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+7

AI Bubble or Founders Playground?

Feb 24, 2026

•

4 min read

AI Bubble or Founders Playground?

Why founders who keep tinkering with these tools will be the ones left standing.

Dax Hamman
Dax Hamman

investment

+9

Founders! Are you sure you need to do a priced round?

Feb 16, 2026

•

7 min read

Founders! Are you sure you need to do a priced round?

Bootstrapping, SAFE notes, and why I believe founders have better options than the path we were all told to follow.

Dax Hamman
Dax Hamman

investment

+7

Why Human Judgment Still Matters (Even with AI Everywhere)

Feb 9, 2026

•

6 min read

Why Human Judgment Still Matters (Even with AI Everywhere)

When tech fixes everything but nobody picks up the phone, you start to miss the humans. Here’s what I’ve learned building a hybrid AI company.

Dax Hamman
Dax Hamman

Hard Part First

Hard Part First

Hard Part First is a publication for founders who know that tech is a commodity today and distribution is the moat. I’m Dax Hamman. I’ve been a founder three times: at Chango (sold to Rubicon Project for $122M), and now at FOMO.ai, where I’m building AI + human marketing teams for brands like Noom, Minted, and PetMeds.

© 2026 Hard Part First.
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