Networked. I came across a different community that feels very LinkedIn-ish, which is where 90% of my founder and investor connections have come. It's called Networked (https://nco.page.link/sWC8), and it may feel to you like a comfortable drawing room off the living room that is LinkedIn. We are looking for founders of venture-scale companies. That's who our network of investors and allied professionals is also seeking. Next week I'll be at Venture Dallas, after being at closed investor events this Thursday night and Friday in Austin. Next month there will be a flurry of venture activity in neighboring Fort Worth, culminating with Techstars Physical Health Fort Worth demo day in early December. Here in the Hill Country, we are building a regional accelerator to launch in late 2025 and focusing on these sectors: - Aviation - Aerospace/defense - Agritech/agribusiness - Aquaculture/viticulture - Automotive - Energy - Supply chain related to above We are raising a $10M fund to invest $100k into as many as 100 early-stage companies, which will go through a similar competitive application process to other accelerators. If within a year of graduating the program a company commercializes, it is eligible to apply to a second fund that will award 5-10 Seed stage investments of up to $1M. We are partnering with the county's Economic Development Corporation to offer incentives to the best companies in these sectors, hoping they will go through the accelerator, commercialize and stay local to create jobs and grow for years to come. 👉 If this sounds like you, please click HERE 👉 Texas Hill Country Accelerator Founders' Community

If you don't have a subscription to an AI premium service, get one. I use both GPT-4o and Gemini Advanced. Have heard good things about Claude, which is used by one of my favorite new customer engagement tools -- Quin, currently in beta. When you ask the right questions, AI becomes the ultimate no-drama helper who never wants a day off and doesn't mind if I miss National Administrative Assistant's Day. But just like computers have always been as smart as the data we put in them, so AI is as smart as its trained and as it's asked. You have to become a "Master Question-Asker" to get the most out of any AI. The question in my screenshot below isn't even that smart. But it IS specific. That's an important aspect. Be ultra-specific. You can do a lot of prospecting for investors this way, and I've even pushed back and asked again for contact information, and it's provided it. Investors hate it when you send them something that doesn't fit their "thesis" (rationale or criteria for investing). The chart shown was sent out on Airchat by @Larry Velez. FYI. EDIT: my wife just sent me this. Check it out

Found this on X/Twitter, and I think there are some gems in there. 👇👇👇 Have you answered Thiel's "7 questions every startup must answer"? [SEE ATTACHMENT] 👇👇👇

I’m only 6 minutes and 45 seconds into this, but it’s got some really valuable advice—valuable enough for me to want to listen to the whole 1 hour 30 minutes. https://youtu.be/KhFlD54nQrY?si=nQuimR4Z8A9imRqp

Take the Deep Work Self Check Quiz to uncover your productivity habits and improve your focus at work! This is part of customer discovery for my startup. https://eval.polancoai.com/deepwork