want to hang out with creative people building interesting things? our next happy hour is aug 7: lu.ma/oeyc3b7q

THEY SAID WE CAN DO WHATEVER WE WANT DANGER TESTING X @DIABROWSER NEXT WEEK

Heard Claire Butler speak at AIR for the 2nd time, and it was somehow even better than the first. Still thinking about the ICP heat map Figma used in the early days to visualize early adopters, their influence, and how they were all connected.

the idea of apps as albums. mixtape software. developer-as-artist, short-form software as culture drop. emily manges (AIR cohort zero!) maps the emerging shape of things: emilymanges.substack.com/p/everything-i…

What’s the album equivalent for apps? emily manges explores software as creative output—expressive, ephemeral, and framed by new kinds of containers: emilymanges.substack.com/p/everything-i…

Figma showed what’s possible when design leads. Now, designers have the capital to back what comes next. Some thoughts on design-led capital, the shift upstream, and the builders we’re backing at AIR: carly.substack.com/p/the-designer…

Grateful to have jk in the mix as an Entrepreneur in Residence for AIR Cohort 1. Excited about what he’s building with Assemblage!

Thrilled to have jk in AIR—and even more excited about what he’s building. Assemblage is a publishing tool for the in-between era we’re in: part manual, part generative. Think OP-1 for layout—fast, tactile, and deeply opinionated. Typography-forward.

What’s worth building—if OpenAI already dominates horizontal scale? Sophie Bakalar says look to vertical trust, physical execution, and creative differentiation. For founders: identify your trust domain, operational backbone, and creative moats. sophiebakalar.substack.com/p/the-three-bi…

See y’all tonight! lu.ma/oeyc3b7q

As software gets cheaper and more uniform, personality becomes luxury. marc (Danger Testing + AIR Cohort Zero) on tools as identity, the rise of creator skins, and why he’d pay $50 for a Henrik Karlsson Google Docs theme: substack.com/@marcgmbh/p-16…

The app era is over, says Sophie Bakalar. Mobile downloads are down, attention is concentrated, and acquisition is costly. The next wave? Ambient interfaces powered by AI — invisible agents, seamless flows, and contextual experiences. Read her latest: sophiebakalar.substack.com/p/apps-are-alr…

.Collab Fund’s Sophie Bakalar argues: The Distribution Era is ending. The future belongs to product-led growth fueled by AI. Distribution is commoditizing. Product excellence—coupled with user-driven virality—is where scaling happens. sophiebakalar.substack.com/p/the-distribu…

The algorithm doesn’t reward perfect brand craft. It rewards hits—fast, messy, and many. Mickey Goldstein (Michael Goldstein) breaks down how to build a system that finds them: airesidency.substack.com/p/clay-campaig…

new apps are back next thursday

oh fuck naruto just put my king into check