At a conference a while back, I noticed a couple of speakers get such a confidence boost after solving a small technical glitch. We should probably make that a part of every talk. Have the mic not connect automatically, or an almost-complete puzzle on the stage that the speaker can finish, or have someone forget their badge and the speaker return it to them. Maybe the next time I, or a consenting teammate, have to give a presentation I’ll try to engineer such a situation. All conference talks should start with a small technical glitch that the speaker can easily solve was originally published by Ognjen Regoje at Ognjen Regoje • ognjen.io on April 03, 2025.

I didn’t write much this year. The projects that I worked on (at work) used up most of my creative mental capacity leaving little for writing. The backlog is brimming, however. Targets for 2024 ❌ Publish at least 40 posts 11 ❌ Reach at least 200k readers Don’t have an accurate number ❌ Have at least 6 posts on the front page of something Probably would have met this if I had posted more – I had one successful post on Jan 14, which is encouraging ❌ Make at least $50 from writing. Nope, did no monetization whatsoever Breakdown Some stats: Number of posts: 11 Total word count: 3125 Longest post: When am I “allowed” to quit and not be labeled a quitter? (630) Shortest post: Speaking at Hasso-Plattner-Institut (0, because it’s just a link to a LinkedIn post) Breakdown by category: business: 1 startups: 1 ethics: 1 robots: 1 architecture: 1 interviewing: 1 productivity: 1 selenium: 1 doctolib: 1 No trend there. Feedly still reports 18 followers - no movement. But it also marked the blog as inactive which is a shame. Targets for 2025 I would like to commit to writing more in 2024, but I’m not very confident that I will have the time. Regardless, the 2024 goals were quite lofty but achievable so it makes sense to try them again Publish at least 36 posts (3 per month) Reach at least 200k readers (not sure how to track this accurately since I’m not keen to add analytics and GoAccess doesn’t seem to be super accurate) Have at least 6 posts gain traction (front page of HN, 10 reactions on LinkedIn, etc) A review of the blog in 2024 was originally published by Ognjen Regoje at Ognjen Regoje • ognjen.io on January 01, 2025.

Here are a few things I’ve seen founders do that made me confident in their ability and dedication. Elevator pitch in LinkedIn tagline A founder who is all in is constantly selling. That means their tagline will: a) be for their company, not for them b) be the sales pitch, not a vague aspirational vision Value proposition keeps getting more specific If every time you talk to a founder and their value proposition is more and more specific to me indicates that they’re learning more and more about their USP, about their target customer, about the market. The opposite of this is a company that pivots every six months. No short stints in the CV Building a startup is decidedly a marathon. I think it takes about 4 years to make real progress in a startup. Folks who jump positions every year are chasing a career and are unlikely to want to slog through for such a long time. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just not the right profile. Worked at companies of different sizes A founder who’s seen multiple stages of a startup is more likely to be successful. While they might not have been in the top leadership positions they would have seen the challenges the organization faces, especially during the transitions. Worked in different industries, or not There is a difference between the technical and the business founders. The startups I’ve seen where the business founder was part of the industry for a while worked well. But I’ve also seen them get so focused on how things are that they can’t see how things should be. For technical founders, on the other hand, I think it’s a clear advantage to have been in different industries and seen different approaches. Switched to full-time as soon as possible It might be obvious but the sooner the founder goes full time the more skin in the game, but also belief in the business, they have. They’re that much more committed to it. The opposite of this is founders who are simultaneously CEOs of multiple companies. I don’t think that can ever work – least of all for startups. Don’t succumb to the hype The founders who aren’t always talking about how they’re going to incorporate the latest hype in their product seemed to get more accomplished. Founded, or was an early employee, of a startup that raised a round or two I think this is probably the biggest indicator. Having done the early stages, seed and maybe series A, eliminates A LOT of uncertainty. At least the company won’t fail because the founders aren’t competent at running a business, since they’ve done it before. I’d even be biased toward someone who did a startup over someone who’s been employed at a name-brand unicorn simply because the skill set is not at all equivalent. Green flags for investable founders was originally published by Ognjen Regoje at Ognjen Regoje • ognjen.io on January 03, 2024.

As much as working remotely is a competitive hiring advantage again, not wanting to work remotely is now an advantage for getting hired. A lot of companies are mandating returns to the office. Many more are scrapping fully remote positions, with some even rescinding fully-remote offers. So, for better or worse, not wanting to work remotely is now a competitive advantage. If that’s not one of your requirements you’re likely to pick up more offers. Not wanting to work remotely is now a competitive advantage was originally published by Ognjen Regoje at Ognjen Regoje • ognjen.io on October 15, 2023.