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Dax Raad

Dax Raad

@dax-raad · 28 positions · On ppll ↗

Builds developer tools — SST, and now OpenCode at Anomaly. Co-hosts the How About Tomorrow? podcast with Adam Elmore.

Dax Raad did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

8 of Dax Raad's claims fit 6 mental models. Most often: Less, but better, Exponential growth, Feedback loops.

Models they name

Their own words name the idea.

Exponential growth

Growth that doubles looks like nothing for a long time and then like everything; intuition is linear and gets it wrong.

Used by 13 others

Demand for inference may be growing exponentially while GPU production can only grow linearly, and the tightening happens where those two lines cross.

  1. Dax Raad Builds developer tools — SST, and now OpenCode at Anomaly The demand for inference is growing. So, like I don't think it's linearly growing. I think it might even be exponentially growing. But we haven't made our production of GPUs grow exponentially. That's like kind of a linear process. So as those lines intersect, there's going to be uh tightening. Building OpenCode with Dax Raadyoutube.com · 27 May 2026 · 0:39:33 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    The demand for inference is growing. So, like I don't think it's linearly growing. I think it might even be exponentially growing. But we haven't made our production of GPUs grow exponentially. That's like kind of a linear process. So as those lines intersect, there's going to be uh tightening.

    Watch from 0:39:33 plays here

    ↗Building OpenCode with Dax Raadyoutube.com

    27 May 2026 · video · 1h 21m · spoken · machine transcript

Feedback loops

Shorten the loop between doing and finding out; whatever a loop rewards is what you become.

Used by 62 others

The prickle you used to feel writing a hack is muted now, so the landmines are still there but the feedback loop that kept your judgement honest is gone.

  1. Dax Raad Builds developer tools — SST, and now OpenCode at Anomaly That prickle that feeling that you get, it's like muted now cuz someone else it's kind of like you've made someone else deal with the problem. The problem is still there and the the landmines are still going to blow up on you eventually, but like you're not you don't feel that bad feeling as much anymore. So your judgment is skewed. You're not getting that feedback loop. Building OpenCode with Dax Raadyoutube.com · 27 May 2026 · 0:51:39 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    That prickle that feeling that you get, it's like muted now cuz someone else it's kind of like you've made someone else deal with the problem. The problem is still there and the the landmines are still going to blow up on you eventually, but like you're not you don't feel that bad feeling as much anymore. So your judgment is skewed. You're not getting that feedback loop.

    Watch from 0:51:39 plays here

    ↗Building OpenCode with Dax Raadyoutube.com

    27 May 2026 · video · 1h 21m · spoken · machine transcript

Models we see in what they say

Our reading: their claim applies the idea without naming it. The claim is theirs; filing it here is ours.

Less, but better

Find the essence and cut the rest; simplicity is hard work, not the absence of effort.

Used by 59 others

You probably only have one good idea in your whole product, and the job is getting the user to experience it as fast as possible.

  1. Dax Raad Builds developer tools — SST, and now OpenCode at Anomaly You probably only have one good idea in your whole product. Get the user to experience that as fast as possible. Well, it sounds so easy, but if you go try every single product out there, you will see a million accidental steps they introduced from the user hearing about your product to like seeing the value in it. Building OpenCode with Dax Raadyoutube.com · 27 May 2026 · 0:59:23 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    You probably only have one good idea in your whole product. Get the user to experience that as fast as possible. Well, it sounds so easy, but if you go try every single product out there, you will see a million accidental steps they introduced from the user hearing about your product to like seeing the value in it.

    Watch from 0:59:23 plays here

    ↗Building OpenCode with Dax Raadyoutube.com

    27 May 2026 · video · 1h 21m · spoken · machine transcript

Answering every problem, competitor and user request with one more shipped feature does not add up to a good product; it adds up to a horrible one.

  1. Dax Raad Builds developer tools — SST, and now OpenCode at Anomaly If you add that up, you think, "Oh, we shipped a thousand features. Now that adds it to a good product." It actually adds it to a horrible product. Building OpenCode with Dax Raadyoutube.com · 27 May 2026 · 0:05:41 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    If you add that up, you think, "Oh, we shipped a thousand features. Now that adds it to a good product." It actually adds it to a horrible product.

