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How to be Oussama's Co-Founder?

How to be Oussama's Co-Founder?

Working alongside me means operating across multiple disciplines. My work lies at the crossroads of technology, business strategy, and creative thinking. To succeed in this environment, a broad and adaptable knowledge base is essential. You will need to navigate complexity, connect seemingly unrelated ideas, and solve problems from multiple perspectives.

The Foundation

When I entered university, I was handed an extensive list of books and texts to study. It was challenging — even overwhelming at first — but it turned out to be one of the most valuable parts of my education. I learned to enjoy building intellectual stamina and developing a wide perspective.

I want to bring the same spirit into our work together.

You will be provided with a curated reading list covering critical concepts across technology, business, creativity, systems thinking, and more. The list is intentionally ambitious.

How We Work With the Material

  • Open Discussions: I encourage conversations, debates, and critiques about what you read. Learning is active, not passive.
  • Random Explorations: Just read them randomly.
  • Cultural Immersion: The goal is not just to “know” the material but to be immersed in it. Culture grows through intensity and repetition.

Why It Matters

Surrounding yourself with powerful ideas is not optional — it is necessary. Building a serious knowledge base will allow you to move faster, think clearer, and make better decisions. It will create a shared language between us and elevate the quality of everything we do together. If you commit to this process, you will not just adapt to complexity — you will start mastering it.

Why are we here? Make 💸 

There is no shame in seeking wealth. Wanting to become rich is not a moral failing; it’s a rational, responsible choice. My goal is to build wealth for myself — and to create opportunities for others to do the same alongside me.

We live in a society that often confuses wealth with greed. That mindset is mistaken. Wealth, properly earned, is not a reflection of selfishness. It is the result of creating value, solving problems, taking risks, and making disciplined decisions over time.

Wealth creates freedom. It gives you the ability to make choices based on principles, not desperation. It allows you to invest in people, in ideas, and in building a better future. Without it, you are limited — constrained by circumstances beyond your control.

Building wealth is not just about personal gain. It’s about achieving independence, helping others, and having the power to contribute meaningfully to the world.

If there is one clear, well-structured explanation of this idea, it’s Naval Ravikant’s piece “How to Get Rich (Without Getting Lucky).”

Naval reframes wealth-building as a skillset:

• Learning to use leverage (through code, media, capital, or people)

• Owning assets instead of renting time

• Making decisions with judgment, patience, and clarity

His view is practical: wealth is the byproduct of understanding how the system works and positioning yourself correctly within it. It’s not about chasing quick wins. It’s about building things that last.

This is the framework we should operate under. There’s nothing noble about struggling unnecessarily. There’s nothing shameful about succeeding. The task ahead is to understand wealth, pursue it intelligently, and use it responsibly — for yourself, and for those who choose to build with you.

The Foundation : Paul Graham

The Science of Winning at Life

Understanding The Philosophy of AI

  • The AI Revolution: Part 1 – Introduces Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI), Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and Artificial Superintelligence (ASI), highlighting the rapid progression and potential implications of AI surpassing human intelligence.​
  • The AI Revolution: Part 2 – Explores the existential risks and transformative potential of ASI, emphasizing the urgency of addressing AI alignment and control challenges before it's too late.​
  • Orthogonality Thesis – Asserts that an AI's intelligence level is independent of its goals, meaning highly intelligent AIs could pursue objectives misaligned with human values.​
  • Advanced Agent Properties – Discusses traits of powerful AIs, such as strategic awareness and goal-oriented behavior, which can make them unpredictable and potentially uncontrollable.​
  • Situational Awareness: The Decade Ahead – Predicts rapid AI advancements leading to superintelligence within a decade, stressing the need for preparedness to manage ensuing societal and geopolitical upheavals.​
  • Preparing for the Intelligence Explosion – Highlights the importance of proactive measures to address the broad spectrum of challenges posed by rapid AI development, beyond just alignment issues.

Why are we so slow? 

