ambition
How much to take on and how hard to push: superlinear returns to effort, focus, slack time, and procrastination.
FilterEveryone, all time254 from 141 people
- DH
David Heinemeier Hansson quoted
Creator of Ruby on Rails, CTO of 37signals
Their wordsStarship, Starlink, Grok, and Roadster. These should all have been Sputnik moments for Europe. Triggered immediate deregulation, mobilization of capital, and ambition to catch up.
- 2 weeks earlier
- BD
Brad DeLong quoted
Economics professor at the University of California
Their wordsA self made legible to all roles at once maximizes role strain rather than resolving it.
- 2 days earlier
- LR
Lenny Rachitsky quoted
Writer of Lenny's Newsletter and host of Lenny's Podcast
Their wordsThis is especially important now that AI allows us (and forces us) to be a lot more ambitious.
- 3 days earlier
- DH
David Heinemeier Hansson quoted
Their wordsThe opportunity cost of endless planning and contemplation just went way up.
- 1 day earlier
- ES
Elio Struyf quoted
Belgian engineering lead, Microsoft MVP and public speaker
Their wordsAI made us developers move so fast that we run faster than we actually can.
↗The AI chaos beast in your headeliostruyf.com 1st of 3 in this piece
- BT
Ben Thompson quoted
Writes Stratechery, a subscription newsletter…
Their wordsPacing the frontier may be sincere, but it would also be strategically useful for the frontier labs to have time to reduce overhangs caused by model advancement.
↗2026.39: Begun, the Aggregator Wars Havestratechery.com 2nd of 2 in this piece
- ES
Elio Struyf quoted
Their wordsI believe our brains are able to only handle a handful of tasks a day.
↗The AI chaos beast in your headeliostruyf.com 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 1 day earlier
- PB
Paul Bloom quoted
Psychologist at the University of Toronto and professor emeritus at Yale
Their wordsBut I'm here to help you, and I'll tell you that, in the long run, if you're aiming for a research career, spending too much time on teaching is a poor decision.
↗Some non-obvious advice for psych graduate studentssmallpotatoes.paulbloom.net 3rd of 3 in this piece
- 1 day earlier
- GT
Geoff Teehan quoted
Chief Design Officer at Lightspark
Their wordsIf you're not shipping software now, you're behind. I just want to at least be at the forefront. I don't have to have a crystal ball and be out ahead of it so much.
↗Geoff Teehan - Navigating change as a designeryoutube.com 12th of 15 in this recording
- 3 days earlier
- PS
Peter Sellis quoted
Former head of product at Discord
Their wordspeople who are making consistently good decisions I just want to load them up with more decisions till I start to see them make bad ones.
↗90 minutes of unfiltered product advice from Snap and Discord’s product chief | Peter Sellisyoutube.com 13th of 18 in this recording
- 1 day earlier
- BC
Boris Cherny quoted
Creator of Claude Code at Anthropic
Their wordsI love being wrong. It is my favorite, because it helps me more clearly define the problem, find the right solution, learn more quickly, and solve the problem.
- SP
Sunil Pai quoted
Systems and developer-tools engineer at Cloudflare as of 2026
Their wordsbig projects are not done with big efforts. it’s a big marathon, just slow, steady, incremental work.
- 1 day earlier
- CN
Casey Newton quoted
Founder of Platformer, a newsletter on tech platforms…
Our readingSpending enough time in San Francisco tends to make people want to start their own company.
Their wordsNo matter how much fun you're having at your W-2 job, spend enough time in San Francisco and you may find yourself itching to build something of your own.
- GR
Gretchen Rubin quoted
Writer on happiness, habits and human nature
Our readingAn unstarted, unresolved task is more mentally exhausting than almost any other kind of task.
Their wordsNothing is more exhausting than the task that's never started.
↗How to Tackle a Nagging Task: Power Hour!gretchenrubin.com 1st of 3 in this piece
- GR
Gretchen Rubin quoted
Their wordsSomething that can be done at any time is often done at no time.
↗How to Tackle a Nagging Task: Power Hour!gretchenrubin.com 2nd of 3 in this piece
- DH
David Heinemeier Hansson quoted
Their wordsAnd before you ask, the pursuit of excellence requires no justification!
