#77 | Next AI Course, Free Vibe Coding AMA, DJ Mehdi and more
My irregular newsletter on work and play. Unsubscribe at the bottom. LinkedIn
Mo’AI, Mo’Problems?
MENU
1. WORK: Events galore
2. VIBING W/ TECH: Next Course, Projects, Resources
3. CULTURE: DJ Mehdi and more
1. WORK
Events
Climate Matchmaking - We are hosting our next Climate Tech Matchmaking for investors and founders - it is free and virtual Sept 8-12. Over 700 participants are already registered, including over 360 investors (not a typo!)
Climate Summit - Our annual / virtual / free Climate Tech Summit is Nov 3-7. We confirmed our first speakers and look forward to a solid line-up! We expect 5,000+ participants. Register and send your suggestions here.
Hard Tech Startups Showcase - Meet 20 portfolio startups doing hard things. In NYC on Sept 24. Register here.
Travels
Berlin (September) - I’ll be at the VC Platform EU event where I’ll give a talk about “Vibe Coding for VCs”.
Malmo (September) - There is a good chance I’ll be at TheDrop climate tech event. No talk planned for me so far, just networking.
NYC (September) - I’ll be at NY Climate Week. We’re hosting a bunch of events at our NY office.
SOSV Deep Tech Live
Our monthly event series had a great guest on nutrition last week: Dr. Robert Lustig. The video is here.
Next session: Tim Latimer, CEO of enhanced geothermal energy star Fervo Energy, on Sept 22 at our NYC office and online. Register here.
2. VIBING WITH TECHNOLOGY
My journey into the world of #vibecoding #contextengineering and overall #makingthings.
Free Vibe Coding AMA
I will run a free 1-hour Free AMA on Tuesday 12 at 7pm UKT / 2pm EST / 11am PST. Register here.
Talk on AI & Vibe Coding
I was invited to speak at Lisbon’s Vibe Coding Club last month (1 hour video). Among the ideas I shared:
Coding with AI is like building with LEGO.
AI usage requires some code literacy. Learning what code can do (libraries, APIs, potential problems) is a huge advantage when building things beyond a simple website.
AI is the modern crossbow: it can make a peasant as powerful as a trained expert in a matter of days.
Next Cohort-Based Course
The first 15 students graduated from the July cohort-based “AI for prototyping and automation” course. I’m taking a break in August but the September is open for registration, in partnership with the upskilling company CodeForAll. Want to open your eyes to AI and say ‘I made a thing!’ by the end? This hands-on course helps non-coders go from zero to prototype with AI. :)
For non-coders and ex-coders who want to learn how to build things using AI.
We use Google Colab and Cursor to generate and run Python code (no coding experience required), discover useful libraries and APIs and learn how to build apps like you assemble LEGO: you don’t need to make the bricks, just know what they are and how to stack them.
Register your interest here.
Details:
Fee: The usual course fee is 750 euros but only 500 euros if you register through me. Your company might be able to pay for it as part of Learning & Development.
Dates & Times: September 2-18, Tue/Thu 7pm-9:30pm UKT (total: 15 hours)
Cohort: Limited to 20 participants.
PS: My Udemy course for inspiration is here (already over 3,000 students!). It’s quite fast-paced - you can just watch to get a taste, as setup might discourage total beginners.
Latest Projects
AI in a Box
What > a box with a button, a microphone and a speaker, to ask questions to ChatGPT directly.
Why > I use ChatGPT for questions all the time and wanted a one-button voice interface for answers too.
Status > fully functional.
Tech > Raspberry Pi 5 with python code using the OpenAI API for speech-to-text, LLM and text-to-speech. Whisper, Microsoft’s Phi-2 and Coqui for the offline version.
Latest > I already have a fallback local LLM in case of Wifi outage. It’s quite slow and mostly there because I could. The current version logs questions and answers in a file but does not have “memory” (by design). It can also run on a battery pack. Also, I received the tiny USB microphone and small bluetooth speaker I ordered from AliExpress, so I got some LEGOs to make a smaller box (and stop using cardboard).
Next > I plan to port from the Raspberry Pi 5 to the Pi Zero to make it even smaller and cheaper.
News Scanner
What > An app that scans news on particular topics and sends a weekly email with titles, links and authors from top publications.
Why > My comms colleague is looking for new journalists to connect with, and using Google News or Google Alerts takes too long due to the lack of filter.
Status > Complete.
Tech > SerpAPI to query Google News, python code for filtering, PythonAnywhere to host the code and run the code weekly.
Next > a web version for one-off searches.
Portfolio Semantic Search
What > An app can list relevant companies using natural language search (no need for an exact keyword).
Why > Our portfolio counts over 800 startups and it’s impossible to keep all in mind. It could also be used to search startups that join our VC/Startup matchmaking events.
Status > Functional prototype
Tech > Use OpenAI API to create an embedding of the startups descriptions. The search query is also turned into an embedding, and used with a cosine similarity search to identify the closest matches.
Next > I first made it a web app, then a local Mac app (which was interesting to make). The final version will be a web app.
Favorite AI Channels on Youtube
Matthew Berman (detailed news)
Greg Isenberg (business cases)
Fireship (short news)
How I AI (generalist)
Andrej Karpathy (fairly technical - coined the terms ‘vibe coding’ and ‘context engineering)
3. CULTURE
MOVIES
The General*** (Youtube)
An old Buster Keaton from 1926 - quite charming and with some dangerous stunts. Buster was the Tom Cruise of his time! Free on Youtube.
10 Things I Hate about You** (Prime)
I am told it is part of some canon. I was definitely not the target audience. Quick comments:
Some of the behaviors from 1999 would get you arrested in 2025.
It is inspired by Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Upon research, the Bard’s story was itself inspired by many stories in the oral tradition of Europe - some in which the Shrew is tamed by birching. In the movie, the Shrew is aggressively independent, was tame before becoming shrewish, and needed to be seen and accepted to soften.
Mike Birbiglia: The Good Life** (Netflix)
I loved his previous standup specials but this one did not touch me as much.
SHOWS
DJ Mehdi: Made in France**** (Youtube)
My friend O. who had a record distribution company in the 90’s and 00’s told me about this free documentary on Youtube on France’s legendary DJ/producer/musician whom he knew very well. I was not plugged into that scene and didn’t know his name, but I knew his work (and you likely do too as he worked with Daft Punk, Justice, 113). Like Kanye, he started as a beatmaker for rappers, then worked with the electro French Touch scene as they used the same machines and he was a curious guy. I highly recommend it.
Silicon Valley**** (HBO)
I rewatched this show - still an excellent illustration of startup life. It had an almost prescient ending in this age of AI!
After School Doctor**** (Netflix)
I partially re-watched this Japanese show about a frowny doctor working in a primary school and dealing smartly with the physical, mental and social problems of little kids. It’s charming and intelligent - I recommend it!
Leviathan*** (Netflix)
A steampunk anime series where the pre-WWI world is divided between countries who use machines and those using genetically modified animals. Not amazing but well made and decent story.
Keep vibing!
— Ben