George Van Wormer

Most teams don't struggle with speed anymore. They struggle with building the right things. That's exactly where my brother thrives. He's a Principal Product Designer who brings real product thinking into design. The kind of person who helps teams cut through complexity and focus on what matters. If you're building serious products and need that level of thinking, take a look at his post below.

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The food supply chain remains one of the largest, most complex, and least digitized systems in the global economy. Companies like anchr are embedding AI directly into distributor workflows unlocking massive efficiency gains across an industry that quite literally feeds the world. Excited to see Smayan Mehra, Tzar Taraporvala, and the team hiring their next founding teammates. If you want to help rebuild the backbone of food distribution, this is a rare opportunity.

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Excited to share that Webflow Ventures has invested in Tempo (YC S23)'s $5M seed round to advance the convergence of design and engineering. Tempo’s work bridging design and code aligns with Webflow’s mission to empower visual development for designers and developers alike. Looking forward to continue partnering with Kevin Michael, Brandon Palin, and the rest of the Tempo team. https://lnkd.in/eKiTZ-r9

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Excited to launch the TPH Rural Health Transformation Lab. We’re building an open innovation platform to help design scalable healthcare solutions for rural communities, starting with Alaska. Proud to partner with Jonathan Strong, who runs Medicaid-funded care facilities in Kodiak and brings deep operational experience in rural healthcare. Our mission is to bring together innovators, clinicians, and technologists to solve real rural healthcare challenges. If solutions work in frontier environments, they can scale anywhere.

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Venture funding isn't success of course, but it's nearly impossible to win big markets without it. Unlike the AI hype, Ando is very, very real. And unlike others, Ando is here to make lives genuinely better for everyone. (*) #proudinvestor #micdrop #oversubscribed Big thx to Bradford Oberwager and James Kairos, Ben Metcalfe, Andy Mutz, Joseph Chittenden-Veal, Scott Sanders, Massy Ghausi, John Lyman, Thomas Wesley, John Holder… and of course Phoenix Toews and Paul Wellons (to name a few) — (*) Yeah yeah, some pencil-pusher will use AI to over-optimize profits over people, but as American Airlines is learning the hard way (WSJ: https://lnkd.in/ePz_QNzt ), net of competition, "people businesses" don't work that way. You HAVE to care for people or you lose. Ando plays a beautiful collaborative role in that dialogue, helping profit-focused management more clearly see the effects of a motivated labor force. That's why I'm truly #proudinvestor --- Posts co-authored with my LinkedIn secret weapon Dennis Buckley

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Don't Build a Better Wheat Farm" - Why Defensibility Stakes Are Higher in Deep Tech Just published a new piece on my "Ignore the Confusion" blog, building on thoughtful insights from Eric Ver Ploeg at Tunitas Ventures about startup defensibility. Eric's core thesis: Too many startups pitch like wheat farmers - "huge TAM, slow incumbents, growing market, domain expertise" - but fail to think through long-term defensibility until it's too late. From a deep tech perspective, the stakes are even higher: ** Unlike software, deep tech founders must commit to defensibility strategies from day one - their funding depends on it ** Patent vs. trade secret decisions are often difficult to reverse and shape your entire competitive strategy ** Even "picks and shovels" providers (the tools that make industries more efficient) become commodities without proper moats The key insight that resonates: Defensibility can't be retrofitted. Whether you're building software or deep tech, your moat must be architected into the business model from the start. Thanks to Eric Ver Ploeg for sharing these insights on startup strategy and letting me build on his framework from a deep tech lens. Read the full post: https://lnkd.in/dEj_iF-Q #DeepTech #StartupStrategy #Defensibility #VentureCapital #Innovation

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Building a startup is hard. It is especially hard in a country like Nigeria, where the ecosystem is yet to mature, and there are still many challenges to navigate. It is confusing, lonely, and full of uncertain decisions. Founders, especially early-stage founders, need as much support as they can get. Not “inspire to perspire” posts, but practical support on hiring, operations, funding, customer research, and navigating the regulatory landscape. Too many founders are surrounded by noise, surface-level advice, and generic content that does not reflect their current realities. What they need is a community that understands exactly what they are going through and can offer context that is immediately useful. Sierra Collective exists to be that community. A space where founders learn from one another’s live experiences and shorten the painful trial and error that usually defines the early stages of building. At Sierra, we believe that the most valuable support comes from those who are active in the trenches, navigating the same obstacles. If you are an early-stage founder, you should join the Sierra Collective. You do not have to figure everything out alone. As the African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” Join Sierra: https://lnkd.in/d-Nzmtkq

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GPU power is advancing so fast -- and companies are willing to spend so aggressively that they'll only rent the newest model GPUs -- that previous-gen GPUs are effectively worthless. That means data center economics don't work, because you can't recoup the cost of installing GPUs before they become un-rentable. https://lnkd.in/gagATgG2

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