Investor, former GitHub CEO, and all-around Tech Man™ Nat Friedman has posted a surprisingly engaging supply on X.
His submit reads, “Need volunteers to come to my office in Palo Alto today to construct a 5000 piece Lego set. Will provide pizza. Have to sign NDA. Please DM.”
Due to the investigative reporting of my intrepid colleague Kyle, we all know that he isn’t kidding.
Legos and pizza maintain the promise of an ideal Friday evening if I’m being trustworthy, however the NDA is what will get me.
I’m no authorized knowledgeable. However I can state, with a point of confidence, you shouldn’t go round signing NDAs willy-nilly. And but, if I lived in Palo Alto, I’d present as much as construct this Lego set and signal that NDA, no questions requested — the lure of discovering a secret Silicon Valley Lego cult is just too exhausting to withstand.
It’s already a little bit unusual to be a widely known investor making this supply in public. He has to know that he’s going to get swarmed with Stanford sophomores who need to pitch their startup thought, proper? However 5,000-piece Lego units are not any joke, and when you have 215,000 followers, why not get some assist with an intimidating architectural problem?
That’s to say, I can get previous the entire “come do Legos with me” factor.
Rich tech people should have enjoyable too! However the NDA half ruined me and now I’ve to dwell the remainder of my life realizing that one thing bizarre is happening at this assembly of the minds — one thing so bizarre that Friedman would point out the NDA from the get-go. He might’ve performed it cool and chatted with potential builders earlier than letting them know that they need to signal an NDA. However he laid all of it on the market.
What could possibly be so secretive about this Lego evening? Does Friedman have entry to some top-secret Lego units that you would be able to solely purchase by way of years-long relationships with the corporate, like a Birkin bag for nerds?
Or does he simply need to be sure that nobody who reveals up goes to go rogue and inform everybody the place his workplace is? I do know that some celebrities require the folks they hang around with to signal NDAs, however pay attention: GitHub is cool and all, however I don’t assume Nat Friedman is on the identical degree of fame as Timothée Chalamet.
Anyway, if anybody in Palo Alto likes Legos and is cool with breaking an NDA to help within the lowest-stakes journalism you’ve ever imagined, hit me up.