Tear It Down

Over the years, Paris became known as this romantic place where people go to fall in love or propose, drink good wine, and enjoy French cuisine.

Most people have never heard of Baron Haussmann, who has probably influenced Paris more than anyone in the last 200 years.

You see, Haussmann was sort of a product manager, if you will, or maybe a project manager with a lot of experience and power. For 17 years, he ran his life's project: make Paris a real city. Beautiful, organized, rid of disease, and all the bad stuff Paris was known for.

Until then, medieval buildings made up most of the city center. Hundreds of people lived in a single building, and when a plague hit, thousands would die. No sewer system. Narrow roads. Paris was a bad place to live.

But when you understand that sometimes, to make things good, we need a cold look at what we have, agree to make hard decisions, and get to work.

Paris was rebuilt into what we know today: the boulevards, the wide roads, the city center, and the symmetry of the buildings.

People say, "Oh, how beautiful this city is," but have no idea it took a lot of hard work, a lot of sacrifice, and when Haussmann faced huge criticism, he kept going.

Made me think about stuff I've been building lately.

I find myself staring at the screen, scared to make a change, to ruin or break something.

This feeling also means I'm moving too slowly. I do the same things over and over.

And you?

When was the last time you looked at your role, your business, and said:

"If I tear it all down, what is my vision for the future? What would it look like?"

It is not an easy thing to do, break something to build it all over again.

But especially during these uncertain times, it is an opportunity you owe to yourself.

Launching Stook between Athens and Paris reminds me of February and March 2023.

In about eight weeks, I got to write my book in Malta, Rome, Paris, London, Lisbon, Porto, and Ericeira, which I remember so fondly, mostly because it was winter, and I sat by the sea, huge waves outside the window, writing for hours.

I am a writer, not a product professional, so I needed some ground rules to make this work.

The first thing is to treat the first users like clients in my agency.

Above and beyond.

Help them, even if it means doing the work for them.

I am building the platform for people like them.

Next up is improving the onboarding process for the next round of users.

Personal growth.

I have made it my mission to keep learning how things work so I'll be able to work faster and better.

That also means adding more tools to my tech stack, testing faster, and implementing quicker.

Last up is getting people to spread the word slowly.

The Stook platform has a few great scaling options, from referrals to investor connections for startup founders.

If you do not recall, stookapp.com is a tool to help founders write, practice, pitch, and share their startup stories.

A founder can work with a content writer, their team, a designer, and later share the deck with investors.

Each of these has a virality aspect, and figuring this out will be crucial.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, and if you know someone who is actively raising money, send this to them.

P.S.

Soon, I'll be able to launch the sales version, helping sales teams practice and close more deals.

This section is about enjoying the moment, a bit of music, some fun things. Enjoy

🎧 Bob Sinclar Ibiza Set
For this week's Storyletter, I sat down and chose this Bob Sinclar set.
Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1d1twnD7Tk

👀 The Simpsons Looking Like...
When a channel called Ruining Your Childhood creates a realistic Mr. Burns, I had to watch it.
Click here: https://theawesomer.com/sculpting-a-realistic-mr-burns/805549/

🎬 Ninjas Don't Exist
I love a good story, especially if it involves ninjas, spies, samurai, and more.
Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVc_xY6TWiY