Leigh Lytle

CEO @ELFAonline. Prev Policy @plaid & @sffed. Finance exec passionate about financial access and policy. ❤️ my fam, friends, CA, and getting outside.

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

@CristinCulver @jgreze 💀

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

@jgreze @TownAI @arampell @a16z @kirstengreen @ForerunnerVC @firstround @altcap @conviction Let’s go JDG 🚀. Congrats!

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

@Melt_Dem @HadickM @Polymarket @FalconXGlobal @OrnnExchange Let’s go Wayne!

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

@omniderek I’m more interested in how I get that backstage pass to co-invest

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

@clairevo @FlowbyGoogle Genius

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

@CristinCulver @_simonsmith @TownAI Yup @jgreze ❤️

[Diana Nerozzi @diana_nerozzi]

Scoop: The AI EO isn't fully dead. There are three camps in the White House.

The most skeptical are those like Pete Hegseth and Emil Michael. Susie Wiles and Scott Bessent are in the middle. And David Sacks wants the least regulations.

w/ @SophiaCai99

https://t.co/DA3JpM0YML

[Jordan Schachtel @JordanSchachtel]

Data centers revitalize American manufacturing by driving massive demand and upgrading the power infrastructure in former industrial hubs.

Building American technological infrastructure is good for America.

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

Don’t be jealous. See the opportunity. Lots of rich people with money to deploy. High end services could get very interesting and lucrative.

Also please, for the love of god, get outside!

[Deedy @deedydas]

The vibes in SF feel pretty frenetic right now. The divide in outcomes is the worst I've ever seen.

Over the last 5yrs, a group of ~10k people - employees at Anthropic, OpenAI, xAI, Nvidia, Meta TBD, founders - have hit retirement wealth of well above $20M (back of the envelope AI estimation).

Everyone outside that group feels like they can work their well-paying (but <$500k) job for their whole life and never get there.

Worse yet, layoffs are in full swing. Many software engineers feel like their life's skill is no longer useful. The day to day role of most jobs has changed overnight with AI.

As a result,
1. The corporate ladder looks like the wrong building to climb.
Everyone's trying to align with a new set of career "paths": should I be a founder? Is it too late to join Anthropic / OpenAI? should I get into AI? what company stock will 10x next? People are demanding higher salaries and switching jobs more and more.

2. There’s a deep malaise about work (and its future).
Why even work at all for “peanuts”? Will my job even exist in a few years? Many feel helpless. You hear the “permanent underclass” conversation a lot, esp from young people. It's hard to focus on doing good work when you think "man, if I joined Anthropic 2yrs ago, I could retire"

3. The mid to late middle managers feel paralyzed.
Many have families and don't feel like they have the energy or network to just "start a company". They don't particularly have any AI skills. They see the writing on the wall: middle management is being hollowed out in many companies.

4. The rich aren’t particularly happy either.
No one is shedding tears for them (and rightfully so). But those who have "made it" experience a profound lack of purpose too. Some have gone from <$150k to >$50M in a few years with no ramp. It flips your life plans upside down. For some, comparison is the thief of joy. For some, they escape to NYC to "live life". For others still, they start companies "just cuz", often to win status points. They never imagined that by age 30, they'd be set. I once asked a post-economic founder friend why they didn't just sell the co and they said "and do what? right now, everyone wants to talk to me. if i sell, I will only have money."

I understand that many reading this scoff at the champagne problems of the valley. Society is warped in this tech bubble. What is often well-off anywhere else in the world is bang average here.

Unlike many other places, tenure, intelligence and hard work can be loosely correlated with outcomes in the Bay. Living through a societally transformative gold rush in that environment can be paralyzing. "Am I in the right place? Should I move? Is there time still left? Am I gonna make it?" It psychologically torments many who have moved here in search of "success".

Ironically, a frequent side effect of this torment is to spin up the very products making everyone rich in hopes that you too can vibecode your path to economic enlightenment.

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

Weird thing I’ve noticed:

TikTok is generally way more positive for me (mostly because I curate that algorithm like my life depends on it).

But X people are way more likely to actually engage, have real conversations, and be unexpectedly nice in the DMs.

Have genuinely made a bunch of friends here which was…not what I expected from this app.

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

@clairevo Comparison is the thief of joy as they say.

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

@conorjrogers Post Covid inflammation fix is real

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

@NaithanJones Sending you strength and prayers

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

@erica_wenger Get it, girls! Love to see it.

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

@FintechKristen @jack V cool. Love this for infrequent vendors etc.

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

@AlmostMedia 🙋‍♀️

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

Been having a lot of recent conversations about this. Would love to chat. The pie in the sky “we will figure it out and it’ll be better for everyone long term” does nothing for someone worried that they might lose the business they have spent their life savings to create that supports their community.

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

@lulumeservey @MargoMartin47 @RapidResponse47 @POTUS @FLOTUS Howwww????? Need to replicate this and turn it into a startup

[Leigh Lytle @leighlytle]

@AlmostMedia Resting state 🔥

[Senator Katie Boyd Britt @SenKatieBritt]

This is encouraging news for our small businesses and community banks who need regulatory relief.

I’ve spent years fighting the onerous and harmful 1071 rule published by the Biden Administration’s CFPB, including through my PROTECTED Act in the Senate. I look forward to seeing this final rule published so we don’t punish small businesses with unnecessary regulation.