This past week, I was in Denver delivering the opening keynote for Guild’s annual offsite for 800+ employees. The topic: AI and the future of work.

There’s a framework I referenced in the speech that I wanted to share here. One, because if you know me, you know I’m a freak for a good framework. But two, because this one is personal.

It comes from Andy Grove, the former CEO of Intel. My dad worked for Grove for several years, so I grew up on the lore.

In Only the Paranoid Survive, Grove writes about the strategic inflection point: the moment every company faces during a period of deep technological change.

It’s the moment when the assumptions that made your company successful are the same ones you have to question.

At Intel, that meant leaving behind memory chips, the business that had defined their success, and betting on microprocessors instead. It was radical and risky at the time, but the bet saved Intel and ended up powering the PC era (and the internet as we know it).

I think a lot of companies are facing their own strategic inflection point with AI right now.

Everyone wants to chase the shiny tools. But the harder work is strategic: rethinking your product, your management style, your organizational structure, and the assumptions that got you here.

What still serves you? What needs to evolve? And what, even if it’s hard, needs to be left behind?

Something to brew on. ☕️

It was an honor to keynote. Thanks to the Guild team for having me. And if you haven’t already, check them out—they are doing incredible work in the edtech space.

1. Google I/O had one big message: Gemini is becoming Google

My Tea: Gemini is now embedded across Search, Android, Chrome, and Workspace. Google is (finally) rebuilding its ecosystem around AI.

2. NVIDIA reports another blockbuster quarter

My Tea: NVIDIA still dominates AI infrastructure. But there’s a heavy subplot: AWS chips, Google TPUs, and custom silicon are bringing real competition. 

3. President Trump delays AI safety executive order

My Tea: The order would have created new federal oversight standards for powerful AI systems. Apparently, tech leaders pushed back hard.

4. Markets gear up for some of the biggest tech IPOs in history

My Tea: OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX IPO chatter is heating up. The numbers are historic: valuations are all expected to be in the trillions.

5. OpenAI rolls out self-serve Ads Manager for ChatGPT

My Tea: OpenAI projects $2.5B in ad revenue this year; $100B by 2030. Hate on ads all you want…the model really works.

My high school launched a VC fund. And the students are the VCs.

(Yes, it’s a crazy story. But it really made me stop and think)

In a world of AI, where knowledge and facts are increasingly commoditized, is this kind of hands-on, practical training the future of education?

Look, I acknowledge this is about as peak Silicon Valley bubble as it gets. But I went on the ground, met the students, and evaluated the program.

And honestly? I was impressed.

Check out my take below and let me know what you think of Harker’s venture capital fund. And if you want me to go interview the student investors and venture advisors, spill the Tea.

I’m going live on LinkedIn this Wednesday at 10 AM PT with my friends Kaya Yurieff and Jasmine Enberg of the Scalable podcast. We’ll be spilling the Tea in Tech live on all things AI, creators, and the future of media; held in partnership with Linkedin.

Last week at Google I/O, Demis Hassabis, founder of Google DeepMind / AI visionary king, said a phrase that deserves a moment. He said that we will look back on this moment as being in the “foothills of the singularity.”

TBH, I can’t say I fully understand what that means. But it sounds extraordinary. And I 100% want that line framed, hung up on my wall, and printed on a t-shirt that I shall wear proudly every day.

(Google team, hit me up)

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Sip smart. Skip slop. Stay steeped. (say that 3x fast) -M