The Slow Hunch

Dan Romero and Varun Srinivasan, co-founders of Farcaster, a decentralized social network protocol, share their journey from Coinbase to reshaping social media. They discuss the need for truly decentralized platforms, emphasizing user engagement over mere architecture. The duo explores innovative features like crypto-enabled interactions and the importance of open programmability. They also reflect on the evolution of decentralized networks, comparing them to giants like Twitter and the challenges of user adoption in a rapidly changing landscape.

In this episode of The Slow Hunch, I spoke with Ben Leventhal, the founder and CEO of Blackbird. Ben has spent the past two decades reimagining the restaurant industry, having previously co-founded Eater and Resy. The throughline that connects his efforts is a strong belief that restaurants are universally loved but fundamentally broken businesses—and that there must be a better way to run what is a trillion dollar industry in the United States alone. We talked about what’s gone wrong with the restaurant business model, why most restaurants struggle to turn a profit despite enormous consumer love, and how each of Ben’s ventures has tried to close that gap—first with content (Eater), then with mobile (Resy), and now with crypto (Blackbird). Through Blackbird, Ben is using crypto rails to build a restaurant-native platform currency: one that rewards regulars, strengthens margins, and builds more intimate ties between diners and the places they love.We recorded this conversation in my apartment in New York, just around the corner from a restaurant I paid for using Fly, Blackbird’s currency. Few founders have followed a hunch as consistently and creatively as Ben. Hope you enjoy!Chapters:00:00:00 Cold open: why restaurants are broken00:01:10 Introducing Ben Leventhal00:02:00 Ben’s slow hunch: the status quo is always wrong00:05:00 Falling in love with restaurants as a kid00:08:00 She Loves New York: the proto-Eater newsletter00:10:30 Early blogging and New York’s indie media scene00:14:00 Starting Eater with Lockhart Steele00:16:00 Eater as “sports coverage” for restaurants00:18:00 Why restaurateurs initially hated Eater00:20:30 Scooping the New York Times00:22:00 The adjacent possible and building with new tools00:24:30 Leaving Eater and exploring new projects00:25:50 The Resy origin story00:27:30 Resy’s mobile-first wedge: outdoor seating and Notify00:31:00 Selling Resy to Amex00:33:00 Why Resy was restaurant-first (and OpenTable wasn’t)00:38:00 The COVID reset: restaurants become brands00:45:00 The idea for Blackbird takes shape00:52:00 Introducing Fly: a platform currency for restaurants00:56:00 How Fly helps restaurants recapture value01:00:00 Restaurant regulars as shareholders01:03:00 Designing Blackbird to feel like a consumer app01:04:00 What’s next: AI and the future of restaurant marketing

Juan Benet, the founder and CEO of Protocol Labs, is a trailblazer in decentralized web technology, creating IPFS and Filecoin. He shares insights on the evolution of decentralized systems and their potential to reshape governance and finance. Juan discusses the challenges of funding innovative research and the necessity of bridging gaps in technology development. He also explores the intersection of AI and crypto, pondering future governance models and the transformative role these technologies might play in society. Prepare to rethink the future!

In this episode of The Slow Hunch, I’ve pulled together some of the best moments from Season 1.Across these conversations, what stood out was how many ‘inevitable’ ideas were, at one point, anything but.Venture veterans Fred Wilson and Brad Burnham reflected on decades of investing, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber spoke about her vision for decentralized social, and author and NotebookLM co-creator Steven Johnson unpacked the future of networked thought.We got a clearer view into how their slow hunches took shape — and where they’re headed next.Hope you enjoy!Chapters: 00:00:00 Cold open 00:02:53 Fraser Kelton (GP at Spark Capital, former Head of Product at OpenAI)00:09:06 Dani Grant (CEO of Jam.dev)00:20:02 Amir Haleem (Founder of Helium, CEO of Nova Labs)00:25:10 Fred Wilson & Brad Burnham (Union Square Ventures)00:30:40 Jake Heller (Co-founder & CEO of Casetext)00:40:00 Steven Johnson (Author, Editorial at NotebookLM and Google Labs)00:49:35 Muneeb Ali (Co-founder of Stacks, CEO at Trust Machines)00:53:33 Jay Graber (CEO of Bluesky)01:03:26 Zoe Weinberg (Founder, ex/ante)01:09:25 Aaron Wright (Co-founder & CEO of Tribute Labs)

Aaron Wright, co-founder and CEO of Tribute Labs, is a pioneer in harnessing online communities and exploring DAOs for over two decades. In a captivating discussion, he outlines how major tech shifts redefine organizational structures and the rise of decentralized autonomous organizations as the evolution of capitalism. The conversation delves into the potential of blockchain and AI to transform collaboration and ownership models, enabling coordination among millions. Wright also shares insights from his journey, highlighting the merging of law with innovative technology.

