I wrote an inspirational speech for my team today. Here it is!
Look around. We are exactly where the best stories begin: outgunned, underestimated, and burning with a reason to build. That’s not a weakness, it is our advantage.
The world is high on “magic bullets” right now. Every week brings a new miracle tool, a silver-bullet framework, a Holy Grail that promises to fix everything. But there has never been a magic object. The work doesn’t disappear when the tool arrives. The work shifts, grows, and demands people who can stitch systems together, define the rules, and make them actually work in the real world. That’s us. When others chase the grail, we’re mastering the journey that makes the grail useful. That’s why this is not just possible, it is inevitable. The terrain has changed, and we’re the ones built for the terrain, not the fairy tale.
We won’t win by trying to be big, we’ll win by being free. Free to choose the right constraints. Free to move faster. Free from the gravitational pull of how “everyone else” does it. Remember that iconic line: “it’s hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace,” by Jack Nicholson in the movie Easy Rider. We’re not for sale. Our customers are choosing independence, privacy, and real control. That’s the current no one sees until it moves the boat. We are building for the people who want sovereignty in an age of dependency, and that wave is only getting stronger.
And yes, the pressure is real. The pace is blistering. But here’s the truth: every major innovation is a double‑edged sword. It multiplies what’s possible and what can go wrong. The winners aren’t the ones with the bigger blade; they’re the ones who learn to wield it with judgment and purpose. We will not be the loudest, we will be the most deliberate. Our culture will be the defense mechanism that channels the upside and blocks the noise. That’s how you outlast hype and build something that matters.
Some of you feel the weight of “not enough,” not enough people, not enough money, not enough time. Good. Constraint is our forge. When you can build an app in an afternoon, the world will expect you to build thirty in a week. The advantage is not in the button you click; it’s in the standards you uphold, the systems you design, and the quality you refuse to compromise. Tools accelerate; they don’t replace discernment. That is our moat.
Here’s what I know from the builders who actually ship: the path you start on is not the path you finish on. That’s not failure, that’s finding the real game. Grit, adaptability, and time under pressure, that’s our currency. We don’t need a perfect plan to win. We need momentum, feedback loops, and the courage to be audacious, unpredictable, and yes a little crazy. The market rewards those who keep showing up with better work and bigger courage, not those who wait for perfect conditions.
And for anyone who fears we’re “too late,” you’re thinking in old curves. Adoption is accelerating. The gap between early movers and laggards is widening. Teams that position themselves now don’t just participate, they compound. Our job is to be among the few who turn acceleration into advantage: to stand where the next step appears, again and again.
So here’s our charge:
- Be builders of freedom, not followers of what is in fashion.
- Choose the hard, right thing over the easy, popular thing.
- Treat constraints as features, because they make us inventive.
- Move with audacity, iterate with humility, and finish with excellence.
- Pair up, pick each other up, and keep the cadence. We go farther together.
We are not here to be liked. We are here to be undeniable.
There will be days when we feel small. On those days, remember the movie Easy Rider wasn’t backed by a studio; it helped launch a revolution. Underdogs who refuse to sell their freedom have a way of changing industries. So do we.
We will win because we do the work others won’t: the stitching, the standards, the systems, the service. We will win because we will not wait for perfection. We will win because we are becoming the team that can face bigger dragons without needing a magic flute to play for us.
Eyes up. Chin forward. Engines on. Let’s build something that makes people more free, and let’s make it excellent. Let’s go.
