I Hope You Suck (not really, but kind of)
Ignore the title. The goal of this week’s newsletter is to be positive (leaving you feeling warm and fuzzy) and helpful in a practical way. You’ll see how the title comes into play later on.
So I get married in less than a month here. Last weekend was my bachelor party (an awesome time, but relatively tame compared to the stereotype), and my best friends and I all went up to Tahoe for the weekend. While I was there, one of my groomsmen brought up this newsletter, and commented about how he really enjoyed my writing, but the topics I have been covering make him too depressed and paranoid to continue reading on a regular basis. Oof.?
Not sure if this is the case for everyone, but nevertheless I thought this was good feedback to keep in mind going forward. While I am obsessed with the impact of AI and deepfakes on society and cybersecurity, I know it can be tiresome and depressing to have it discussed week in and week out.
In light of this, I thought I would spend this week’s issue highlighting one of the cool things going on in tech right now to bring more sunshine, rainbows, and positivity into your feed. For those of you who just dry heaved at that last sentence, don’t worry, I’ll be back with the regularly scheduled programming before too long.
Let’s Talk About Buildspace.?
Buildspace is the latest addition to my aggregated list of resources for those in startups and tech .
I’m participating in Buildspace for the first time in Nights & Weekends season 5 this summer, and I really wish I had discovered it sooner.?
What makes Buildspace so cool is that it helps people take the first very first steps towards pursuing whatever project, startup, or passion they have.?
This is huge because just taking the first step and beginning to work on something is often the hardest part, followed by consistency, and the willingness to put out an imperfect first version of your “thing” for public usage and feedback.?
Even looking back at my own life, this is true. For the longest time I believed that I needed to know everything about something before I could start doing the thing. I know this is probably relatable for a lot of people out there. I think it’s something that has been ingrained in many of us from years of schooling where we studied a topic for an extended period of time, and then took a test that validated that we now knew the thing (Yay, gold star). The problem is that this habit cripples many of us in the real world and prevents us from actually pursuing the things that we want to do.
The key is that we shouldn’t wait to learn everything before starting to do something. We need to do something so we can start to learn and (maybe) eventually know everything about that thing. It is the act of doing that accelerates the learning process.?
Over the last year and a half I have started doing so many things I only ever dreamed of, and a lot of the time I have (publicly) sucked at them. But you know what? I have learned and grown at a faster pace than ever before. The last 12 months specifically have been the single highest concentration of learning I have ever experienced, and as a result, right now I find myself in a position that I would’ve only dreamed of when I started this process. Am I successful? No. But I am confident that I can “do” and “fail” and “learn” my way into eventual success, and this confidence brings me the energy needed to take on each day and enjoy working on getting less bad at the things I care about.
This concept is why many of us know an absolute idiot who has somehow stumbled their way into success. They were too stupid to not do the thing. They never waited to learn everything before doing the thing. They just started. And failed. And failed. And failed. Until eventually, they learned through all the failures and actually got it right.
Rob Snyder writes about this all the time in his newsletter , which I read obsessively and highly recommend, but internalizing this idea and applying it in my own life has been life changing. Many of these ideas I’m talking about at a high level are derived from ones he has discussed before, and I think Buildspace provides the structure, support, and guidance to help everyone begin this process.
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So many people dream of something more, and have an idea or project they are passionate about that they keep putting off “until the timing is better” or “until a few more features are added” or “until they get rid of a few more issues” etc. Some people are paralyzed forever waiting on “the perfect idea” (this has been me before).?
You don’t need any of these. Buildspace helps people overcome these hurdles, begin building momentum, and most importantly, prove to themselves that they CAN do the thing they want to do (whatever it is). At the end of 6 weeks people can look back and see how far they have come and have the confidence needed to continue going forward.
This is tremendously valuable. Tbh I’m still not sure how Buildspace plans on making money, (this has been a hot topic of debate amongst people I know) but in the meantime I’m just appreciative that they are there to help guide people through the first steps in getting where they want to go in life.
The good news is that you can do Buildspace with a project of any size. My buildspace project is growing this newsletter since I think it will be a valuable asset going forward.
All of that to say, try Buildspace next season. Go out there and suck. Then learn. Then do it again. Then suck a bit less. Repeat. Your life will change for the better, I promise.
Anyways, here’s some cool projects people are working on this season.?Go support them!
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this blog and/or want to support me this season of Buildspace, give my newsletter Noah’s Ark a follow!
A little about me:
I'm a co-founder at DeepTrust where we help security teams defend employees from social engineering, vishing, and deepfakes across voice and video communication channels with active call security. Seamlessly integrating with VoIP services like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Meet, RingCentral and others, DeepTrust works in realtime to verify audio sources, detect deepfakes, and alert both users and security teams of suspicious requests.
If you’re interested in learning more, or have additional questions about deepfakes, I’d love to chat. Feel free to shoot me an email at [email protected] .
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CEO and Co-founder, DeepTrust
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