Unlike Professor X, we can't get into people's head and tell them what to do. But there's something else we can do. My first job as an avionics engineer was to update the embedded software of an Fighter's Electronic Warfare Equipment so it would store and manage data in FlashPROM instead of EEPROM. Sounds easy, just replace an electronic component with another, and boom it's done. Well, that system was an existing and robust one, built more than a few decades back, and I could not use all the...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
We've created this amazing solution, how do we sell it ? As AI takes center stage, I’m seeing a flood of firms churning out “amazing solutions” for problems that might not even exist. 🤨 This made me think of Eric Ries's "The Lean Startup", when I read that book in my early years of avionics software development, and up to that point I lived under the impression that we were at the top technological advancement ... that's when it hit me. "No Othmane, you are working on a known solution, for a...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
A few years back I had to return my credit card 💳 physically to my Bulgarian bank and get a replacement new one. I was travelling 2 days later abroad so I asked to the customer agent as I was returning the old one, to have the new one for tomorrow. To which he replied in a firm and convincing way “that’s not possible”. Surprised, I asked while pointing at a brochure on his desk - “Then why it says 24h express renewal?”. - “Aaah but that’s 20 Leva (10€)” he replied. At that point I didn’t...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Ever wondered how to find your niche? your ideal customer profile? your unfair advantage ? your unique differentiator ? your mission ? the right problem to solve ? Data is important, but It's not only about "data", here are my favorite 3 go-to sources for insight and how we can extract those nuggets of gold. 3️⃣ "within" extracted through a good question that makes you peel all the superficial onion layers to get to the core. My go-to question: The Dan Sullivan Question, he wrote a whole book...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
If you ask me what the one thing you learned in the past 10 years that everyone should know. I would cite Jonathan Stark : "By trying to turn-off no one, we end up turning on no one" 🤯 This made me realise, that by trying to address everyone in our sales and marketing copy, we create the complete opposite of the desired effect : on the receiving end, the other doesn't feel concerned by the message. It's so diluted, their brain doesn't register that as worth paying attention to. I strongly...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Let's be honest, we engineers were meant to be engineers. Not entrepreneurs. In other words, to : Build Robust Infrastructures. Reduce Risk. Make Efficient Systems. Yes, there were a few industrial-era entrepreneurial who built big businesses, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison to name a few. The word "engineer" originates from the Latin word "ingenium," meaning "cleverness" or "native talent" It's only in the past decades, that access to information and entrepreneurship became a thing for...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
I am no visionary, no philosopher, and no master chess player who can see beyond 3 moves, I am dead serious ! But there are a few fundamentals I can't ignore however dumb I might be 😆 "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" - Third Newton Law What's the action I am talking about ? The AI revolution we are going through. It's so present, most LinkedIn posts and even comments are written with AI. Of course, if you could have chat with AI, there is no limit. We are and will be...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Last week with our French Tech Sofia squad we organised the first edition of the annual awards. It was epic. Thanks to Wilfried Durand - VP of FTS and one of the first subscribers of this newsletter, we had as a feature speaker Jonathan Anguelov, founder of European unicorn Aircall. Jonathan delivered an inspirational talk about his journey and the message from his book "Nothing to lose". Many people in Bulgaria had no idea who he was, and in some cases even if they did, they weren't aware of...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
The past two months, all my activities were disrupted, I could blame it on many things, in reality only myself, but then I keep remembering this Chinese proverb: He who blames others has a long way to go on his journey. He who blames himself is halfway there. He who blames no one has arrived A lot has happened, and a lot more is about to happen. I will be doing a 30-day challenge as an experiment, the goal is get back to my most disciplined self, I know I can be, because I've had those...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
