Last year, I made a bet that changed how I think about i spent 9 years wasting time on writing. Here's what happened.
After burning out trying to do everything myself, I went all-in on AI. Some experiments were a disaster, but others were life-changing. I'm opening up my playbook to show you what worked, what didn't, and how to build your own AI-powered personal OS.
The Counterintuitive Truth
Here's what surprised me most about i spent 9 years wasting time on writing: the best practitioners do less, not more.
When I was building MovieLaLa, we tried to do everything at once. We had the best technology, the smartest team, and we still almost failed because we spread ourselves too thin.
The lesson I took from that experience, and from watching hundreds of other companies, is that simplicity beats complexity every time. It sounds simple. It's incredibly hard to execute.
Why Most Approaches Fail
Let me be direct: about 70% of the approaches I see to i spent 9 years wasting time on writing are fundamentally flawed. Not slightly off. Fundamentally flawed.
The root cause is usually one of three things:
- Copying what big companies do without understanding why they do it. What works for Google doesn't work for a 10-person startup.
- Over-engineering the solution when a simple approach would work better. I've seen teams spend six months building something that could have been done in two weeks.
- Ignoring the human element. Technology is the easy part. Getting people to actually use it is where the real challenge lives.
What I've Learned From 26 Companies
After investing in 200+ startups and running two companies to successful exits, I've developed a pretty clear picture of what works with i spent 9 years wasting time on writing.
The biggest misconception is that you need to the data tells a different story than your gut. That's backwards. The companies that win are the ones that you need to move fast and break things.
I remember sitting with the Anthropic team early on and discussing how they thought about i spent 9 years wasting time on writing. Their approach was counterintuitive but brilliant.
The Numbers Don't Lie
I've tracked the performance of companies in my portfolio that take i spent 9 years wasting time on writing seriously versus those that don't. The difference is stark.
Companies that invest early in i spent 9 years wasting time on writing see, on average, 2-3x better outcomes within 18 months. That's not a small edge. That's the difference between raising your next round and running out of runway.
One of my portfolio companies went from struggling to profitable in under a year after they finally got serious about this. The founder told me later that they wished they'd started sooner.
This connects to broader themes around AI personal assistant, AI writing tools, AI email that I've been thinking about a lot lately.
Wrapping Up
I've shared a lot here, and I know it can feel overwhelming. But here's the thing about i spent 9 years wasting time on writing: you don't need to get everything right on day one. You just need to get started and keep improving.
The founders in my portfolio who excel at i spent 9 years wasting time on writing share one trait: they're relentlessly practical. They don't chase perfection. They chase progress.
That's the mindset I'd encourage you to adopt. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can. And keep pushing forward.
As always, I'm rooting for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What experience informs this perspective?
This perspective comes from over a decade of building companies in Silicon Valley, two successful exits (RemoteTeam to Gusto, MovieLaLa to Gfycat), and investing in 200+ startups including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Scale AI. I write about what I've lived.
How can I apply this thinking to my own situation?
Start by identifying the core principle behind the opinion, not the specific example. Then ask yourself: does this principle apply to my context? If yes, test it in a small, low-risk way before going all in.
What's the most common pushback you get on this?
People often push back by citing exceptions or edge cases. And they're usually right that exceptions exist. But building a strategy around exceptions rather than patterns is a losing game for most founders.