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The Scythe
Death came to a blacksmith with his scythe and asked him to sharpen it. The terrified blacksmith started the task hoping death wasn’t there for him.
As he worked on the scythe, the blacksmith looked at it and said:
“I can’t believe I’m holding a weapon that has killed so many.”
Death leaned in towards the blacksmith and said:
“I didn’t kill anyone. Not a single person. It’s you who kill each other and blame me. I was once a handsome man when I was first entrusted with the duty of escorting people to their final destinations. But that was before I met people’s souls.”
“And now?”, the blacksmith asked.
“Now I wear black clothes to hide the blood on me. I wear a hood to conceal the tears I have cried because I cannot stop the horror of human hatred.”
Death then took the scythe and began to walk away.
“Wait! I have one last question!”
Death turned around.
“Why do you carry a scythe at all?”
Death smiled and said:
“The road to heaven has long been overgrown with grass. After all, I rarely get to use that path.”
As he worked on the scythe, the blacksmith looked at it and said:
“I can’t believe I’m holding a weapon that has killed so many.”
Death leaned in towards the blacksmith and said:
“I didn’t kill anyone. Not a single person. It’s you who kill each other and blame me. I was once a handsome man when I was first entrusted with the duty of escorting people to their final destinations. But that was before I met people’s souls.”
“And now?”, the blacksmith asked.
“Now I wear black clothes to hide the blood on me. I wear a hood to conceal the tears I have cried because I cannot stop the horror of human hatred.”
Death then took the scythe and began to walk away.
“Wait! I have one last question!”
Death turned around.
“Why do you carry a scythe at all?”
Death smiled and said:
“The road to heaven has long been overgrown with grass. After all, I rarely get to use that path.”
More Emails to the World
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YC buys into the team, more than the idea!
This is one of the most overlooked questions in the YC application:
“How long have the founders known one another and how did you meet?”
Don’t fall into the trap of just saying “6 months” and moving on to the idea, “the more important part”.
Here’s what I noticed during the YC batch: almost every company I knew either completely pivoted or made big adjustments to their idea.
But if the idea is the criterion for acceptance and it changes so often… aren’t these companies just toast?
No. Because a lot of times, YC isn’t buying into the idea at all.
They’re buying into the team. The FOUNDERS.
They want to make sure that you are an exceptional team. That you won’t give up. That you can stick together when you’re stressed and crammed in a room for 16+ hours a day for years (and maybe even living together).
When put like that, can you think of even one person you would want to do that with? If so, maybe it’s time to start a startup lol.
Founder conflict is one of the top causes of startup failure. YC is screening for that.
Some startups pivot 5+ times before landing on their breakout idea. Successful companies will change ideas and directions in weeks. What they won’t change is their founding team.
That’s why this isn’t a throwaway question. It’s your chance to prove you’re the kind of team that will still be standing when the idea inevitably changes. Don’t waste it.
“How long have the founders known one another and how did you meet?”
Don’t fall into the trap of just saying “6 months” and moving on to the idea, “the more important part”.
Here’s what I noticed during the YC batch: almost every company I knew either completely pivoted or made big adjustments to their idea.
But if the idea is the criterion for acceptance and it changes so often… aren’t these companies just toast?
No. Because a lot of times, YC isn’t buying into the idea at all.
They’re buying into the team. The FOUNDERS.
They want to make sure that you are an exceptional team. That you won’t give up. That you can stick together when you’re stressed and crammed in a room for 16+ hours a day for years (and maybe even living together).
When put like that, can you think of even one person you would want to do that with? If so, maybe it’s time to start a startup lol.
Founder conflict is one of the top causes of startup failure. YC is screening for that.
Some startups pivot 5+ times before landing on their breakout idea. Successful companies will change ideas and directions in weeks. What they won’t change is their founding team.
That’s why this isn’t a throwaway question. It’s your chance to prove you’re the kind of team that will still be standing when the idea inevitably changes. Don’t waste it.
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Interesting lens on China's Pop Mart
China has a curious relationship with gambling. All forms of gambling are strictly prohibited under Chinese criminal law. The only legal gambling activities are the state-run China Welfare Lottery and the China Sports Lottery, which are framed as non-profit “public welfare fundraising”, circumventing the ban.
Yet walk down most any rural village in China on a Saturday afternoon and you’ll see card games, mahjong tables and piles of cash laid out on porch tables and park benches. Try to take a picture though, and you’ll be kindly but firmly asked to delete it. The Communist Party frames gambling as a feudal-capitalist vice linked to the rampant inequality and corruption of China’s Republican era (1912–1949). From the start, the PRC has always portrayed itself as a project meant to cleanse such vices from the national soul. In official discourse, gambling is grouped with other social ills that erode harmony: Prostitution, drugs, and “superstition” (anything from unsanctioned religious activity to pseudoscience).
