Startup CEOs can’t even hug their chief people officer at a concert in this country anymore

Rage Baiting is for Losers Yesterday, YC announced Chad IDE aka “the brainrot code editor.” Chad is an AI code editor that allows you to gamble, watch TikTok, and use dating apps while working on coding tasks. Their launch rightfully got a lot of attention. On one hand it’s funny. On the other hand, what are we doing here and why does this belong on the official YC account? To understand Chad IDE, Cluely, Icon, Friend, and the new class of Gen Z startups, you have to understand the online environment these founders grew up in. If you grew up on the internet and studied how and why certain people would regularly go viral, you know that making people mad has and always will be a highly effective way to get attention. The feedback loop is simple: 1) make something (product or ad) that makes people angry; 2) people comment/ share/ dunk; 3) because feeds are optimized to show posts with high engagement the most, you get more reach. Rage baiting for commercial purposes was pioneered by course bros. People like Tai Lopez realized that making the masses mad was an effective way to drive course sales. They could flaunt Lamborghinis, make a bunch of people angry, and as long as a handful of people found their way into their course, it was a viable, repeatable strategy. Historically on X, rage baiting was a marketing strategy, not a product strategy. Accounts like @sweatystartup frequently post things to get an angry reaction and subsequent reach, but behind the scenes he's always been running a normal commercial real estate fund. In 2025, rage baiting has become a product strategy. Cluely started as an app for cheating on coding interviews. Chad IDE’s only known differentiation from the other hundred AI native IDEs is that you can gamble and swipe on dating apps in it. The rage bait is sitting at the product level now. It’s becoming clear that while rage bait might occasionally work as a marketing strategy, it really should not be employed as a product strategy. Running a successful VC-backed company requires you to build a coalition of people that want to see you win. Getting media, investors, talent, and customers on your side is not an easy task. Rage baiting (whether at the marketing level or product level) is the most effective way to get people (who could be potential investors, customers, or team members) to actively pray for your downfall. YC has long provided some of the most durable, high quality, generalizable advice for startups and I believe it has had a tremendously positive impact on the companies that go through YC and even those that don’t. Launch now, make something people want, do things that don’t scale, ignore your competitors, etc. As someone who believes that YC is one of the most important and influential institutions in tech, I believe it might be time to include this in their list of essential startup advice: “Rage baiting is for losers.”

I hired Dylan in 2021 at Party Round and he was my right hand through the joy & chaos of ZIRP, SVB, and beyond Since then he built & sold a media company to @Uniswap 4 years later, I'm thrilled to be joining forces again, 100% focused on our favorite business: show business

The largest workforce reduction as a share of total employees in S&P 500 history btw

Low IQ high agency continues to be one of the most OP human builds

I'm updating my timelines. You now have have at least 4 years to escape the permanent underclass

Spoke too soon

Someone should make software that allows you to easily play all these songs on your phone, make playlists, and share music with friends I bet a lot of people would happily pay $10/month Could even give artists a rev share

Lawyer friend: “I’ve seen the future. Harvey isn’t perfect but has better attention to detail and is more thoughtful than almost any junior person at our firm. I’ve watched it do $100K of associate level work in 10 minutes”

You haven’t made it in tech until your entire inner circle has been the subject of a NYT hit piece

Avi (@AviSchiffmann) is live on @tbpn rn to discuss