Sam Blum
@samblum.bsky.social
Sr. Writer at Inc Magazine. Tech, startups, billionaires, outsiders, investigations. Written for Rolling Stone, Vox, etc. Real G's move in silence like lasagna. 🍝
Proton: [email protected]
Signal: Sammblum.89
Proton: [email protected]
Signal: Sammblum.89
Pinned
Reposted by Sam Blum
Rest in peace to one of the great bloggers and the de facto mayor of Philadelphia. It was my honor and pleasure to work with him. defector.com/dan-mcquade-...
Dan McQuade, 1983–2026 | Defector
Dan McQuade, our friend and colleague, died this week at the age of 43. He is survived by his wife and young son. At the end of 2024, Dan was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer. The news of his diag...
defector.com
January 29, 2026 at 12:56 AM
Rest in peace to one of the great bloggers and the de facto mayor of Philadelphia. It was my honor and pleasure to work with him. defector.com/dan-mcquade-...
New video up on @inc.com about my investigation into fraudulent LLCs and how one woman behind so many of them reveals much about the state of business scams in the U.S.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrYa...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrYa...
How Easy It Is to Create a Fraudulent LLC in America | Inc.
YouTube video by Inc.
www.youtube.com
January 29, 2026 at 4:05 PM
New video up on @inc.com about my investigation into fraudulent LLCs and how one woman behind so many of them reveals much about the state of business scams in the U.S.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrYa...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrYa...
The Washington Post is offering a subscription for 50 cents a week. Literally begging for scraps as Bezos trots around European art shows and lays the newsroom to waste.
January 29, 2026 at 3:10 PM
The Washington Post is offering a subscription for 50 cents a week. Literally begging for scraps as Bezos trots around European art shows and lays the newsroom to waste.
Grindcore is the new hustle culture
January 29, 2026 at 2:58 PM
Grindcore is the new hustle culture
Reposted by Sam Blum
I'd like to talk to people on the financing side of the data center buildout, esp people at sov wealth and PE funds and anyone dealing with new esoteric instruments or forms of financing. I want to learn what all this looks like from your end. Glad to talk on background. Signal: jacobsilverman.99
January 18, 2026 at 8:31 PM
I'd like to talk to people on the financing side of the data center buildout, esp people at sov wealth and PE funds and anyone dealing with new esoteric instruments or forms of financing. I want to learn what all this looks like from your end. Glad to talk on background. Signal: jacobsilverman.99
Reposted by Sam Blum
NEW: I wrote about the popularity of testosterone, from the manosphere hucksters and influencers who peddle it online, to its real health applications as telehealth giants begin to offer it to patients this year.
Gift link: www.inc.com/sam-blum/tes...
Gift link: www.inc.com/sam-blum/tes...
Testosterone Is the Red-Pilled Elixir of the Manosphere. Now Companies Are Eager To Bring It Mainstream
Hims announced that TRT therapy would be coming to its telehealth platform this year. But a grey market still thrives as recreational use supersedes medical needs.
www.inc.com
January 27, 2026 at 1:30 PM
NEW: I wrote about the popularity of testosterone, from the manosphere hucksters and influencers who peddle it online, to its real health applications as telehealth giants begin to offer it to patients this year.
Gift link: www.inc.com/sam-blum/tes...
Gift link: www.inc.com/sam-blum/tes...
Understand that there are more important things afoot but the podcast bros have gender affirming care now, and I wrote about it: www.inc.com/sam-blum/tes...
Testosterone Is the Red-Pilled Elixir of the Manosphere. Now Companies Are Eager to Make It Mainstream
Hims announced that TRT therapy would be coming to its telehealth platform this year. But a grey market still thrives as recreational use supersedes medical needs.
www.inc.com
January 28, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Understand that there are more important things afoot but the podcast bros have gender affirming care now, and I wrote about it: www.inc.com/sam-blum/tes...
Reposted by Sam Blum
#Journorequest: I'm looking to speak to women who use AI chatbots like ChatGPT for health questions and guidance. If you're open to chatting, please send me a message or email. Thank you! [email protected] 🧪🧠💬
January 27, 2026 at 6:49 PM
#Journorequest: I'm looking to speak to women who use AI chatbots like ChatGPT for health questions and guidance. If you're open to chatting, please send me a message or email. Thank you! [email protected] 🧪🧠💬
Bari Weiss' idea of a humble startup that came from nothing got millions of VC funding from Marc Andreessen and Howard Shultz.
Bari Weiss at the end of her all-hands meeting today:
"I'm not a spreadsheet girl... What I'm great at is generating ideas and working with people and working really, really hard to see them to fruition. That is what I've done for five years, busting my ass on a startup that came from nothing."
