Motion Blur

Grant Gregory and Hammad Aslam
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Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam

  1. Tempo Tempo Tempo

    1H AGO

    Tempo Tempo Tempo

    A case for a high cadence Today Grant reads his latest essay, this one is about building in hardware with tempo. One of my college coaches always preached that we needed to move with Tempo, Tempo, and Tempo. It extended from decision making to the actual execution. Always be moving, and move with purpose. If you’re moving faster than your competitors then you’re going to win in the long run. I have yet to see an example where this is not true — especially with startups. 🔗 Show Resource Links Tempo Tempo Tempo 🎙️ Podcast Links ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠ ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ ⁠⁠⁠X (FKA Twitter)⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ 🌀 About Motion Blur Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is a Partner at ⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts: Grant Gregory, ⁠⁠⁠@grant__gregory⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Embers⁠⁠⁠ Hammad Aslam, ⁠⁠⁠@_hammad_aslamh⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Susa Ventures⁠⁠ If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes. Intro music credit: ⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠ Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ to get notified for future episodes.

    3 min
  2. Desperation

    9H AGO

    Desperation

    The other side of Product Market Fit Today Grant reads his latest essay, this one is about desperation, and just like porn: "you know it when you see it". 🔗 Show Resource Links Desperation 🎙️ Podcast Links ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠ ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ ⁠⁠⁠X (FKA Twitter)⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ 🌀 About Motion Blur Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is a Partner at ⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts: Grant Gregory, ⁠⁠⁠@grant__gregory⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Embers⁠⁠⁠ Hammad Aslam, ⁠⁠⁠@_hammad_aslamh⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Susa Ventures⁠⁠ If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes. Intro music credit: ⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠ Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ to get notified for future episodes.

    4 min
  3. Bullets in the Chamber

    MAR 19

    Bullets in the Chamber

    Snipers, Intentionality, and Why Hardware is Hard Today Grant reads his latest essay, this one is about building in hardware. A very close founder friend was recently talking to me about his experience in hardware: “I bled out of my ears and eyes for 3 years. I'm never doing that again.” That was his second startup. When I asked him what in particular made it so hard, he gave an interesting answer: you only have so many bullets in the chamber. 🔗 Show Resource Links Bullets in the Chamber 🎙️ Podcast Links ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠ ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ ⁠⁠⁠X (FKA Twitter)⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ 🌀 About Motion Blur Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is a Partner at ⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts: Grant Gregory, ⁠⁠⁠@grant__gregory⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Embers⁠⁠⁠ Hammad Aslam, ⁠⁠⁠@_hammad_aslamh⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Susa Ventures⁠⁠ If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes. Intro music credit: ⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠ Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ to get notified for future episodes.

    3 min
  4. Need For Speed

    MAR 12

    Need For Speed

    Another side of vertical integration Today Grant reads his latest essay, this one is a continuation of vertical integration benefits. SpaceX customers frequently comment on the fact that they’ve quickly built trust with the company because they saw how hard SpaceX worked to get the products where they needed to be, often in the field with the customer.It’s a mentality. One early Tesla employee shared it succinctly: “If we haven’t finished something yet, and we have 24 hours until a demo, we're still on time.” 🔗 Show Resource Links Need For Speed Post on X 🎙️ Podcast Links ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠ ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ ⁠⁠⁠X (FKA Twitter)⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ 🌀 About Motion Blur Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is a Partner at ⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts: Grant Gregory, ⁠⁠⁠@grant__gregory⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Embers⁠⁠⁠ Hammad Aslam, ⁠⁠⁠@_hammad_aslamh⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Susa Ventures⁠⁠ If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes. Intro music credit: ⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠ Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ to get notified for future episodes.

    7 min
  5. Vertically Integrate or Die

    MAR 5

    Vertically Integrate or Die

    Today Grant reads his latest essay on the topic of vertical integration. Vertical integration has been the topic de jour the last few days — leading to some energized back and forth on X. One position that kicked off the frenzy centered on the idea that “too many startups vertically integrate without any real strategic reason.” Honestly we’ve enjoyed it. But I think a lot of the conversation is missing something fundamental. So I want to share how we think about it at Cantos, informed by what we’ve seen work (and not work) across our portfolio and the broader ADCU. 🔗 Show Resource Links Vertically Integrate or Die Post on X Original post that sparked the essay 🎙️ Podcast Links ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠ ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ ⁠⁠⁠X (FKA Twitter)⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ 🌀 About Motion Blur Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is a Partner at ⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts: Grant Gregory, ⁠⁠⁠@grant__gregory⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Embers⁠⁠⁠ Hammad Aslam, ⁠⁠⁠@_hammad_aslamh⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Susa Ventures⁠⁠ If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes. Intro music credit: ⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠ Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ to get notified for future episodes.

