Shawn Chauhan Profile picture
@USC CS grad → Built AI tool to 10k+ users. AI Consultant bridging hype/execution gap. Writing on GenAI, startups & tech's societal impact.
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Jun 30 27 tweets 9 min read
The Saudi royal family stopped talking to each other.

Not from anger but from fear.

MBS had bought $55M worth of Pegasus spyware and was monitoring their every word.

Here's the chilling story of how surveillance destroyed family trust 🧵 Image
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In 2017, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made a purchase that would forever change the nature of royal power:

NSO Group's Pegasus spyware for $55 million.

This wasn't just another defense contract.

It was the beginning of history's most audacious family surveillance operation.Image
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Jun 29 17 tweets 6 min read
China’s $500 million AI cluster was shut down overnight—by NVIDIA.

A "routine" driver update burned out 12,000 GPUs.

Accident? Insiders say otherwise.

Here’s the shocking tech sabotage story no one’s talking about 🧵 Image
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On January 30, NVIDIA quietly pushed driver version 572.16, supposedly a standard update for their new RTX 5090 & 5090D GPUs.

Within hours, chaos erupted on forums worldwide—GPUs went dark, permanently bricked.

Coincidence? Insiders aren't buying it... Image
Jun 28 6 tweets 3 min read
Russia has spent 10 years building "invincible" hypersonic weapons.

They claimed Mach 10 speeds & zero chance of interception.

Then Ukraine did the impossible with a 40-year-old Patriot system...

Here's the $50 BILLION reality check that shattered military history 🧵 Image
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March 2022, Putin announced on Russian state TV with a direct message to the West.

"I expect that everyone understands that these weapons cannot be intercepted by any existing air defense systems."

His ultimatum was clear... Image
Jun 22 21 tweets 7 min read
⚠️BREAKING: Last night U.S. stealth fighters struck Iranian nuclear sites.

Iran’s $2B air defense didn’t even see them coming.

This wasn’t just an airstrike—it was a live tech demo.

The future of warfare just arrived.

Here’s how it happened—and why it matters: 🧵 Image
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The mission was unprecedented:

The United States took offensive action on 22 June 2025, by striking three Iranian nuclear sites using aircraft that Iran's $2 billion air defense network couldn't even see coming.

This wasn't luck—it was physics. Image
Jun 21 21 tweets 6 min read
In 2025, the U.S. banned AI chip exports to 120 countries.

China responded with state-backed LLMs.

Europe buried startups in compliance.

What happened next created the biggest startup arbitrage since the internet.

Here’s how to play it: 🧵 Image The AI world has fractured into 3 distinct regulatory regimes:

US: Deregulation + Export Controls
EU: Strict Horizontal Regulation (AI Act)
China: Vertical Controls + State Capitalism

Each creates different startup opportunities. Most founders are building for only one.
Jun 19 19 tweets 6 min read
Startups used to have 2 years to build a moat.

Now they get 6 months—if they're lucky.

Moore’s Law is dead, and a new law is taking over: AI scaling laws.

They’re faster, more brutal, and they’re reshaping how Silicon Valley works.

Here’s what it means: 🧵 Image
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For 60 years, Moore's law states that a microchip's transistor count doubles in approximately every two years.

This predictable pace governed everything: product cycles, R&D budgets, competitive strategy.

Tech moved in 24-month rhythms. Image
Jun 13 21 tweets 7 min read
Elon Musk’s billion-to-one bet started here:

1974: Writer Philip K. Dick experiences ‘reality glitch’

→ FBI raids his home
→ NASA now confirms his theory
→ Musk: “We’re almost certainly in a simulation”

Why Dick saw the truth first 🧵 Image
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Meet Philip K. Dick.

More than a sci-fi author.

A man who believed he perceived beyond our simulated existence.

What he shared at a confidential Paris conference stunned leading scientists:
Jun 12 15 tweets 5 min read
These billionaires committed the same fatal error:

They bankrolled Donald Trump.

$400 million combined to buy presidential access.

Now they’re uncovering his real agenda for their empires.

How their masterplan imploded: 🧵 Image Inauguration Day 2025 revealed everything.

Zuckerberg, Cook, and Pichai occupied front-row thrones.

Their $1M "donations" bought VIP real estate.

Mar-a-Lago courtship and DC mansions appeared to pay off.
Jun 11 14 tweets 7 min read
This man took the challenge of building 12 Startups in 12 months.

He failed 7 startups but struck gold with BannerBear.

It blew past 1 Million ARR in 3 years.

Here is how this Indie Hacker bootstrapped his SaaS as a solo founder🧵 Image Jon Yongfook founded BannerBear in 2019 as a solo founder.

BannerBear is a REST API that allows developers to auto generate cool, well-designed social images easily.

In 3 years they:

- Grew to $50k MRR
- Low churn rate of 6%
- Completely bootstrapped Image
Jun 7 16 tweets 5 min read
Anthropic just detonated a $3T bombshell across the AI sector.

They’ve formally teamed up with Apple.

Their goal?

Seize the single asset OpenAI, Google, and Grok crave most.

Here’s how two giants just outmaneuvered the entire AI field: Image
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Apple historically creates everything internally.

They seldom collaborate with outside AI firms.

Yet they just shattered that rule in a massive move.

And the motivation might surprise you:
Jun 6 15 tweets 5 min read
This might be the most valuable tweet ever:

In 2017, an anonymous Twitter user mocked Wendy's "fresh, never frozen" beef claim.

