Daniel Huang

Want a preview of what I'm going to be talking about in my keynote for RubyConf? You can catch a glimpse of it here!

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Since the YC deadline to hear back for W25 is coming up next week, here’s the story of how we went from 2 students coding in an MIT dorm room to being full-time YC founders building Delve in SF. For all you founders anxiously waiting to hear back, just keep building — you’ll be successful regardless of the decision. -- In Fall 2023, my co-founder Karun Kaushik and I were studying AI at MIT and spending all of our free time building an AI medical scribe to help doctors. We had vaguely heard about YC from a friend who had just gotten accepted but had no plans of applying whatsoever. However when the YC deadline rolled around, we spontaneously decided to put in an application on the very last day. We spent that whole day in Karun’s dorm room typing up the application and filming all the required videos. We finally hit submit the minute of the deadline! By the next day we had already moved on. We went back to the usual rhythm of coding in the dorm room, calling with doctors, attending conferences, etc. If anything, we were even more motivated now to get more traction and be successful regardless. Later that week, while we were eating in the dorm kitchen, I noticed I got an email saying we had a YC interview scheduled. My heart rate spiked. I jumped up out of my seat and immediately told Karun. I never seriously considered YC, but for the first time it hit me that it might actually be a possibility. When the day of the interview rolled around, we did mock interviews with former YC founders and focused mostly on calming our nerves. More important than the actual content of the interview, we wanted to show our excitement for building and hacking together as co-founders. Unfortunately the interview caught us by surprise. The group partners didn't seem to care as much about our actual AI medical scribe. Instead, they seemed more curious about a side idea we had listed in our application that we wrote up in a day. The idea was about streamlining HIPAA compliance (since we had to go through HIPAA for our AI medical scribe). By this point, we were already seriously considering pivoting into this and had made a lot of progress on the idea. The YC interview was our tipping point Not too long after, we got an ominous email titled “YC.” We were freaked out. I could not sleep the entire night. Then, in the middle of class the next day, I got a phone call from Karun with Surbhi on the other end of the line. My heart rate spiked. I ran outside of the classroom. That turned out to be our acceptance call:) -- For everyone out there still waiting to hear back, just keep grinding. Build as if you’ve been rejected and you might just be pleasantly surprised. I’m also always here to help with mock interviews/give advice! We’ve helped a handful of friends through the YC app process and are always here to support other founders!

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I am so grateful to have met many brilliant, creative, and industrious people at Irvine Tech Week. Our team, which placed 2nd 🎉 for the Techstars Startup Weekend, was amazing: Oliver Liu: AI expert, speaker, team lead and organizer. Considered numerous input from team members, and was fair and decisive, so that everyone could make efficient progress. Chloe Chi: Senior software developer. Designed and implemented marketing survey, performed competitive market analysis, collaborated on pitch deck development, etc. Chi Huynh: Creative visionary, businessman. So many great, valuable ideas regarding business target market, product features, marketing, and presentation, which allowed our team to pivot for the better. Helen Chen: Integrative medicine advocate. Very knowledgeable about healthcare and nutrition. Was willing to jump in wherever help was needed. Sua Lee: Graphics designer, UI/UX designer. Created complete mobile app prototype in Figma. Listened carefully and collaborated with teammates to create the best functionality and appearance for the product. It was an honor to work together and I learned so much from working in this team. One of the parts that I enjoyed the most were the many discussions we had. We talked about fine-tuning the UI/UX, choosing photos, choosing test cases for ChatGPT, how to improve prompts, tech stacks, product features, how the product makes you feel, competitor analysis, which customers to serve, market validation, pricing, presentation slides, effective pitches, and much more. It was a great educational experience and 💯% recommend Techstars Startup Weekend and Irvine Tech Week to anyone interested in startups.  #TechstarsStartupWeekend  #IrvineTechWeek  #OC / #Irvine #TechCommunity  #GenAI #ChatGPT #AIIntegration

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Come join us tomorrow in SF to learn more about the latest updates to run AI workloads on Google Cloud!