I’ve come to believe—through building, failing, and starting again—that speed doesn’t come from working faster. It comes from shorter deadlines. It comes from the fire of urgency. You give people 3 months, they move. You give them 3 years, they plan. History is full of insane examples: Visa in 90 days, Disneyland in a year, the goddamn Empire State Building in just over 400. These weren’t miracles—they were the result of ruthless prioritization and a refusal to indulge in the paralysis of overplanning. People did, they didn’t talk. Execution speed is a byproduct of clarity and pressure. Give a team less time, not more. Cut the endless meetings, the status updates, the pitch decks. Build the damn thing. Most ideas don’t die from being bad. They die from being over-discussed.

Patrick Collision, CEO of Stripe gives examples of people quickly accomplishing ambitious things together on his website with explanations of what happen.

  • BankAmericard. Dee Hock was given 90 days to launch the BankAmericard card (which became the Visa card), starting from scratch. He did. In that period, he signed up more than 100,000 customers. Source: Electronic Value Exchange.
  • P-80 Shooting Star. Kelly Johnson and his team designed and delivered the P-80 Shooting Star, the first jet fighter used by the USAF, in 143 days. Source: Skunk Works.
  • Marinship. "Shipyard construction was begun promptly after a telegram from the United States Maritime Commission was received by the W. A. Bechtel Company. The telegram was received on 2 March 1942, the Sausalito site selected on 3 March, and a proposal to build the shipyard presented in Washington DC was made on 9 March. Ten minutes into the presentation U. S. Maritime Commission administrators told the W.A. Bechtel Company to build the shipyard. Physical construction began on 28 March. Construction start was delayed two weeks to allow the 42 families living on Pine Point, which was scheduled to be demolished to build the shipyard, to move." The first ship was completed on September 15 of that year, 197 days after receiving the telegram. Source: Marinship on the Fast Track.
  • The Spirit of St. Louis. In 1927, Donald Hall and Charles Lindbergh designed and built Spirit in 60 days. "To determine the amount of fuel the plane would need, Lindbergh and Hall drove to the San Diego Public Library at 820 E St. Using a globe and a piece of string, Lindbergh estimated the distance from New York to Paris. It came out to 3,600 statute miles, which Hall calculated would require 400 gallons of gas." Source: Ryan Airlines gave Lindbergh wings.
  • The Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower was built in 2 years and 2 months; that is, in 793 days. When completed in 1889, it became the tallest building in the world, a record it held for more than 40 years. It cost about $40 million in 2019 dollars. Source: Eiffel's Tower.
  • Treasure Island. In 1935, San Francisco decided to commemorate the completion of the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges by building a new island as a home for the Golden Gate International Exposition. Treasure Island, a 400 acre man-made island in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, was the result. Construction started in 1935 and was complete by March 1937. Source: San Francisco Fair: Treasure Island.
  • Apollo 8. On August 9 1968, NASA decided that Apollo 8 should go to the moon. It launched on December 21 1968, 134 days later. Source: Apollo Spacecraft Chronology.
  • The Alaska Highway. Starting in 1942, 1,700 miles of military roadway were built over the course of 234 days, connecting eastern British Columbia with Fairbanks, Alaska. Source: The Alaska Highway.
  • Disneyland. Walt Disney's conception of "The Happiest Place on Earth" was brought to life in 366 days. Source: Under Construction: A look inside Walt Disney’s Disneyland.
  • The Empire State Building. Construction was started and finished in 410 days. Source: Empire State Building.
