Letter to my 2023 self
People often write a letter to their younger self. This past year was a long one, and so I thought I’d try something new and write a letter to my 2023 self.
Dear 2023 self, here are some of things I’d like to tell you:
Randomness. So much of the creative process comes from embracing randomness and allowing unstructured time to think. Time off the screens and the regurgitating algorithms is where the true creative process happens. Takeaway: Embrace offline time, walks, travel, trains, reading, running, random interactions and time away from phones/algorithmic content.
Niche > Mono culture. I heard this phrase the other day that we are no longer in mono culture but instead niche culture. Within a group of 10 friends, no one has a shared reference point for our favorite songs, food, tv shows or art. We all have our own niches, and I love this. Although there is an overwhelming wave of homogenization of culture (just look at every coffee shop in London as an example), I see a growing counter-cultural movement of niche culture which is about people creating things for other people recognizing that everyone has different tastes. Monoculture is creating something that on average most people like a little bit but no one really loves. Takeaway: Engage and build more with services that promote individuality and the human spirit (like Etsy, Substack) over those that commoditize individuals and small businesses (like Amazon).
You are the most important customer. Having a vision for your product is far more valuable than trying to constantly poll customers for their feedback. You should be the hardest and toughest critique of your own products as a founder. Takeaway: Work on things you have a strong point of view on. Let others duke out the rest.
Focusing on commodity products and services is a waste of time. Commodities are things that are easily substitutable because the market is flooded with cheap alternative solutions. Selling flight tickets, hotel stays, generic b2b software or information, or soft drink beverages are some examples. The opposite of this are a more interesting set of harder problems to solve such as: finding a long term romantic partner, making a local friend, learning something new about oneself, overcoming a difficult physical or emotional challenge, conquering a fear, rebuilding broken family relationships, or developing a new life skill. These things are hard to do and services that truly solve these problems will likely be difficult to rapidly recreate and commodify. Takeaway: Avoid selling things that are already available for free or very cheap.
IRL interaction as the cure for almost anything. Find IRL person clubs and communities. Maintain active distrust of online native clubs, especially those with anonymity run by large companies. Learn from all the communities you engage in, and note how their financing structures affect the way users interact with each other (bootstrapped vs VC backed, vs non-profit etc.). When in doubt, host events, meetups, dinners, coffee chats. Get out there. Expand your IRL surface area. Takeaway: Spend more time and money on engaging with other people locally in real life.
Content creation as the red herring in our lives. Most of content is marketing and too much marketing is a sign of an inferior product. Keep this in mind every time you get jealous of someone's blog, Linkedin post, Tiktok account or otherwise. Good products and services sell themselves because friends and family tell each other about them. This has been true forever and just because algorithms exist doesn’t mean it has changed! That people have to sell themselves in the modern era via content on the internet might just be because their product IRL is just not good enough. Is there a role for content? Sure but probably a LOT less than we currently attribute to it. Takeaway: Content is, in most cases, not king.
Your zone of true understanding is small and expanding it will take time. Respect craftsmen and the time it takes to build expertise in certain fields. Jumping careers is possible but takes longer than you think. Crawl walk run is the best analogy for moving into another field, whether it be video creation, art, website design, farming, or anything else. Takeaway: Don’t conflate listening to a podcast or Youtube video with mastery of a concept and real learning.
There’s nothing like the kick in the ass to make money. Entrepreneurship is a wild ride and still presents probably the single most thrilling challenge out there. The fact that most startups are downsizing or going out of business is difficult in the short run but also means nature is healing. Only the strongest founders and investors with the best products will survive. Not having a lot of money to create a business means you have to make money from day 1, and that, by definition, is a good problem to have. Takeaway: Embrace the challenge of creating something worth paying for.
Joy is wildly powerful. You will hear a lot of phrases like “Information is a more dangerous drug than sugar, alcohol, or weed” and lot of lists about things not to do like “ don’t eat X or y”. Ignore them. Instead, focus on finding flow states, or areas of euphoria and joy that involve FEELING GOOD. Whether its a post runners high, the satisfaction of lifting something heavy, the spark of meeting someone new, successfully navigating a social interaction without consuming chemicals, or sitting down and actually feeling calm from meditation. Takeaway: Addict yourself to feeling good, rather than focusing on removing bad stuff.
You have many co-founders. You may be a solo founder by definition, but in reality you have many by your side. You have your spouse, your parents, your siblings, your friends, and, last but not least, you have your customers. This is especially powerful as customers in your own network can contribute to your product. Explore this, don’t underestimate the heterogeneity of human ideas in helping you creating something beautiful and unique. Takeaway: Even when things seem most lonely, you’re not alone.
I wonder what I will tell myself a year from now!