Ash Rust @AshRust

First check investor: 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 🇪🇺. Past: Oxford, YC. https://t.co/38vKypRPrQ linktr.ee/ashrust San Francisco Joined March 2007

Tweets

6K
Followers

5K
Following

1K
Likes

63K

Ash Rust @AshRust

5 hours ago

@finbarr If you haven't learned how to surf, that's a worthwhile pursuit for the summer.

0 0 0 57 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

8 hours ago

Now we’re back to everyone bragging about working day and night, we should talk about burnout: It’s common amongst founders but you can prevent it.

Burnout doesn’t happen all at once. It builds over time. 1. Catch the early signs 2. Protect your sleep 3. Find your community Your company should be a big part of your life but not your entire identity.

0 0 1 102 0

0 0 0 87 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

a day ago

If you want someone to set up an intro for you, make it zero work for them. They should be able to hit forward, make a 1 sentence comment and they’re done.

Sterling Road @sterlingroadvc

a day ago

Founder Tip: Make intro requests easy to forward. Include short context, a clear ask, and a blurb they can send without editing. The easier it is, the more likely it happens.

0 0 2 235 0

0 0 1 208 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

2 days ago

@nmoryl I have never yelled at the TV like that. My wife asked if I was ok several times.

0 0 1 14 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

2 days ago

This has easily been the most enjoyable World Cup for me. I went to my first ever game last week. England’s victory over yesterday was *intense* and now we have USA v Belgium today!

1 0 5 245 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

6 days ago

3 Signs a Startup Idea Might Work How do you know when a startup idea is showing signs that it might work? Here’s 3 things to look for: 1. New Solution. You’re addressing a large and costly problem without a real solution - or you’re at least 10x better than any current solution. 2. Desperation. When you explain the idea to potential customers, they want it and they want it badly. They ask to be first and maybe even offer a deposit. 3. Difficulty. In the age of AI software, I would urge you to build something that is inherently difficult, ideally where your skillset makes a tough solution possible.

0 0 2 216 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

7 days ago

@stake_jevens @MattLenhard Indeed he is!!

0 0 0 36 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

a week ago

Another huge month at Sterling Road:

Sterling Road @sterlingroadvc

a week ago

We closed out Q2 with several wins! - @get_hydrahost raised a $100 million Series A - 5 Sterling Road Companies presented at @ycombinator Demo Day - @astercare_ acquired by Elation Health - Hydra & @9Mothers on TBPN

2 0 7 913 0

0 0 5 807 1

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

a week ago

Staying silent during a crisis is usually the wrong move. Your team will know something is wrong…

Sterling Road @sterlingroadvc

a week ago

When a crisis hits, silence usually makes it worse. Speak up early. Be clear about what you know, what you don’t, and when people will hear from you next. Communication builds trust. Silence erodes it.

0 0 1 144 0

1 0 2 150 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

a week ago

Garmin may have actually made a solid challenger to the Casio @GShock_US. I love my G-shock but the @Garmin Instinct Solar, seems to be equally indestructible with some solid smart features around weather and environment, health tracking, phone notifications and watch faces. I’ve been wearing it for about a week and I am impressed!

0 0 1 157 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

a week ago

As a founder, you have to keep executing even when things go south.

Sterling Road @sterlingroadvc

a week ago

Founder Tip: Resilience only matters if you keep executing. The founders who keep shipping even through tough periods. Endurance without execution doesn’t move the business forward.

0 0 2 123 0

0 0 2 105 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

2 weeks ago

Day One: AI Coding Habits That Scale Rapid development with AI is now a central part of startup building. Here are the standard practices we see working (and not working) across Sterling Road startups. Ditch Coding Editors Everybody on the engineering team must use a parallel agent coding tool, with skills, e.g. Claude Code, Codex, Conductor. Specifically, nobody should be using a coding editor with AI integrated, e.g. Copilot, Cursor. Senior engineers may complain about this policy but they will be even more productive once they accept the change. OpenClaw is not for Coding Personal agents, like OpenClaw, are incredible tools for many day-to-day tasks but they are not (currently) the best tool for writing code. Keep your agent for writing reports and booking taxis but don’t expect that flexibility to also extend to writing reliable workflows and test cases in an app. The specialist coding tools are a much better choice. Skills Skills force you to plan better and drastically improve the behavior of your coding agent. You should use them for almost all coding tasks. Most teams use GStack or Superpowers and then write additional skills for their use case, e.g. I wrote skills on top of GStack to speed up my workflow. 100% Automated Bug Fixing This is controversial but almost every company that implements this has been impressed by the results. All bug reports are first verified by an agent which then writes and tests the needed code to produce a pull request. Pull requests are reviewed 3 times by agents, using 2 different prompts for your favorite model and a review by another model. Then full testing and a push to production. It’s unlikely the average bug report gets anywhere near that level of human attention but if you’re still skeptical, a robust testing infrastructure can improve your confidence. These are the standard practices that are working well across most startups. Next, I’ll review what the most advanced startups are attempting in this area.

2 0 3 178 1

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

2 weeks ago

The 3 Basics of Pitching You don’t have to be Steve Jobs but it’s always worth investing time in a good pitch. At a minimum you need the following: 1. Confidence. Even if you’re not putting in a virtuoso performance, confidence goes a very long way. 2. Evidence. Strong proof of progress, ideally with lots of growth, will always incite investor interest. 3. Vision. You have to show investors where you’re going, today’s product will not be enough, they will want to know how you become the next Anthropic.

0 0 1 145 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

2 weeks ago

Nailing your first customer profile early is a huge advantage for growth. Don’t work with everybody. Instead, try to help a very limited number of profiles concurrently and then pick the best to focus on for 30-60 days. Listen to the full episode of the Startup Help Desk anywhere you get your podcasts. 🎧

0 0 2 104 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

2 weeks ago

It's wonderful to see other folks discover America's wonder, as I did 20 years ago #proudimmigrant

Sterling Road @sterlingroadvc

a week ago

Founder Tip: Resilience only matters if you keep executing. The founders who keep shipping even through tough periods. Endurance without execution doesn’t move the business forward.

0 0 2 123 0

0 0 1 122 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

2 weeks ago

A @sterlingroadvc outing to see @ericries speak about his new book: Incorruptible. He gave some great examples of governance as a competitive advantage like: Anthropic, NovoNordisk, Costco. Then a ride home on the Cable Car. SF is truly a special place.

0 3 5 944 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

2 weeks ago

There’s an understandable rush to save money with AI. I agree. But your experience must improve with AI, beware of false economies that wreck your user experience.

Sterling Road @sterlingroadvc

2 weeks ago

Founder Tip: Be careful where you cut costs with AI. Saving money in the wrong places often slows execution and creates more work later. That’s not real savings. For example - cutting customer support staff for a lower quality AI only experience could cost you a lot more.

0 0 1 96 0

0 0 1 80 0

View Details

Ash Rust @AshRust

2 weeks ago

Don’t waste your time working on partnerships or with ‘casual’ VC meetings, you’re needed on growth and hiring!

Sterling Road @sterlingroadvc

2 weeks ago

A lot of founders waste their time. Focus on the tasks that matter: growth, hiring, customer success. For everything else, you can delegate, delay, or drop it. Schedule your highest-leverage work first. Don't fit it into whatever's left over.