Marten Mickos
@martenmickos.bsky.social
CEO in the service of AI startup CEOs.
Former CEO of HackerOne, Eucalyptus Systems, MySQL.
Former CEO of HackerOne, Eucalyptus Systems, MySQL.
Physical AI. The electric stack has four layers:
1. Lithium-ion batteries
2. Magnets and motors
3. Power electronics
4. Embedded compute
www.n47.com/insights/int...
1. Lithium-ion batteries
2. Magnets and motors
3. Power electronics
4. Embedded compute
www.n47.com/insights/int...
The intersection of AI and the physical world — N47
This is Physical AI. To truly sense, understand, and act in physical space, you need infrastructure. The new electric stack is that infrastructure, and it's the foundation for what comes next.
www.n47.com
December 5, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Physical AI. The electric stack has four layers:
1. Lithium-ion batteries
2. Magnets and motors
3. Power electronics
4. Embedded compute
www.n47.com/insights/int...
1. Lithium-ion batteries
2. Magnets and motors
3. Power electronics
4. Embedded compute
www.n47.com/insights/int...
While AI is getting smarter, it is getting less expensive.
The GPQA Diamond score is rising and cost per token is shrinking. At some point these favorable trends will flatten, but not yet.
The GPQA Diamond score is rising and cost per token is shrinking. At some point these favorable trends will flatten, but not yet.
December 5, 2025 at 5:30 PM
While AI is getting smarter, it is getting less expensive.
The GPQA Diamond score is rising and cost per token is shrinking. At some point these favorable trends will flatten, but not yet.
The GPQA Diamond score is rising and cost per token is shrinking. At some point these favorable trends will flatten, but not yet.
Many of the “pre AI startups” are like giant sea turtles. Lots of range, long lives, hard to kill, have experienced leadership and solid boards. Many of them kicking ass again. Growing 50% or more, burning little cash with loyal customers who renew, with healthy margins. - Andy Price, Artisanal
December 5, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Many of the “pre AI startups” are like giant sea turtles. Lots of range, long lives, hard to kill, have experienced leadership and solid boards. Many of them kicking ass again. Growing 50% or more, burning little cash with loyal customers who renew, with healthy margins. - Andy Price, Artisanal
Cloudflare found that Google currently sees 3.2 times more pages on the internet than OpenAI, 4.6 times more than Microsoft, and 4.8 times more than Anthropic or Meta does. Cloudflare has blocked more than 400 billion AI bot requests for its customers since July 1.
www.wired.com/story/big-in...
www.wired.com/story/big-in...
Cloudflare Has Blocked 416 Billion AI Bot Requests Since July 1
Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince claims the internet infrastructure company’s efforts to block AI crawlers are already seeing big results.
www.wired.com
December 4, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Cloudflare found that Google currently sees 3.2 times more pages on the internet than OpenAI, 4.6 times more than Microsoft, and 4.8 times more than Anthropic or Meta does. Cloudflare has blocked more than 400 billion AI bot requests for its customers since July 1.
www.wired.com/story/big-in...
www.wired.com/story/big-in...
A startup's investor update can be brief:
Best vibes
* +22% MoM ARR growth
* [REDACTED] started as AE, first deal closed in 2nd week
* [REDACTED] closed as customer, largest [OF CATEGORY] in the US
* Design lead hired
Challenges
* Large deal in pipeline stuck in bureaucracy; tips?
Best vibes
* +22% MoM ARR growth
* [REDACTED] started as AE, first deal closed in 2nd week
* [REDACTED] closed as customer, largest [OF CATEGORY] in the US
* Design lead hired
Challenges
* Large deal in pipeline stuck in bureaucracy; tips?
December 4, 2025 at 8:32 PM
A startup's investor update can be brief:
Best vibes
* +22% MoM ARR growth
* [REDACTED] started as AE, first deal closed in 2nd week
* [REDACTED] closed as customer, largest [OF CATEGORY] in the US
* Design lead hired
Challenges
* Large deal in pipeline stuck in bureaucracy; tips?