    Watch from 0:05:41 plays here

    ↗Building OpenCode with Dax Raadyoutube.com

    27 May 2026 · video · 1h 21m · spoken · machine transcript

The job of product is not to ship the immediate solution to a problem but to absorb all the problems and find the one solution that fixes fifty of them.

  1. Dax Raad Builds developer tools — SST, and now OpenCode at Anomaly The job of product isn't to just receive a problem and ship the immediate solution. It's to absorb all the problems and understand that there's one solution you can ship to fix 50 different problems. Building OpenCode with Dax Raadyoutube.com · 27 May 2026 · 1:00:00 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    The job of product isn't to just receive a problem and ship the immediate solution. It's to absorb all the problems and understand that there's one solution you can ship to fix 50 different problems.

    Watch from 1:00:00 plays here

    ↗Building OpenCode with Dax Raadyoutube.com

    27 May 2026 · video · 1h 21m · spoken · machine transcript

Second-order thinking

Ask "and then what?": follow a decision past its first effect to the ones that come after.

Used by 87 others

Shipping ten times as much is not an advantage, because the moment you ship something you are stuck supporting it forever and every later feature has to interact with it.

  1. Dax Raad Builds developer tools — SST, and now OpenCode at Anomaly The moment you ship something, you're stuck supporting it forever. And by supporting, it means any future feature you build is going to like interact with it. So you still have to be very conservative with what you put out there. It's hard to undo anything. Just cuz we can ship 10 times more doesn't mean we have 10 times as many good ideas to ship out there. Building OpenCode with Dax Raadyoutube.com · 27 May 2026 · 0:05:52 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    The moment you ship something, you're stuck supporting it forever. And by supporting, it means any future feature you build is going to like interact with it. So you still have to be very conservative with what you put out there. It's hard to undo anything. Just cuz we can ship 10 times more doesn't mean we have 10 times as many good ideas to ship out there.

    Watch from 0:05:52 plays here

    ↗Building OpenCode with Dax Raadyoutube.com

    27 May 2026 · video · 1h 21m · spoken · machine transcript

The map is not the territory

Every model, word or plan is a simplified map of reality; useful when its structure matches, misleading when mistaken for the thing itself.

Used by 55 others

A benchmark that ranks Claude Code last while it stays first in use is measuring the wrong thing, and has been for a year.

  1. Dax Raad Builds developer tools — SST, and now OpenCode at Anomaly every week i see a new benchmark that ranks claude code last and everyone pats themselves on the back for not using claude code and being "smarter" and it's still #1 and still growing faster than most of the other things on the list this has been going on for a year @thdxr on Xx.com · 3 Sept 2026
    every week i see a new benchmark that ranks claude code last and everyone pats themselves on the back for not using claude code and being "smarter" and it's still #1 and still growing faster than most of the other things on the list this has been going on for a year

Thought experiments

Test an idea in your head first, by imagining the case that would break it.

Used by 3 others

Before product-market fit, coding faster does not help: it is better to think a lot than to swing a lot, and AI does not speed up the thinking.

  1. Dax Raad Builds developer tools — SST, and now OpenCode at Anomaly But I've always thought it's better to think a lot instead of swinging a lot. I think you could you can eliminate a lot of ideas or directions just by, you know, spending a lot of time in your head and with your team talking. Um, obviously AI doesn't speed that part up. Building OpenCode with Dax Raadyoutube.com · 27 May 2026 · 0:04:58 into the videoAll korrents from this video
    But I've always thought it's better to think a lot instead of swinging a lot. I think you could you can eliminate a lot of ideas or directions just by, you know, spending a lot of time in your head and with your team talking. Um, obviously AI doesn't speed that part up.

    Watch from 0:04:58 plays here

    ↗Building OpenCode with Dax Raadyoutube.com

    27 May 2026 · video · 1h 21m · spoken · machine transcript