Working Notes Library
Ongoing collection of people, companies, and media that shape how I build education and AI ops. Think of it as a living briefing: each entry is something I reference when designing new programs or tooling.
My Conversation With Tobi Lütke, Co-founder & CEO of Shopify
David Senra interviews Tobi Lütke about building Shopify, founder mindset, and lessons learned from building a billion-dollar company.
- Tobi's journey from programmer to CEO
- How Shopify scales and adapts to change
- Leadership lessons from building a world-class team
Talks, breakdowns, and lab sessions worth replaying.
The Future Belongs To People Who Do Things
// OPENGeoffrey Huntley · 38 min
The 9 month recap on AI in industry, covering agent best practices, AI usage mandates, and the shift in engineering roles.
Ilya Sutskever - We're moving from the age of scaling to the age of research
// OPENDwarkesh Patel · 96 min
Ilya shares SSI's strategy, alignment focus, and what the post-scaling era looks like.
The Thinking Game - Full Documentary
// OPENGoogle DeepMind · 84 min
Five-year inside look at DeepMind's pursuit of intelligence, including AlphaFold's breakthrough.
Builders whose work I track for signal.
Demis Hassabis
// OPENCEO, Google DeepMind
Frontier AI research, long-horizon scientific discovery
Tobi Lütke
// OPENCo-founder & CEO, Shopify
Building world-class teams, scaling platforms, developer culture
David Senra
// OPENHost, Founders Podcast
Historical founders, entrepreneurship lessons, long-form interviews
Peter Steinberger
// OPENCreator, Clawdbot
AI agents, automation, developer tooling
John Coogan
// OPENCo-founder & Host, TBPN
Tech news, startups, daily live show broadcasting
Jordi Hays
// OPENCo-founder & Host, TBPN
Tech media, entrepreneurship, daily live show production
Teams pushing the frontier of what's possible with technology.
Dog-eared reads that keep my operating principles sharp.
How Innovation Works
// OPENMatt Ridley
Timeless patterns for unlocking invention loops.
Creative Selection
// OPENKen Kocienda
Inside-out look at prototyping culture from Apple.
The Man Who Solved the Market
// OPENGregory Zuckerman
How Jim Simons built Renaissance Technologies and rewrote quant finance.
The Story of China
// OPENMichael Wood
A sweeping civilizational history connecting China's past to its future.
The Technological Republic
// OPENRyan Avent
Explores how technology, governance, and society intertwine in modern states.
Range
// OPENDavid Epstein
Arguments for breadth and experimentation as the edge in complex work.
Project Hail Mary
// OPENAndy Weir
Sci-fi survival story about ingenuity, physics, and improbable collaboration.
Mastery
// OPENRobert Greene
Patterns of apprenticeship and deep practice from polymaths across history.
Chip War
// OPENChris Miller
Geopolitical history of the semiconductor supply chain and its power.
The Diamond Age
// OPENNeal Stephenson
Nanotech future where interactive primers rewire education and society.
The World for Sale
// OPENJavier Blas & Jack Farchy
Inside the commodity traders who quietly influence global politics.
Long-form context from operators and researchers.
Invest Like the Best - AI Builders
// OPENDeep dives with operators installing AI inside companies.
Latent Space
// OPENConversations on AI infrastructure and tooling.
Founders Podcast
// OPENDavid Senra unpacks the playbooks of history's boldest builders and CEOs.
TBPN
// OPENTechnology's daily show. Hosted by John Coogan and Jordi Hays.