Tracked Authors — Candidate List (rolling)

Authors surfaced through /process-newsletter runs (and other ingest paths) that are worth tracking on X and considering for guest-post slots, citation, or follow-up reading. This is the holding pattern until the Notion Task #4 (“Add Twitter users to CRM workflow”) is built into a real DB.

When a candidate hits the threshold for active follow (founder verifies + adds to actual X follow list / promotes to a contact stub), move the entry to the bottom under Promoted with the date.

Candidates (active)

Vin Vashishta

• Domain: knowledge-graph-for-agents, agentic data infrastructure
• Surfaced: 2026-04-24 via SeattleDataGuy “5 Silent Failures in Data Pipelines” — SDG cited him as the domain authority
• Why follow: directly adjacent to RDCO’s graph infra work + MAC verification layer. Likely shares assessable industry-positioning content on X.
• Action: founder follow on X, monitor for content worth filing to vault
• Citation source: ~/rdco-vault/06-reference/2026-04-24-seattle-data-guy-silent-pipeline-failures.md

Barry McCardel (Hex CEO, @barrmcc)

• Domain: AI analytics, agentic notebook design, harness-thesis adjacent
• Surfaced: 2026-04-24 via Hex blog assessment — “Weirdos wanted” essay (Apr 2) is direct externally-validated articulation of the unhobbling/Targeting System cluster (“AI models can’t think out-of-distribution”)
• Why follow: writes the strongest essays on the Hex blog — declarative voice, harness-thesis cluster reinforcement
• Action: founder follow on X, possible quote-source for Sanity Check pieces on agent verification layer
• Citation source: Hex blog assessment task ade1dd143ecb303e9 (2026-04-24)

Rachel Herrera (Hex)

• Domain: AI analytics, contrarian product takes
• Surfaced: 2026-04-24 via Hex blog assessment — “I tried to vibe code Hex” + “AI analytics is here. I said it.” — punchy contrarian voice
• Why follow: voice-cadence match for Sanity Check inspiration; potential quote source

Olivia Koshy (Hex)

• Domain: PM voice, agent-era career strategy
• Surfaced: 2026-04-24 via Hex blog assessment — “Don’t be naked when the agents arrive” is direct adjacent to founder/joiner/investor trichotomy
• Why follow: PM-altitude voice for agent-era career framing

Claire Carroll (Hex, ex-dbt content lead)

• Domain: data content + dbt community
• Surfaced: 2026-04-24 via Hex blog assessment — deep credibility in founder’s circle
• Why follow: established voice in the dbt/data-engineering community; check if still active on X
• Action: verify X handle + active status

Pattern note for future surfacings

Newsletter sub-agents flag tracked-author candidates in their DECISION slot when they spot a name that meets ANY of:

• Domain authority cited by an established author (e.g. SDG → Vin Vashishta)
• Independent voice cadence-matching founder’s contrarian-opener pattern
• Direct vault-cluster reinforcement (harness-thesis, Targeting System, MAC, Architect Mode, founder/joiner/investor trichotomy)
• Evidence of operational receipts (named ventures, not credentialing language)

Add new candidates as their own ### Name block above with: Domain / Surfaced / Why follow / Action / Citation source.

Promoted (founder-confirmed, moved to actual follow / contact)

(empty — populate when candidates get founder approval and a real next step)

Cross-references

• Notion Contact Candidates DB (for human-contacts surfaced via Calendar/Email): 7812fdc8-d74c-4312-8580-de33a8f1abfd — DIFFERENT pipe than this list (this is for tracked thought-leaders / public-byline authors, not personal contacts)
• ~/.claude/skills/process-newsletter/SKILL.md — describes the tracked-author surfacing pattern in Step 6
• ~/rdco-vault/01-projects/process-newsletter/README.md — references “Task #4” pending build