Randall Noval

Sneak peek at creating a spec using Agent OS 2.0.

Planning, researching, writing, verifying accuracy.

Designed to setup Claude Code for successful implementation.

MIT’s *State of AI in Business 2025* warns: 95% of generative AI pilots fail to deliver P&L impact. Only 5% reach production—usually when workflows are tightly integrated.

For investors: ask, “How is AI actually embedded?” Let’s go beyond headlines.
#AIAdoption #InvestorQuestions

bit.ly/45RivxG

From Memo to Movement: Shopify’s Cultural Adoption of AI | First Round The non-obvious insights, tactics and workflows Shopify used to bring an ambitious memo to life.

First Round’s Shopify case study is a must-read. It shows what happens when AI stops being optional and becomes infrastructure:

Org-wide access to tools means innovation isn’t siloed.

Legal alignment from day one lowers friction.

Experimentation at the edges surfaces unexpected value.

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The EU Product Liability Directive will take effect Dec 2026. Software, firmware, applications, AI systems, and will now be subject to the same strict liability regime as traditional physical goods. Cybersecurity vulnerabilities will be considered product defects. www.lexology.com/library/deta...

A challenge with AI adoption is that organizations are not built to a Grand Plan where AI can just be slotted in by leaders, but rather socially constructed, semi-random & in flux

Here's an anecdote from a paper on how a CEO realized he didn't understand how things really worked (& that nobody did)

AI is Rewriting the Rules of Pricing – And You Need to Pay Attention Insights from Manny Medina, Founder of Paid

AI pricing is evolving from "per token" to value-based models as the market matures.
The progression is from activity-based (computational resources) to outcome-based (measurable business results).

Companies are aligning their pricing with customer success rather than input costs.

From Tech Whiz to People Pro: Scaling Your Startup with Heart and Smarts 🚀 – Expertise Guides Your ultimate resource for expert-driven insights tailored to your needs

From writing code to leading teams: a critical transition for startups. 70% of startups fail by scaling too quickly, often because technical founders struggle to shift from being the technical hero to a leader who empowers others.

The Invisible Architecture of Scale Three Critical Pillars for Growth & Profitability

New post: “The Invisible Architecture of Scale”

We chase scale in the visible. But it’s the unseen systems—leadership, culture, process—that make it stick.

After years of building and advising, this truth keeps showing up.

Would love your thoughts:

bit.ly/4jw9TBC

#Leadership #StartupGrowth

Happy Twixmas all! The BOI filing requirement is back on. Fortunately, it is very easy to do yourself for free (no need to pay anyone).

File here, directly with the government (fincen.gov)
https://bit.ly/3ZTOSJ9

FAQs: https://bit.ly/4gteiUQ
Step-by-step screenshots: https://bit.ly/4gykZVH

HTH!

Since I've been here for a while… here are some useful features on Bluesky that you might not have discovered yet! 🧵

Focus is essential for effective delivery, whether you're an IC or a CXO. From Gerald M. Weinberg's "Quality Software Management: Systems Thinking," each additional task reduces productivity by 20%. >30 years later and we still have challenges.

https://buff.ly/48CxrAG

Who had this on their AI Hijinks Bingo Card?

‘We are highly embarrassed’: creator of Pakistan website behind non-existent Dublin Halloween parade says it was a mistake https://buff.ly/3AtsVb1

So many things this applies to, not just building LLM Apps.

Evals > Set Target > Optimize - The starting point for your apps should always start with an evals. You won't know if you're going the right direction without an objective way to measure...
https://buff.ly/3XS61lj

Generating is the new compiling.

https://xkcd.com/303/

A virtual certificate with text "Celebrating 10M users on Bluesky, #1,969,125, Randall Noval ‪@starfysh.bsky.social‬, joined on Nov 12, 2023"

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #1,969,125!

Screenshot of tweet from "stilloranged": weird interaction with a student this week. they kept coming up with weird "facts" ("greek is actually a combination of four other languages") that left me baffled. i said let's look this stuff up together, and they said ok, i'll open a search bar, and they opened... chat gpt

and i was like "this is not a search bar" and they were like "yes it is, you can search for anything in here". the thing that made me feel crazy is like. every kid that's using this as a browser is getting new BESPOKE false "facts." this isn't "a widespread misconception about X that stems from how it's taught in schools." each individual kid is now hooked into a Nonsense Machine. with the "widespread misconception about X" you can start at a baseline. like, ok, in 10th grade we all talk about X thing from history, and that leaves us with some misguided concepts about X, but we can correct that as students get broader understandings of the world. but with this, each child is getting UNIQUE wrong facts they are SURE are correct.. because they did what we told them to do! they "looked it up"! they got it from somewhere! it's not a kid making up a belief on hearsay and assumption… it's something they think they LEARNED

this kid was extremely combative with me, and i understood why. i was sitting in front of him and telling him that the internet, a computer, technology, all these supposedly authoritative things… were wrong, and that i, one person, was right. he basically *couldn't* believe me. he decided that i was simply a teacher who'd made a mistake. he could check it, after all! he could look it up! he could find the REAL facts. i obviously hadn't done that, i was just an adult who'd decided i was smarter than him. hence the defensiveness. like i said: i understood it was so fucking rough. i did my best, but i am one person trying to work against a campaign of misinformation so vast that it fucking terrifies me. this kid is being set up for a life lived entirely inside the hall of mirrors

Uhhhh… this is probably bad 😬😬

CRO and CMO Jessica Gilmartin shares a first-hand account of how Calendly revamped their lead routing, qualification, and GTM org https://buff.ly/3VJOURR

Why deadlines are pointless:
"you can’t control outcomes, only the processes that generate those outcomes.
...take this: long-term objectives demand consistent short-term action and predictable performance improvements, not one big mindless push."
https://buff.ly/3SkLmBV

“I think the major harm that comes is there’s no time to think critically,” Odubela said.

It is so easy to chase the shiny AI object and become a distraction. Focus remains one of the most important elements for companies from solo-preneurs to F500.
https://buff.ly/44t9SIp

Design is only as “human-centered” as the business model allows https://buff.ly/2mlYObQ

Learn how AI works with GPT2 in a standalone spreadsheet!

A low-code way to learn AI https://buff.ly/4cjtsdG

Great example of why UX design is difficult and often undervalued. What is the worst design (digital or IRL) that you have seen?

Gracie's Ice Cream: "I put a poll about this cursed knob in the stories... Guess wrong and you melt your ice cream." https://buff.ly/3Q8pSd9

Great analysis from Gergely on tech compensation. All the way at the end is this gem of a perspective on how to think about monetary compensation as a component of a larger context.

Senior-and-Above Compensation in Tech
https://buff.ly/43rz3dT

"If you're not willing to look like an idiot in the short term, you will never look like a genius in the long term."

— @ShaneAParrish

Leaders are not responsible for the numbers; leaders are responsible for the people responsible for the numbers.
—Simon Sinek https://buff.ly/47YBAgj

Who will be the next heretic?

https://buff.ly/3SBhWCM

You don’t need more time; you need more focus.

Fewer projects. Fewer commitments. Fewer obligations. Fewer responsibilities.

Carefully choose your commitments, then go all in.

https://buff.ly/3Ul7AZ2