Ertiqah Diaries: Part 2

I read that line in an ad somewhere, and it really struck a chord with me. You see, the world is full of talented engineers who can build amazing products, and innovators who have very creative business or ideas. But … if you can't get those products into the hands of users, what's the point?

On that note, three people reached out to me this week (USA, Pakistan & UK) with interesting questions and unique backgrounds/circumstances:

• one asking for advice on marketing and selling the products he develops (voice notes coming soon broski - dw).

• one on how to.. start, a startup (4+ voice notes, and a 3 hr long call).

• and the last one on using AI to build an MVP for his ideas (YT video → LinkedIn → 30 mins call).

I will share the things I recommended to each of the above this Tuesday. I originally included them all in this issue but it got too long, so I’ll keep it focused.

Before that, an update on the Personal Branding Cohort :

The Discord server is ready for the uptake.

Since Beehiiv only allows consecutive issues with a 12-hour break in between, everyone who signed up will get the invite tomorrow, at exactly 6 PM GMT+5. Stay tuned.

Back to the topic.

If you're new here, welcome to the chaos! And if you're a returning reader, thanks for sticking around - you’re going to love this edition.

In today’s issue
(in no particular order)

• How I avoided an argument with my cofounder by very, very careful manipulation (I promise it wasn’t bad)

• Coders hate AI - if your team does too, here’s how you can gaslight them into falling in love with it (totally ethical! 10/10 would recommend)

• Why team alignment is important - the psychology behind it

• Idea → Product → (500 miles of shit) → Customer

So, let's dive into it. Grab a cup of coffee (or your beverage of choice) and settle in, I’ve got stories to share.

Caution: some of the stuff may be edgy.

Arguing with cofounder

Background: 3 weeks ago, we had a chat on Discord which turned into an argument rather than a discussion. I discovered a wall there. I could break it, or I could shape it. Here’s what I did:

This week, we decided to test the waters on Reddit. We chose about 8 subreddits and 3 Facebook groups, and made posts about our LinkedIn branding cohort. We wanted to choose 30 people from a “bigger list”.

Here’s the results we got in 24 hours (VANITY METRICS):

• ✅ 50K+ Views (Reddit), 50+ DMs (across Meta & Reddit), 10+ Shares (Reddit).

• ❌ Got permanently banned from 3 subreddits, but so totally worth it 😄 

In just 48 hours, we had about 70+ people signing up, pushing our total over 100+. These were completely new people who had no idea we even existed before they stumbled across our post.

Now, here's where it gets interesting.

My co-founder wasn't initially sold on this idea. He strongly believed in focusing on LinkedIn for at least a year. And I 100% agree with that. Long-term, recurrent focus on one platform is crucial. That's what I usually mean by "laser-focus."

But here's the thing - you need to decide what that "one thing" is!

Is it "the platform," or is it your "Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)"? It depends on what you're trying to achieve.

If you have a very specific value that you want to deliver to a very specific set of people, you need to laser-focus on THE PEOPLE, not the platform.

And let's face it, LinkedIn isn't always the best place for that. Sometimes, you need to go where your people are hanging out - subreddits, Facebook groups, Quora channels.

So instead of arguing with him (3 weeks ago), I suggested last week that we try a little experiment. We'd do a one-time 1hr sprint for Reddit and Quora. One hour, that's it.

We got on a call, shared screens, and even though I knew what I wanted to write (i mean.. look at this piece of art I’m writing right now 😄), I kept asking for input. "What should we write here? How about this subreddit? Should we use the post content we used for facebook groups, or write a new one here?".

It wasn't just about getting it done - it was about creating ownership, building that psychological connection with the process and the results (more on that below).

And you know what? It worked like a charm (Look at the results ^). Now we're going to do it a lot more often, and my co-founder is fully on board. I call that .. alignment.

It’s not “one guy believes it, the others are half-heartedly helping”. It has to be “all involved, fully, and personally, believe in the potential, and are moving in that direction”.

Could probably describe that better, but meh.

What was next? Uh, yeah developers and AI. Hmm.

Background: So, this week I had 3 developers ask me if they should get the Premium version of Cursor (no, this not an ad). In the last 3 months, a total of ~10 have asked the same question. Let me tell you why 😄 

I've found that developers are often the hardest to convert when it comes to adopting AI. The very people who are at the forefront of technology, who logically should have been the earliest adopters, seem to be the most resistant to join the party.