Best vibes
* +22% MoM ARR growth
* [REDACTED] started as AE, first deal closed in 2nd week
* [REDACTED] closed as customer, largest [OF CATEGORY] in the US
* Design lead hired
Challenges
* Large deal in pipeline stuck in bureaucracy; tips?
Never been a better time to be a European startup founder. - Eric Liaw, IVP
www.cnbc.com/video/2025/1...
www.cnbc.com/video/2025/1...
Opportunities across the 'entire continent', says IVP's Liaw on Europe
Eric Liaw, General Partner at IVP joins CNBC's Squawk Box Europe to discuss the fintech space, investments in Europe and where he sees opportunities across the continent.
www.cnbc.com
December 4, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Never been a better time to be a European startup founder. - Eric Liaw, IVP
www.cnbc.com/video/2025/1...
www.cnbc.com/video/2025/1...
Your early hires need to be comfortable re-inventing how they work regularly. And they need to have strong opinions (loosely held) about what works and what doesn’t. What you’re looking for is enthusiastic, informed humility.
www.nfx.com/post/hidden-...
www.nfx.com/post/hidden-...
The Hidden Structure Behind Today’s Fastest Startups
Discover how AI is reshaping org design. Learn how today’s fastest startups hire, structure teams, and lead differently in the AI-first era.
www.nfx.com
December 4, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Your early hires need to be comfortable re-inventing how they work regularly. And they need to have strong opinions (loosely held) about what works and what doesn’t. What you’re looking for is enthusiastic, informed humility.
www.nfx.com/post/hidden-...
www.nfx.com/post/hidden-...
Winning isn’t about outspending or out-talking competitors — it’s about knowing what makes you different, staying faster and closer to customers, and selling a vision that pulls the future toward you.
buildtoscale.substack.com/p/why-will-y...
buildtoscale.substack.com/p/why-will-y...
Why Will You Win?
Paint The Picture That Only You Can
buildtoscale.substack.com
December 3, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Winning isn’t about outspending or out-talking competitors — it’s about knowing what makes you different, staying faster and closer to customers, and selling a vision that pulls the future toward you.
buildtoscale.substack.com/p/why-will-y...
buildtoscale.substack.com/p/why-will-y...
AI Agents Need Human Bosses.
Humans want and have careers, something agents will never have. Agents are software, and don’t “want” anything.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-ai...
Humans want and have careers, something agents will never have. Agents are software, and don’t “want” anything.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-ai...
Why AI Agents Need Human Bosses
Some people argue that AI is so powerful that it should get personhood. But when an old model, like OpenAI’s GPT-4, is replaced by GPT-5, nobody wonders if that hurts GPT-4’s feelings.
www.linkedin.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:42 PM
AI Agents Need Human Bosses.
Humans want and have careers, something agents will never have. Agents are software, and don’t “want” anything.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-ai...
Humans want and have careers, something agents will never have. Agents are software, and don’t “want” anything.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-ai...
Leader, when you catch yourself thinking, “Should I be X or Y?” — stop.
Ask instead, “How can I be both?”
www.linkedin.com/pulse/greatn...
Ask instead, “How can I be both?”
www.linkedin.com/pulse/greatn...
Greatness Lies in the Contradictions: How the Best Leaders Integrate Opposites Instead of Choosing Sides
(Part 4 of The Best Leaders Playbook — The Paradox of Power Series) The Leadership Tightrope If you lead long enough, you start to realize something uncomfortable: everything that makes you effective ...
www.linkedin.com
December 3, 2025 at 5:04 AM
Leader, when you catch yourself thinking, “Should I be X or Y?” — stop.
Ask instead, “How can I be both?”
www.linkedin.com/pulse/greatn...
Ask instead, “How can I be both?”
www.linkedin.com/pulse/greatn...
