straatman

Tech investor | Partner at | Co-founder - | 🏃🏻‍♂️🎾 🏔️🚴‍♂️

[straatman @straatman]

@yoheinakajima Looking forward to it!

[The Olympic Games @Olympics]

A message of hope from UN Peace Ambassador, Charlize Theron.

“Peace is not just the absence of conflict. Peace is the creation of an environment where all can flourish, regardless of race, colour, creed, religion, gender, class, caste or any other social markers of difference.”

Inspired by Nelson Mandela. Beautiful. 🥹❤️

#MilanoCortina2026 | #OpeningCeremony

[Sawyer Merritt @SawyerMerritt]

We've now seen @Tesla FSD (Supervised) successfully tested by the company in:

• Italy
• Netherlands
• South Korea
• Japan
• Spain
• UK
• Germany
• France
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Canada
• U.S.
• China
• Mexico
• Puerto Rico

Tesla has figured out a scalable and global approach to autonomy for a low cost. Buckle up, the world is about to change forever.

[straatman @straatman]

@yoheinakajima We recommend it to founders in Europe, love it 👊

[Manny Bernabe @MannyBernabe]

Build with 300+ AI models. One prompt. Zero setup. One bill.

@Replit just announced AI Integrations: access to OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, Grok, Mistral, and more. No API keys. No setup friction.

@Franciscocrz and I are going deep this Thursday 11am PT / 2pm ET with live demos, real use cases, and Q&A.

[GREG ISENBERG @gregisenberg]

You have to be delusional to be an entrepreneur. The odds are stacked against you but you don't care.

Everyone else sees reasons why it won't work. You only see reasons why it will.

It's a beautiful thing.

[Allison Barr Allen @abarrallen]

One of the biggest misconceptions about investor updates is that they are for investors, when in fact they are for the founders.

[straatman @straatman]

@stefanobernardi Do you have a link?

[Tim Draper @TimDraper]

I invested in Tesla, Twitch, and Baidu when they were very different ideas.

But they all followed this playbook to become generational companies:

1. Make the first move

You’ll have much less information than you need. But that’s okay.

The truth is that founders will never have enough information upfront.

Their actions produce the insights they need.

2. Be prepared to pivot

Insights can come from anywhere — customers, the market, or your team.

And they might lead you somewhere very different from where you started.

YouTube started as a dating site.

3. Have a north star

Be open to change but there’s something in your heart that you want to change.

It motivates you and you want to make it better.

Stay true to it through failures and pivots until the world finally sees what you see.

[Steve Jurvetson @FutureJurvetson]

Sam Altman at TED today

OpenAI’s user base doubled in just the past few weeks (an accidental disclosure on stage). “10% of the world now uses our systems a lot.”

Reflecting on the life ahead for his newborn: “My kids will never be smarter than AI.”

Reaction to DeepSeek:
“We had a meeting last night on our open source policy. We are going to do a powerful open-source model near the frontier. We were late to act, but we are going to do really well now.”

Regarding the accumulated knowledge OpenAI gains from its usage history: “The upload happens bit by bit. It is an extension of yourself, and a companion, and soon will proactively push things to you.”

Have there been any scary moments?
“No. There have been moments of awe. And questions of how far this will go. But we are not sitting on a conscious model capable of self-improvement.”

How do you define AGI?
“If you ask 10 OpenAI engineers, you will get 14 different definitions. Whichever you choose, it is clear that we will go way past that. They are points along an unbelievable exponential curve.”

“Agentic AI is the most interesting and consequential safety problem we have faced. It has much higher stakes. People want to use agents they can trust.”

When asked about his Congressional testimony calling for a new agency to issue licenses for large model builders: “I have since learned more about how government works, and I no longer think this is the right framework.”:

“Having a kid changed a lot of things in me. It has been the most amazing thing ever. Paraphrasing my co-founder Ilya, I don’t know what the meaning of life is, but I am sure it has something to do with babies.”

“We made a change recently. With our new image model, we are much less restrictive on speech harms. We had hard guardrails before, and we have taken a much more permissive stance. We heard the feedback that people don’t want censorship, and that is a fair safety discussion to have.”

When asked how many users they have: “Last we disclosed, we have 500 million weekly active users, growing fast.”
Chris Anderson: “But backstage, you told me that it doubled in just a few weeks.”
@SamA: “I said that privately.”
And that’s how we got the update.

[Paul Graham @paulg]

Great startups don't get noticed by using tricks to get people's attention. They do it by making something so amazing that people tell their friends about it.

[Keith @keithdunn]

The 2025 Barkley Marathons is over. There are no finishers. #BM100

[straatman @straatman]

Strong subscriber growth at https://t.co/aFLs1ccguW and exciting updates live soon 🔥

[straatman @straatman]

Happy holiday from the 4impact capital team 🎄🥂✨

[Thomas @MrTeslaTom]

BREAKING: Switzerland 🇨🇭has approved Fully Autonomous Vehicles from March 2025 onwards!

Here's the breakdown:

Switzerland is in Europe but not part of the EU (they talk to each other though 😉)

Automated vehicles are seen as a way to enhance traffic safety and improve traffic flow. The Federal Council adopted an ordinance on December 13, 2024, to regulate automated driving, effective from March 1, 2025. The partial revision of the 🇨🇭Road Traffic Act (SVG) in spring 2023 laid the groundwork for automated driving in Switzerland.

3 Application Scenarios:

- Highway Pilot: Allows drivers to release the steering wheel on motorways when the system is active but requires readiness to resume control if necessary.

- Driverless Vehicles: Permitted on routes approved by cantons (Swiss regions), with monitoring by an operator from a central location.

- Automated Parking: Possible in defined parking areas without a driver, with decisions on suitable areas made by cantons or municipalities.

Route and Parking Space Approval: Cantons have discretion over route approvals, guided by ASTRA's instructions. Similar guidelines apply for parking spaces.

Vehicle Approval: Vehicles with automation systems need a type approval, requiring manufacturers to prove safety and flow management during operation, with registration handled by cantons.

Source: https://t.co/aKsJl5XJ3r

Great news for $TSLA

[AJ Investment Research @alojoh]

Mercedes sold 0 EQE in October in China despite almost 50% discounts.

[Silicon Canals - European technology news @SiliconCanals]

The Hague-based 4impact Capital closes second fund at €68M; will focus on these areas https://t.co/JAvUDSkBlv

[EU-Startups @EU_Startups]

Dutch-based venture capital firm 4impact Capital has announced the close of its second fund, raising €68 million to focus on early-stage digital and sustainability startups in North-Western Europe ♻️ 🇳🇱

https://t.co/dyxM1p3Wif

[European Investment Fund @EIF_EU]

#InvestEU🇪🇺: The EIF and @Invest_NL invest €25m in the second fund of 4impact capital, Fund II, which closed at €68m. The fund will support early-stage digital companies in north-western Europe aiming to create societal and environmental impact 🔗 https://t.co/M2YtlCjj5j

[Christian Dean @christiandean_]

The single biggest question in the world right now is: How is Elon Musk so effective?

Marc Andreessen gives some nice personal anecdotes of what he's seen Elon do.