Jay Graber, CEO of Bluesky, previously a digital rights activist, shares insights on decentralization and its transformative potential for social media. She discusses Bluesky's origin story, emphasizes user choice, and highlights the significance of protocols that empower users. Jay delves into the trade-offs in systems design and how Bluesky aims to create an open, extensible platform, offering flexibility and innovation when users don't like the changes. Their vision challenges traditional social media, advocating for community-driven and customizable experiences.

Fred Wilson and Brad Burnham, founding partners at Union Square Ventures, share their journey through tech investment since 2003. They discuss their unique investment thesis focused on open networks and the evolution of their approach amid different tech cycles. The duo reflects on missed opportunities, like rejecting Airbnb, and the early promise of Bitcoin. They also explore the implications of AI and the tension between decentralization and market consolidation, all while maintaining a commitment to intellectual curiosity.

In this episode of the Slow Hunch, I spoke with Jake Heller, co-founder and CEO of Casetext, a legal tech startup that pioneered the use of large language models in the legal industry.Jake and his co-founders built Casetext over a decade —  going through multiple pivots before eventually finding PMF as an AI tool that helped lawyers do better and faster legal research. In 2023, Casetext was acquired by Thomson Reuters for $650 million. In this conversation, Jake recounted how an early relationship with the research team at OpenAI got them access to GPT-4 (before the launch of ChatGPT!) and how they decided to hard pivot over the course of just two weeks. As a former lawyer himself, Jake has a unique take on the challenges of building and selling cutting-edge software in an industry that has traditionally been a late adopter of tech. This was a really fun conversation (you can probably tell because it’s longer than our usual episodes). Hope you enjoy! Chapters 00:00:00 Cold open00:06:15 How Jake found himself in legal tech00:10:07 Building Casetext00:28:41 Getting early access to GPT-4 00:38:21 The AI pivot 00:46:38 Convincing the team00:57:03 Engineering solutions to improve real-world performance 01:07:06 Jake’s thoughts on the future of the legal industry01:14:29 Closing thoughts

I spoke with Amir Haleem, founder of Helium and CEO of Nova Labs, about his journey building the world's largest decentralized wireless networks. Amir started Helium in 2013, with the initial vision to make it easier to connect IoT devices to the internet. After trying the traditional telecom playbook, he realized that combining crypto incentives with community participation could actually be key to scaling a truly global wireless network. In our conversation, we spoke about how Amir came to this realisation, and how he tackled all the challenges that come with building and securing such a network, from dealing with sophisticated attempts to game the system, to managing a decentralized and diverse community of stakeholders. Through Nova Labs and Helium, Amir wants to enable a future where decentralized communities play a major role in building and maintaining the networks that connect us.Hope you enjoy this conversation! Chapters: 00:00 Cold open 05:51 Amir’s thoughts on crypto incentives11:15 The tradeoffs with community-led building14:17 The pivot from IoT to wireless networks25:28 Challenges with establishing “proof of coverage”28:45 The balance between speed and perfection42:43 Adapting to industry changes45:24 Amir’s take on why entrepreneurship is so important52:18 Amir’s closing reflections

In this episode, I spoke to Zoe Weinberg, founder and managing partner of ex/ante, a venture fund focused on technology that enhances human agency.Zoe actively invests in a growing number of founders committed to empowering users by giving them control over their data and digital identities. Our conversation explored the ever present threat of digital authoritarianism, the product tradeoff between privacy and convenience, the potential of portable digital identities, and how emerging technologies impact democratic values.I hope you find this conversation insightful. Chapters:00:00 Cold open 03:15 Human agency and technology12:30 Zoe's thoughts on digital authoritarianism and surveillance capitalism20:18 The product tradeoff between convenience and privacy25:40 Portable digital identities30:05 Zoe's take on tech and the state of democracy36:20 The importance of user agency in emerging tech40:12 Zoe's journey to founding ex/ante45:00 Business models that support user agency50:15 The potential of AI-driven privacy solutions54:45 Closing reflectionsThe Slow Hunch is produced by the team at Spectral.