Jay's Junes & Julys!

I found a writing club on Twitter! I have to pay twenty-five bucks if I don’t finish this issue in the next fifty minutes. Here we go. (Update: I did not finish in time, but it still counted)

Work has been good. My manager is the golden child at Kearney and I have become his protégée. He’s coaching me on topics that are above my pay grade - client communication, project scoping, and storyboarding. When I speak to other mentors at work, however, they sometimes think that the questions I ask are too senior and I should just focus on “getting the analysis right.” Did you know that management consulting has been around for >100 years?

On the topic of learning - I am really bullish on the next wave of AI-enabled tools. There was a new Excel tool that caught my eye recently, which can basically replace much of the contributions that consultants do at an analyst level. Thus, it has been both an enjoyable and important journey to continue upskilling on my weekends. I am currently working on an AI automation course, and next will probably be Clay.com.

Latest Happenings

• Park Adventure Gone Wrong: We snuck past a fence and slipped into a park after dark. A classic adventure, the same as every other one back home. Then some cops showed up. They lectured us for 15 minutes (“do you kids have jobs?”), threatened us (“we can issue you a summons,” whatever that means), and eventually let us go. Why is America like this? Land of the free? Anyways, I thought it was funny but my friend from out-of-town was spooked.

• Go Skate Day: Enjoyed a skate show sponsored by Vans at the legendary Brooklyn Banks. The “sponsorship” in question consisted of an MC handing out hundred-dollar bills to every skater who landed a trick off a set of stairs. The tricks were impressive & we saw humans faceplant in every style imaginable.

• More Houseparties: Attended a potluck on this past weekend and a couple roasted an entire rack of lamb and brought it from New Brunswick, New Jersey. That’s some family-level dedication. The host also had a German Longsword just chilling in his room. Apparently he used to take lessons. Talent runs deep in the city eh?

• Gave a homeless lady all my garlic cucumber salad: Y’all - DON’T eat while walking in New York because there WILL BE a homeless person there to ask for a bite. When you give them a bite DON’T give them your fork because the dish WILL be completely consumed.

Content for Consumption

• Van Neistat: The Struggle of Living in NYC: This video summarizes my thoughts on the city completely. Every time you walk outside, it’s just chaos.

• Brian Balfour: The Next Great Distribution Shift: Thought-provoking guide on what to expect next as LLMs dominate more and more of our attention. Written for product managers, relevant to everyone.

• Ethan Mollick: Using AI Right Now, A Quick Guide: Short & sweet guide on how to use LLMs as an every-day user. First and foremost, switch to o3.

• Elan Miller: Don’t Let AI Dumb You Down: I find myself outsourcing critical thinking to LLMs more and more so this was a great reminder.

Hou’s Hacks

• Cobalt.Tools: Nifty little tool to download audio / video media from any link online

• Wharton’s Generative AI Labs Prompt Library: Great little resource to inspire some great AI prompts

Joint Ventures

1. Friend of a friend is looking for a cracked founding SWE for his YC-backed AI writing startup. Great comp, great equity - I told him to give Vancouverites a shot! Please reply if you think of anyone.

2. Does anyone have Chengdu / Shanghai must-dos & must-eats recommendations?

Thanks for keeping up!