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Welcome back to the Launch Key 🚀

I was driving a UHaul truck over the weekend listening to the enclosed a16z podcast on technology early adoption. I was literally sitting in the technology chasm between roll-down windows and the world’s best tech investors discussing AI productivity.

Sometimes the simulation just makes me laugh out loud.😉 

Let's get into it.

• Gmail users may wish to read online since some parts may be clipped.

• Comment below and let me know if we’re on the right track.

Table of Contents

• Pull to Eject

  • Early adoption backstory

• Modern Tools

• Free Knowledge

• Recommendations

• Visual Crapshoot

Pull to Eject

Early technology adoption can completely change company trajectory.

• Like when Lotus 1-2-3 changed M&A with multiple business scenarios

• Or when internet access became the precursor to video streaming

• Or when Apple launched a ‘phone’ that was a computer

• Or blockchain allowing secure decentralized transactions

You didn’t need to be the pioneer in any of those technologies to take advantage of them. Years after they were available, early adopters were still able to differentiate by leveraging the somewhat new technology.

You could simply use them for efficiency gains. Or get lucky and be swept up in industry growth. Or sometimes, maybe a little too early for commercial success.

It’s no secret that today’s moonshot is AI.

And there are millions of early adopters. Over 1 billion daily queries are processed on ChatGPT. People are enthusiastic but it has not impacted their output. I’d say it’s more like ‘dabbling’ with AI.

Just like spreadsheets or the internet, the real winners will be teams who use AI to solve things exponentially better than how its done today.

Andreessen Horowitz leaders are seeing small startups with 3-10x improvements because they’ve committed to engineering in a different way.

And it’s not AI created pictures or sales or marketing words. It’s background agents and experts doing code review of what AI created. Innovators are building fundamentally different types of companies that can do more with 10 people than a typical 100 person company. a16z is taking notes for future investments.

Early adoption backstory

As I’ve written here before, choosing the Macintosh in 1987, opened the door to almost 40 years of new possibilities.

• It let me dabble in data.

• It allowed me to create.

• It made me change direction with grad school.

• It let me experiment with multimedia.

• It gave me early internet exposure.

• It let my small business compete for Fortune 500 business.

And ultimately that little Mac moved my sales skills into more technical fields like laserdiscs and CD-ROM, then the internet, application development, data analytics and blockchain.

Early adopters make a lot of mistakes. They accept limitations of the current version but see possibilities and change things as they go. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Two weeks ago I was interviewed on the Anything But Typical podcast to explain my good timing and early adopter wins to Gary and Ben.

A few timely early adoption technology picks helped me and can do the same for your late career side hustle.

Back to the a16z view.

They are seeing that more senior teams building AI-native companies almost seem superhuman.

Read that again.

Older experienced entrepreneurs, leveraging AI for real change, are doing more than other funded companies.

Just another reminder: because of your expertise and deep understanding of the current problems, you have the ability to leverage new technology exponentially better than most.

Advantage to the grey-haired cabal.

Now go launch something 🚀 

Modern Tools

One of the biggest sticking points for would-be entrepreneurs is health care. Small businesses have traditionally not had great benefits.

Enter CrowdHealth. Only pay for the health care you need.

After years of paying premiums for health care that I never used - plus a very high deductible - I left for CrowdHealth. Your mileage may vary, but it’s worth your research.

Kickstart your holiday campaigns

CTV should be central to any growth marketer’s Q4 strategy. And with Roku Ads Manager, launching high-performing holiday campaigns is simple and effective.

With our intuitive interface, you can set up A/B tests to dial in the most effective messages and offers, then drive direct on-screen purchases via the remote with shoppable Action Ads that integrate with your Shopify store for a seamless checkout experience.

Don’t wait to get started. Streaming on Roku picks up sharply in early October. By launching your campaign now, you can capture early shopping demand and be top of mind as the seasonal spirit kicks in.

Get a $500 ad credit when you spend your first $500 today with code: ROKUADS500. Terms apply.

Holiday performance starts now.

Free Knowledge

In the modern AI era of startups, we’re seeing teams run leaner than we’ve ever seen before and grow faster than we’ve ever seen before. We will soon see the first 1-person unicorn.

This guide is written by founders for those founders. It’s a practical step-by-step playbook focused on launching a lean, AI-native startup in 2025.

Recommendations

📕 MGMT Playbook : Practical management insights straight to your inbox every Wednesday.

🗃️ Dealroom Business Success Uncovered : Learn directly from billionaire entrepreneurs on how to grow a business. Join a community of 2,000+ innovators.

🧠 AI Report : Learn AI in 5 minutes a day. We'll teach you how to save time and earn more with AI. Join 400,000+ free daily readers from Tesla, Apple, A16z, Meta, & more.

Visual Crapshoot