate enough to partner with are the artists. Our role is to help create the conditions where great work can come to life.

We take a long view grounded in the belief that category-defining companies tend to create structural compounding advantages over long arcs. This fund reflects the continuity of our approach and the ways our work has deepened alongside the founders we support.

We are grateful for the trust our Limited Partners place in us, and for the opportunity to work alongside those who are building with purpose, integrity, and courage.

https://t.co/7ymRAxb6uL

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

Despite some shakiness in Delaware's reliability regime and new tax uncertainty in CA, the US remains the best place to incorporate for 98% of businesses

[Garry Tan @garrytan]

The pattern is clear: Canadian-based YC companies that scaled to unicorn valuations reincorporated in the US. This is a common practice for Canadian startups seeking US venture capital, as US-incorporated entities are often preferred by institutional investors for legal, tax, and governance reasons.

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

The point that self-driving tax services don't add as much to local GDP is an interesting one, but I think this is a classic air conditioner/paperweight scenario where the benefits to any local economy with Waymo far exceed the drawbacks

[Rohin Dhar @rohindhar]

Interesting Hacker News comment that Waymo fares basically pull the money out of the local city

And send it to the San Francisco bay area

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

@AnnaLeptikon The pyramids and cities recently discovered via LiDAR in Central and South America nail this point home. We’re not far away (geologically speaking) from being borderline undetectable…

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

@jorgetheyounger This is fantastic. I’ll be there

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

@pitdesi @packyM Thanks for doing the work so all we have to do is look

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

@rdoddala I don't think space compute means terrestrial disappears.

My guess is we get a compute bifurcation of ground and space or trifurcation if underwater goes anywhere (Microsoft shuttered Natick but China is pressing forward) where premium compute is in space / standard on ground.

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

@tbpn @zebulgar My guess is we get a compute bifurcation of ground and space or trifurcation if underwater goes anywhere (Microsoft shuttered Natick but China is pressing forward). @zebulgar I don't think SDC means terrestrial compute disappears. Premium compute in space / standard on ground.

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

@ankurnagpal If you have to interface with the gov at all, I don't know if we'll be able to fully abandon physical mail or even fax for a decade or so

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

@jonchu Indeed. On my 3rd = reason why I agreed with you.

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

We gravitate towards hard-line rules when most often the nuance is in between. I agree with Jon for 90% of cases yet know some successful founders who didn’t and shouldn’t be involved with sales for many of the same reasons Carles mentions

[Jon Chu // Khosla Ventures @jonchu]

Guy claiming to be an angel investor outs himself as having never had any experience in startups

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

@paulg @michael_nielsen There are a lot of physicists and mechanical engineers who argue both sides of "the heat issue".

Where I've landed is that if the argument isn't that it violates the laws of physics (but instead that the solution is too big or too hard etc) my bet is we figure it out...

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

Venture bank
Venture barbell
RIP the mid-tier

[a16z @a16z]

https://t.co/1Hdgrkd7WL

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

@signulll A combination of a superior product religiously (though not always effectively) maintained

and

oligopolistic if not monopolistic power

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

What a wild time in VC

Lightspeed, Insight, Founders Fund, Thrive, a16z and now Lux raising just crazy amounts. The barbell-ification of venture is nearly complete

[Grace Isford @graceisford]

Thrilled to announce @Lux_Capital's latest $1.5B fund - grateful to continue to partner with founders inventing the future building the most essential infrastructure across AI, automation & bio. Just getting started! 🚀

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

A favorite aspect of the annual and quarterly letter sharing exercise is seeing how much the investor blurs with the philosopher. Successful leaders will have fully opposing viewpoints with perfectly valid arguments. The next evolutionary step should be moderated debate on TBPN

[Brent Beshore @BrentBeshore]

2025 Annual Letter is live: https://t.co/l5KJR9gXUa

1) Fear of Man
2) Role of CEOs and board members
3) Hard look at AI, PE fees, and selling
4) Health update
5) Experiments in generosity

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

@PeterJ_Walker Very interesting. Sounds like good news on the surface. Yet it wildly might not be depending on liquidation pref clearance, responding changes in DPI etc. If LP liquidity starts rising over the next 12 months we'll know more

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

When people say taxes, regulation, etc don’t affect behavior, just show them this

[villi @villi]

If this is true (90% of Groq employees are joining Nvidia) this deal is certainly an acquisition structured as an asset sale that would absolutely fall under the antitrust regulatory framework and subject the FTC review.

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

@nikunj https://t.co/C7n04GO3u9

[Daniel Russell @dnlRussell]

Round naming conventions broke a little while back when Seeds started closing at $100M+. It’d probably be more effective to just list round / valuation / lifetime total funding

A 4B/134B/19B round if you will