Continuing their strong commitment to the open source community, Mistral is releasing Mistral Large 3 (675B parameters) and the Ministral 3 suite of small models (3B, 8B, 14B).
mistral.ai/news/mistral-3
mistral.ai/news/mistral-3
Introducing Mistral 3 | Mistral AI
A family of frontier open-source multimodal models
mistral.ai
December 2, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Continuing their strong commitment to the open source community, Mistral is releasing Mistral Large 3 (675B parameters) and the Ministral 3 suite of small models (3B, 8B, 14B).
mistral.ai/news/mistral-3
mistral.ai/news/mistral-3
Founders who built generational companies were simultaneously deeply humble and unapologetically arrogant. This isn't a flaw; it’s the configuration that makes founders unbreakable.
- Adam Shuaib, Episode1 Ventures
www.linkedin.com/posts/adamsh...
- Adam Shuaib, Episode1 Ventures
www.linkedin.com/posts/adamsh...
December 2, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Founders who built generational companies were simultaneously deeply humble and unapologetically arrogant. This isn't a flaw; it’s the configuration that makes founders unbreakable.
- Adam Shuaib, Episode1 Ventures
www.linkedin.com/posts/adamsh...
- Adam Shuaib, Episode1 Ventures
www.linkedin.com/posts/adamsh...
When you think of the value chain (or "stack" if you will) of AI functionality, remember the great value-chain wisdoms of Clay Christensen, beautifully explained in this article:
every.to/divinations/...
every.to/divinations/...
Finding Power
An introduction to Clay Christensen’s most underrated idea: “The Conservation of Modularity”
every.to
December 1, 2025 at 7:20 PM
When you think of the value chain (or "stack" if you will) of AI functionality, remember the great value-chain wisdoms of Clay Christensen, beautifully explained in this article:
every.to/divinations/...
every.to/divinations/...
European AI startups ranked by investment valuation
December 1, 2025 at 6:21 PM
European AI startups ranked by investment valuation
Jan Goetz, co-CEO of IQM, the company that has sold the most quantum computers in the world.
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...
Jan Goetz - From quantum physicist to deep-tech founder, Raising $600M, First application around the corner, From academia to startup by Venture Europe: Entrepreneurship | Technology | Venture Capita...
Today, we step into the quantum frontier with Jan Goetz — co-founder and CEO of IQM Quantum Computers.From quantum physicist to deep-tech founder, Jan has built one of Europe’s most ambitious hardware...
creators.spotify.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Jan Goetz, co-CEO of IQM, the company that has sold the most quantum computers in the world.
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...
creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/...
PagerDuty built a great product. They serve real customers with real pain. They’re profitable and have a fortress balance sheet. And the market values them at 2-3x ARR because growth has stalled.
Profitable is not enough. You have to grow.
www.saastr.com/pagerduty-fa...
Profitable is not enough. You have to grow.
www.saastr.com/pagerduty-fa...
PagerDuty Falls to ~$1B Market Cap on $500M ARR. Just 2x ARR. Profitable Isn’t Enough. You Have to Grow.
PagerDuty just reported earnings, and the numbers tell a sobering story. The Captain Obvious lesson and reminder: Growth Remains King. Even if you are profitable. You just have to grow. And for …
www.saastr.com
November 30, 2025 at 8:38 PM
PagerDuty built a great product. They serve real customers with real pain. They’re profitable and have a fortress balance sheet. And the market values them at 2-3x ARR because growth has stalled.
Profitable is not enough. You have to grow.
www.saastr.com/pagerduty-fa...
Profitable is not enough. You have to grow.
www.saastr.com/pagerduty-fa...
CEO: Read one book a month. Make sure your team reads books too. Discuss what you learned and make concrete changes as a result.
November 30, 2025 at 4:11 AM
CEO: Read one book a month. Make sure your team reads books too. Discuss what you learned and make concrete changes as a result.
On X, I have around 30K followers, and I get around 500 views on a posting. On LinkedIn I have 1/2 the follower count and get 10X the views. BlueSky: few followers, fewer views.
So on LinkedIn, I post updates I want my network to see. On BlueSky, I post things I want myself not to lose.
So on LinkedIn, I post updates I want my network to see. On BlueSky, I post things I want myself not to lose.
November 29, 2025 at 11:54 PM
On X, I have around 30K followers, and I get around 500 views on a posting. On LinkedIn I have 1/2 the follower count and get 10X the views. BlueSky: few followers, fewer views.
