- Episode AI notes
- Embracing uncertainty is crucial for founders as it is an integral part of the entrepreneurial journey.
- Developers require a clear value proposition to engage in community building efforts.
- Building in public involves transparency, openness, and vulnerability in sharing the journey of creating something.
- Successful individuals like Peter Levels and Tony Den inspire by being authentic and achieving product success.
- Pursuing joy over ambition can lead to fulfillment and financial success as an entrepreneur.
- Authenticity and prolificacy on Twitter can help engage followers and attract more engagement.
- AI is revolutionizing the field of no code tools by enabling tasks like generating HTML and CSS from napkin drawings.
Technological advancements like AI aim to free individuals from menial tasks, allowing for more creative thinking and meaningful work. Time 0:00:00
Embracing Uncertainty as a Founder As a founder, the responsibility is all-consuming with no means of escaping it, unlike a regular job. Founders must constantly focus on getting customers, building services, and pursuing goals in an infinite game. The journey of a founder is marked by uncertainty, as there will never be a day without worries. Certainty does not lead one to become a founder; instead, it is about being comfortable with uncertainty and embracing it as an integral part of the entrepreneurial journey.
Speaker 1
Now it’s like I look in the mirror and I can’t escape. Like I’m the full responsibility for the company and there’s no way to hide. I can’t even say, oh, I have a 95 job. Like my full-time job is getting customers, building services, the fellowship and whatever. So I’m like, oh, there’s no escape being a founder. So the horizon thing back to chatting, it feels like now I’m like spending a lot of time not worrying about what’s my next goal. That used to be my whole defaults for the last 10 years. Now I’m thinking about it’s almost an infinite game. What is the next thing for months thing that I want to chase and pursue? Like with fun. Because it’s an infinite game. Like we will never have a day where I’m not worried about having a customer, right? Unless like, I don’t know, you hit like a billion-hour outcome like, you know, like Figma, right? But even there where like the Adobe deals being pulled out or something, I think, so it’s like there’s never certainty. So my friends who I still have friends with from Delta Airlines and when I was a toner, they always think that when they have all the answers, they can be a founder. Because they think that certainty is like what leads them to being a founder. And what I’ve learned is that just being a founder is just being friends with uncertainty.Understanding Developers’ Prudence in Building a Community The insight highlights the challenges of engaging developers in community building efforts due to their pragmatic and utility-focused mindset. Developers need a clear value proposition to justify networking and community events, as they prioritize functionality and purpose over superficial interactions. The speaker recognized the need to offer tangible benefits to developers when starting meetups, understanding that developers are selective and skeptical in participating in such activities.
Speaker 1
Now, if I say an intro, they’re like, no, you’re not. They’ll kill me. But I can relate to that. So I can understand how an introvert thinks. Yeah, I understand like this bullshit like salesy, like, you know, shaking hands and like trading business cards bullshit that used to happen all around Atlanta. And I was like, there has to be a better way to do community. And my sort of canvas was in the hackers didn’t have any consistent streak of Atlanta meetups. I was like, okay, clearly there’s an opening here.
Speaker 2
I’ll dive dive in.
Speaker 1
And the bar is actually much higher to convince and impress developers as opposed to maybe an average Joe in tech. The developers are so prudent and they’re so like, they’re like, picky as fuck. Yeah, they’re like, yeah, they’re just like getting out of this.
Speaker 2
Why am I here?
Speaker 3
I’ll put on my developer hat for a second because it’ll kind of answer a question I’m curious about, which is developers often are like, they see things very functionally and they’re Like, what’s the point? What’s the purpose? Utility. And that’s exactly. And like, that’s the thing that sort of has people have tension with when they don’t want to just go and glad hand and go network for reasons where they’re just like, what’s the point of It. So when you first started trying to build this community and get these meetups going, like, did you have a value proposition where you’re like, here’s where you’re going to get out of It or where you’re just like, Hey, let’s all just like meet up. Yeah. What was your approach?
Speaker 1
No, former, former and I knew that I will get last. I will get like kicked out of the meetup space. If I was doing any of this stuff because I knew the hackers, I knew the persona.The Philosophy of Building in Public Building in public is about embracing transparency, openness, and vulnerability in sharing the journey of creating something. It’s not just about sharing for the sake of it; there must be a genuine willingness to be vulnerable and have ‘skin in the game’. This philosophy differentiates building in public from regular social media posts, as it involves a deeper level of authenticity and sincerity.
