I like writing things in lowercase. I like a clean minimalist aesthetic. I don't think your linkedin presence should seem like a corporate, overly polished version of yourself, and even if I had the patience to code a better-looking website for myself, I probably wouldn't.

But there's a difference between liking a certain approach, and feeling like you have to adopt it to fit into a certain world. I don't know when it happened, but at some point, somebody decided that the ultimate flex wasn't just building something, but looking like you couldn't care less while doing it.

I recently came across a great post on Linkedin of a YC founder grinding at his desk with a baby carrier strapped to his chest. He talked about the falsity of there being a certain mold that you have to fit to be considered a great founder. I couldn't agree more.

There's this glamorization of being a renegade, an ivy dropout, and a self-proclaimed disillusioned genius who tweets in all lowercase about how college and big tech are a scam. This isn't a critique of those types of people– It's more so a critique of the people that push this as being the modern founder archetype. Somewhere along the way, the narrative shifted from "you don't have to follow the traditional path" to "you're cooler if you reject it entirely".

People shouldn't think you're building something cool because you wrote "building something cool" in your bio.

Pulling this from Nicholas Rudder's post:
"Let's stop pretending that the only way to build a generational business is to be 3 single dudes living together in SF, drinking boba and eating ramen."

Building something cool == actually building something cool.

03/03/25