Really enjoyed this conversation with @NataliaZarina from @every about investing in AI infrastructure like @modal@factoryai & @huggingface and how I used those apps to build my own local AI app
Hi, I'm Felix. I'm an eng lead working on Claude. I love watching people take flight and do things they never thought possible.
We often describe that as "being more ambitious" when using AI, which is tricky advice to follow. I wrote a tutorial:
https://t.co/vNPPs5FWm8
This has been my experience. Agents help me handle life admin that is emotionally taxing or plain tedious.
This includes:
- coordinating elder care nurses
- moving logistics (finding, booking, and coordinating movers)
- sending gifts
- bill-tracking & so much more
My plate is both lighter and more full
We need more women building and playing with AI. AI is fun *and* so helpful, particularly for women. https://t.co/DUjfIcF5fi is designed for everyone, but, because it understands taste, brand loyalties, and the visuals of your life, it’s particularly well-suited for women. #FortuneMPW
“The best people I’ve seen building things are playing” says @MattHartman, who wrote the first check into @huggingface (sold to Nvidia for ~$13B)
His approach is to find the newly technically possible, then find the founders already tinkering there. He's backed @factoryai, @modal & more.
Always a treat to chat & special shoutout to @mignano & @alxai_ referenced on the pod! 👋
.@MattHartman assumes every early-stage startup will pivot. That's why he backs technical founders who can "move with where the world goes." Now founder and managing partner of Factorial Capital, Hartman was part of the Betaworks team that wrote @huggingface's first check in 2016—when it was still a chatbot app for teenagers, before it became the largest community for open-source AI, set to be acquired by @nvidia for $13 billion. On this week's episode of The Every Podcast, he tells @NataliaZarina how he spots new opportunities, what makes a founder's insight worth backing, and why vibe-coding his own app gave him a new respect for SaaS.
Introduction
How Hugging Face went from a teen chatbot to the home of open-source AI
The three decisions that set Hugging Face on its path
Hartman's approach to finding the newly technically possible
Why Hartman backs technical founders
How Factorial’s portfolio founders source its next deals
Why faster iteration makes product insight the most valuable skill
What Hartman learned building Ghost Pepper, an open-source voice-to-text app
Hartman's current theses, from non-language models to full-stack AI apps
Why the best founders right now are experimenting
A few months ago I migrated our vibe-coded CRM to @attio betting that they would improve the product in unique and value-add ways. It’s been a good bet so far!
In the age of agents, systems of record have never mattered more. They’ve also never been less prepared for what’s coming.
Today, we’re announcing @attio's hybrid architecture, with the controls of application software at the scale of infrastructure.
To agents, Attio looks like a database, queryable in SQL - a language they're RL’d on. Unlike a database, the business logic, policies, and compliance sit behind the query.
This makes all of Attio’s data accessible by agents in the most powerful and flexible syntax. It gives GTM teams an order of magnitude more value from their time, with the full power of agents working across the entire customer lifecycle.
A new shape of software is here.
https://t.co/iF5HBuUBhw