Investor, former GitHub CEO, and all-around Tech Man™ Nat Friedman has posted a unusually attractive supply on X.
His publish 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.”
Because of the investigative reporting of my intrepid colleague Kyle, we all know that he isn’t kidding.
Legos and pizza maintain the promise of an important Friday evening if I’m being sincere, however the NDA is what will get me.
I’m no authorized professional. 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 might 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 simply too onerous 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 wish to pitch their startup concept, proper? However 5,000-piece Lego units aren’t any joke, and if in case 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 need to have enjoyable too! However the NDA half ruined me and now I’ve to reside 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 may’ve performed it cool and chatted with potential builders earlier than letting them know that they should signal an NDA. However he laid all of it on the market.
What may very well 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 years-long relationships with the corporate, like a Birkin bag for nerds?
Or does he simply wish to guarantee that nobody who exhibits up goes to go rogue and inform everybody the place his workplace is? I do know that some celebrities require the individuals they hang around with to signal NDAs, however pay attention: GitHub is cool and all, however I don’t suppose Nat Friedman is on the identical stage 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.