There's an interesting parallel that I found in the mechanism that Cal Newport has proposed to quantify 'shallow work' in his book 'Deep Work' and in the mechanism that Andrew Ng has proposed to gauge what current LLMs (think ChatGPT, Google's Gemini or Microsoft Copilot) can or cannot do in DeepLearning.AI's course 'Generative AI for Everyone.'
I've recently come to realize the immense value of being mindful of what we subconsciously avoid.
If you have ever listened to entrepreneurs, whether publicly or in private, you would have, at some point, heard them refer to their startups as their babies.
There are indeed enough similarities between babies and startups. Founders create their startups. They care for it and are proud of it. They can't help but talk about it incessantly, dreaming of its success even in their sleep. They want it to be successful even after they're gone. It takes over their entire life and every decision they make. It doesn't care if they're asleep. It becomes entwined with their identity. The early days are exciting but also a struggle. If everything goes right, then after a point, it doesn't need them anymore to function correctly and succeed. It's a long-term commitment. Not everyone wants to or is naturally suited to have kids, and not everyone wants to or is naturally suited to start a company. But everyone can become better suited to it with some effort.
But lately, I noticed a fundamental similarity between babies and startups that bears many consequences for solo founders. Just like babies, startups take on the identities and values of their founders. This nuance makes solo-founder-led startups way harder.
Nearly all companies claiming to be AI companies today, including mine, would not call themselves AI companies in a few years. There's a fascinating transformation underway, and understanding its nuances not only reveals the trajectory of AI but also unravels key insights into the dynamics of startups and technology.
Social causes of all kinds can be summed up by the following:
"The needs of the few outweigh the wants of the many."
Or maybe let's expand it and make it more poetic,
"The needs or rights of any outweigh the wants or desires of the many."
All that changes between various social causes is the specifics of the 'any' here. The 'any' may be a minority group, homeless people, or future generations. Or it may even be voiceless animals or a community of merely a handful of people. Here are some examples of this phrase in action...
All that changes between various social causes is the specifics of the 'any' here. The 'any' may be a minority group, homeless people, or future generations. Or it may even be voiceless animals or a community of merely a handful of people. Here are some examples of this phrase in action...