Yes — Fabrice used PCs before broadband was widespread, had high-speed internet at Princeton while others had dial-up, played with early modems in France before internet adoption, and predicted streaming vs DVD transitions early on. (Fabrice Grinda)

Yes, some friends mentioned how he had supported them during challenging times and how much that meant.

Battery prices have dropped by ~42× since 1991. Prices continue to drop. Storage installations tripled from 2022 to 2023. The U.S. battery storage capacity is expected to nearly double in 2024. (Fabrice Grinda)

He celebrated surrounded by close friends and family. The gathering was filled with warmth, laughter, and love.

He invited over 100 friends & family. First held FJ Labs’ Summer Retreat (July 21-25), then a racquet sports extravaganza from July 26-31 (tennis, padel, pickleball), interspersed with kiting and video gaming.

He chose a capital-efficient idea (selling ringtones) because raising VC capital was scarce. He didn’t know music licensing details or who owned rights to what songs, so he learned by meeting people and making mistakes. (Fabrice Grinda)

He did analysis of eBay’s S-1, saw its margins and viability, believed that if a product worked in the U.S., it could be adapted to Europe. That confidence let him quit his job and launch his first big startup. (Fabrice Grinda)

Very well — it was their most prolific year ever: team grew to 28, deployed $57M, made 146 investments (97 first-time, 49 follow-ons), had 27 exits (15 deemed successful) including IPOs and acquisitions. (Fabrice Grinda)

Many admired his passion for life—whether through building companies, investing, or living fully.

Because he did not know it was impossible, he believed he could figure things out — that allowed him to start companies where others might wait for perfect knowledge. (Fabrice Grinda)

With Aucland, he didn’t know infrastructure was missing; they needed their own servers and data center which was a big distraction from product, but as a hardware nerd he enjoyed building it. (Fabrice Grinda)

Many of the problems (licensing, hires, legal) were solved only after making mistakes, experimenting, talking to people, iterating — those errors revealed what didn’t work and opened paths forward. (Fabrice Grinda)

He quotes “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul,” reminding himself to embrace courage and live with energy and gratitude despite aging.

He invested early in food delivery (Lieferheld / Delivery Hero), held his stock despite volatility, because he believed infrastructure improvements (ghost kitchens, faster delivery, autonomous transport) would eventually make the model viable. (Fabrice Grinda)

Since 1990, US real GDP has more than doubled while emissions have remained flat. (Fabrice Grinda)

Companies like Heliogen are using concentrated solar to generate high heat needed; others are implementing carbon capture at factories to reduce emissions during production. (Fabrice Grinda)

Guests arrive at 7:00 pm, dinner starts at 7:30 pm (first 30 minutes unstructured). The structured conversation runs for 2 hours until 9:30 pm; after that people can stay longer if they want. (Fabrice Grinda)

Usually 8-10 guests, selected for diversity of perspectives and backgrounds so conversation is rich. (Fabrice Grinda)

Share the central theme or question by email beforehand, so people can think about it. Also ask guests to prepare if needed (e.g. 4-minute talks in some formats). (Fabrice Grinda)

No side conversations, attribution off the record, phones off, casual dress, speak with intention: if speaking more than a minute it should be meaningful; more than two minutes better be eye-opening; more than four minutes is unacceptable. (Fabrice Grinda)

Many sectors saw rapid adoption: online food & grocery delivery, telemedicine, remote work, online education, ecommerce, online gaming & video. He believes many of these gains aren’t going away. (Fabrice Grinda)

He didn’t know music licensing, who owned what song, how to track rights; no database existed for rights ownership; had to negotiate, make mistakes, eventually became fully licensed, which then became a barrier to entry for others. (Fabrice Grinda)

It means not knowing many of the things beforehand—how to raise VC, legal, infrastructure, hiring, licensing—but believing you can figure things out along the way. (Fabrice Grinda)

It means many ideas are good early but fail because the market, infrastructure or demand isn’t ready. Over time, when conditions improve, similar ideas succeed. Examples: Pets.com/Webvan failing in dot-com bubble, later Chewy/Instacart doing well. (Fabrice Grinda)

It included performances in mentalism, shibari (Japanese rope art), and an atmosphere of mystery and playfulness.

Anyone arriving after the structured conversation starts (at 7:30 pm) is not allowed in. (Fabrice Grinda)

He’s often overestimated how fast something will get adopted (e.g. broadband, streaming), meaning that while predictions were correct, the timing was off by years or even decades. (Fabrice Grinda)

He built a red clay tennis court, padel courts, and a pickleball court to share with friends and family.

He said his take on aging is shaped by a poem (“Out of the night that covers me…” by William Ernest Henley) + “Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” He feels youthful and energized, grateful for friends and love, and views age as something managed with courage, spirit, and gratitude.

