The AI talent war at the top will kill many at the bottom

One of the top AI news this cycle is on the talent war for the best AI engineers and researchers. Meta is aggressively poaching, reportedly offering up to $100m signing bonuses, essentially moving us into the pro-athletes bracket.

My worry is that for "Small Tech", the startups at the bottom, they will likely be fighting for scraps. How are they going to compete for talent with this level of capital being offered? Feels like having a compelling mission and a strong ESOP pool is no longer a sufficient sell. OpenAI and co. have equally exciting, if not the most exciting missions (AGI!), and I'm not sure how much ESOP you can give to compete against a $30m p.a. salary some engineers are getting.

The gap is widening, and I'm not sure what will come out of this. Some startups will raise more at higher valuations to compete for talent, but this might also further distort VC economics.

Hopefully this does not suppress venture in any form, because I still believe venture drives innovation. Interestingly this trend might help boost Asia and Europe ecosystems. There's plenty of strong talent here at not-crazy prices.

PE-fication in Southeast Asia Venture

People have been asking me on my thoughts on the recent “PE-fication” of early-stage venture in the SEA region. Basically some VCs are shifting their mindset and are increasingly gunning for 3-5x outcomes rather than 100x bets (e.g., see here). I understand where they are coming from - in

Reconciling Mindfulness and the Nature of Technology

I have been working in early-stage ecosystems for close to eight years now, and every now and then I think about two differing beliefs that I subscribe to. I am drawn deeply to mindfulness and Buddhist philosophy. There's something profoundly right about the idea that contentment comes from

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PE-fication in Southeast Asia Venture

Reconciling Mindfulness and the Nature of Technology