Zac Baker

building @tryterac | @zfellows | prev @uclcs @mit_csail @tjhsst_official @join_zeed

[Will Genesen @wgenesen]

Most seed founders think they have a channel problem. It's almost always a messaging problem.

Wrote up my playbook based on time at Ramp and OneSchema:

https://t.co/o8Z3zoKhwg

[Zac Baker @zacbakerr]

Come join @germanfndezz and I to build the largest on demand expert marketplace.

Bonus: you get to work with one of the most cracked engineers I’ve ever met ⬇️

[Germán Fernández @germanfndezz]

@tryterac is going from 100K experts to 10M, and I'm looking for the most cracked Head of Growth alive to lead it

ads, UGC, events, stunts, partnerships, billboards.
someone who's gone viral before and wants to do it again

$10k usd if your intro becomes the hire
DM me!

[Neal Chopra @nealchopra]

Today, we’re sharing a new state of the art for computer use.

Our system holds the two highest verified scores on OSWorld, the standard benchmark for AI agents that operate a computer like a person: 83.6% using Claude Opus 4.7 and 81.5% using Claude Sonnet 4.6. The human baseline is 72.4%.

🧵 1/7

[Carter Steffes @SteffesCarter]

Forward deployed with @tryterac at research week 💻📊

[Alex Shan @alexshander03]

We’re launching @JudgmentLabs today and announcing $32M in funding.

As AI agents take on more of the work that creates economic value, they generate massive amounts of production data: the clearest record of how they behave with users, software, and the real world.

Judgment builds infrastructure for improving AI agents from production data.

[Zac Baker @zacbakerr]

@matthieuschulz @deviationcap @windsurf @cognition Congrats!! So stoked for the next journey

[Nakul Mandan @nakul]

“Founders aren’t made when they start companies. They’re made when they interpret their market correctly.”

Episode 2 of @KnuckleUpHQ is live.

Qasar Younis (@qasar): Founder and CEO of Applied Intuition. One of the sharpest and most intentional operators you’ll ever meet on the craft of building a company.

Full episode ↓
--

00:00 Intro

01:19 What really makes someone a founder

05:26 The company that almost became Kickstarter

08:12 The most common misread on feedback

13:40 Why most founders don't end up with the best team

19:45 How to pick a co-founder

23:38 Your first 10 hires are really your first 100

28:21 The case for hiring slow and firing slow

33:22 Red, yellow, green: how Applied gives monthly feedback

35:00 The role that knows what’s actually going on in a company

40:01 How to operate with speed and intentionality

42:41 The three things Qasar spends time on

45:57 How Applied is driving AI adoption

52:06 The type of engineer Applied is now looking for

1:01:19 Why this could be the golden age of small companies

1:09:13 Quickfire: red flags, overrated advice, and superpowers

1:12:32 Qasar's advice to his 25-year-old self

[Nakul Mandan @nakul]

“If you’re not sure you’re a driver, you’re probably a passenger.”

Frank Slootman: Snowflake, ServiceNow, Data Domain.

One of the best operators of our generation.

Knuckle Up with Frank is now live. Full conversation ↓

--
00:49 Introduction

01:21 Why being a CEO is a confrontational job

03:51 Great people are hungry for hard feedback

08:19 Psychographic profiling: how Frank builds compatible teams

09:52 Drivers vs passengers: how to tell the difference

12:39 Why back-channel references beat interviews every time

16:19 "When there's doubt, there's no doubt"

20:42 Inside Frank's Tuesday operating cadence

22:27 The "go direct" rule that breaks org chart politics

26:19 Why bigger goals force better plans

31:27 Standards are the real culture

38:17 The email Frank wrote every Monday for years

41:35 Advice for navigating today's volatility

47:25 Facing demons for breakfast at Data Domain

54:19 Why Frank fired himself as Snowflake CEO

1:05:19 Coming to Silicon Valley "10 years late"

1:07:59 Why AI is an industrial-revolution-scale shift

1:10:01 Frank's advice to his 25-year-old self

[Will Genesen @wgenesen]

Audacious x Terac game night!

[Gadi Borovich @GadiBorovich]

Puentes applications are open.

10 fellows from our first two cohorts are already living in the US. They've become close friends and work at some of the best AI companies in the world.

Apply until April 3rd.

[Zac Baker @zacbakerr]

@RPDbyte Can you please summarize the hot take into one sentence here? Or is this just a summary of the space?

[Zac Baker @zacbakerr]

Our team loves VR

[Zac Baker @zacbakerr]

@shaheersan The best

[Shaheer @shaheersan]

It’s been incredibly rewarding to partner with founders and operators rethinking the role fellows play in the venture ecosystem.

With industry turnover apprenticeship becomes de-emphasized. These builders are deeply embedded in our firms operations and investments while also creating far deeper ties with the companies they back, often getting their hands dirty before investment is in the picture. We’re excited to perfect our craft as investors alongside some of the best builders in early stage. Really excited to see what they all go on to do!

[Zac Baker @zacbakerr]

@NaishaPatel_ This is one of my top 5 favorite books

[Zac Baker @zacbakerr]

sf has some awesome food

[Zac Baker @zacbakerr]

@HankCouture @zhangalvin_ Holy @zhangalvin_ aura

[Zac Baker @zacbakerr]

I just got taken to a room at TSA because @bryan_johnson’s longevity mix set off their explosive substance alarm

[Zac Baker @zacbakerr]

everyday we work out of the @a37_ai office, i am more tempted to get a cat

[Zac Baker @zacbakerr]

Last minute trip to HackHarvard to visit our first founding eng