"I'm not a spreadsheet girl... What I'm great at is generating ideas and working with people and working really, really hard to see them to fruition. That is what I've done for five years, busting my ass on a startup that came from nothing."
January 27, 2026 at 5:53 PM
Bari Weiss' idea of a humble startup that came from nothing got millions of VC funding from Marc Andreessen and Howard Shultz.
Reposted by Sam Blum
New: Unsealed court docs detail Big Tech’s yearslong, secret race to ingest the collective works of humanity, including Anthropic’s project to “destructively scan all the books in the world.”
Gift link: wapo.st/4rjXAMQ
Gift link: wapo.st/4rjXAMQ
How Silicon Valley built AI: Buying, scanning and destroying millions of books
Court filings reveal how AI companies raced to obtain more books to feed chatbots, including by buying, scanning and disposing of millions of titles.
wapo.st
January 27, 2026 at 3:20 PM
New: Unsealed court docs detail Big Tech’s yearslong, secret race to ingest the collective works of humanity, including Anthropic’s project to “destructively scan all the books in the world.”
Gift link: wapo.st/4rjXAMQ
Gift link: wapo.st/4rjXAMQ
NEW: I wrote about the popularity of testosterone, from the manosphere hucksters and influencers who peddle it online, to its real health applications as telehealth giants begin to offer it to patients this year.
Gift link: www.inc.com/sam-blum/tes...
Gift link: www.inc.com/sam-blum/tes...
Testosterone Is the Red-Pilled Elixir of the Manosphere. Now Companies Are Eager To Bring It Mainstream
Hims announced that TRT therapy would be coming to its telehealth platform this year. But a grey market still thrives as recreational use supersedes medical needs.
www.inc.com
January 27, 2026 at 1:30 PM
NEW: I wrote about the popularity of testosterone, from the manosphere hucksters and influencers who peddle it online, to its real health applications as telehealth giants begin to offer it to patients this year.
Gift link: www.inc.com/sam-blum/tes...
Gift link: www.inc.com/sam-blum/tes...
The opposite is true, he contends, often citing the fact that he “aced” three recent cognitive tests. “I’ve taken a lot of them,” he said at a bill signing in mid-January. “I’ve aced all of them because I drink milk.”
nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com/intelligence...
‘The Superhuman President’
A good-faith attempt to ascertain the truth about Donald Trump’s health.
nymag.com
January 26, 2026 at 11:13 PM
The opposite is true, he contends, often citing the fact that he “aced” three recent cognitive tests. “I’ve taken a lot of them,” he said at a bill signing in mid-January. “I’ve aced all of them because I drink milk.”
nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com/intelligence...
Trump strikes me as incredibly non-confrontational and even submissive/docile when dealing with any kind of well reasoned pushback.
“I just had a very good telephone conversation with Mayor Jacob Frey, of Minneapolis. Lots of progress is being made!”
January 26, 2026 at 10:22 PM
Trump strikes me as incredibly non-confrontational and even submissive/docile when dealing with any kind of well reasoned pushback.
Reposted by Sam Blum
SCOOP: Palantir Defends Work With ICE to Staff Following Killing of Alex Pretti
WIRED obtained Slack conversations + an updated internal Palantir wiki defending the company's work for ICE to outraged workers.
More here:
www.wired.com/story/palant...
WIRED obtained Slack conversations + an updated internal Palantir wiki defending the company's work for ICE to outraged workers.
More here:
www.wired.com/story/palant...
Palantir Defends Work With ICE to Staff Following Killing of Alex Pretti
“In my opinion ICE are the bad guys. I am not proud that the company I enjoy so much working for is part of this,” one worker wrote on Slack.
www.wired.com
January 26, 2026 at 10:11 PM
SCOOP: Palantir Defends Work With ICE to Staff Following Killing of Alex Pretti
WIRED obtained Slack conversations + an updated internal Palantir wiki defending the company's work for ICE to outraged workers.
More here:
www.wired.com/story/palant...
WIRED obtained Slack conversations + an updated internal Palantir wiki defending the company's work for ICE to outraged workers.
More here:
www.wired.com/story/palant...
I can't get over the fact that the guy who directed the Melania doc also directed the Rush Hour franchise. I don't know what to do with this information so I'm just screaming out the window
January 26, 2026 at 10:05 PM
I can't get over the fact that the guy who directed the Melania doc also directed the Rush Hour franchise. I don't know what to do with this information so I'm just screaming out the window
Reposted by Sam Blum
This may or may not be true but that guy has been a famous liar online for like a decade.
I know it's hard to track all the threats to democracy out there right now, but this is at the top of the list.
