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Lemkin: the 20VC episode on Anthropic's S-1
Jason Lemkin promoted this week's 20VC episode with Harry Stebbings and Rory O'Driscoll. It covers Anthropic's S-1, which reported $16.3B in first-half revenue. It also covers Microsoft offering buyouts to 27% of its staff, Meta's $95B equity raise, and a Qwen model that tried to upload a file to a server in Beijing . His main takes from the episode:
- Be careful with Anthropic's 900% NRR. It "almost certainly includes pilots converting," and the durable number is probably 300–400%. He says that is still the best he has ever seen .
- The worst number of the week wasn't in the S-1. Broadcom had to backstop $63B of debt so Anthropic could buy its chips .
- Chinese open-weight models have peaked in US market share. "No CISO approves that model."
His favorite line from Rory: "this is when the bill for AI comes due, and this is how it'll be paid."
Lemkin also linked the full CRO Confidential interview with Databricks CRO Ron Gabrisko and Sam Blond (YouTube) . The point he pulled out: Gabrisko wants salespeople "60% of their time in front of customers," with AI automating everything else. Admin happens Monday and Friday, and Tuesday through Thursday is "on the road with your customers."
Levie: Sundeep's litmus test for AI work
Aaron Levie quoted @sundeep's post. It says anything you make with AI should be "10,000x better than anything you would have made yourself," or "you just come across as lazy not smart" . Levie called it "one of the better litmus tests" for whether you are pushing AI hard enough . His reasoning: until about six months ago, AI mostly just sped up work you would have done anyway. Now the output "can and should dramatically exceed" what you could do before . His test: "if you could have done what you're doing before AI, you're likely not pushing it enough."
O'Shaughnessy: Colossus on Michael Kratsios
Patrick O'Shaughnessy shared the opening of Colossus's new feature, quoting Musk's joke: "Best way to sandbox an AI… Put it on a Delta flight." In the piece, Harry Lambert profiles Michael Kratsios, Trump's 39-year-old chief science adviser and a Peter Thiel protégé . It shows how the fight to regulate AI and reform American science runs through his office, which has gone from writing reports on algae blooms to helping shape AI policy and leading White House work on nuclear, space and quantum .
Garry Tan: Brivael's thread on Hayek's The Road to Serfdom
Garry Tan quoted Brivael's French-language thread on Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom (La Route de la servitude). He highlighted the argument that "when the plan fails—and it always fails—coercion is needed," and that such systems select "those with no scruples" . The thread ends by telling readers to read the book, then give it to someone they love .
Shorter picks
- Keith Rabois called an Eric Topol post "Very useful advice." The post covers a randomized JAMA Cardiology study of 104 people newly diagnosed with coronary artery disease. Lowering LDL to about 40 rather than 70 mg/dL led to 20% more plaque regression in 18 months .
- Jeff Lawson recalled interviewing Patrick Stewart at Twilio's 2021 company kickoff . He said Stewart's favorite Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "The Inner Light," is his own favorite too. "It's a masterpiece." He also shared a clip of Stewart talking about it .
- In a conversation posted to YouTube (video), Cris Junqueira told Shane Parrish that his book Clear Thinking "should be mandatory reading." She said no one should finish high school, turn 18, get a driver's license or vote without reading it . She also recommended his Brain Food newsletter and The Knowledge Project podcast .
- Tobi Lütke linked an Atlasum write-up of CVE-2026-98432, a Linux IPv4 TCP use-after-free bug, with the comment "What a disaster."
Cris Junqueira recommends Shane Parrish’s Clear Thinking as “mandatory reading,” saying nobody should graduate high school, turn 18, get a driver’s license, or vote without reading it; he adds that the book has inspired many videos and conversations.
Patrick O’Shaughnessy shared Colossus Magazine’s feature by @harrytlambert about Michael Kratsios’s role in shaping U.S. AI policy and science reform; the feature’s teaser includes Elon Musk’s joke that a Wi-Fi-less Delta flight is the “best way to sandbox an AI.” Read the feature.