Speaker 1
It’s almost like if you don’t, if you don’t get roasted, it’s almost like that’s when you should worry on Hacker News. Yeah.
Speaker 2
You’re even a real founder if you didn’t get roasted on Hacker News. Right. So this, I think rolls into something that you’re super good at KP. You’re an expert on building in public. This is something that’s near and dear to my heart as an anti- Hacker. Andy Hacker is all about transparency. It’s all about like not only talking about how much money you make from your projects, but also building them in public. But I don’t even have a definition for building public. What does it mean to build a public and why would anybody do that? So I’m curious, you’re the guy, like how would you, how would you describe to listeners like why that’s the thing that matters?
Speaker 1
I feel like there’s as many definitions of this as there are in the Hacker. So I’ll just kind of say that, you know, make what you want to make out of it. But here’s my sort of reflection on it. I think it’s really the philosophy that I think is more important. You know, the philosophy of transparency and the philosophy of openness and putting yourself out there. So it’s not just transparency for the transparency sake. There has to be some skin in the game. There has to be some level of vulnerability when you’re building in public. Otherwise, it’s just, you know, it’s too fake. Like everybody on Instagram is not building in public. They’re just social. They just like have a lot of social media posts.Success in Building in Public Building in public provides a safe space to share work before posting on public platforms, fostering a pre-existing positive image. Successful individuals like Peter Levels and Tony Den inspire by not only being authentic but also achieving product success and building engaged communities. Peter Levels stands out for his relentless dedication and financial success, setting a high standard in the industry. Some caution against excessive polishing in public posts, as this can lead to losing authenticity and over-care in self-presentation.
Speaker 2
So, we’re in kind of an unfair position. That’s awesome where we have our own community that we can build in public to very similar to you having like your Atlanta meetup. This is a safe place to post your stuff. It makes people already like you before you put it on Twitter, Hackney, or Reddit or product hunter somewhere where like people don’t know you. But I think when I look at like the world heavyweight, like champions of building in public, like Peter levels is obviously one Tony Den is really good. Like there’s just a lot of people who are great. Who, who inspires you? Who do you think is like doing it the best? And what do you think makes them so good? Because when I see someone who’s really good at building in public, like they’re not just doing it for shits and giggles and not just doing it to feel good and authentic. They’re also like crushing it with their products and making millions of dollars because they have such a huge engaged audience that they can launch to. Yeah.
Speaker 1
I mean, Danny Postma comes to mind he’s crushing it along with Peter levels. Peter levels. I feel like is one of my favorite examples because he’s just the guy is sort of lentilous, you know, and I want to be like him like he’s just made so much money and he won’t quit, man, come On. And he doesn’t care about threads. His feet. It’s not manicure. People like have taken this too far and then they’ve gotten into the threat boy category and then there’s like manicuring and like lawn care that’s going on in people’s streets. So that is somebody I reacted to. Like I was sharing one of my friends and it’s like, Hey, have you seen this thing?Embrace the Exploratory Phase Embrace the uncertainty and vulnerability of exploring new ideas and ventures. Push through the daily ego beatings and share your thoughts with the world, knowing that someone out there resonates with them. Find joy in the exploratory phase rather than being confined to a conventional job, and strive to financially support yourself while exploring. Success as an entrepreneur doesn’t always mean having one thriving company; it can also involve continuously exploring and trying new things.
Speaker 1
I’m like, yeah, I was an on deck for two years. And I, okay, I saw the inside of a rocket ship startup and then like join day one. And I was like, okay, maybe it’s my time to take the plan to the plan to December 2022. I have no freaking clue what I’m doing. Everybody wants, like, you know, when you have an audience, I think there’s a, there’s a thing that, oh, you must be around smart people so you must be smart. And you must have smart answers. And I’m like, you know, I don’t have any answers. You know, like that, it’s just a funny proposition, right? So as you figure things out, it just sucks, because your ego is taking a daily beating. But I still force myself to still hit publish and still tweet about what I’m thinking that day, because I will know that somebody out there is my chanting, Alan, somebody out there is Like reading that shit and be like, yeah, man, this is awesome.
