Iterative people

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 25k+ others here. :)

1. I wrote a new blog post about Iterative People. Feedback welcome.

2. A few weeks ago I shared more about why I invest in funds. I included a link for LPs to request updates on what I’m investing in. Over 100 LPs signed up, representing $50M+ in annual deployment. I’ve shared a few funds, which have already led to at least four LP investments that I’m aware of so far.

3. It’s wild how power-law venture is. This spreadsheet (h/t Vedika) shows how few $5B+ startups there are. Looking back to 2020’s founding date, there are only ~10 startups that have achieved that milestone each year. I’m grateful we’re seed investors in one of them at Weekend Fund.

4. Stefano makes a strong case for early-stage, diversified funds. This is a big reason why Weekend Fund is intentionally small.

5. My buddy, David Spinks, wrote about quitting. Everyone faces career crossroads. Choosing which path to pursue is hard. Nearly 12 years ago I wrote about my decision to pivot to part-time and eventually quit without a job. That move opened up space for me to tinker and start Product Hunt.

6. I recently tweeted about starting a short-term hacker house. Several people expressed interest in supporting with their money and/or time. In reality, I don’t have the bandwidth to focus on it now but it led to a good conversation with Zelda. She’s starting Nautilus, a three-month gap program for people 22 and under, designed to give them space to dive into their art, scientific research, or startup idea—away from school and work. Respect.

7. Mike’s looking to fund dividend-paying tech companies that are generating $1M+ in revenue. If that’s you, DM him.

8. FWB Fest was so fun last year. The team does an exceptional job of curating talks, music, and people that are genuinely curious and open-minded. I can’t attend this year but recommend more check it out. 

9. I Benjamin Buttoned. According to Function Health my biological age dropped from 30.2 to 28.1 years old in the last four months. I’m getting a full-body MRI scan next month.

10. Social media connected the world and changed culture dramatically. But language remains a barrier. That’s changing. Google just introduced real time translation for video calls. It makes me wonder how the world will change when every person on the internet can finally communicate.

11. This set with Nils Frahm and Ólafur Arnalds is a gem. I also like this style of videography. It gives the listener a peek into the creation process.

12. Speaking of videography, have you noticed Silicon Valley embrace high-production, cinematic storytelling? The OpenAI announcement with Jony Ive is well-done (although I wish they shared more details on what they’re building).

13. I’ve been listening to Kevin and Tim’s (infrequent) Random Show for years. Their latest episode is a lotta old-man talk about health optimization, very relevant to things I’ve been exploring.

14. It’s been fun watching Ben Pasternak build Believe. I’d love to see more experimentation with alternative financing where traditional VC doesn’t make sense.