michael's update #8

spring 2023

hello!

here's a seasonal update with three things:

1. startup life: season 1 done and now a new summer program

2. building community: climate hardware hack

3. miscellany: 3 media for thinking differently about big problems

my goal is to share important updates from the last few months. i like a menu format so if you’re curious for more, then i linked other writings to explore.

enjoy,

michael

☀️

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1. startup life: season 1 done and now a new summer program

we ended strong, doubling down on what founders enjoyed most: individual coaching.

here's what founders said from their experience:

• "15/10 program execution." yc alum

• "i cannot thank you enough for the last few months...i'm incredibly glad to have been part of the first cohort." seed stage founder

• "fantastic program and community!" pre-seed stage founder 

and rather than a collectively forced demo day, we designed custom experiences, neuralink show n tell style for founders who opted in.

what that looked like: art pop up meets science museum crossed with a startup pitch.

elliot + the spira team (pictuerd above) led a 3hr event with science demos, food tastings, and founder q+a to kick off their current fundraise.

up next, we’re testing a 2 week climate tech program for college aged students. if you’re curious, check it out here.

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2. community update: climate hardware hack

continually focusing on building community in sf has been a full schedule of events at studio 45 with artist showcases, monthly hardware meetups, as well as more creative hangouts.

at the end of climate week in the city, we hosted a 24hr climate hardware hack. we had 7 teams all build a workable prototybe they could demo by the end of the weekend. it was rewarding to have people who've never built in hardware before.

other community hosting highlights include:

• ai + robotics in healthcare event with zipline, google x, and pillbot as part of a16z’s tech week.

• multidisciplinary design showcase with everything from vr music videos to ceramic kitchenware.

• live demo with taras, ceo of tarform, building an electric motorcycle.

bonus: running discussions as part of tks vancouver summit with 100+ young people getting 5 hours of programming. it was also great to see + catch up with the team!

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3. miscellany: 3 media for thinking differently about big problems

1. poverty, by america (book) by desmond sharing different root causes to why the wealthiest country in the world has some of the largest inequalities. one reason being inefficiencies in distribution and spending of funds:

   • $6B in welfare dollars are currently left unspent by each state across the u.s.

   • $1B of disability goes to... lawyers... crazy. people with disabilities have to apply multiple times to get $800/mo.

   • 2020 state audit data released misappropration of funds, from $Ms in some states in private use to money not well spent

2. how to address our carbon debt to heal the planet (talk) by tom chi at the foresight institute vision weekend as he discusses all sides of climate destability and why we might be able to have a better way to frame the challenge ahead:

   humans and ants consume similar amounts of biomass: 350 million tonnes, yet no one says we have an ‘ant overpopulation problem.’ from the ratio of weight to biomass consumed, ants consume 10x more than humans. the difference is that they give back to the environment more than humans, giving them a regneration contribution.
   
   this talk explores what needs to be true to be net positive in terms of carbon consumption for humans.

3. reverese innovation in healthcare: how to make value based delivery work (book) by govindarajan

   “america and europe may have millions of people who need better care, but the developing world has billions of people with no care.
   
   reverse innovation refers to the case in which innovation flows from a poor country to a rich country rather than the other way around.
   

   below is the author’s estimates of cost difference on inputs from indian hospitals:

   

this summer, i’m looking forward to running a new 2 week climate intensive with undergrad ages students while testing a new team dynamic.

on the community side, the schedule is more informal as we’re planning for a strong start to the fall as people come back from travels. bookwise, looks like it will be city themed with histories of san francisco paired with urban theory understanding how the city will evolve.

🌊 forward onwards,

michael

ps. if you made it this far, you know what's up: recipe inspiration for the season. these last few months has been experimenting plant based sushi and ngiri, inspired by shizens menu.

one that's suprisingly impressive is the spicy tofuna where the leftovers make great bowls.