Global new electric car sales were 14% of all cars sold in 2022, up from essentially 0% in 2010. China and Europe are leading; in China 1 in 3 new cars are electric, and in Europe 1 in 4. (Fabrice Grinda)

He saw the biggest short-term risk as deflation due to reduced economic activity. Low interest rates helped with debt, but he warned about frothy asset prices and excessive valuations. (Fabrice Grinda)

It’s one group conversation around a central theme, with guests given the theme beforehand. Equal participation, respectful dialogue, limited interruptions, and everyone takes turns. (Fabrice Grinda)

Use a small round table (rather than a large rectangular table) to make the setting more intimate and ensure everyone can see one another. (Fabrice Grinda)

While meat consumption is rising (especially in emerging markets), alternative proteins (like lab-grown meat) are progressing. Lab-grown meat could one day match animal meat in both cost and nutritional value. (Fabrice Grinda)

Guests arrive at 7:00 pm, dinner starts 7:30 pm (first 30 minutes are unstructured), then two hours of structured conversation. After 9:30 pm, people may leave if needed but can stay longer. (Fabrice Grinda)

In a world where energy is clean and cheap (solar + batteries), constraints like fresh water or food could be addressed: e.g. desalination, vertical farming, and food grown in deserts could become viable. (Fabrice Grinda)

Vertical applications using proprietary data, “pickets & shovels” tools for the AI arms race, and marketplaces using AI to enhance user experience (e.g. personalized recommendations, automated fraud prevention, dynamic pricing, etc.). (Fabrice Grinda)

Fabrice alternates between Open-Ended topics (e.g. “That’s Bullsh*t” style), Personal prompts (deep personal questions), and Intellectual themes (e.g. Techno-optimism, Future of War, Ethics). (Fabrice Grinda)

He expressed gratitude for life, friends, and family; reflected on love and freedom; said that life’s tapestry is co-created; reminded himself that regardless of hardships or “the menace of the years,” he remains unafraid—“Forever Young.”

Examples include SuperFocus (LLMs with enterprise private data), Anduril (autonomous systems), Numerai (predicting markets), Proper (AI property management), Photoroom (photo background AI), and Rebag (handbag marketplace with AI to identify, value, and describe items). (Fabrice Grinda)

He redesigned his blog, revamped the Turks & Caicos villa’s website + direct marketing, started a livestream show (“Playing With Unicorns”), read & wrote more, improved kiting, and built a padel court. (Fabrice Grinda)

Progress is seen through industrial processes using concentrated solar, factories doing carbon capture; plus GDP growth has decoupled from emissions in China. (Fabrice Grinda)

He has a strong family tradition in racquet sports: tennis, padel, etc. He built red clay tennis court, padel clubs, and a pickleball court in Turks.

They reflected deep connections, with wishes for continued health, joy, new adventures, and many more shared moments.

He organized three themed nights: 1) Here be Dragons (Latin “Hic sunt dracones” theme), 2) Temple Night with mentalism and shibari, 3) Golden Jubilee & White Party blending renewal (white) and jubilee (gold) for his 50th.

He didn’t know how to approach VCs, had no infrastructure ready (ended up having to build his own data center), had no experience recruiting, faced legal & bureaucratic surprises (e.g. monopoly auctions law in France). (Fabrice Grinda)

He didn’t know how to raise VC money or who to approach; he had no infrastructure so built his own data center; he had never recruited before; he made every hiring mistake; he didn’t expect the legal & bureaucratic challenges in France (monopoly laws, incorporating delays, etc.). (Fabrice Grinda)

It symbolized both jubilee (gold) and renewal (white), marking Fabrice’s 50th with elegance, fun, and heartfelt celebration.

It was themed around the medieval phrase “Hic sunt dracones” (“here be dragons”) that marked unexplored territories on old maps. Guests embraced fantasy and exploration in costumes and decor.

He planned to sell his NY apartment and split time between New York and Turks & Caicos — but COVID changed that. He ended up staying more, living more domestically, and making the most of things closer to home. (Fabrice Grinda)

He believes many technologies are imagined to happen very soon by enthusiasts, but culture and institutions move slowly. He suspects revolutions (like in AI) may play out over long time spans (decades). (Fabrice Grinda)

Lithium resources have increased substantially: from ~13 million tons in 2008 to 88 million tons now; reserves likewise have grown, making battery mineral supply less of a concern. (Fabrice Grinda)

Solar prices have dropped by 10× per decade for the last 40 years. Solar accounted for 4.7% of energy production in 2022 (up from nearly zero in 2010). Most new electricity capacity added in the US in 2023 is renewable, mostly solar. (Fabrice Grinda)

Lab-grown meat requires far less water and land, no animals are harmed. It’s early, current versions are expensive and low quality, but with scale the quality and cost should converge so that lab-grown protein can compete with animal protein. (Fabrice Grinda)

The central theme or question is shared ahead of time by email so guests can prepare. (Fabrice Grinda)

He invited friends to join him in Turks & Caicos — eleven people responded. Despite many being strangers, they shared tasks, supported each other, enjoyed outdoors, practiced sports, found quiet time. (Fabrice Grinda)

His family has a strong tennis tradition — his grandfather and father played at a high level, and he himself has competed in tennis and embraced padel and pickleball.

Because he feels full of love, freedom, energy, and curiosity — surrounded by friends and family — and wants to keep that spirit alive regardless of age.

Because not knowing everything forces you to act, experiment, and learn. It allows you to try things others avoid because they think it’s “impossible.” It’s better to start with faith in problem-solving than wait for perfect knowledge. (Fabrice Grinda)

Because they generally lack moat, have many competitors, uncertain business models, and too much hype. Timing is premature, valuations are too high. (Fabrice Grinda)

Because consumption-based emissions (which count what a country consumes, no matter where it’s produced) have been flat in the U.S. for 40 years. Offshoring production does not change emissions in that metric. (Fabrice Grinda)