Lin Yuan

The difference between a decision and a data-driven decision is like the difference between a shot in the dark and a carefully aimed arrow. Which decision do you want to make?

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Thank you so much, Jeremy Kahn for the great conversation this week at Fortune #BrainstormAI on the future of Google Search and how we’re expanding what’s possible with AI. One of the most exciting parts of working on Google Search is the immense opportunity we have with AI to be even more helpful – the truth is, there aren’t just billions of questions that people ask Google every day, there are billions of questions that people don’t ask at all – because it’s too hard to formulate the question, or they aren’t sure whether they’ll get a useful answer. In this next era of Search, we really want to  make it truly effortless to ask any question, make sense of any type of information, across all modalities – whether that’s video, image, or text. That includes asking your question in any way that’s most natural to you - think about Google Lens, where you can search what you see, and get an AI Overview with context and links to better understand it. There’s an even greater opportunity as our AI models continue to improve. Just this week, the Google DeepMind team showed off a range of new capabilities with Gemini 2.0 (https://bit.ly/3ZU3JVe), which we’re already testing in AI Overviews so people can tackle even harder questions. And the Android team shared a glimpse into how we’ll help people better understand and interact with the world around with the new XR operating system (https://bit.ly/3ZRx9TR). What’s most exciting to me is how AI is unlocking entirely new ways to make information useful, so regardless of what language you speak, or your skill level in a particular domain, we can help you understand information effortlessly. I can’t wait for the year ahead for Search – there’s so much more to come! You can check out our full conversation at Fortune Brainstorm AI here: https://bit.ly/3DmPdMA 

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Here's something counterintuitive; taking on more investment risk reduces long-term returns: https://lnkd.in/gHwkjHmP This is only my second investment video, so I'm still learning. If you have any feedback, I would love to hear it. Based on the feedback from the first video, I tried to make the audio more balanced on this video. I also shortened the length, to make the content more digestible.

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My CEO, Sam Liang met with the Financial Times to chat about Otter.ai's future, the way we work, and how AI powered avatars and agents are in the near future. Check out: https://lnkd.in/e34_SnXZ to learn about how Otter continues to unlock the power of our conversations.

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Want a preview of what I'm going to be talking about in my keynote for RubyConf? You can catch a glimpse of it here!

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"Build in primitives" -Andy Jassy, #Amazon CEO https://lnkd.in/gHMYt7NX Happen to take the time to read this year's Annual investor letter from Andy Jassy. Deep in 2nd half, it talks about how Amazon started thinking about "building in primitives" and how it has been game-changing for them and their customers. Probably old news for some, but eye-opening for me. Definitely a good read!

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Your ability to adapt to changing conditions will be your super power. Being overly adapted to existing conditions makes survival questionable.

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Project update! My application tracking extension is now doing fuzzier matching and injecting new information into LinkedIn (and other sites) to keep me from doubling up on applications. Next up: local storage and bulk import/export operations...

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An intriguing startup called Fragment is shaking up the ledgering game. 💡 If you’ve ever dealt with tracking customer balances, you know how tedious it can be—Fragment's API aims to simplify that by offering real-time, double-entry accounting without the accounting jargon overload.📊 Founders Thomas Neckel and Omi Chowdhury are onto something big here, especially with their track record of successful startups. With early adopters like TruckSmarter and Nala already onboard, it's exciting to see where this tech goes. 🚀 #Fintech #Startup #Innovation #AccountingTech #TechTrends https://lnkd.in/eUrC-tJE

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🍜Anybody up for some ramen? I am excited to share that I am back in the garage, building again (it’s actually a house in the Berkeley Hills). We are taking the wraps off of Supercog AI, a new startup focused on solving Application Integration using LLM powered agents. My co-founder in this new venture is a great friend of mine (and a former co-founder partner), Alex Osborne. Alex and I have worked around the application integration space for a long time, and we are unrealistically excited about applying the GenAI stack to this problem. Not many people relish the task to get some bits to move from system A to system B. But it’s a critical job to be done, and that’s led to a lot of brittle scripts, a myriad of inflexible “no code” tools, and a lot of hand crafted SQL. But the power of the Large Language Model, trained on a huge corpus of information, offers a remarkable tool to solve this problem. The LLM you use today already knows the APIs of hundreds of popular systems. It knows the SQL dialects of every major database. It understands the semantics and data schemas of many popular SaaS systems. It understands much of the specific domain in which your business operates. I like to call the AI revolution “the last platform shift”. That may turn out to be hyperbole, but I definitely believe we are in the very early stages of seeing what this new stack can enable. I know we are hardly the first folks to claim that “amazing stuff is coming!”. But this is why Alex and I have decided to focus on a real and hard problem. If we can prove that LLMs can power a new way to solve this problem, it will be the first successful *new* approach in 15 years.. We will have much more to share about this new platform soon. In the meantime, if you’re interested in getting a peek - or even better if you have application or data integration tasks that you would like some help with - please reach out because we want to help. #genai #startups #backinthegarage

