Applications for Character Labs G7 are due on September 23! Lots more info below and at character.vc/labs

Poetiq's Meta-System built its own coding harness from scratch. It got SOTA on LiveCodeBench Pro. No fine-tuning, no special model access. Just standard APIs. Using Gemini 3.1 Pro, it made a harness that beat all frontier models we tested.

Welcome @luke_drago_ and @LRudL_ to @thinkymachines. They started Workshop Labs determined to build AI that keeps the future human. They’ll continue that mission at Thinking Machines, where we create powerful AI systems that think alongside humans and extend our agency.  From Tinker to our research grants to the work we're doing to advance the frontier, everything we do is in service of the same mission -- AI that keeps our civilization empowered. Luke and Rudolf have been building toward the same thing. There's a path for AI to make humans matter more. Glad to have them working on it with us.

Big news from portfolio company Workshop Labs today... Congratulations to @luke_drago_ @LRudL_ and the team!

In 2024's least surprising news, @jakek and I finally started a podcast!!! What's it called? Jake & JZ! When does it come out? Every Thursday! What's it about? Startups, design, marketing, technology… and whatever else we’re thinking about 🤓 Where can I get a very respectful weekly email about new episodes and link to the podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts? jakeandjz.com

🔥 Character Labs is BACK by popular demand — applications are open now until July 19 for pre-seed founders building in AI.

Jake Knapp (@jakek) and John Zeratsky (@jazer) are authors of the bestselling books Sprint and Make Time. They have helped more than 300 teams design new products and bring them to market, including teams at @YouTube, @SlackHQ, @MiroHQ, @LEGO_Group, @NASA, and many more. They are also co-founders of the venture capital firm @CharacterVC, where they support startups with capital and sprints. In our conversation, we focus on tactics for making time for what matters, including: 🔸 Creating one “highlight” each day 🔸 Avoiding “busy bandwagon” and “infinity pools” 🔸 Their four-part framework for productivity 🔸 How to use the calendar to design your day 🔸 How creating friction can help you avoid distractions 🔸 Tips on creating a distraction-free phone 🔸 Strategies for managing email and distractions 🔸 The importance of reflecting on the day and making time for meaningful work 🔸 Design sprints 🔸 Much more

Some big news! I’m now a full-time general partner at Character AND applications are open for Character Labs, our 4-week sprint program for startups. It took 15 years (!) to get to this moment; here's the story:

VC subsight 300/365: Character Labs is BACK! character.vc/labs What: four-week sprint program for AI founders. Rapidly accelerate PMF through sequence of back-to-back sprints to validate product and GTM hypotheses

I've been waiting a year for this... Character Labs is BAAAAAACK! ICYMI, Labs is our four-week sprint program for AI founders. Like an accelerator, but 100% focused on product-market fit.

We're excited to (finally!) announce our investment in @inductive_bio!

Thanks to @mhbergen for telling the story of portfolio company Orbital Materials!

Seeing a fourth type of AI founder emerge... 4. The Distributors — understand how to put AI tech in the hands of customers within a specific sector. Especially important for late-adopter customers where applications of mainstream tools (e.g. ChatGPT) are not obvious.

Three types of AI founders: (a mini thread based on what we're seeing and investing in at @CharacterVC; thx to @eliblee for being a great thought partner on this)

Applications for Character Labs are due this weekend! If you're working on something new, and want to sprint with our team on product-market fit, we'd love for you to consider applying. DM us if you have any questions about the program!

@koalluh was in the first CL cohort, and it truly gave us a running start. You get personalized support, funding, & strategic guidance from the minds behind Google's 5-Day Sprint method.🧠 (cc @jazer @jakek @eliblee) Highly recommend to folks early in their startup journey!!

Super excited to announce Character Labs, our multi-week sprint bootcamp for pre-seed founders.✨ character.vc/labs This session is optimized for AI.🤖

Two years ago, I started @CharacterVC with @eliblee and @jakek. So far, we've invested in 20+ companies and worked closely with the founders (using our Sprint method from GV) to help them de-risk product/GTM fast. Now we're expanding with a new program called Character Labs...

Character Labs is our new sprint program for pre-seed founders. It's 100% focused on accelerating progress toward product-market fit. Applications are now open. character.vc/labs

We're excited to partner with @GVteam in backing @alexanderingram and the entire @giftwithzest team!