Speaker 2
Like, you know, two things. I think number one, do you enjoy being in the exploratory phase? Like, do you like it?
Speaker 1
I like it was an alternative, which is being in W two and like being a step to somebody’s mercy. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 2
Because to the point we were discussing earlier, like, if you can find a way to explore and you like exploring and you can find a way to financially support yourself continuing to explore, Like, that’s an awesome life. There’s such a petal soul about like what it must look like to be a successful entrepreneur. You’d have one company that’s killing it. Yeah. Like, buddy Greg was tweeting the other day about how he moved to Silicon Valley, and he started an agency.Pursue Joy over Ambition Finding a way to explore and financially support oneself while pursuing joy leads to an awesome life. Success as an entrepreneur does not always require following ambitious projects; pursuing what makes one happy, even if it is running an agency, can lead to fulfillment and financial success. It is important to focus on joy rather than ambition, as some of the greatest achievements stem from the pursuit of joy, whether in art, programming, or other areas.
Speaker 2
Because to the point we were discussing earlier, like, if you can find a way to explore and you like exploring and you can find a way to financially support yourself continuing to explore, Like, that’s an awesome life. There’s such a petal soul about like what it must look like to be a successful entrepreneur. You’d have one company that’s killing it. Yeah. Like, buddy Greg was tweeting the other day about how he moved to Silicon Valley, and he started an agency. And then someone he really looked up to and respected was like, Greg, that’s, that’s not ambitious. It’s not what we do here. You need to go for the gold. And so he like had all these other more ambitious projects that like did okay, but he wasn’t happy. And now what is he doing? He’s back to running an agency. And then he just spun up two or three more agencies. And yeah, that’s not like what we stay typically hold on a petal soul, but like, that’s what makes him really happy. Yeah. And he gets to get paid money for doing it and design the exact lifestyle that he wants. So like, if you like exploring, you should explore.
Speaker 1
I had made a tweet recently about this, and I was talking to some folks in the fellowship, and they were like in this pressure, because they think that the other friends who went to Harvard And how they went to Stanford, they’re all building this, you know, hyper growth startup there like KPE feeling I’m not living the life. I went to Harvard and I was like, here’s the thing. Take all the energy you have in ambition and put that into joy. Because some of the greatest things the world has ever seen were built because purely somebody pursued their joy, you know, in art programming, whatever, right? And so I don’t know if you guys feel this way or not, maybe I’m just, it’s so hard to be ambitious and humble.Joy Over Ambition Focus on pursuing joy rather than succumbing to the pressure of ambition. Embrace humility and security in where you are in life. Share your journey openly and remember that many great things were achieved by individuals following their joy, not just ambition.
Speaker 1
I had made a tweet recently about this, and I was talking to some folks in the fellowship, and they were like in this pressure, because they think that the other friends who went to Harvard And how they went to Stanford, they’re all building this, you know, hyper growth startup there like KPE feeling I’m not living the life. I went to Harvard and I was like, here’s the thing. Take all the energy you have in ambition and put that into joy. Because some of the greatest things the world has ever seen were built because purely somebody pursued their joy, you know, in art programming, whatever, right? And so I don’t know if you guys feel this way or not, maybe I’m just, it’s so hard to be ambitious and humble. You know, like, it’s so freaking hard because everybody wants to watch out of you. Yeah, like everybody’s by the way, according to everybody every time I go to the TV, they’re like, keep you, what are you doing, man? Like, what are you crushing on Twitter, man? You’re doing so great. What’s your startup? What’s it? What is it? And so I’m like, I’m doing a, you know, fellowship. They’re like, what? So it’s, but that’s what I’m trying to say, like being, like, okay, and secure with whatever part of the life you are. And also, I notice a lot of people chatting to your point. Like a lot of people wait until they get to the pretty parts of the career to start sharing in public. You know, and I think that’s a disservice to the world because you’re making it seem like Kotlin woke up one day and he started indie hackers like that, right?Authenticity and Prolificacy on Twitter Being authentic on Twitter by expressing your real personality and thoughts is key to engaging with followers. The speaker recommends being prolific in posting content, not holding back, and having fun. By being consistent and not filtering content, one can attract more followers and engagement. Additionally, the speaker points out the benefit of leveraging successful strategies of others on the platform instead of figuring it out from scratch.
