Paul Willard

Partner @GrepVC

[Ryan Oksenhorn @ryanzip]

Once again Zipline is showing that bleeding-edge tech doesn’t have to start as toys for rich people.

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@ryanzip I like the cows there too. Kind of Zen hanging with them :)

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@ryanzip @davidpantera_ The focus on speed in the office is so energizing I am soooo happy when I am there :)

[Ryan Oksenhorn @ryanzip]

We are 3×-ing our scale in Africa to save an additional 50,000 lives each year.

What did you get done this week?

[Sourish Jasti @SourishJasti]

1/ The future of general-purpose robotics will be decided by one major question: which flavor of data scales reasoning? Every major lab represents a different bet.

Over the past 3 months, @adam_patni, @vriishin, and I read the core research papers, spoke with staff at the major labs, and mapped the talent pool. This has completely changed how we think about general-purpose robotics.

Our paper builds intuition, step-by step, across the 2025 frontier: from architectures → evals → data → industry dynamics. Each layer reveals a different bottleneck, but they all converge on one truth—data decides everything.

Our takeaways + process below👇

If you want access to our graph (sound on), comment or DM me

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@nhfoley @GravisRobotics Dm me please :)

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@terronk @johncoogan @PirateWires Thanks for pulling and publishing this data. Confirms the anecdotal interactions I have had where no one in tech has changed positions.

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

Very excited to see the XB-1 getting close :)

[Blake Scholl 🛫 @bscholl]

Yesterday, XB-1 set a new top ground speed of 123kts (141mph)… the third high-speed taxi in 48 hours. These tests are now starting to look more like flight, with a T-38 chase aircraft airborne! 1/

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@JennaHannon I wonder if no paid ads also includes no paid search?

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@Paul_Gassee @JennaHannon Check out Thoughtful GPT maybe?

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@JennaHannon I have a couple that predate the requirement i can still sneak up on people with :)

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@JennaHannon Liability laws make the weighted average cost greater than the value :/

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@halletecco To me? Or a large long list of angels or crowd funded investors or syndicated investors ? To me, absolutely yes, as well as bookings if different, Gross and net burn, cash/runway, and any other significant/vanity metrics.

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@halletecco Since the stock market went down last Spring. Started calling everyone for slow burn/slow growth/more conservative raise plan. Now executing + biting nails a lot :)

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@alidiab I like San Mateo School District approach of adding a 9th grade algebra—> Calculus path in addition to the classic 8th grade one. And hey, DM me or follow me so I can DM you for coffee :)

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@cwhogg Hilariously. Too late though, I think someone else already bought it but it should still be running. And there are others. Ask a health tech investor and they probably have a market map listing all of them.

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@cwhogg I bet almost everything in that space requires no app actually. Too much friction for older folks primarily being tracked. You should be able to Google for it if you pretend you are a doctors office that wants to get that Blue $ by 2,000 of your patients on one of these.

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@cwhogg I think Ryan’s 100 Plus did not require an app. I bet there are others in the home measurement reporting to doctor’s office space that ship with a hub no app.

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@halletecco I got Omicron right before the Omicron booster came out and my anecdotal neighbor survey similarly informed a much higher rebound rate. So I skipped the Paxlovid myself and powered through 4 days of high fever and 1.5 weeks of testing positive. Hope it stays light <3

[Paul Willard @webgeek]

@JennaHannon I would say 6 has been the standard for a long time for Founders, not new. And if there is a founder/cofounder breakup that is a good thing. Also I suggest getting 25% of Founder Class shares that convert to Preferred if sold in a funding round.