But First…Cool, if Real

Make every basket with AR.

This is a real! Basketball Lens is a Snap Spectacles (or as we say at Dauntless, Snaptacles - we’re going to make the name stick) app. It looks simple but this app has to do three complex tasks: (1) track the ball, (2) detect the hoop, and (3) recognize when the user makes a basket. Overlaying the track is probably the easiest part. All this just in-time for March Madness. I used Perplexity’s AI to fill out my bracket this year because according to OpenAI, ChatGPT can analyze matchups but isn’t equipped to build a full bracket. So far, things aren’t going great. I’m coming fourth in the family group…and our family’s not that big. I won’t be hitting up Vegas with my AI bestie anytime soon.

Startup Updates and Wins

We launched a free consulting service (aka a podcast) where Sofia Lazaro and share everything we learned the hard way about fundraising, bootstrapping a business, launching a emerging tech startup (when you have no technical background), acquiring businesses, the side-hustle to main-hustle transition, working with the DoD, handling the ever-changing advancements in AI, and our perspective on industry news. We want you to steal out 10,000 hours and help you build something awesome. Watch the first episode on whether startup accelerators are worth it (YouTube).

Industry News

•  Varjo is Paywalling Advanced Features on the XR-4. (UploadVR). Varjo is paywalling eye tracking for analytics and research, passthrough access (aka mixed reality mode), the ability to disable Varjo UI branding, and third party plugins for tracking, behind a $2500/year/headset license. I love the XR-4 and I want to know how Varjo will stay competitive if Apple and Meta will offer these included out of the box? It’s hard to build a profitable business with hardware and XR hardware is an expert level game with no fail turned off.

• A G2 Geomagnetic Storm hit the Earth this weekend. A “G2” is a moderate storm and this one was cause by a coronal mass ejection (CME) that left the sun on March 17th. The CME left behind a massive coronal hole which you can see in our Aura for Space Weather app for free. It’s the clearest on GOES-16 SUVI.

Saved on Socials

The posts, memes and videos we DM’ed each other this week.

• When you need a LOTR reference to put how much $1B is into perspective (Instagram)

Recently Played >

What our founders listened to this week.

• Tia Mizoni Bought Stella Jets for $8000 and now its worth millions (my favorite kind of acquisition story). (YouTube)

• Forging the Future with Chris Howard (Apple Podcasts)

• Gary Vee and David Rodolitz on The Stanza (Apple Podcasts).

Overheard on Slack

Enter the chat. What our devs are talking about…

• “You can delete a message but screenshots are forever” - you know who you are and we all saw what you said.

• “Just because I have a degree in psychology does not mean I have any emotional intelligence.”

• “I want to know what the convo was that lead to the creation of the word “dongle”.”

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