Speaker 1
You know that, right? Like it’s, yeah, of course. And so I took the format, but the difference is you still get to be you in the. So the stage is Twitter and you get to be whoever you want to be on the stage. So if you see most of my tweets, 99% of the tweets are stuff that I would say to someone in real life. It’s my personality. It’s who I am. It’s authentic. So I don’t. So I think that’s a big hack is that I used to sound like somebody else in the beginning. And I shifted that over to being very me. I’m very reflective as a person and journal every day. So my journal brings out five tweets a day easily in the morning. Number two is the big tip that I had was I actually in 2020. I was at 2000 followers or something. I genuinely saw the power of being prolific, where I think I was holding back trying to like, you know, trying to like only put out the smart tweets or the good sounding ones. And then in 2020, July, something happened. And I think over the weekend, I had like 100 new followers, which was like, Oh, my God, this is crazy. And from then on, I just thought, I’m just going to be prolific at this, like every day consistent and not holding back, having fun.
Speaker 2
I say this lots of people, like the internet’s kind of an open book test. Right. You can like, you’re allowed to cheat. You’re allowed to go look at someone else who’s succeeding and then like reverse engineer or what’s working for them. So if you’re trying to get big on Twitter, you don’t just have to just figure it out from scratch.AI Integration in No Code Tools AI is revolutionizing the field of no code tools by enabling tasks like generating HTML and CSS from a simple napkin drawing. The future of no code tools is likely to align with AI capabilities, such as Kora and Notion integrating AI features into their platforms. Companies not adapting to an AI strategy risk being left behind in this sweeping evolution, akin to the concept of self-driving cars where users still desire a level of control.
Speaker 2
So what are your thoughts? Do you think AI is just like eating up all the other no code tools? I mean, it’s like, I saw a video of a guy who drew a picture of a website on a napkin and took a photo of it and then put it in chat GPT and it generated like all the HTML and CSS for like that website. And he literally had like a part of like, oh, put a funny joke here and then put a button here. And then here’s where the joke will be revealed after you click the button. And I just hit it, right? And it’s like, is there any, is there any better no code tools than that?
Speaker 1
Right. I mean, I think AI is kind of farming the superset over, you know, no code tools and local tools. So it’ll be interesting to see if the no code tools will sort of align with that superset use case that AI is kind of creating. Like, for example, Kora is doing a Kora AI, you know, notion has done the notion AI, right? So the immediate obvious mode that they’re doing is embedding AI features into their core skill sets. And I think that’s one way to kind of like be AI friendly. But if you’re, if you’re not already thinking about your AI strategy as an local tool, you’re not going to last this evolution. This is a huge sweeping evolution that’s coming coming out. And yeah, I mean, I think to your, the analogy around like self driving cars, people would probably still want some level of control in the, you know, products.Embracing Technological Advancements in Work The fear of AI replacing intellectual work is not new, as similar concerns arose with the introduction of the printing press and computers. The goal with advancing technology is to allow individuals to focus their intellectual hours on more meaningful tasks and creative thinking, rather than menial work like setting up projects or making minor changes.
Speaker 2
Like everything is AI, like, you know, how to write AI prompts, how to write AI prompts.
Speaker 3
I’m gonna, I’m gonna take the opposite side of this though, because I understand this fear, you know, hey, listen, this, all of this work that we currently do requires us to do a lot of Intellectualizing and a lot of thinking and a lot of effortful work on is gonna get replaced by AI. I mean, to Cortland’s point, people said the same thing when the printing press came out, right? People said the same thing when like books were widely distributed. People said the same thing when computers were kind of coming into favor. And what always happens is it’s almost like we have the same amount, the same like, you know, whatever, seven hours of like real rigorous thinking that any individual person can do in A day. And it’s like, well, what are you spending that seven hours doing? And I think over time, the ideal as technology advances is that we spend our intellectual hours doing less and less menial work. And it’s like, right now I do a lot of code, but a lot of the code that I do is like setting myself up to do real work, right? I’m like spending time downloading a lot of packages, setting up the project, whereas like, I really just want to spend my creativity and my judgment time thinking about what I want To do. And then it’s like making little edge case changes and like, how does it look in this format and how’s it looking in that format?
