vibe ceo @tryhelium (yc s24) automating app monetization
SF
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- Following 1,880
- Followers 2,136
- Likes 32,939
We just raised $2M from Google’s AI fund to build self-improving software.
We’re starting by automating paywall testing for mobile apps.
🧵
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there are cute asian grandmas walking on sixth street again so i'd say things are getting better
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listening to the all in podcast is so sad now
used to be filled with low ego good-spirited debate
now david sacks can’t even answer what the goal of the tariffs are.
(though he’s gotten quite good at ad hominem)
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we're building self-improving software & in the last 12 months...
- Served 100,000,000+ mobile experiences to real users
- Raised $5.5m from yc, duolingo's CPO, and openai researchers
- Received one $26,375 amplitude bill
- Averaged >50% revenue growth for the big apps we work with
hiring cracked engineers — dm's open
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no friday pregame better than sitting on twitter with an aperol spritz watching @zachweinberg rip apart web3 scams
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80 year Pax Americana, runaway US growth, AI boom, China recession, US led world order
maga: “hold my beer”
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@jordanschneider’s new Chinatalk episode is maybe the best podcast I’ve heard all year
amazing history of dissidence across China and the Soviet Union, marked with some pretty fantastic stories along the way
open.spotify.com/episode/4gL…
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these sandwiches suck though.
you can argue about many things, but the US is the undenied global leader in sandwhiches
you can get one of these every 50 feet in europe. theyre like 4 bucks. they are superior in everyway to starbucks waveslop. why can America not compete on this cafe sandwich front. what advanced manufacturing do we require
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Waymo is magical.
We're lucky to live in a time where commoditized self-driving is so close that analysts are writing about its profit margins.
Main Street: Thank God Google’s search business is so profitable, it can forever subsidize my Waymo rides.
Wall Street: Waymo has positive unit economics in SF.
--
JMP research report: Waymo has 63% cash contribution margins. The vehicle & sensor capex is large (~$150k/vehicle), so accounting for their depreciation, contribution margins are just slightly positive.
Today Waymo operates at just 35% utilization, vs Uber at 55% in NY. Waymo should achieve higher utilization than Uber over time. If Waymo operates at 55% utilization, that’s an incremental 58% revenue at high cash contribution margin. The IRRs on the upfront vehicle & sensor cost go from ~0% to 30%+.
There’s also an expectation the vehicles and sensors get more affordable. All of this ignores operating expenses (R&D, G&A, centralized mgmt), but suggests Waymo can profitably scale its fleet.
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SF CONSUMER FOUNDER DINNER
we're hosting an invite-only dinner with some cracked consumer founders (and a few investors) on august 27th.
if you know anyone that should be there lmk
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it finally feels like something is working
we're building automated paywall testing for mobile apps & in the last 12 months...
- Served 100,000,000+ paywalls to real users
- Raised $5.5m from yc, duolingo's CPO, and openai researchers
- Received one $26,375 amplitude bill
- Averaged >50% revenue growth for the big apps we work with
next stop - trying to figure out how to do hiring
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Super excited to be joining the amazing @stevepyoung from @AppMastersCo for a live stream tomorrow at 9am PT!
We'll talk through how Uber approaches experimentation, how AI is transforming app development, and, of course, some secrets to boost paywall conversion🤫😉
Link below
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anti deep work setup
come work for this guy
their building the sickest company on the planet
distributed compute done right
their hiring
dm @samhogan
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who knew sf had a consumer app scene !
hosting another bay area consumer founder dinner soon, let us know if you want to join!
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If someone you know is building a mobile app, and wants to get more out of their paywall, take a look: tryhelium.com✌🏼
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1. Read 5 books on deep learning
2. Build a pet project built on an LLM
3. Have 30 conversations with people in AI
4. Drink alcohol <1 day per week
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🚨 STREAM STARTING IN 10 MINUTES 🚨
I'll be joining @stevepyoung of @AppMastersCo
to share some growth secrets!
We'll talk over how big companies like Uber experiment on revenue, how AI is changing the game for monetization, and what Helium is doing to make paywall testing a breeze.
Link below!
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Pretty insane how many Trump <> Mao parallels there are
- Anti elite intellectual
- Mercurial and frequently changes perspectives
- Creates chaos to centralize power
- Rural worker base
- Womanizer
- Even the way they launch campaigns on the go, and rely on rally’s to fuel the base
Great episode of Chinatalk @jordanschneider
open.spotify.com/episode/6L2…
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in sf?
building a consumer app?
come join us for breakfast friday with @vahebagdasar and @herreraevel !
lu.ma/dfrqxhqp
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Does anyone know of any good empirical resources on how to be better at dating?