January 26, 2026 at 1:52 AM
This may or may not be true but that guy has been a famous liar online for like a decade.
I quickly recapped Elon Musk's bluster at Davos against his long history of making blustery promises that never become reality. www.inc.com/sam-blum/at-...
At Davos, Elon Musk Says That the Future Will Involve 'More Robots Than People'
The brief conversation between Elon Musk and BlackRock's Larry Fink was marked by vague promises and an unenthusiastic audience.
www.inc.com
January 23, 2026 at 3:20 PM
I quickly recapped Elon Musk's bluster at Davos against his long history of making blustery promises that never become reality. www.inc.com/sam-blum/at-...
Blackrock CEO ask Elon Musk about CSAM on X challenge.
January 22, 2026 at 3:54 PM
Blackrock CEO ask Elon Musk about CSAM on X challenge.
On the day an NYT analysis found that Grok generated millions of non-consensual images of real women, Elon Musk is on stage at Davos telling the crowd he is an alien and that he wants to make humans a multi-planetary species. Nobody is clapping!
January 22, 2026 at 3:39 PM
On the day an NYT analysis found that Grok generated millions of non-consensual images of real women, Elon Musk is on stage at Davos telling the crowd he is an alien and that he wants to make humans a multi-planetary species. Nobody is clapping!
Reposted by Sam Blum
Terrific piece of reporting about a phenomenon we've heard about over and over -- a person had been effectively managing a mental illness diagnosis for years, until the sudden emergence of ChatGPT threw them into a tailspin they could never have expected
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Man Who Had Managed Mental Illness Effectively for Years Says ChatGPT Sent Him Into Hospitalization for Psychosis
John Jacquez successfully managed a mental illness for years, he says. Then ChatGPT reinforced delusions, spiraling him into "AI psychosis."
futurism.com
January 22, 2026 at 2:38 PM
Terrific piece of reporting about a phenomenon we've heard about over and over -- a person had been effectively managing a mental illness diagnosis for years, until the sudden emergence of ChatGPT threw them into a tailspin they could never have expected
futurism.com/artificial-i...
futurism.com/artificial-i...
Reposted by Sam Blum
His name is Liam Ramos, and he is 5. He was abducted from Minneapolis and trafficked to a detention camp in Texas.
This picture making the rounds on reddit, Columbia Heights. I'm not OK.
January 21, 2026 at 11:27 PM
His name is Liam Ramos, and he is 5. He was abducted from Minneapolis and trafficked to a detention camp in Texas.
Reposted by Sam Blum
Is arguing about whose product has killed more people the most honest thing these guys have ever done? www.inc.com/sam-blum/the...
The Elon Musk–Sam Altman Feud Just Took a Very Dark Turn Ahead of Their Trial
The billionaire beef pertains to both ChatGPT and Tesla Autopilot, perhaps not in the way you’d expect.
www.inc.com
January 21, 2026 at 6:54 PM
Is arguing about whose product has killed more people the most honest thing these guys have ever done? www.inc.com/sam-blum/the...
Is arguing about whose product has killed more people the most honest thing these guys have ever done? www.inc.com/sam-blum/the...
The Elon Musk–Sam Altman Feud Just Took a Very Dark Turn Ahead of Their Trial
The billionaire beef pertains to both ChatGPT and Tesla Autopilot, perhaps not in the way you’d expect.
www.inc.com
January 21, 2026 at 6:54 PM
Is arguing about whose product has killed more people the most honest thing these guys have ever done? www.inc.com/sam-blum/the...
This is the behavior of a man who wakes up in the middle of the night and unwittingly pisses in the closet
For the second time in two days, Trump appears to confuse Iceland and Greenland.
"They‘re not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland has already cost us a lot of money."
"They‘re not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland has already cost us a lot of money."
January 21, 2026 at 2:35 PM
This is the behavior of a man who wakes up in the middle of the night and unwittingly pisses in the closet
Reposted by Sam Blum
ICE agents are reportedly detaining citizens and noncitizens alike in Minneapolis. Minnesotans are carrying passports and self-defense whistles just to walk the streets of their own city. www.inc.com/melissa-ange...
‘We Don’t Know Where ICE Is, or Where They'll Show Up Next’: ICE Is Disrupting Minneapolis Businesses
Minneapolis businesses report that residents are afraid to leave their homes because of ICE. When they do, many are taking their passports and emergency whistles with them.
www.inc.com
January 16, 2026 at 7:13 PM
ICE agents are reportedly detaining citizens and noncitizens alike in Minneapolis. Minnesotans are carrying passports and self-defense whistles just to walk the streets of their own city. www.inc.com/melissa-ange...