Are we ready for Superintelligence? At @NeurIPSConf (where @SwarmWork hives attended of course!), @ilyasutskeverAi, one of the OGs in AI, dropped some serious insights about where we’re headed—superintelligence. Here’s what stood out: 1️⃣ Agentic AI Today’s AI can simulate decision-making, but superintelligence? It’ll take real action, independently. It’s like going from a GPS telling you directions to a car that knows where to take you—on its own. 2️⃣ Reasoning & Unpredictability Superintelligence will think differently. Unlike the predictable outputs we see now, reasoning allows for surprising (and sometimes unsettling) outcomes. 3️⃣ Self-Awareness Sutskever says self-awareness might naturally emerge in superintelligence—because when you build a model of the world, it’s almost inevitable you include yourself in it. 4️⃣ Radically New Abilities These systems won’t just be faster or smarter versions of what we have. They’ll be operating on another level—one we might not even recognize at first. 5️⃣ Beyond What We Can Grasp And here’s the kicker: the scope of superintelligence will be so vast, it’ll challenge what we even understand about intelligence itself. This forces us to rethink everything about our relationship with technology. Are we ready to embrace what comes next?

"Would you rather go to Figma Config or a YC Demo Day?" Design communities can be limiting when you're aiming to be a design founder. @felixleezd , CEO and co-founder at @ADPList has very actionable advice: If you want to be a design founder, you know where you should be. I've been in design communities as a volunteer, collaborator, and initiator — but if you want to start your own thing, being in just one circle isn't just enough. Life is all about experiencing different flavors, and I've realized that your ability to design skyrockets when you interact with more people who are beyond your initial domain. At Swarm, we have a thriving community of founders and operators who enrich each other's experiences. Let me know if you want to be a part of our secret dinners!

Are there signals that point to product-market fit? As a first time design co-founder learning the ropes, four things stand out: 1. Investor signal: does your narrative, problem solving methodology, and platform stack resonate? Does it result in an investment? 2. Customer signal: are you able to onboard more customers, close bigger deals, and get more testimonials? 3. Partner signal: do people want to partner with you? Are you able to form strong alliances with reputable companies and organizations? 4. Hiring signal: do people want to work at your company? How many referrals are you getting? What’s the quality of people that join? Reflecting back when I was more junior — just thinking about prototypes, well-crafted experiences, and user feedback is not enough. Expand your scope and design application to a more strategic and systems thinking layer. Monitor the results of your design initiatives, and change your approach accordingly. At Swarm, I’m happy to share that we’re doing quite well with the four outlined above. There’s a profound level of personal growth to undergo through while building a startup. It definitely takes years to succeed when you’re new. Longer time horizon thinking is definitely required. But I wouldn’t have done it any other way!

Why go fractional? Our team at @SwarmWork weighs in! 🐝 Going fractional empowers senior consultants in AI, Design, Software Engineering and Product to take control of their destiny. 🟢 Find people you want to work with. 🟢 Work on projects that utilize your unique combination of skills, domain expertise, and interests. 🟢 Get security from multiple income streams. 🟢 Access capabilities and collaborators that are impossible and infeasible to do full-time. 🟢 Get your time back and live life the way you want to live it. Start with our lovingly crafted guide 👇🏻 sw.army/begin

What if your tech career was flexible, independent, and meaningful? 🧲 sw.army/begin @SwarmWork

Think design's just fluff? I've had a lot of notes to map out my reflections based on my job as a first time startup design co-founder. I'd love to share them with the community for some time now, follow along if it's relevant to you! First off — is to address "why" there is a need to have a design partner anyway. Based on recent discussions online, and my experience over the years, design has mostly been required to "prove" why they should exist at the top parts of an organization. It's a strategic choice. Most brands and businesses today won't even get a first look if their design sucks — across the entire experience spectrum (website, brand, product, etc.). Savvy leaders who decide to treat competent designers as partners reap the benefits of their experience-focused thinking. It helps to have a design-forward CEO too (thanks @dexmarksthespot!) In my opinion, here are design capabilities mapped to relevant business metrics and outcomes: 🐝 Presentation Design → Amount Fundraised 🐝 Product Strategy and Roadmapping → North Star Vision, User Retention 🐝 Product Design → Revenue, Demand/Supply Growth 🐝 Sales Enablement (Through Marketing Design) → Revenue 🐝 Content Design → Usability, Loyalty / Brand Affinity, Awareness 🐝 Brand Design → Awareness, Desirability, Brand Expression in Product (Differentiation) 🐝 Growth Design → Driving growth for different loops (virality, user-generated-content, retention) 🐝 UX Research → Viability, Desirability, Usability of Products/Services, Go-to-market Motion 🐝 Community-building → Customer Loyalty 🐝 Content Marketing→ Awareness, Acquisition What design capabilities and outcomes should be on the list based on your own experience? BTW - I'm looking to onboard design consultants who have expert-level knowledge and these categories. DM me if that's you!

New episode out on @SwarmWork's Fractional! youtube.com/watch?v=yPyhV-M-…

We've raised $1.1M 🥳

We're going to have an exciting design review session with Siri's former product lead! Sign-up below: lu.ma/ss39-designproreview

Learn how to manage your time as a fractional CTO of multiple companies — from one of the pioneers of our tech startup scene — Jay Fajardo! This Thursday, 8PM PHT :) lu.ma/ss38-managecto

Want to get your product design portfolio (or someone else's) reviewed? Join our Swarm Salon this Thursday! We'll also review the portfolios of our top-earning community members 🫶 lu.ma/ss36-portfolioreview