I've been on a mission (some might call it a crusade) to push developers around me to use Cursor as the preferred IDE (+ Claude AI).

Initially, there’s resistance. And tons of excuses.

“AI doesn’t help - our codebase is too huge, our framework is very.. unknown”.

You can insert more here if you are a developer 🙂 

But here's what I think is really going on - they're afraid. Afraid that AI might replace them, afraid of change, afraid of admitting that maybe, just maybe, there's a better way of doing things than what they learned in school or picked up over years of coding.

I have quite an opposite opinion

Whatever job you're doing right now, if you're working six or seven hours a day, AI can help you do the same amount of work in three or four hours (probably 1 to 2, but lets lowball it). That means you've got two or three extra productive hours every day.

The key is knowing how to use it right. You can't just feed your entire codebase into AI and expect it to magically fix all your bugs and add new features.

We're not there yet (though give it a few years, and who knows?). But at a micro level, in a thousand little ways, AI can supercharge your productivity.

Once they actually give it a shot, once they push past that initial resistance, they're hooked. I've converted about 10 developers so far, and now they're all keen users of AI-powered IDEs. Go be the 11th one mate!

Here's a little secret

I used AI to write the code for our product, End-to-end, zero lines manually written by me. 

Is it perfect? LOL, NO!

There's enough spaghetti code in there to feed a small Italian village. But - it's good enough to support up to 1000 users.

And that brings me to the logical question: Should you really care about your app being able to support millions of users when you haven't even tested the idea? In my book, and because I love to give examples, that’s the equivalent of deciding what color to paint your mansion when you haven't even bought the land yet.

Anyways, I promise to share my full AI workflow hopefully in a Youtube Series I’m planning in the coming months . It's a high-value topic, and I want to do it justice rather than rushing out a half-baked explanation. You can subscribe here to be alerted, or not.. I’ll scream into your ears once I publish those videos.

Why winning arguments isn't always about winning

I used to be a debater. A pretty good one, if I do say so myself. I could win completely illogical arguments through sheer stubbornness when I was arguing for fun

Personal Record: 1hr long argument over whether Elon Musk was the one who coded Git - phones weren’t allowed of course.

But conversations in business must not turn into debates or arguments, they must be guided discussions towards a decision! Otherwise they’re useless.

I strongly believe that there's usually more than one way to skin a cat. And most of the times, multiple ways are equally effective. The real challenge isn't about proving “my way is the best!” - it's about alignment.

The goal is to move forward, not to move forward with your ideas and your strategy. If the others feel very strongly about their idea, give them carte blanche, fill the gaps or holes you see in their approach, and offer full support.

As long as the cat gets skinned (gotta stop saying that, ekh).

The Psychology of Ownership: Making It Their Idea

Something I've picked up along the way: within a small team, especially in a startup, it's crucial that people "own" their work and feel like they "own" a piece of the company. But how do you cultivate that sense of ownership?

Make them think it was their idea all along. Don’t give the solution - ask questions that lead to that solution (you should know those questions, because ideally, you should have gotten to your idea by going through a series of questions).

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Junaid, that sounds manipulative!" But hear me out.

It's human psychology 101. We all feel more invested in ideas we think we came up with ourselves. I’ll give my example.

When I was working a regular job, I'd be exhausted after 40 hours a week, even though I liked the work (most weeks). But now, working on "my own idea"? I feel energized even after 50+ hours. Burnout is not directly proportional to the amount of work you do..

So, if you really want people to give their best, ideally, all the ideas should (ideally be theirs, if not, at least) feel like their ideas, not yours.

If you don't like an idea, don't shoot it down - ask questions.

Be a consultant. "Do you think this would cover XYZ scenario? No? Hmm, what do you think we can do to make it bullet proof?" "What if this happens - does this strategy account for that?". They will either come up with the solution you already had in mind, or a better one, or an equally effective one. Either way, win win.

Involve people in the decision-making process. Because if you don't, they're just doing a job. But if they feel ownership? That's when the magic happens (.. hopefully? I’ll find out in due course and keep you posted).

Eternal Optimist,

Junaid

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