[Linkpost] “Podcast: Austin and Oli on funding & incubating projects” by Austin

This is a link post. Oli Habryka of LessWrong and I recently spoke about his plans to improve the AI safety funding ecosystem with a better S-Process platform, and my new incubator for EA/AIS software projects, Surplus (since launched; apply now!) We also cover: hot takes on different funders; what kinds of founders might succeed in the age of vibecoding; whether to do direct work or go meta; and what we respect and criticize in each other. Watch along here: I've transcribed the full conversation at https://peruse.sh/ep/austin-chen-and-oliver-habryka-on-funding-incubating-project. (Beware: the AI makes notable edits for readability, sometimes distorting what the speaker meant. If specific phrasing is cruxy, listen to the audio.) Selected quotes The cursed game of philanthropy Oli: "Philanthropy is one of the most cursed games in existence... The default outcome of what happens when rich people try to do philanthropy is that they think about starting a foundation, they imagine hiring someone on the market and ask themselves: who am I going to show up and feel comfortable trusting most of my net worth to? That doesn't make any sense. And so what they often end up doing is making a family office. The only way to solve this [...] ---Outline:(01:01) Selected quotes(07:00) Chapters(08:38) Referenced links(09:08) Full transcript(09:13) Critiques of SFF's grant process \[0:00\](11:32) The SFF application process \[2:26\](12:56) The speculation grant freeze for advocacy orgs \[3:40\](14:36) A lower-trust, more transparent funding process \[5:04\](16:32) How the S-process works \[6:53\](20:24) Naming and communicating the value to funders \[10:54\](25:49) EA philanthropy and the principal-agent problem: Open Philanthropy, Longview \[15:51\](31:18) How much funding is coming \[21:28\](32:39) Surplus: the incubator \[22:33\](34:52) Why for-profits over nonprofits \[24:37\](37:39) The ideal founder profile \[27:11\](40:58) Whether writers can found startups in the vibe-coding era \[30:26\](42:25) Monetizing public communications projects \[31:45\](53:07) Oliver's case for the incubator \[42:09\](54:41) On professional grantmakers \[44:04\](58:00) Whether infrastructure work is more direct than safety research \[47:36\](01:01:47) The case for a better AI safety journal \[51:08\](01:04:10) Mutual feedback \[53:17\](01:10:10) How to help: LessWrong, Surplus, and the S-process \[1:01:01\] --- First published: June 27th, 2026 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/mFoK2kjauoGxsEFaQ/podcast-austin-and-oli-on-funding-and-incubating-projects Linkpost URL:https://manifund.substack.com/p/podcast-austin-and-oli-on-funding --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.