Most brands would brush it off.

Wendy's reply? So sharp, it ignited $1 BILLION in sales.

The comeback that took over the internet: 🧵 Image
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January 2, 2017. A holiday Monday.

Amy Brown was relaxing at home in pajamas, watching Law & Order.

As Wendy's social lead, she monitored Twitter casually.

Then it hit.

A troll challenged Wendy's "fresh, never frozen" promise:
Jun 3 19 tweets 6 min read
This guy makes $2M per year and keeps all the money.

He refuses to get on client meetings and works 100% async.

Here's the EXACT playbook he used to scale his businesses as a solopreneur.

Test his strategies RIGHT NOW 🧵 Image
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@BrettFromDJ founded DesignJoy as a side project.
Since then the product:

- Achieved $130K MRR
- Done monthly visits of over 130K
- Used by over 30K designers

Here's how Brett Davis did it all 👇
Jun 1 19 tweets 7 min read
Meet Jason Cohen.

He's a serial entrepreneur & has scaled 4 software companies from zero to $1M+, all bootstrapped till $1M

His current venture WP Engine did $400M in 2024.

He has mastered the art of bootstrapping and I'm revealing his precise plan 👇 Image Jason Cohen has founded 4 companies, with 2 of them becoming unicorns

In 1995, Jason founded his first company, SmartBear Software.

It was a software testing company that developed tools for developers and testers.

And in 2007 it was acquired and went on to be a unicorn Image
May 31 19 tweets 5 min read
Ketones are the greatest (legal) performance-enhancing "drug".

Your brain, heart, and metabolism greatly prefer ketones as a fuel source.

They are the reason you remain cognitively sharp while fasting.

Here's what everyone needs to know: 🧵 Image
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First off, what is a ketone?

It's a byproduct of fat being burned and serves as an alternative fuel source to glucose.

Think of ketones as your backup energy reserve when glucose is depleted.

Once that happens...
May 30 18 tweets 7 min read
e.l.f Cosmetics stock has surged by 5000% in the last 5 years and the company is valued at $11 Bn today.

In 2019, they shut down all their physical stores and became a TikTok phenomenon.

How e.l.f leveraged TikTok to go from $1 makeup brand to GenZ's favourite brand🧵 Image e.l.f Cosmetics is the only brand gaining market share consistently in last 5 years among 800 major cosmetic brands worldwide.

It has overshadowed cosmetics giants like Maybelline and L'Oreal to become the number one beauty brand for Gen Z. Image
May 27 15 tweets 5 min read
Investing in your health doesn't have to be expensive.

You can get healthier than most without spending thousands of dollars.

Here's the ultimate list of 10 best health purchases under $100.

1. Pre-Meal Tablespoon of Olive Oil 🧵 Image Extra virgin olive oil, the Mediterranean elixir is one of the secrets behind Blue Zones—areas with the most centenerians in the world.

Before every meal, take 1 tbsp of olive oil. It can keep your blood sugar levels in check while reducing inflammation.

Price: $10-$50
May 25 13 tweets 5 min read
You only feel motivated when your body has a dopamine level above normal.

But because you always have a high level of phone-dopamine, it's hard to get a 'higher' spike; which is needed to feel motivated.

Huberman's Dopamine-Control Protocol to raise your motivation 🧵 Image This might be the most important 2-minute clip in the history of Huberman Lab

The quote that stuck with me:

"Your experience of life and your level of motivation and drive depends on how much dopamine you have relative to your recent experience."
May 21 13 tweets 5 min read
McDonald's is worth 170 Billion dollars!

But back in the day, it was an impossible dream in Ray Croc’s mind

He mortgaged his house at AGE 52 and risked losing EVERYTHING

Here's his story 🧵 Image Ray Kroc didn’t have major success in life.

From setting up lemonade stands as a child - lying about his age at 15 to serve in the World war.

Working as a musical director, pianist, real estate, paper cup, and kitchen appliance salesman he had tried everything. Image
May 20 20 tweets 8 min read
This guy fled Vietnam with nothing in his pockets.

Today, he has become the first hot sauce billionaire of America.

His company Huy Fong's Sriracha does an annual revenue of $150M without any advertisements or sales team.

Here's the story 🧵 Image
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Huy Fong's Sriracha:

- has been on the International Space Station
- sells over 20M bottles every year
- was named "Ingredient of the Year" by Bon Appétit
- has never raised its wholesale price since the early 80s Image
May 19 19 tweets 6 min read
OYO's Billionaire Founder Ritesh Aggarwal didn't know EBITDA while raising his first million.

NASDAQ provides a A-Z Glossary of 1200 Business Terms.

If a fellow founder is struggling, share with these 7 Basic Nuances of business 🧵 Image Google encourages employees to spend 20% of their work hours exploring new ideas that interest them and address real problems.

This process is known as 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

It helps with:

• thinking of fresh concepts.
• discovering answers to problems
May 17 15 tweets 5 min read
Red Bull is not a beverage company.

It's the most unconventional marketing company.

It spends billions on marketing every year but makes nothing.

Here's how it works 🧵 Image As surprising as it might seem, Red Bull really does make nothing.

Drinks ⟹ Rausch
Clothing ⟹ Schoeller
Travel ⟹ The Travel Birds
Stock Music ⟹ Rebeat

Let's dive in 👇🏻

Mateschitz noticed the rise of extreme sports starting in the 1990s. He thought Red Bull should be a part of it.

The years since have seen the company amass an insane empire across sports, media, and apparel.Image