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The newest issue of The Pragmatic Engineer found a surprise uptick in eng hiring in the typically slow summer season - I'm curious to see how the macro environment impacts this uptick as we head into the fall, but I remain hopeful. I asked Gemini to give me the tldr of the article to share with my team (sorry, Gergely Orosz) and found it missed one of the most interesting pieces of the article. Gemini's highlights - Unexpected surge: Tech recruitment has seen an unusual spike in June and July, contrary to typical trends. Increased demand: Startups, especially AI-focused ones, are driving the hiring uptick. Global phenomenon: This trend isn't just limited to the US; Europe is also experiencing increased recruitment activity. Reasons for hiring: Companies are backfilling positions, investing in growth due to improved financials, and responding to increased VC funding. Challenges remain: While the job market is improving, finding qualified candidates and offering competitive compensation remains difficult for many companies. What I found most interesting - The nature of the backfills: the article finds that a lot of new headcount are actually backfills of folks that were "over-slashed" during rounds of layoffs. Not entirely surprising with the "trim the fat" and "rebuild lean" mentality, but interesting nonetheless. Either way, the uptick is encouraging (and don't always rely on Gemini's tldrs). #hiring #startups #VCbacked #softwareengineering

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CA/WA/OR state & federal legislators (and voters!) need to be aware of food security and rural economic vitality challenges. Case in point - the 'acreage exodus' in CA is real - From 1997 to 2022, USDA Census data show that California lost 4.6 M ag acres (16% of the total) and 24,857 farms (28% of the total). Straight line these numbers for another 30 years and the numbers go to 9 M acres lost and 45,300 farms lost for 55 years – 32% of acreage and 52% of farms. Other western states - WA & OR - also need to pay close attention to policies that are negatively impacting farming. Labor laws, overtime, L&I, real estate values. It's amazing how much we're seeing ag production moving to LatAm and other areas that are much less expensive to farm. Walt Duflock

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Quitting is not failing. I write this post in case someone else needs to hear it today, or any other day in the future. 3 minutes ago, I “dropped” my JavaScript course from San Jose City College that I had been so excited to get into. Why? I went to the orientation with Sanjay Dorairaj and was beyond thrilled to be taught by someone in industry. (Sanjay both works in tech, and teaches - 😳). At the same time, I was terrified because Sanjay recommended 2 hrs/day (10/week) to complete the coursework. At this point in my life, it is not time that I have. I recognize this today as I type this at 2 am having completed none of the Javascript homework. One day, I will take this course again - either with Sanjay - or using a self-paced version through Coursera or other mooc (massively open online course). Now, my life is filled with my new job, my 7 year old, and general life stuff. To the students out there, young and old, quitting doesn’t mean forever. It just means - for now. And - it doesn’t mean failing. Much love to you, and your learning journey, Julia ps. I spent 56 minutes this weekend replacing a dryer belt. While on the surface, this may not be as valuable to employers as JavaScript, I think I learned a lot. It taught me critical thinking, ability to follow instructions, and resilience (because my dryer still squeaks, so my next task will be to replace the idler pulley. If that doesn’t work - the rollers. Wish me luck!). Plus, it may save me the expense of a new dryer and help me fix many future dryers in my life. So, a decent ROI for 56 minutes. A picture, below, of my disassembled dryer with the drum and belt readily visible. It was fun. Even if it didn’t fix the horrific squeaks. ;)

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Week 10 + 11 of my LIT series (because finals! 😅), where I share a 𝗟𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻, 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 & 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 tidbit from my time @ UCLA Anderson School of Management 🛝 𝗟: "Failure to act is the biggest failure of all." This week, I saw this written on the stairs at Anderson, and it struck me—while we’re often obsessed with moving forward and terrified of falling behind, we rarely think about the danger of staying the same. Inaction breeds regret and the haunting sense of being “too late.” But if you’re always comparing yourself to the past, won't you always be behind? The periodic reminder is that real failure isn’t about making mistakes—it’s refusing to try at all. Was there something in 2024 where you lacked the courage to align your actions to your desires? As we step into the new year, let’s make this our mantra: courage isn’t the absence of fear—it’s acting in spite of it. 🗣️ 𝗜: Recently, we had the opportunity to learn about data storytelling from an expert who, quite literally, wrote a book on the subject. He shared an anecdote about when he did everything right like analyzing the data, drawing insights, and pinpointing a major issue. But the project was never launched. Why? Because he didn’t communicate in a way that convinced anyone (esp the stakeholders) that it was worth pursuing. His takeaway was simple but powerful: finding the right insights isn’t enough—you have to know how to share them. This means choosing the right visualizations and adapting your language to your audience. Whether it’s deciding how much detail to include or figuring out the flow of your story (do you start with a hook, the main insight, or the “so what?”), it all depends on who you’re presenting to. In the end, doing outstanding work is only half the battle. Communicating why that work matters is the other half. ♟️ 𝗧: “Regression models” once sounded daunting to me, but now that we’ve wrapped up the course, here’s the high-level takeaway. Think of regression models as tools for predicting outcomes in a game. Single linear regression is like predicting a player’s score using just one factor—say, the number of hours they practiced. Simple: more practice, better results. But life isn’t that straightforward. Multiple linear regression broadens the scope, accounting for several factors—like hours practiced, diet, and sleep—to explain why some players perform better. Now, what if the question changes to a “yes or no” outcome—like, will a player win the game? That’s where logistic regression comes in, mapping probabilities to a curve to answer: “How likely are they to win?” At their core, all three models uncover relationships in data, turning numbers into insights we can use to predict outcomes, explain patterns, and make smarter decisions. #WhyAnderson #BusinessAnalytics #Lesson #Insight #Technical