- 5 days earlier
- VR
Venkatesh Rao quoted
Writer and consultant on technology
Our readingThe right tempo for an activity should be actively managed rather than maximized for speed.
Their wordstempo is something to be managed rather than maximized. There is no universally correct speed.
↗The Accelerationist Case for Frontier Pacingcontraptions.venkateshrao.com 1st of 3 in this piece
- TL
Tobias Lütke quoted
Co-founder and CEO of Shopify
Their wordsMaking trade deals with EU is good for Canada. Anything beyond that is just anchoring ourselves to a block who’s economic ambitions aren’t much higher than being an “open air museum”.
- 3 days earlier
- DT
Derek Thompson quoted
Writer and podcaster; co-author of Abundance with Ezra…
Their wordsJudging by their words, AI luminaries are begging the world to force them to hit the brakes. Judging by their work, these same people are pressing down on the accelerator with every fiber of their being.
- AH
Ava Huang quoted
Writer of the newsletter bookbear express, on psychology
Their wordsBut also going slow does not mean things will work out for you: just look at Lily Bart.
- HK
Henrik Karlsson quoted
Swedish essayist who writes Escaping Flatland
Their wordsBut life, if we're lucky, is very long. We have plenty of time to try different things, to live different lives, to be confused, and figure things out, and then be confused again.
↗Some remarks on being stuck, with digressions on David Hockney, developing style, and gardenshenrikkarlsson.xyz 3rd of 3 in this piece
- EV
Elena Verna quoted
Leads growth at Lovable; previously led growth at Miro
Their wordsSo, only one or two areas of exceptional craft are needed, and then the good enough everywhere else to get it to the point where you can learn.
↗The rise of HI-ICs | Elena Verna (Lovable) (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026)youtube.com 3rd of 13 in this recording
- CV
Claire Vo quoted
Founder of ChatPRD and host of the How I AI podcast
Their wordsI don't think that's the game next year. I don't think that's the game we should be playing for next year. I think next year is the ambition game.
↗Everyone’s shipping more. Does any of it matter? | Claire Vo (Lenny & Friends Summit, San Francisco, 10 September 2026)youtube.com 10th of 10 in this recording
- 2 days earlier
- WE
Warren Ellis quoted
British comics writer and novelist (Transmetropolitan
Their wordsPossibly I was being ambitious, but there's little point in not being ambitious.
- 2 days earlier
- AA
Anish Acharya quoted
General partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
Their wordsSo, I do think that like the most ambitious companies are rethinking everything around the models. And those that are a little less ambitious or perhaps a little earlier are thinking more about how do we give people and existing orgs existing job functions access to the technology.
↗Why companies are becoming a series of loops | Anish Acharya (a16z)youtube.com 4th of 20 in this recording
- 2 days earlier
- NF
Nat Friedman quoted
Investor and engineer; CEO of GitHub from 2018 to 2021
Their wordsYou should probably work on raising the ceiling, not the floor Enthusiasm matters! It's much easier to work on things that are exciting to you
- NF
Nat Friedman quoted
Their wordsIt's important to do things fast You learn more per unit time because you make contact with reality more frequently Going fast makes you focus on what's important; there's no time for bullshit
- 1 day earlier
- PG
Paul Graham quoted
Co-founder of Y Combinator and Viaweb
Their wordswe knew that it was grueling. And you need you need something to drive you through all those obstacles and honestly being dutiful is not enough.
↗Paul Graham On Startups, Ambition, and Great Foundersyoutube.com 4th of 16 in this recording
- PG
Paul Graham quoted
Their wordsThose stories are rare because most of this quality is inborn.
↗Paul Graham On Startups, Ambition, and Great Foundersyoutube.com 6th of 16 in this recording
- PG
Paul Graham quoted
Their wordsit's not that they lack ambition, it's more like they've been trained not to show it. Because when you're young you're often in situations where you're supposed to be obedient. You're not supposed to like go off and do what you want.
↗Paul Graham On Startups, Ambition, and Great Foundersyoutube.com 7th of 16 in this recording