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Brad DeLong

What Brad DeLong thinks about ideas vs execution

@brad-delong · 59 positions · 0 changes of mind

Economics professor at the University of California, Berkeley and a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury. Author of Slouching Towards Utopia and writer of the Grasping Reality newsletter.

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2 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Brad DeLong has said — not written or endorsed by them.

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  1. Our readingSpaceX's success is attributed more to narrative rotation and financing new goals with believers in previous ones, rather than solely to technical achievements.

    Their wordsWhich suggests that the real genius of SpaceX had nothing to do with aerodynamics or rocket telemetry but narrative rotation, as each new iteration of the company’s goals was financed by believers in the last.

    ↗CROSSPOST: SINEAD O’SULLIVAN: SpaceX Pivots Away from Spacebraddelong.substack.com

  2. 4 days earlier

  3. Our readingThe primary assets for success in consumer AI are not the AI models themselves, but rather factors like default placement, brand, habit, proprietary data, and effective product loops.

    Their wordsThe real assets are familiar ones: default placement, brand, habit, proprietary data, and an effective product loop. The AI itself is not a moat when competitors can access comparable models and cheaply reproduce the surrounding interface.

    ↗FaceBook’s Muse on the Apple iOS App Store: CHART OF THE DAYbraddelong.substack.com

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