Musk shared a post about Will Stephen’s 2014 TEDxNewYork talk with a laughing emoji—an implicit signal of amusement, not an explicit recommendation or stated rationale. The linked post presents Stephen, a comedian, using the talk to parody TED-talk conventions and says it is free on YouTube.
Elon Musk shared a TeslaLarry post linking to “Elon Musk Helps Feed Nearly a Million Families”, alongside his claim that Tesla and SpaceX created wealth for employees and improved retirement savings . The article argues that the companies support jobs through direct employment, suppliers, and employee spending .
Tobi endorsed an image in @IterIntellectus’s post as “the correct response to half of everything on social and legacy media.” The post links to an @artemisconsort post.
Jason Lemkin shared a new SaaStr article, “SaaS Isn't Dead. Old SaaS Is Dead: Sierra Adds $150M ARR in One Quarter While ServiceNow Drops 27% in a Day.” He framed it as “Same budget, new winner.” Article link.
Garry Tan linked to Brivael’s post and highlighted its argument that failed plans invite coercion and favor unscrupulous actors . Brivael explicitly recommends Friedrich Hayek’s La Route de la servitude, urging readers to read it and give it to someone they love .
Keith Rabois called Eric Topol’s post “Very useful advice.” Topol’s post reports that, among 104 people newly diagnosed with coronary artery disease and no prior statin prescription, lowering LDL to about 40 rather than 70 mg/dL was associated with 20% more atherosclerotic plaque regression over 18 months; it links to the JAMA Cardiology article. Rabois’s endorsement links to Topol’s post: https://x.com/erictopol/status/2116576032878973421
Elon Musk recommended @cleoabram’s “Full HUGE* If True” episode on Neuralink and brain-computer interfaces, calling it a “Neuralink deep dive” and linking to the post. The episode includes a Neuralink tour and a close-up look at its new R1 surgical robot, and covers brain-computer interfaces, brain-chip uses, and current applications.
@jasonlk shared a 20VC video featuring Harry Stebbings and @rodriscoll, and highlighted Rory’s line: “this is when the bill for AI comes due, and this is how it'll be paid.”
Jason Lemkin shared the CRO Confidential conversation featuring Databricks CRO Ron Gabrisko and Sam Blond, CEO of MonacoGTM, and linked the full interview on YouTube: watch the conversation. Gabrisko’s highlighted takeaway: sales teams should spend 60% of their time with customers and use AI to automate other work, with admin on Mondays and Fridays and customer visits Tuesday through Thursday.
A founder speaking at YC Demo Day said they love SaaStr and learn everything they need from Jason Lemkin, Harry Stebbings, and @rodriscoll each week, plus from The Agents podcast; the founder gave this as context for not needing Jason on the cap table.
Jason Lemkin shared a SaaStr video featuring his advice that founders who hire a CRO or VP of Sales should keep selling; the clip warns that founders who exit sales can see sales suffer while they are away.
Elon Musk endorsed Nicki Minaj’s X post with “Well said.” In the context of an interview where, in Minaj’s view, the interviewer did not validate the subject’s account, she argues against validating someone’s experience merely for temporary bonding.
Elon Musk endorsed @XFreeze’s post with “Absolutely,” agreeing with its argument that people born today should not feel guilty for historical slavery and that the West’s role in ending slavery is overlooked.
Elon Musk endorsed @Rothmus’s X post criticizing James Talarico’s positions on the filibuster, Supreme Court expansion and DC statehood, replying “💯” and linking to the post . The reply signals agreement but gives no further rationale.
Aaron Levie endorsed @sundeep’s post advising people to use AI to make something “10,000x better” than they could make themselves, rather than merely seeming faster or lazier . Levie’s takeaway: AI should enable qualitatively better work, not just speed up what someone would have produced anyway; if the work could have been done before AI, it may not be pushing AI enough . Sundeep’s post .
Jeff Lawson calls the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Inner Light” his favorite and “a masterpiece”; he also shares a clip of Patrick Stewart talking about it: video.