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It’s eye-opening to see how AI model businesses are dealing with tight margins despite big investments. 🤯 Aidan Gomez’s comments about the “zero margin business” highlight the fierce competition and price cuts in the industry. 💸 With giants like OpenAI and Anthropic lowering prices to stay ahead, it’s a tough time for startups. The future of AI might depend on finding new ways to make these technologies profitable. 🚀 #AI #MachineLearning #TechTrends #Startups https://lnkd.in/ejkDu_wT

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Recently, I introduced Ava, a custom GPT to help Engineering Managers with planning, strategy, hiring, etc. I ran an experiment with Ava to role-play an interview. 💬 Ava took on the role of an interviewer and an EM candidate. It generated questions, answered them, and graded the responses. It was like running a real interview, but with a AI doing most of the heavy lifting! While the answers weren’t as detailed as you'd get in a real interview, the results were interesting 👉 https://lnkd.in/ec488vy6

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I recently chatted with CJ Sun from Finding Signal about CoffeeSpace, our platform designed to help people exploring ideas and looking for a cofounder to get their ideas off the ground. In the interview, I shared the story behind our inception, the challenges we faced, and valuable lessons I’ve learned along the way—from startup essentials to career growth insights. We also covered key topics like: - Persevering through curveballs - Tips for finding the right co-founder - Emerging trends in entrepreneurship Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur or simply looking to grow in your career, there’s something here for everyone! Check out the full interview for more insights. 👇 #CoffeeSpace #FindingSignal #startups #cofounder #careergrowth

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AI & SaaS: A Tale of Two Futures What if Excel and other SaaS apps don’t vanish but evolve, blending seamlessly with AI? In a recent Interview (https://reurl.cc/eGz06j), Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, suggests the “agent era” will replace traditional applications. That’s Nadella’s vision: AI as a co-star, enhancing our favorite tools—think Excel with Python instead of Excel replaced by something else. But here’s the twist: 🔸 I see AI’s disruptive power surpassing any need for standalone software. 🔸 Why open an app when a smart agent can directly pull, manipulate, and display data on demand? Nadella believes AI + SaaS = Harmony. He sees Copilot orchestrating tasks, quietly boosting productivity. Developers still matter, refining user experiences to work with AI rather than against it. I foresee a more dramatic shift. If AI can generate everything from sales forecasts to text summaries instantly, maybe the spreadsheets and CRMs we rely on will fade away. Where do you stand? 📌 Collaboration or Disruption? 📌 AI enhancing SaaS or AI replacing it? No matter which path emerges, one thing’s certain: AI is rewriting the rules—and the next chapter of SaaS will be far from business as usual. Your thoughts? Let’s discuss. #AI #SaaS #FutureOfWork #Microsoft 

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Check out the latest in our "Debuggability" blog series! This blog is authored by Kevin Downey Jason Johl and me and talks about how we built a Debuggability Paved Road at Intuit using Ephemeral Containers and Argo Workflows. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic. Also, what tools do you build as-a-platform to help debug service, compute and network issues in Kubernetes at scale? #intuit #kubernetes #debug

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🚀 Big news at Saaf Finance! We’ve teamed up with Plaid to make mortgage lending faster and smarter with AI and automation. Less paperwork, quicker approvals, and a smoother experience for everyone! Check out how we’re transforming the process: https://lnkd.in/gSF4RfUv #Fintech #MortgageLending #Automation #SaafFinance

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The Stoke Space team in Seattle has built a rocket company faster than many people can build software. Morgan Beller breaks down how this is helping them capture a huge opportunity: https://lnkd.in/gc5jv2-c 

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The challenges of scaling and recovering AWS MSK clusters are now effectively mitigated, representing a significant advancement in cluster management.

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Recently, I was asked how I pitch commercial insurance tech to software engineers... People often categorize this as an “unsexy problem,” implying it must be hard to recruit top talent. Here’s my framework in 3 simple parts: • Today Shepherd focuses on the Construction industry: a top 5 economic driver globally. The impact of the built environment is undeniable in our everyday lives. Look out the window wherever you live — you'll see tower cranes everywhere in the sky. The world is building, and to be a small part in making these projects a reality is incredibly fulfilling. • Real problems for real people: AI is a transformative technology that we use in many of our own products at Shepherd. For some, working exclusively on AI problems is THE choice in career, and we respect that. But if you’re drawn to big, hard problems where innovation means measurable impact in dollars, days, and lives saved, then working on solutions for our grittiest and high-hazard industries is for you. • Reinventing Insurance for the Modern Age: The insurance industry, especially in construction, is a complex problem space that has seen very little innovation. It's rare to be on the frontier of change for any industry. We're a team of challengers: pushing on the status quo. Join us and be part of something truly impactful. https://lnkd.in/gERPN92v

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