From: Marc Delaney mdelaney@brightside.vc
To: Alex Vukovic alexvuk@ucsb.edu
Date: October 7, 2024
Subject: Re: Machine Learning Startup Proposal
Alex,
I don't know who told you to email VCs directly, but let me save you some time: your idea isn't worth anything. I've seen forty-seven "revolutionary" ML pitches this month alone. Everyone thinks they've cracked the code because they watched a YouTube video about transformers. You want to use "vibrational frequencies" and "Tesla's theories" to improve neural networks? That's not a business model. That's a Reddit thread. You have no prototype. No team with exits. No proprietary data. You're a junior at UCSB with a Gmail address and delusions. Come back when you've built something real. Do not email me again. M. Delaney
Partner, Brightside Ventures
Alex lifts his head from the library table to read the email. He's been up since yesterday, running on the dregs of a Monster can and the last of his Adderall, and his vision keeps splitting into double images that he has to blink back into focus. The fluorescent lights hum above him at a frequency he can almost feel in his teeth. He reads it again. Then a third time, slower, like the words might rearrange themselves into something less final. "Fuck," he whispers. The guy at the next table glances over, but Alex doesn't care.