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Just enrolled in my first Reforge course and very excited about it ✍️ "Generative AI Products: How to Get from Idea to MVP" led by Rupa Chaturvedi and Polly M Allen I'm stoked to engage in more structured AI product learning, as a way to supplement the product work I've been doing to support early-stage AI companies and use-cases. Curious to hear from other product folks out there -- what're your favorite AI resources for PMs? (and for anyone that's curious, course link in the comments)

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Grateful to the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business for the opportunity to speak at their Product Con Summit alongside an incredible lineup of leaders I look up to as Ami Vora (CPO Faire), Laura Teclemariam (Sr. Director LinkedIn), Shreyas Doshi and Todd Yellin (ex-VP of Product Netflix). My panel explored the transformation of Product Management in the AI era. Here are some of the key takeaways: 1️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗷𝗼𝗯 𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻, 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗹𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿. It is time to learn "Enough" the capabilities of tools beyond PM tools. PMs need to know enough about : prototyping with Figma,  ML concept, applications as well as the latest developments, data analytics (Amplitude, Mixpanel), and prompt engineering. 2️⃣ 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗔𝗜 "𝗲𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱" 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀. 70% of PMs already use AI tools to increase their productivity so if you are not using AI tools you are going to not be able to compete with those who do. Must-have AI tools: ChatGPT for ideation, Claude for analysis, Midjourney for mockups, ChatPRD for PRDs, GitHub Copilot for basic prototyping. 3️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗 𝗮𝘁. Did you know in a recent Wharton MBA, GenAI generated 90% of the winning business innovation ideas, thanks to good prompting. 4️⃣ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: Entrepreneurial spirit paired with a creative mind and a business hat. It is going to be less about mastering how to write PRDs, and writing updates in decks and more about how to leverage tools to come up with some great ideas to quickly test. 5️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴. Beyond the classical skills like Customer obsessions, analytical skills like creativity, great product sense, adaptability, and a growth mindset will make you stand out. 6️⃣ 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗖𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗼𝗳 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸: AI tools are generating outputs faster than we can process them. That together with the Constant context-switching and multitasking between tools, calls, and channels will present true human challenges to overcome. Special thanks to Ansu George Raghuveer Ausoori for the invite and for pulling this event off. It was truly inspiring to talk to you all and be back to school (even if it was only for a little bit :)) #HaasProductCon #ProductManagement #AI #Networking #CareerGrowth #Innovation #HaasMBA #UCBerkeley #techsummit

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Last year, I lived in SF and flew to LA weekly to attend MBA classes at UCLA. I flew back and forth at least 20 times. I am not a morning person by any means, but this required me to have a routine of waking up at 5:00AM on Sunday, Ubering to SFO to catch the earliest flight that would get me to LA before my classes started at 8:00. I would attend class all day Sunday, work remotely Mondays, attend more classes Monday night and then fly back Tuesday morning just in time to get to the office before standup. I am proud to say that I did not miss a single flight or a single class during this period. Last month, I officially graduated from UCLA Anderson. I wore my graduation cap and gown and lived through an event I had been dreaming about for the past 3 years. Now the big question: was it worth all the flights, tuition costs, and time spent studying? Yes, it was absolutely worth it. And here’s a story that encapsulates why. On one my MBA trips, we had a few executives from the Executive MBA program join us on the trip. One of the executives had immigrated to the US over 20 years ago and was nearly a billionaire. He snuck a few of us Chinese speaking MBA students out for a dinner and afterwards we all grabbed beers by the beach. Towards the end of the dinner he told us that we were no different than him. He pointed at each one of us and told us that we could all become successful too as long we just went for it. I’ve heard similar words from guest speakers, but the informal setting of having a mentor tell us this to our faces while enjoying beers near the beach in a foreign country really made me believe that I could do it. To sum up my MBA experience, being able to learn valuable life lessons from classmates, professors, and guest speakers made me confident that I could pursue whatever I put my mind towards. This is the true value of the MBA in my opinion. So what’s next? Before entering UCLA, my goal was to start my own startup and be a "real" founder. I can proudly say that my dream is starting to become a reality. I will be posting more news about this in the future, but my cofounders and I just raised an angel round and are now working full time on a new startup with a mission that we all care deeply about. #mba #uclaanderson #startup #graduation

