Announcing Motion Blur
Launching a podcast with my friend Hammad
I’m excited to announce a project I’ve been working on for a while now. It’s a podcast called Motion Blur.
I’m doing it with a close friend of mine, who I’ll talk about more below.
Motion Blur is a series of conversations about technology, investing, and frameworks. In other words, we are going to talk about tech, startups, and “other fun stuff.”
I fully appreciate that this sounds like so many other podcasts. The whole point of ours is to explore what’s below the surface. It’s about examining things other people aren’t (yet) talking about, and sharing ideas about how we are contending with a rapidly evolving world.
I’m nervous about launching it. Not for the reasons you’d probably think. Yes, hearing your own voice is always jarring, and releasing your ideas out into the world is a vulnerable, sometimes embarrassing act. But the real nervousness stems from the fact that we don’t have a complete sense of what this podcast will be yet. Normally, I don’t start a project until I have a clean understanding of what the end state will look like. Motion Blur is on the other end of the spectrum. We’re figuring it out as we go along!
Now we do know the contours: at its core Motion Blur is an ongoing series of conversations. It’s a way for us to create new ideas, engage with existing ones, and have a great excuse to spend more time together. Our hope is that you’ll get some benefit out of it.
This podcast is going to evolve. Instead of waiting for the final form, we decided to officially launch after iterating on the style and format. We don’t have a great one-sentence tagline yet. That will emerge organically over time.
Hammad
You’re probably wondering who the cohost is. If you’re not familiar with Hammad already, you’re fortunately learning about him now. If you do know him, you’ll quickly recognize why I’m excited to be hosting this with him. He’s incredible.
Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures — Susa's growth fund. He helps spearhead the practice, and comes from a tech + finance background. His colleagues would tell you he brings a wealth of dealmaking expertise from his time at Susa, Vista, and MS before that.
All of that is important and useful. But the things that stand out the most are his innate attributes: Hammad is incredibly thoughtful, kind, and deliberate. He’s a truly supportive friend that is also fiercely intelligent, inquisitive, and incisive. I’ve known Hammad for many years now thanks to my time as a Susa Fellow, and our conversations have continued to stretch the limits of my mind.
Truth be told, this podcast has been on my mind for well over a year now. Much of that time has been thinking about who the right cohost would be.
Hammad was my first choice — every time we talk I walk away thinking about the world in a clearer way. And selfishly, I wanted to ensure I can continue to spend more time with him! After some discussions we decided to take the leap together and record some of what we’ve been writing, thinking, and talking about.
There are lots of smart people in finance. A lot of them work in venture. At the risk of embarrassing him, I’d emphasize Hammad uniquely exhibits two traits: an intense intellect, and an immense heart. Together they manifest in an articulate investor, but also someone who’s deeply interested in being a sounding board and resource for the people he’s most close to. I’ve learned a tremendous amount from him, and am excited he will now be sharing his wisdom with you.
This is very much an explorative project, and we aren’t sure where it’ll go. But I do know that every additional hour I spend with Hammad makes me smarter, and now you’ll get that benefit too.
Our first episode (perhaps unsurprisingly) covers hardware, an area of great personal interest. Hammad and I examine why hardware is hard, and all the frameworks I’ve been trying to piece together over the past few years. I’m hoping it is the beginning of a longer conversation around these categories.
What a Blur
Motion Blur randomly came to me one day when I was texting Hammad, and we ended up running with it because we feel it embodies today’s current state of affairs.
From ChatGPT:
Motion blur refers to the visual effect that occurs when an object in motion appears blurred or smeared in a photograph or on a screen. It happens because the camera’s shutter remains open for a fraction of a second longer, capturing the movement of the object during that time.
The “movement of the object” is the key part there; technology moves quickly, and it’s hard to accurately take a photograph of something evolving so rapidly. Our hope is that our conversations will help frame some interesting photos of the world around us. There will be some motion blur, but if we work hard, the image should still have high fidelity and utility.
Sometimes we’ll come across as silly and naïve. To that we’d say sometimes it’s good to stay hungry and stay foolish.
We aren’t experts in everything, and we’re not going to pretend to be. But we are fiercely devoted to the craft. And that devotion should hopefully manifest in some interesting conversations, ideas, and continued camaraderie that will hopefully be valuable to you too.
We’re excited to take the leap. Let us know what you think.
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