The Thing

Co-Founder

building the "media arm" for a growing industry
increasing AI and opensource literacy, for all. 
 Sponsored by👋 Jan

Host - unsupervised learning podcast 

Growth Contributor 

Wrivu Consulting

Growth Consultant 

Optible AI

criteria-matching AI for grant assessment use-case 🤖
supported founder-led sales/HR initiatives/event marketing

Head of Operations

Genvis

Growth Operations Coordinator 

Stealth Startup

Product Marketing Manager

Locafy

special projects monkey 🐒 for COO and CTO

Continuous Improvement Manager

Digital Operations Specialist

Business Analyst

on page SEO/CRO
clients included:
Ray White
Glam Corner
Hello Social
Web Profits

Marketing Strategy Consultant

Wordpress CRO Consultant

Hi, I'm Renee, co-founder of "The Thing". 
Vibe curator, nerd-to-normie api, fostering CBCs (community building communities) & post-internet building at The Thing (open project for community building infra & experimental media/events).

You might've come here because of a silly comment I've made, but I'm glad you stayed!

I'm always eager to speak with folks in the open-source space.

Renée Shaw

your mom @ tl;dv (meeting ai for orgs) 💙

i quit



I quit tl;dv as CEO. frankly, the team is too intelligent and it's making me look bad by comparison. 

the product keeps adding features people want like "a mobile app" and "multi meeting insights" as well as really transparent, GDPR compliant privacy settings. 

it sickens me. i'm used to operating under shaky-at-best (fraudulent at worst) principles and these people are making it difficult to be true to myself. 

before I left my role, I gave myself a healthy amount of equity. this reflects my sentiment on the direction they're taking. 

 while I am bearish on my ability to lead effectively at the company's helm, I am bullish on the direction of the company and will be returning to a humble position within the social media team (you may still refer to me as CEO).

CEO @ tl;dv (again) (meeting intelligence for orgs) 💙

interviewer: "what's your greatest strength?"
me:

LinkedIn is NOT a dating app!

please know that if you DM me trying to hit on me, take me out, send nudes etc...


I WILL pitch tl;dv to you and you WILL regret it.

"you got your job through Bumble?!"



i'm sick of people asking this, it's rude.
the truth is, I got my job through Hinge.

i wasn't going to share this


but i believe in being vulnerable and sharing my failings. 

they sent me this the day after my birthday too 🥲

think you know about OpenAIs CEO Sam Altman?
 
think again.

Sam is a famously private person with immense lore.

-at 19, he creates "Loopt"- a location sharing app

-in 2005 he got accepted to YC

-in 2012 Loopt was acquired for $43 mil

- in 2013 Sam was devastated by the MCR breakup and vowed never to paint his nails black again or wear eyeliner

-due to Sam denying his emo self, Paul Graham decided to declare himself Altman's "Daddy" and made him YC president.

- years later, the implosion at OpenAI with Sam's stepping down as CEO was due to him revisiting his alt boi era. (the board made him promise to not do it again)

billionaires are people too and we've got one who needs some compassion.
 
it's hard for him

next step is to ask for a loan from the government

"why do people pay attention to you when all you do is shitpost about that tl;dv place?" 


heres a checklist for consistent engagement 

- daily posts

- engaging with others 

-content strategy 

- have a boyfriend who works in machine learning at LinkedIn on the recommender systems (algorithm) and bully him into pushing my posts in the feed. 

just follow the steps and you'll take off.

if "meet the team" photos could talk.. 

ft Heather Barnett Adam Faulkner Sean Kennedy

in case you didn't know..



birds can speak and use words in context.
we should be more alarmed about this.
they could be leading teams and optimising their workflows using tl;dv but they don't.

they just eat worms and avoid taxes. 

i'm incredibly jealous.

i'm leaving!



i'm being replaced by Rebecca. she’s been at tl;dv for a year but hasn't been allowed to post. she’ll be running this account until Jan 2026.


as a challenge, she's doing 30 days of actual honest posts instead of satire.

coming up
• how I choose what to post
• what startup CEOs actually want
• turning jealousy into creative fuel
• breaking down a flop
• what I wish people posted
• mistakes I made this year
• self-inflicted startup obstacles
• what’s wrong with remote work

personally, I’m excited to see what Rebecca does

taplio