  • The Berlin Airlift. On 24 June 1948, the Soviet Union initiated a blockade of Berlin. Two days later, the Berlin Airlift commenced. Over the following 463 days, the US, the UK, and France flew 277,000 flights with 300 aircraft to deliver the supplies required to support 2.2 million Berlin residents. On average, a supply aircraft landed every 2 minutes for 14 months. As part of this effort, Tegel airport was built. Planning started in July 1948; construction started August 5 1948; the first landing took place November 5 1948 (92 days after construction started); the official opening of the airport took place December 5 1948. Source: The Candy Bombers.
  • The Pentagon. The construction of the world's largest office building was led by Brehon Somervell. The decision to proceed with the project was made on a Thursday evening. Initial drawings were completed that Sunday. Construction started two months later, on September 11 1941, and was finished on January 15 1943, 491 days later. When asked when something was needed, Somervell's go-to response was "the day before yesterday". Source: The Pentagon.
  • Boeing 747. Boeing decided to start the 747 program in March 1966. The first 747 was completed on September 30 1968, about 930 days later. Source: Boeing 747: A History.
  • The New York Subway. The first contract was awarded on February 21 1900. 28 stations opened and general operation commenced on October 27 1904, 4.7 years later. In April 2000, the MTA decided to build the Second Avenue Subway. The first phase, with 3 stations, opened on January 1 2017. Source: The New York Times.
  • TGV. On April 30 1976, the French government approved a plan to build a high-speed rail link between Paris and Lyon, the first high-speed rail line in Europe. This line was to use completely new electric locomotives, also to be developed in France as part of the project. The ensuing line opened on September 26 1981, 1,975 days later. On September 24 1996, the California High-Speed Rail Authority was formed. The completion of the first phase of California's high-speed rail project, a line connecting San Francisco and Anaheim, is currently estimated to happen in 2033, 37 years (i.e. around 13,000 days) after the authority was formed. Source: On the Fast Track.
  • USS Nautilus. The US decided to build the world's first nuclear submarine in July 1951. It entered service on September 30 1954, 1,173 days later. Source: Cold War Submarines.
  • JavaScript. Brendan Eich implemented the first prototype for JavaScript in 10 days, in May 1995. It shipped in beta in September of that year. Source: Brendan Eich's history of the language.
  • Unix. Ken Thompson wrote the first version in three weeks. Source: UNIX: A History and a Memoir.
  • Xerox Alto. Work on the Xerox Alto, the first GUI-oriented computer, started in November 1972 because of a bet: "Chuck said that a futuristic computer could be done 'in three months' and a Xerox exec bet him a case of wine that it couldn’t be done". Building the Alto required extensive hardware, operating system, and application design and implementation. The first complete Altos were introduced on March 1 1973. Source: Alan Kay.
  • Shenzhen. In one year, between 1998 and 1999, Shenzhen added 1 million residents (a 22% increase), growing from 4.4 million to 5.4 million people. Source: PopulationStat.
  • iPod. Tony Fadell was hired to create the iPod in late January 2001. Steve Jobs greenlit the project in March 2001. They hired a contract manufacturer in April 2001, announced the product in October 2001, and shipped the first production iPod to customers in November 2001, around 290 days after getting started. Source: Tony Fadell.
  • Amazon Prime. Amazon started to implement the first version of Amazon Prime in late 2004 and announced it on February 2 2005, six weeks later. Source: The making of Amazon Prime.
  • Git. Linus Torvalds started working on Git on April 3 2005. It was self-hosting 4 days later. On April 20 2005, 17 days after work commenced, Linux 2.6.12-rc3 was publicly released with Git. Source: LKML.

