John Backus (@backus) / X

John Backus

6,587 posts

John Backus

@backus

Dissonant and obsessive try-hard. Founded @getcognito (acquired by @Plaid)

San Francisco

Joined August 2012

Pinned
John Backus
@backus
Jan 20, 2022
In 2014, @alain and I dropped out of Stanford so we could run @getcognito full time. After almost a decade of hard work, I’m extremely excited to share that @Plaid has acquired Cognito for $252 million!
techcrunch.com
Plaid buys Cognito as it moves beyond merely connecting accounts | TechCrunch
Plaid, a fintech unicorn known for its APIs that connect consumer bank accounts to financial applications, announced today that it is buying Cognito. The
John Backus
@backus
Jun 3, 2024
POV: Taking off your VR headset and AirPods because the flight attendant asked you if you want a drink
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John Backus
@backus
Jul 8, 2018
... wow. Ben Affleck perfectly predicting Spotify and Netflix in a random 2003 interview Almost exactly right about the unit economics of annual music subscriptions and the timing of online movie streaming. Solid point too on how shareware (Napster) is a necessary predecessor
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John Backus
@backus
Apr 29, 2023
The code interpreter feature on ChatGPT is the most mind blowing thing I've seen yet. All I did was upload a CSV of SF crime data and ask it to visualize trends(!!)
John Backus
@backus
Jan 23, 2019
“Santa” is very important because it teaches kids that adults are capable of staging large scale, leaderless, and decentralized deceptions just for the hell of it
John Backus
@backus
Dec 14, 2018
Alright, here is the fintech-pill. Take it, internalize it, and the space will finally make sense: Every fintech company is just a disguised strategic growth hack where the real goal is to become a bank. Robinhood, Stripe, Coinbase, Affirm, Acorns. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank.
John Backus
@backus
Nov 6, 2018
Anonymous 4chan poster et al
John Backus
@backus
Jan 15, 2020
PROTIP: Feeling lonely? Go to your Netflix settings, click "Sign out of all devices," and wait a few hours. Voilà! If you check your phone now, you'll find you have several new texts from friends you haven't spoken to in years.
John Backus
@backus
Sep 4, 2018
I left my AirPods at my friend’s house so I had to fallback to wired headphones for my run tonight. Can’t believe our ancestors used to live like this.
John Backus
@backus
Apr 21, 2021
Update: I moved to Miami 🙃
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John Backus
@backus
Jun 25, 2019
Flat earth society and anti-vaxx exist to give people outgroups to dunk on when they’re just starting to level up their intellectual rigor signaling. Kinda like how the first levels of some video games are actually just there to teach you the controls and provide backstory.
John Backus
@backus
Feb 10, 2020
Introducing: Jam! A password-sharing service for friends. Get access to every service your friends pay for, instantly and securely. Get an invite to the beta 👉 jam.link Thread 👇
John Backus
@backus
Nov 23, 2020
Iconic bay area news clipping
John Backus
@backus
Nov 13, 2018
Early tech cos were a lot flimsier than you’d think: • Zuck saw FB as a growth hack for launching WireHog, the real biz • Snapchat’s product was built around an iOS bug, basically • Airbnb grew via unauthorized craigslist crossposts and spam Reassuring reality for founders!