shravan

finance & data science @cornell • curious about public markets, startups, and film • an archaeologist in another life

[shravan @shrvvn]

i have done it before; i’ll do it again

[Buck @BuckOnTwidder]

in nyc you get 3 super close friends and 1800 people who you kinda recognize

[Hardeep @hardeep_gambhir]

if you cannot inhale obsession, how would you conquer the worlds?

[aval @Aval_utionary]

this is genuinely one of the most exciting things I've seen in a while. every now and then, the internet rewards niche obsessions with something unexpectedly wonderful, and this is one of those rare instances. it deserves a far larger audience than my timeline can provide: https://t.co/WqXnCzi0Co

[Naval @naval]

The only truly wasted time is time spent wishing you were somewhere else.

[gomi @parveen__tyagi]

as long as you keep showing up, the results won’t have a choice. just keep showing up. day in, day out cause some of the biggest changes in your life will happen slowly before they happen all at once. even when it feels repetitive. even when it feels boring. even when you feel like you’re putting in effort and getting nothing back yet. keep showing up. keep doing the work. keep trusting that every small thing you do is adding up somewhere. life rewards the people who stay consistent long enough for the results to finally catch up.

[Chris Williamson @ChrisWillx]

Don’t mourn a life that you can still live.

“Man is born to live and not to prepare to live.” — Boris Pasternak

[soli @solisolsoli]

Death and Life, 1908, by Gustav Klimt

[Austin Lieberman @LiebermanAustin]

Thanks to the @oasishealthapp I’ve switched from poisonous FairLife Protein Milk to Bourbon and I can’t even begin to explain how much healthier I feel.

[Jay Yang @Jayyanginspires]

so good @ShaanVP 🫡

[Patrick OShaughnessy @patrick_oshag]

Krishna Rao is the CFO of Anthropic, and this is his first podcast appearance.

He joined the company two years ago when run-rate revenue was about $250M. Today it is $30B. He has helped raise ~$75B and is responsible for the procurement and allocation of compute.

I feel lucky we get to hear what it is like to sit inside a company this consequential at a moment this pivotal.

We discuss:
- The cone of uncertainty
- How he allocates compute across Trainium, TPUs, and GPUs
- What investors misunderstand about model companies
- Why the returns to frontier intelligence keep rising
- Platform vs application and where Anthropic builds its own products
- How Anthropic uses Claude internally

I have asked my closing question about the kindest thing more than 500 times. Krishna's answer is one I have never heard before.

Enjoy!

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:38 The Compute Canvas
6:51 The "Cone of Uncertainty"
11:58 Why the Returns to Frontier Intelligence Are So High
16:45 Recursive Self-Improvement
20:20 Scaling Laws
23:30 Sourcing $100 Billion in Compute
28:05 Platform vs. Application Strategy
32:52 Pricing Dynamics
38:48 How Anthropic’s Finance Team Uses Claude
43:24 Raising Capital & Overcoming Investor Skepticism
52:32 Public Perception, Risks, and Government Regulation
57:25 Mythos Release
1:12:33 What Could Derail the AI Revolution?
1:13:47 Biotech and Healthcare
1:15:31 The Kindest Thing

[Brad @BradleyKellard]

In 2023, Stanford professor Graham Weaver gave his last lecture on how to destroy fear & live a wildly ambitious life.

His frameworks:

- Suffering is inevitable
- Signup for "10 years" test
- "Not me" & "Not now" traps

13 lessons on how to build an asymmetric life:

[Bucket Shop Capital @bucketshopcap]

The only career risk is not taking enough risk.

[purusha - n/eti @purusa0x6c]

> Be Vishnugupta Chanakya.
>Born in Pataliputra, the capital of the Magadha empire.
>Father was a great economist of his time.
>The economy was not doing well during the rule of Dhana Nanda, so he protested.
>Dhana Nanda ordered his men to arrest Rishi Chanak and gave him a life sentence.
> Chanakya was a child when he heard about this.
>His mother asked him to do something for his father’s safety.. to ask forgiveness from Dhana Nanda.
> Chanakya refused, saying: why ask for forgiveness when his father did nothing wrong?
Even if he dies, it is an honour to die for the nation.
> Chanakya left for Takshashila and studied there under the finest gurus.
He gave his own theories on war tactics and ways to run a state, later known as the Arthashastra.
> When Alexander the Great attacked, he asked for help from the ministers of Magadha and even the king.
Everyone insulted him.
So he left, warning them that he would free Magadha from corrupt rulers.
> He returned with his disciple Chandragupta Maurya.
> He entered Magadha with his disciples former warriors from different states. One of them was Singharan.
> The socio-political condition of Pataliputra began to change slowly because of Chanakya.
>He worked in silence, influencing the minds of people.
Gradually, ministers started taking a stand against the king’s orders.
> Amatya Rakshasa, the chief advisor, suggested that the king should give the throne to his elder son..and he did.
> The elder son was killed by the younger son for the lust of the throne.
It was all orchestrated by Singharan using the senapati.
> Magadha fell into chaos within days.
Different factions of the army began fighting for their own preferred leaders.
> It was the perfect moment.
Many advised Dhana Nanda to surrender to Chanakya ... and he did.
> Then Chandragupta entered with the armies of other states,
and those who betrayed were given death sentences.
> Chanakya was a living genius.
The way he destroyed the ego of the great king Dhana Nanda...
he not only wrote theories of strategy and game-like politics,
he executed them on the front lines.

[shravan @shrvvn]

@hrishabhayush 🐐

[j @meadandjuniper]

Your 20s are for realizing that all your grandiose life plans pale in comparison to having people you really like being around

[Matthew LaBosco @matthew_labosco]

Robert Sapolsky is a Stanford neuroscientist who proved chronic stress is the silent killer doctors ignore.

On Chris Williamson's podcast, he revealed 10 "normal" habits you do every day that wreck your sleep, mood, and nervous system:

1) Replay conversations in your head

[My First Million @myfirstmilpod]

"I'm a white dude named Chad who worked in private equity. Should I feel bad that I got into Stanford because people with access sent texts for me?"

@chadjanis says no.

He didn't get into McKinsey, but a mentor gave him Lazard access, and he crushed it.

That led to Summit Partners, where he invested $1.5B of a $5B fund. Then people texted Stanford on his behalf and he got in.

Why? He made their lives easier and earned their trust.

People only send "the text" for people who won't make them look stupid.

So if you don't have access, find people who do and work your ass off for them.

And if you do have access, pay it forward to the next person who earns it.

@thesamparr @ShaanVP

[Paul Graham @paulg]

You don't know how big a fish you are till you try a big pond.

[Salman Khan @BeingSalmanKhan]

Does nt matter yaar