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I've spent multiple semesters in the SAC and learned a lot about my own investment thesis, learning the mechanics of investing and meeting fascinating startups! If you're on the fence about angel investing, this is a good starting point

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😃Hello! Happy Friday from Tokyo🗼 "AI Founders' Mindset" 🎙️ The conversation with Ed Choudhry Barricade AI part 2! 106. Winning the Defense Hackathon: Building What People Truly Need Ed Choudhry @Barricade AI 🙌The full episode: https://lnkd.in/gZKfsJNw We talked about the reflection of the Defense Hackathon at the Hornet!🚢 Nazar Gulyk Artur Kiulian I got a great secret about how Ed Choudhry's team won the contest. And about his passion, for community building, Hacker Dojo! He gave us a great tip on how we can prioritize our time, and how we can say NO to many invitations. Because, as a founder, we have to avoid burnout, like a zombie! Please check this episode📺 • Ed'sHacker Dojo episode: https://lnkd.in/gs34ADHW - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1, Listen, Adapt, and Build What People Need: Ed emphasizes the importance of listening to real-world pain points, as demonstrated during the Defense Hackathon. By engaging with mentors and understanding critical challenges like communication in contested environments, his team successfully built "Drop Mesh," a deployable mobile ad hoc network that addressed urgent needs. This underscores the value of staying flexible and focusing on solutions that deliver immediate impact. 2. The Power of Community and Collaboration: From co-founding startups to running hackerspaces like Hacker Dojo, Ed's journey shows the strength of building and engaging with communities. Hackathons, like the Defense Hackathon, are not only platforms for innovation but also opportunities to connect, learn, and contribute to a collective mission. 3. Balancing Passion and Priorities: As a serial entrepreneur and community builder, Ed highlights the importance of prioritization and self-care. While it’s easy to get overwhelmed with invitations, responsibilities, and high-pressure tasks, he stresses the need for a clear focus on end-user impact, along with maintaining health and well-being through activities like exercise and sweating out stress.

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🚀Bay Area Founders Club Substack Launch🚀 Greetings Community👋 Welcome to the Bay Area Founders Club newsletter on Substack! Subscribe to get weekly updates on entrepreneurial and investment happenings in the Bay Area, along with top-notch content delivered straight to your inbox every week. Join us to stay connected and informed! #BayAreaFoundersClub #Entrepreneurship #Investment #Startups #Innovation #Networking #Substack

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Last week Asian founders did... 🚀 Ka Ling Wu launched Upsolve AI (YC W24), a platform to build and deliver analytics to your end-users via embeddable dashboards. 🚀 Sahitya S. launched Endeavor, an OS for manufacturers to automate key workflows across sales, inventory, and supply chain. 🚀 Kevin Yang launched Serif.ai, an AI email assistant that writes context-informed emails in your personal voice. 🚀 Vishnu Sridhar launched Matter Intelligence, developing advanced sensors to capture extreme-resolution images of natural and artificial materials from space to surface. 💸 David Shim raised a $50M Series B for Read AI, an AI copilot for wherever you work, making your meetings, emails, and messages more productive with summaries, content discovery, and recommendations. 💸 Kevin H. raised an $800k Pre-seed round for EQ Exchange (EQX), a crypto exchange practicing radical transparency by publicly disclosing all financials in real-time, both on-chain and off-chain. 💸 Pranav Ravella raised an $8.7M Seed round for Sapien, a platform to create autonomous coworkers for finance professionals. 💸 Alex Yeh raised an $82M Series A for GMI Cloud, an AI infrastructure company providing GPUs and a platform to optimize inference and fine-tuning.🎙️ Arvind Jain, co-founder of Glean, talks about Glean's enterprise search product and the future direction of the company with Sequoia Capital 🎙️ Akhil Ramaswamy, wrote a substack article about approaches to defensibility for AI agents Links for the last two in the comments ⬇️

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