They own the conversation. Now they need to own the transaction. WhatsApp isn't just a chat app; it's the operating system of global business. Inspiration: Watching a $50k deal close entirely on WhatsApp, then imagining the sales rep manually type the data into Salesforce like it’
We are building a "Kill Web" that compresses the decision loop from days to seconds. You can’t fight an enemy that sees everything, knows everything, and never sleeps. Inspiration: Realizing that Palantir didn’t just invest in BlackSky for returns; they invested to build the backend of
I’ve read over a hundred self-help books. It turns out, I was just reading footnotes to Jim Rohn. I care about personal growth. A lot. If you saw my Audible library or my bookshelf, you’d see the usual suspects: Atomic Habits, The 5 AM Club, Deep Work. I
The "news" is slow. The betting markets are instant. And the reason they are so accurate is the one thing we aren't supposed to talk about: Insider Trading. Inspiration: Coffeezilla’s breakdown of how prediction markets are basically unregulated casinos, and watching the GPT-5.2 release
The "news" is slow. The betting markets are instant. And the reason they are so accurate is the one thing we aren't supposed to talk about: Insider Trading. Inspiration: Coffeezilla’s breakdown of how prediction markets are basically unregulated casinos, and watching the GPT-5.2 release
Google organizes the world's information. Meta connects the world's people. In the AI era, the killer app isn't a chatbot; it's a universal translator. Inspiration: Trying to use Google Translate in Southeast Asia and realizing that while it knows the words, it
Cypherpunks wanted to kill the Fed. Instead, they built the infrastructure for the ultimate surveillance state. Inspiration: Realizing that “freedom money” (Tether) is actually the most trackable asset in human history. Ten years ago, crypto was a rebellion. It was run by cypherpunks and libertarians. The goal was simple: Separate
I used to read balance sheets. Now, I read the guest lists of private dinners. Inspiration: A throwaway line on the Prof G Podcast about “following the capital, not the earnings,” and realizing that valuations are just feelings with math. Disclaimer: None of this is financial advice. I am a
In 2003, we thought it was just a game. In 2025, it looks like a documentary. Inspiration: Watching a news clip about drone swarms and realizing I played this exact scenario 20 years ago as the USA faction. Command & Conquer: Generals was released in 2003. Unlike its predecessors (Red
We talk about climate change, AI safety, and pandemics. But we ignore the only risk that can end civilization in 30 minutes. Inspiration: Reading H.R. McMaster’s At War with Ourselves and realizing that “Strategic Ambiguity” is just a fancy word for gambling. We have a blind spot. We
In a world of geopolitical noise, these two voices cut through the propaganda with something rare: actual insight. Inspiration: Realizing that 99% of “China Analysis” I read is either Washington hawks selling fear or Beijing bureaucrats selling fantasy. Trying to understand China today is like trying to watch a movie
It looks like a partnership. It acts like a dependency. In reality, it is a slow-motion acquisition. Inspiration: Satya Nadella’s calm demeanor during the OpenAI coup, and the old Microsoft playbook: “Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.” November 2023. The Board fires Sam Altman. Chaos ensues. Satya Nadella didn’t panic. He
Markets
While its neighbors are fighting stagnation, tourism traps, or demographic collapse, Vietnam is quietly becoming the factory—and the code—of the future. Inspiration: My recent trip to Vietnam, seeing young developers coding in cafes while Thai streets were packed with tourists. Walking through Ho Chi Minh City feels different
Artificial Intelligence
Apple Intelligence is good at privacy, but bad at thinking. To save the iPhone upgrade cycle, Apple just outsourced its brain to Google. (This post, like many others, was originally posted in 2025, before I migrated this site from WordPress to Ghost infrastructure). Inspiration: Realizing that “Siri” is still dumb
Affinity
Canva just made professional design free. Adobe is buying SEO tools to survive. The king is dead. Inspiration: The growth of Figma in the recent years. How easy it was to transition from Photoshop to Affinity. The acquisition of SEMRush. For decades, Adobe wasn’t just a software company. It
Artificial Intelligence
We finally have a tool that can simulate the planet faster than the planet can change. This isn't just a weather forecast; it's a survival engine. Inspiration: Watching the Google WeatherNext 2 announcement and realizing it was tagged “Climate Change” for a reason. We usually talk
Artificial Intelligence
The cookie is dead. Long live the conversation. Why the next generation of ads won't just know what you clicked—they'll know who you are. Inspiration: Realizing that AI assistant knows more about your son’s development milestones than his pediatrician does. For the last 20
Artificial Intelligence
You can buy Nvidia H100s, but you can't buy a culture of innovation. The "Giga-Projects" are beautiful, expensive distractions from the real work. Inspiration: The news that NEOM is being scaled back (after burning billions) and the realization that “Humain” is a venture capital firm disguised
Markets
The OS war isn't over; it just changed battlefields. Valve is doing what Microsoft refused to do: building a console that is actually a PC. Inspiration: The realization that my “gaming PC” is just a glorified console that forces me to deal with Windows updates. We thought it
Prediction Markets
The stock market is boring. The new casino is pricing "Truth," and it's about to eat the world. Inspiration: Watching the Polymarket chart during the election and realizing it was more accurate (and addictive) than CNN. While everyone was busy watching Nvidia stock charts, a quiet
Artificial Intelligence
The resume is dead. The future of hiring is your AI agent talking to their AI agent while you sleep. Inspiration: Seeing brilliant friends stuck in mediocre jobs simply because they are bad at “self-marketing,” and realizing that the best candidates are rarely the ones actively applying. The current recruiting
Personal
Stop treating AI like a search engine. Start treating it like a mirror that remembers everything you forget. Inspiration: The moment I asked my AI to roast my life choices, and it gave better advice than my therapist. For years, my relationship with AI was transactional. “Hi, I’m Barbaros.
Anduril
It’s not just about better drones or smarter software. It’s about rewriting the operating system of war to solve a problem that broke the US military in Vietnam and Afghanistan. Inspiration: The speeches of Sarah Paine and Palmer Luckey, and the timeless strategies of Sun Tzu and Miyamoto
Leadership
She doesn't have a Twitter account. She doesn't have a podcast. But she is about to become the most important voice on your feed. Inspiration: My track record of spotting figures like Prof G, Alex Hormozi, and Palmer Luckey before they hit the mainstream. I have