So on LinkedIn, I post updates I want my network to see. On BlueSky, I post things I want myself not to lose.
So on LinkedIn, I post updates I want my network to see. On BlueSky, I post things I want myself not to lose.
The stochastic mindset will help make us all more comfortable at a higher level of abstraction. From there we can see AI as both an executor of our intentions and as a teacher.
sequoiacap.com/article/stoc...
sequoiacap.com/article/stoc...
The Stochastic Mindset
AI tools will change the way we work by changing the way we think from deterministic utility to probabilistic opportunity.
sequoiacap.com
November 29, 2025 at 11:42 PM
The stochastic mindset will help make us all more comfortable at a higher level of abstraction. From there we can see AI as both an executor of our intentions and as a teacher.
sequoiacap.com/article/stoc...
sequoiacap.com/article/stoc...
If you wonder how to do GTM for a startup with the highest ambitions, read Make It Snow by Denise Persson (marketing) and Chris Degnan (sales) who were "like one brain in two bodies".
November 29, 2025 at 2:55 PM
If you wonder how to do GTM for a startup with the highest ambitions, read Make It Snow by Denise Persson (marketing) and Chris Degnan (sales) who were "like one brain in two bodies".
I made plenty of mistakes getting to success:
- Hiring the wrong people
- Chasing too many ideas
- Trying to stray too far away from our original model
I learned that the businesses that reach £1 billion stay focused, prioritise their people and evolve one step at a time.
- Richard Harpin
- Hiring the wrong people
- Chasing too many ideas
- Trying to stray too far away from our original model
I learned that the businesses that reach £1 billion stay focused, prioritise their people and evolve one step at a time.
- Richard Harpin
November 29, 2025 at 2:42 PM
I made plenty of mistakes getting to success:
- Hiring the wrong people
- Chasing too many ideas
- Trying to stray too far away from our original model
I learned that the businesses that reach £1 billion stay focused, prioritise their people and evolve one step at a time.
- Richard Harpin
- Hiring the wrong people
- Chasing too many ideas
- Trying to stray too far away from our original model
I learned that the businesses that reach £1 billion stay focused, prioritise their people and evolve one step at a time.
- Richard Harpin
Startup winners were often immigrants or outsiders, sometimes neurodivergent or socially awkward, sometimes even unpleasant or difficult to work with, but they all had an inevitable quality to them.
www.linkedin.com/posts/adamsh...
www.linkedin.com/posts/adamsh...
Over the last 6 years, we manually tagged 16,000 founders across a number of binary signals that indicated someone had lived outside the matrix: odd hobbies, extreme life choices, unusual upbringing,…...
Over the last 6 years, we manually tagged 16,000 founders across a number of binary signals that indicated someone had lived outside the matrix: odd hobbies, extreme life choices, unusual upbringing, ...
www.linkedin.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Startup winners were often immigrants or outsiders, sometimes neurodivergent or socially awkward, sometimes even unpleasant or difficult to work with, but they all had an inevitable quality to them.
www.linkedin.com/posts/adamsh...
www.linkedin.com/posts/adamsh...
Karri Saarinen has sought to do things differently.
"Companies are so focused on what all the other companies are doing, so they’re trying to build the same things or catch up to everyone.”
www.fastcompany.com/91445544/the...
"Companies are so focused on what all the other companies are doing, so they’re trying to build the same things or catch up to everyone.”
www.fastcompany.com/91445544/the...
The billion-dollar AI startup rejecting 996 hustle culture
Linear CEO Karri Saarinen tells Fast Company why he's bucking the trend of AI companies’ ‘hardcore,’ always-on work styles.
www.fastcompany.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Karri Saarinen has sought to do things differently.
"Companies are so focused on what all the other companies are doing, so they’re trying to build the same things or catch up to everyone.”
www.fastcompany.com/91445544/the...
"Companies are so focused on what all the other companies are doing, so they’re trying to build the same things or catch up to everyone.”
www.fastcompany.com/91445544/the...