Sartaj Syed

Turning ideas into systems.
Writing about technology, startups and the ideas behind them.
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[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

I like building things with AI and seeing them through to something people can actually use. Along the way, I've become just as interested in the business side.

What I write about: startups and how products find their users, deep dives into what AI can really do (and when it's worth adding at all), and the practical kind of personal growth.

I also run a weekly newsletter, Systems & Possibilities.

Why a newsletter? A lot of tech writing tells you what happened this week. I'm more interested in why it happened and whether it will still matter in six months.

One subject a week, in plain words. No list of ten tools you must try right now.

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@georgevichdev Fetching images from the db on every visit is such an easy one to miss. One honest user is worth more than a hundred polite ones

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@devops_con Repeating the same mistake every few minutes is the scary part. Feels like it needed a stop after one failed fix, not just better log reading

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@david_attisaas I think the messy early posts still help though. That's where you find the first few people who actually care

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@johnnycommits The app gets cloned either way. What they can't clone is the people who've watched you build it

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@theandreboso Copying the features got easy. Getting people to switch didn't, so I think distribution is still what decides it

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

Being first is not the moat anymore. Understanding what the customer wants is the harder part. We should all try to be the Snapchat in the domain we are working in.

Full piece: https://t.co/97an9CBGDA

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

Being first is not the moat anymore. Understanding what the customer wants is the harder part. We should all try to be the Snapchat in the domain we are working in.

Full piece: https://t.co/97an9CB8O2

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@dionlow_ Just started actually. First issue went out today, about why building on someone else's platform means part of your roadmap isn't yours. So for now that's the one I'm most proud of 😄 https://t.co/97an9CBGDA

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

I like building things with AI and seeing them through to something people can actually use. Along the way, I've become just as interested in the business side.

What I write about: startups and how products find their users, deep dives into what AI can really do (and when it's worth adding at all), and the practical kind of personal growth.

I also run a weekly newsletter, Systems & Possibilities.

Why a newsletter? A lot of tech writing tells you what happened this week. I'm more interested in why it happened and whether it will still matter in six months.

One subject a week, in plain words. No list of ten tools you must try right now.

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@stretchcloud The scarce part really is people who've run an agent with real users at scale. Papers don't teach you what breaks there

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@IntCyberDigest Making each shot a web page means the agent can edit it like normal code. I wonder how well it keeps the timing right when you change just one clip

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@neil_xbt Pasting one line into the agent is so much easier than reading install docs. I think more tools will ship an AGENTS.md first and docs later

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@stejas809 Distribution is the part I keep underestimating too. Are you picking the next idea based on where you already have people listening?

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@supreetkashyap The angels through X part is interesting. Did they find you from your posts or did you reach out first?

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

https://t.co/glCgCLt1lO

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

Higgsfield says it crossed a $1B annualized run rate just 18 months after launch. That's last month's revenue times 13, not money already in the bank, but it's still a huge number for AI video. I think people calling it a toy can stop now

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@vladislavgeras Has any brand actually rented a window yet, or is it still mostly people driving around the city?

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@davegelinas The basics part is the one I think about most. If you never learned it you can't check the answer, so you just end up trusting whatever the AI says

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@petergyang @once_reading The daily habit with you seems like the real reason it stuck. Do you think it would still work if your kid used it alone?

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@eladgil Does that make a $50M outcome harder to get funded now, even though it would still change the founders' lives?

[Sartaj Syed @sartaj047]

@arvidkahl Are the 100 edited episodes all from one editor or a mix? I'd guess one consistent style is way easier to match