Curious what the 'science' of optimizing for fulfilling, happy romantic relationships looks like.
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streets being empty is actually my biggest qualm with sf.
there’s very little “bustle” in sf, despite all its pro’s
I asked some British friends visiting SF what surprised them about it. The drug problem is much less serious than they expected. Public transit works well. The streets are surprisingly empty. Great racial diversity. Every 4th car is a Tesla. Food is very expensive.
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Last week I went to Berlin to hear Europe's biggest consumer founders share their secrets 🤫🚀
Here's what I learned from the people building the next generation of consumer apps
🧵
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lex is so gd annoying
I regret engaging in the political dumpster fire of the Trump-Zelenskyy meeting.
I simply want to do my small part in building bridges & pushing for long-lasting peace.
I'll try to focus on that through long-form nuanced conversation with people on all sides.
I love you all ❤️
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Why don’t more airports have gyms?
I’d easily pay $50 for a treadmill and some weights on this layover.
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stumbled upon this website while typing gibberish into my search bar to confirm the wifi worked. I love it. asdfsemicolonlkj.com/
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rex is a true value-add investor.
excited for daybreak #1 (to the 🌛)
I’m thrilled to (formally) announce Daybreak Fund I, a $33M venture fund built to be the first check to founders.
Daybreak is designed to return to the roots of venture—early-stage, artisanal, disciplined—while helping bring venture into the next generation.
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If you're in Vegas for MAU come to welcome drinks with @vahebagdasar @herreraevel and I!
lu.ma/3mnrarn0
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which startup founders have been the best recruiters in history? what do we have to learn from them?
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ai bros are like "Gemini is replacing interior designers!
Look! Here's the ugliest interior design you've ever seen"
You can now design your house with AI.
I asked Google Gemini "make the furniture go away" and then "decorate it with a modern chic aesthetic". It did it on the first try.
An interior designer would have charged $5–10k for this in the US. You can get infinite reps for free.
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Our first product lets growth teams automatically generate new mobile paywalls, then immediately run tests to improve conversion.
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Why do almost all elite credit cards give credit for Global Entry?
Is there some backdoor incentive they get? Or is it just a way to promise $120 of value that people rarely redeem in line with existing travel benefits?
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it made my day 🥹🥹🥹
ps - Jasmine and Judith at Sweetgreen 2nd street are both amazing — they brighten my whole team's day.
They definitely deserve a bonus
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ok then let's eliminate the zoning and see what happens.
The reason we don't build more of these isn't because of zoning, it's because nobody actually wants to live in them.
You quickly discover that you spend your life on stairs. The living space on the second floor means carrying *everything* up stairs every time you come home.
The only person this design serves is developers who can convince people that they can live in expensive neighborhoods where where land is finite and expensive.
Eventually they move a few miles away where they discover the joy of unloading groceries without doing a workout.
That's why we have suburbs and cars. 🇺🇸
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3 phenomenal days of breaktroughs and fresh ideas in San Francisco with the brilliant @zzwitz
@screensdesign_ @tryhelium
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this is extremely bad.
the trump administration is now openly blackmailing universities if they don’t out students who supported Palestine
free speech advocates should be losing their mind right now
as bad as “woke-ism” was it pales in comparison to this
cnn.com/2025/05/22/us/harvar…
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as i came into the office today it struck me that
(for the first time since march 2020)
sf’s downtown feels almost bustling
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but hasn’t the market clearing price for these deals shifted as investment demand is reduced? so aren’t many of these deals now significantly overvalued?
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kinda crazy that airlines manage to exclusively recruit flight attendants from people that were hall monitors in high school
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Super interesting - who knew that atomic bomb testing in the west lead to billions of dollars of costs.
On Oppenheimer. We don’t note enough about the fact that fallout from testing had huge impacts. It damaged farming in the Midwest for decades. Decreased yields of corn and wheat, as well as decreased animal fertility & deaths, literally cost tens of billions of dollars to farmers
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Interesting "adversarial collaboration" between Kahneman's seminal 2010 paper, arguing happiness plateus at $75k, and a new paper from Killingsworth, showing well-being rising well after $75k.
Money makes the happy happier, but can't cure unhappiness past a certain point.
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