Are apps dead?

If you’re new here: Hi, I’m Ryan Hoover, founder of Product Hunt and early-stage investor at Weekend Fund. I also helped write Hooked and occasionally publish essays. This newsletter highlights my latest experiments, essays, and curiosities. If someone forwarded this to you, subscribe along with 30k+ others here. :)

1. Apps are dead. Or so some say. My buddy, Chrys Bader, CEO of Rosebud, wrote about this topic recently. IMO, the real moats are just growing in importance.

2. Our latest Weekend Fund project: Fast Round. It’s a tool for founders to see which investors follow them on X as they prepare for their next fundraise. Over 1,000 founders signed up in the first week. It’s been an interesting sourcing channel for us. ;)

3. Remote vs. centralized is the evergreen debate in tech. But most people miss the point. If you’re a large company, you’re default remote. Alex from Deel (portfolio co) explains why and shares tips on how to make it work.

4. Many years ago, I helped Nir write Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. He just announced his new book, Beyond Belief. I preordered the audiobook.

5. Bill Gurley wrote a timely book related to the above. It’s called Runnin' Down a Dream: How to Thrive in a Career You Actually Love. One of the most important challenges in life is figuring out what career to pursue. I received a pre-release. It comes out later this month.

6. I’ve never publicly talked about my tiny wrist tattoo. RIP Little D. 🥺

7. The future is increasingly unpredictable. Matt Shumer published his observations on how quickly AI is advancing and the anxieties many people have about job displacement. It’s not all doom. There’s a LOT to be excited about and a ton of opportunity for founders and investors in tech.

8. Steven Sinofsky, former board member of Product Hunt and something of a tech historian, wrote about the state of software. “Strap in. This is the most exciting time for business and technology, ever.”

9. Beezer from Sapphire Ventures reports some sobering data for fund managers. TL;DR: LP capital is contracting and a large portion of capital is deployed into established, pre-existing relationships.

10. In tech, the winners are getting bigger. To invest in an early-stage fund you have to believe the outcomes will be much larger in the next decade than they were in the prior. SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, and Databricks might bump that 99th percentile even higher this year. Shout-out to Dave Clark for the data. Disclaimer: Some of this is influenced by inflation and delayed IPOs.

11. Now’s an excellent time to invest in tech… if you can back the best founders. That’s my job at Weekend Fund. But as I’ve shared before, I’ve also personally backed over 30 early-stage small funds. I primarily invest in people I’ve known for many years that I deeply respect. If you’re an LP and want to follow along with me, add your details here.

12. Abe Othman from AngelList just published their 2025 Fund Benchmark Report. Wild stat: A portfolio that invested $1 into every fund on the AngelList platform would have, by the end of 2025, achieved a 20.6% IRR, 2.08x TVPI, and 0.19x DPI net.

13. If you invested $1 in Weekend Fund 1, you might do better. ;)

14. We invested in a few companies shortly before they got into YC. One of those startups: Fort. They’re building a wearable for strength training. We rarely invest in hardware plays, but this one is special and I want it to exist.

15. Trevor McFedries has always been on the forefront of tech and culture. He recently joined Jackson Dahl on his podcast, Dialectic. It’s worth a listen.

16. Mix for your next work session: Chris Luno. I like his style.

17. Chris Williamson just released a list of questions to connect more deeply with your partner. It also includes 25 questions to ask yourself if you should leave. It’s a good list.

18. Sandy and I went to Raccoon Island on Valentine’s Day weekend. We totally didn’t feed them grapes and nuts because that’s illegal.