Here’s a roundup of interesting startup links I came across today:

The Day Has Come - by Angel Medina - Between Courses

Yes, Portland has changed. But I refuse to use the city as a scapegoat. This Mayor, this City Council, and much of its current leadership continue to make it too easy for people like myself to lose faith in the future of our city. Nonetheless, this is not a warning to stay away. It’s a cautionary tale about adaptation.

Cal Skate turns 50 - by Michaela Lowthian

Cal Skate, the oldest skate shop in the world, turns 50 in April.

These are the states where incomes grew the most, least in recent decades • Oregon Capital Chronicle

The Urban Institute, a left-leaning think tank, found that rates of state sales and income taxes had no association with changes in median household income. The analysis also found states with colder temperatures and higher property taxes saw greater median income growth, despite popular notions that lower property taxes and warm temperatures can lead to more prosperity.

Can AI companies become profitable?

This is big if true. In fast-growing tech sectors, investors typically accept losses today in exchange for big profits down the line. So if AI models are already covering their own costs, that would paint a healthy financial outlook for AI companies.

Nobody cares about your idea. - Inverted Passion

What everyone cares about is themselves and things that bring efficiency in how they’re already living or are strongly motivated towards (but that shows up in their attempts to be that way).

AI Doesn't Work Without Good Inputs (And Neither Do Humans) - Justin Abrahms

The core problem with LLMs going off the rails is ambiguity and complexity. LLMs have better luck solving small, well defined problems when they have adequate context. A lot of working with LLMs today is about scoping down those problems or providing them that corrected context. These are not uniquely LLM problems. Humans also do much better with well defined problems, clear outcomes and good context, and I think that’s a much more useful frame.

They're my neighbor, too. - by Jessica Murrey

Our whole lives, we’ve been taught that in order to win, “they” have to lose. What if that’s not true? What if we change the objective of the game from “defeat them” to: 1) make them an ally, 2) prevent harm, and 3) solve a problem? It would completely change the way we treat each other.