1/ Some personal news! I’m joining the absolutely relentless team at @merit_systems to help build a new, enduring financial stack for open source software. When I asked myself what I wanted to do next with my career (and my life) I had a couple of boxes to check: I knew I wanted to tackle hard problems. I knew I wanted to write and tell stories about tech. And I hoped I could do this with friends. And also, preferably with people at least a foot taller than me, so I could be protected if the AI doomers are right (jk). So when @samrags_ reached out about joining Merit, I was in. Joining the team feels like coming home in a lot of ways: I’ve known Sam since working with him at @a16z, where I witnessed him ship open source software projects used and loved by countless developers. If you know Sam, you know he’s not just a great engineer, but the kind of guy who will run through walls to solve any challenge. Through Sam I met @ryanfsproule, who shares Sam’s tenacity and commitment to building high-quality software. They level up the entire team with their leadership – which is now made up of @0xMasonH (another friend and former a16z-er), @shafu0x (stablecoin savant), @jsonhedman (high-velocity Typescript guru), @alvaroecuesta (database resilience mastermind), and @zdql__ (member of the open source AI special forces). Merit’s first releases are coming very soon, so you should follow our team’s account for updates. Can’t wait to share what we’ve been building.