
Photo: Karina Bao
You can't lose if you never quit
Declan Gessel on building businesses as an ultramarathon runner
By Aadil Pickle · Feb 2026
You can tell a lot about how someone approaches life by watching them play pickup basketball. Playing with Declan is like having a golden retriever on your team. He jumps for every rebound. Sprints to save the ball any time it's going out of bounds....
Read moreYou can't lose if you never quit
Declan Gessel on building businesses as an ultramarathon runner
By Aadil Pickle · Feb 2026
You can tell a lot about how someone approaches life by watching them play pickup basketball. Playing with Declan is like having a golden retriever on your team. He jumps for every rebound. Sprints to save the ball any time it's going out of bounds. Shoots the ugliest jump shot and having faith it'll go in. Always asking for tips to improve....
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Photo: Karina Bao

Do the dirty work
Jasmine Sun on writing and doing everything to win
By Aadil Pickle · Feb 2026
Jasmine is an independent journalist covering Silicon Valley tech and culture. That's the tight one-liner she'll tell you if you ever meet her and ask what she does. What she...
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Training the Idea Muscle
Riley Walz on creating viral internet pranks
By Aadil Pickle · Dec 2025
Riley describes himself simply as a guy who likes to do things he finds fun. But to the New York Times, he's known as "The Tech Jester Who Pranks San Francisco". He's responsible...
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Inventing the near future
Brian Machado on building a $1000 general purpose human-ish robot
By Aadil Pickle · Dec 2025
My friend Brian has a very interesting take on money. In that, it always feels like he doesn't have any, even though he probably should. He's an incredibly talented engineer who...
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