Your Age Is Showing

When I was 20 I thought I knew everything. When I started my first venture-backed business a few years later I was certain that I was the only person who knew everything.

As I’ve aged I think back to that feeling of invincibility. The cocaine-esque pump of confidence surging through my veins and fuelling my ability to work 20hr days for months on end. That feeling of control and certainty comes from nowhere except the fact that I was young, hungry, driven and ambitious. But when I was 20 I didn’t actually know anything. Not really.

I mean, I knew things, of course. I studied journalism, politics and philosophy and I had been building businesses and working in tech for a few years already. But if I truly look back with an intellectually-honest eye, I didn’t really know the world at all. I didn’t really see the trends, I was just following them early. Sure, I could recognise and benefit from patterns that were right in front of me but I couldn’t see them before anyone else.

Very few young people have the gift of perspective, the luxury of context and the wisdom that age usually brings with it. Zuckerberg comes to mind. He knew what he was and what the world needed intrinsically and he built towards it. Sure he was iterating, but he saw, no, he felt the gap and knew how to fill it.

Most young people are not that intuitive. Most young people are idiots. I was an idiot when I was a young person and I think you were too if you look closely enough. That’s how it’s meant to be. Young people are meant to be idiotic, push boundaries and see what sticks. That’s what makes some young founders great. Some young founders, not all.

Most people wait their entire lives to spot a gap, see a pattern or plug a hole that exists that could change the world or at least make a dent (or some money). Yet recent history has shoved founders under the age of 25 (idiots) into the driving seat. I’m getting really tired of it to be honest. I’m tired of being told by some 20-something how I should live at age 41. I want founders my age building things for my life scenarios and solving problems I have. I know you’re out there. I know you have ideas…

In the past if you waited for 20 years to see a pattern and it finally emerged, you were kinda stuck if you wanted to actually build the thing. If the solution you wanted to build had anything to do with technology, complexity or a specialised skills of any kind you needed to hunt for that skill before you even got started.

Today is different. Today is different because the introduction of AI tools has made almost all knowledge instantly accessible at an affordable price and almost all technology accessible to people of all ages for the time. I truly believe that right now the competitive advantage in the market is a unique perspective or insight.

Said another way: Experience.

My grandfather used to say: You can buy milk, you can buy bread and you can buy cheese, but you can’t buy experience.

I believe this is more important today than maybe ever before. Today if you are old enough to have spent 20+ years in and industry then you’ve seen things. You’ve forgotten more problems than less experienced younger people even considered let alone know how to solve. Your age is showing… and it’s giving you an edge in the market.

All you need to do now is figure out what that little nugget of knowledge is and then start asking an AI how to help you build something.

—

Stay curious,

Nic

P.S. if you have a good idea, reply to this email and pitch me!

To hold myself accountable I want to share updates about my side projects every newsletter.

New

Griefbot - After losing both of my incredible dogs in one year, I think it’s time to bring Griefbot back. REPLY and tell me if you’d use an AI chat bot to talk to about the loss of a relative, pet, loved one, friend, relationship or something else.

Daystash.com - save links now, read them later in a personal newsletter in your inbox. More on this in a later newsletter! For now, sign up and pay $25 per year to get a personalised email of links you don’t want to forget.

1000fifteen - An app to help me learn the 1000 most frequently spoken Dutch words and speak basic sentences.

Splitville - I am not using this version when I am out with friends. If that doesn’t change, this is heading to the deadpool soon. Try it and let me know.

Flirtbot - No change. Practise your opening line before you send it to your new match. This is coming along nicely. Upload a screenshot of your potential match and Flirtbot will help you with an opening line. Still in testing though.

Significant progress

Decision Tracker - 172 users, 11 likes and 3 comments. No new updates or releases.

Still running

Goodweeds - No change. A weed review site. Early development and currently testing out Leafy to see if it's worth me even pursuing Goodweeds.

StumbleSong - No change. Still around, still working but I haven't made any changes this month.

Deadpool

PositionMe - Moved to deadpool. I think monetising this would be too complex. An app for couples who want to try new sex positions. You both rate various positions and the app then suggests the most compatible options to you to try.

BucketListAssist - Added to the deadpool for now. Too complex for me to stay engaged.

Pixeldash - Added to the deadpool - 20 April 2025. I don’t want to build games. While this is still live on the domain, no progress has been made and I’ve decided game dev is fun for the weekends but I want to spend my time on solving problems.