Pop Mart started out as a lifestyle store selling trendy stationery, toys, and knick-knacks inspired by Japanese and Korean pop culture, the kind of cutesy-cheap plastic items that are popular with teenagers. Such stores are dime-a-dozen in China and competition is brutal, so founder and owner Wang Ning pivoted to a new direction. Like most things popular with Chinese teens these days, the idea came from Japan.
Pop Mart’s “blind box” model can be traced to Japan’s “Gashapon” machines. Invented in the 1970’s, these vending machines released small capsule toys — adorable, detailed, and completely random. Unlike similar vending machines in the West, Japanese toymakers focus on, artistry, craftsmanship and collectability. By the 1990’s, Gashapon had become a national pastime.
Full post by Matias Otera Johansson:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cuteness-casino-how-pop-mart-monetizes-artificial-otero-johansson-sztef/
Yet walk down most any rural village in China on a Saturday afternoon and you’ll see card games, mahjong tables and piles of cash laid out on porch tables and park benches. Try to take a picture though, and you’ll be kindly but firmly asked to delete it. The Communist Party frames gambling as a feudal-capitalist vice linked to the rampant inequality and corruption of China’s Republican era (1912–1949). From the start, the PRC has always portrayed itself as a project meant to cleanse such vices from the national soul. In official discourse, gambling is grouped with other social ills that erode harmony: Prostitution, drugs, and “superstition” (anything from unsanctioned religious activity to pseudoscience).
Pop Mart started out as a lifestyle store selling trendy stationery, toys, and knick-knacks inspired by Japanese and Korean pop culture, the kind of cutesy-cheap plastic items that are popular with teenagers. Such stores are dime-a-dozen in China and competition is brutal, so founder and owner Wang Ning pivoted to a new direction. Like most things popular with Chinese teens these days, the idea came from Japan.
Pop Mart’s “blind box” model can be traced to Japan’s “Gashapon” machines. Invented in the 1970’s, these vending machines released small capsule toys — adorable, detailed, and completely random. Unlike similar vending machines in the West, Japanese toymakers focus on, artistry, craftsmanship and collectability. By the 1990’s, Gashapon had become a national pastime.
Full post by Matias Otera Johansson:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cuteness-casino-how-pop-mart-monetizes-artificial-otero-johansson-sztef/
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Student Boty - smart strategy ;)
With remote classrooms it’s easier to enroll in a program with say stolen identity credentials. The use case? Qualify for financial aid.
Enroll in courses, fill up waitlists so even real students cannot take those courses.
I grew up in competitive class enrollment system that often required rapid refreshes only to find out the class schedule you meticulously planned is ruined because you didn’t get one popular class you needed.
Imagine that x1000 harder since now you compete with bots trying to get free financial aid.
The current best use case for AI is propagating fraud because fraud detection has always lagged behind. Colleges now need some enrollment validation task force to make sure enrollees are indeed real students.
Wild and disconcerting.
Enroll in courses, fill up waitlists so even real students cannot take those courses.
I grew up in competitive class enrollment system that often required rapid refreshes only to find out the class schedule you meticulously planned is ruined because you didn’t get one popular class you needed.
Imagine that x1000 harder since now you compete with bots trying to get free financial aid.
The current best use case for AI is propagating fraud because fraud detection has always lagged behind. Colleges now need some enrollment validation task force to make sure enrollees are indeed real students.
Wild and disconcerting.
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Comparing Oranges to Oranges
Confidently wrong, round two.
Asked ChatGPT to compare two orange circles. Without hesitation, it told me:
👉 “They’re the same size.”
But… they’re clearly not.
What happened? My guess: it’s seen this setup in its training data as the Ebbinghaus illusion (where surrounding circles trick your brain). So it confidently inferred that’s what I must be asking about, even though this time, the circles are obviously different.
This is a great reminder:
• LLMs don’t truly “see” or “understand” images.
• They rely on patterns in training data.
• And when they guess wrong, they do so with confidence.
Asked ChatGPT to compare two orange circles. Without hesitation, it told me:
👉 “They’re the same size.”
But… they’re clearly not.
What happened? My guess: it’s seen this setup in its training data as the Ebbinghaus illusion (where surrounding circles trick your brain). So it confidently inferred that’s what I must be asking about, even though this time, the circles are obviously different.
This is a great reminder:
• LLMs don’t truly “see” or “understand” images.
• They rely on patterns in training data.
• And when they guess wrong, they do so with confidence.
express, not stress