    17 min
  6. (Potato) Chips, Hard Hats, and a Happy New Year

    JAN 15

    (Potato) Chips, Hard Hats, and a Happy New Year

    Predictions, resolutions, and more Happy 2026 everyone! We’re excited to open the show with some exciting news about Hard Hat DAO. We then transition into some new years resolutions, predictions for the tech industry — some of which have already proven true — and then some broader commentary on the state of the world. Welcome to a new trip around the sun. We’re excited for what the new year brings. Oh. And we’re not eating chips in 2026. Feel free to join us (or consume on our behalf). And let us know if you think we should avoid fries too. 🔗 Show Resource Links Can we fix it? Yes we can. 🎙️ Podcast Links ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠ ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ ⁠⁠⁠X (FKA Twitter)⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ 🌀 About Motion Blur Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is an investor at ⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts: Grant Gregory, ⁠⁠⁠@grant__gregory⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Embers⁠⁠⁠ Hammad Aslam, ⁠⁠⁠@_hammad_aslamh⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Susa Ventures⁠⁠ If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes. Intro music credit: ⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠ Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ to get notified for future episodes.

    32 min
  7. The 2025 Retrospective

    12/18/2025

    The 2025 Retrospective

    It’s the end of 2025, so Grant and Hammad decided to revisit some of the most important themes from this year and highlight their significance now that we've had more time to digest them. Hammad cooked in this one, so Grant thinks you’ll particularly enjoy it. Thank you for continuing to listen to us. It’s been a big year (many interviews, the State of Adventure, our 1 year mark, etc.) and we’re excited for many more firsts. This will be our last episode for 2025. We’ll see you in 2026! Happy Holidays, everyone. 🔗 Show Resource Links Some fun memes to end the year: Longevity Sell me this pen Never give up 🎙️ Podcast Links ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠ ⁠Apple Podcasts⁠ ⁠⁠⁠X (FKA Twitter)⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ 🌀 About Motion Blur Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is an investor at ⁠⁠Cantos⁠⁠ where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, ⁠⁠Susa⁠⁠’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts: Grant Gregory, ⁠⁠⁠@grant__gregory⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Embers⁠⁠⁠ Hammad Aslam, ⁠⁠⁠@_hammad_aslamh⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠Susa Ventures⁠⁠ If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every week for new episodes. Intro music credit: ⁠⁠⁠Will Harrison⁠⁠⁠ Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! ⁠⁠Subscribe⁠⁠ to get notified for future episodes.

    53 min
  8. Pursuing Nonlinearity (Part 2)

    12/11/2025

    Pursuing Nonlinearity (Part 2)

    When humanity becomes the edge What does labor look like today, and what does it look like tomorrow? Hammad leads part two of the long-awaited discussion about the concept of linearity. Today’s conversation extends beyond tech and covers a lot more of the societal and philosophical questions that are just beginning to surface. As we’ll highlight, most of these questions actually aren’t that new, but for many people they’re coming to a head now thanks to AI, robotics, and more. What will creativity look like? What will writing look like? What do people do with all the slop and clankers? Grant even talks about a 10,000 word essay he wrote (for fun!) over 8 months during COVID. From the conclusion of that piece: Steve Jobs had a famous aphorism that the computer was the bicycle of the mind. Meaning, that compared to other animals, humans weren’t that special. Our tools changed that. Tools aren’t something we can immediately use — we have to learn and practice first to reach proficiency. We’ve successfully given everyone a bicycle over the past decade, now all we need to do is teach people how to ride it. I’ll give Darwin the final word. “It is not the strongest of species that survive; nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the most adaptable to change.” — Charles Darwin Enjoy! 🔗 Show Resource Links Grant’s 10,000 word essay, What If Everyone Could Code? John Maynard Keynes’ Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren (from 1930) 🎙️ Podcast Links Spotify Apple Podcasts ⁠X (FKA Twitter)⁠ Subscribe 🌀 About Motion Blur Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam. Grant is a Partner at Cantos where he focuses on physical world technologies. Hammad is a Partner at Kivu Ventures, Susa’s growth fund. Learn more about the hosts: Grant Gregory, ⁠Embers⁠ Hammad Aslam, ⁠Susa Ventures Intro music credit: ⁠Will Harrison⁠ Thanks for reading and listening to Motion Blur! Subscribe to get notified for future episodes.

    52 min
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About

Exploring what makes great companies and technologies work. Brought to you by Grant Gregory & Hammad Aslam

Information

  • Creator
    Grant Gregory and Hammad Aslam
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    48
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Grant Gregory and Hammad Aslam
  • Show Website
    Motion Blur