On the opposite side: San Francisco proposed a new bus lane on Van Ness in 2001. It opened in 2022, yielding a project duration of around 7,600 days. “The project has been delayed due to an increase of wet weather since the project started,” said Paul Rose, a San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency spokesperson. The project cost $346 million, i.e. $110,000 per meter. The Alaska Highway, mentioned above, constructed across remote tundra, cost $793 per meter in 2019 dollars.What's going on?

The physical infrastructure projects enumerated above occurred before 1970 to a disproportionate degree. Why? Some works containing hypotheses:

  • Marc Dunkelman investigated why Penn Station renovation efforts have repeatedly failed.
  • Alon Levy points out that not only has construction slowed but so too has actual operation.
  • Lynne Sagalyn wrote a book about why redeveloping Ground Zero took so long. Ed Glaeser, reviewing it for the Times, writes "her ­story teaches us how and why America has changed since 1931, when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey could build the George Washington Bridge — the world’s longest suspension bridge at the time — in 49 months."
  • Herbert Kaufman wrote a book about red tape; the foreword from Philip Howard includes the claim that the nature of bureaucratic constrictions in the US changed in the 60s.
  • Howard also wrote a report entitled Two Years Not Ten Years: Redesigning Infrastructure Approvals, diving deeper on this topic. George Will wrote a column about it.
  • In American Government: Brief Version, the authors contrast an "Old System" and a "New System" of American government; they, too, argue that something significant changed in the 60s.
  • Mancur Olson argued that stable societies naturally tend to become less dynamic and more beholden to special interest groups with time. Empirical support for the claim is mixed. Synthesizing some themes above, Francis Fukuyama argued that interest groups have now made the US a "vetocracy"

Religion for Business

  • Status as a Service – Explores how social networks function as platforms for individuals to gain social capital, emphasizing the importance of status dynamics in user engagement and platform growth.​
  • How to Hire the Best People – Argues that drive, curiosity, and ethics are more critical than raw intelligence when hiring, especially in startup environments.
  • The Psychology of Entrepreneurial Misjudgment – Highlights common cognitive biases, such as incentive-caused bias and social proof, that can lead entrepreneurs to make flawed decisions.​
  • Luck and the Entrepreneur – Breaks down luck into four types, emphasizing that proactive behavior and preparedness can increase one's chances of benefiting from serendipitous opportunities.​
  • Guide to Personal Productivity – Suggests unconventional productivity hacks, like avoiding fixed schedules and maintaining three specific lists, to enhance personal efficiency.​
  • 1,000 True Fans – Proposes that creators can sustain themselves financially by cultivating a dedicated base of 1,000 true fans who support all their work.
  • The Struggle – Describes the emotional challenges entrepreneurs face during tough times and emphasizes resilience and transparency as keys to overcoming them.

Mental Models

  • Map and Territory – Distinguishes between our mental models (maps) and reality (territory), emphasizing the importance of aligning perceptions with actual facts.​
  • Circle of Competence – Encourages focusing on areas where you have genuine expertise, while recognizing and respecting your limitations.​
  • First Principles Thinking – Advocates breaking down complex problems to their fundamental truths, enabling innovative solutions from the ground up.​
  • Thought Experiment – Utilizes hypothetical scenarios to explore ideas and challenge assumptions without real-world risks.​
  • Second-Order Thinking – Stresses the importance of considering the long-term consequences of actions, not just immediate outcomes.​
  • Probabilistic Thinking – Encourages making decisions based on likelihoods and statistical reasoning rather than certainties.​
  • Inversion – Suggests solving problems by considering the opposite approach, such as identifying ways to fail to avoid them.​
  • Occam’s Razor – Favors simpler solutions over more complex ones when all else is equal, avoiding unnecessary complications.​
  • Hanlon’s Razor – Reminds us not to attribute to malice what can be explained by ignorance or error.​
  • Galilean Relativity – Highlights how our frame of reference influences perception, underscoring the value of multiple perspectives.​
  • Speed vs. Velocity – Differentiates between mere activity (speed) and purposeful progress towards a goal (velocity).​
  • Leverage – Demonstrates how small, well-placed efforts can yield significant results, amplifying impact.​
  • Activation Energy – Explains the initial effort required to start a task, emphasizing strategies to overcome inertia.​
  • The Red Queen Effect – Describes the necessity of continuous adaptation just to maintain the status quo in a competitive environment.​
  • Incentives – Highlights how behavior is heavily influenced by rewards and penalties, often more than we realize.​
  • Feedback Loops – Explores systems where outputs loop back as inputs, reinforcing or balancing changes over time.​
  • Margin of Safety – Advocates for building buffers to account for uncertainties and unexpected challenges.​
  • Bias from Envy and Jealousy – Examines how these emotions can cloud judgment and lead to irrational decisions.​
  • Bias from Liking/Loving – Reveals our tendency to favor those we like, potentially compromising objectivity.​
  • Availability Bias – Warns against overestimating the importance of information that comes readily to mind.​
  • Commitment and Consistency Bias – Discusses our inclination to remain consistent with past actions, even when it's counterproductive.

Decisions Framework

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