Back in 2020, I had an idea: a personal assistant service, online, built to help people achieve their goals with the help of a pool of specialized human assistants. The vision was focused, humble, and deeply rooted in a real need I felt, especially for entrepreneurs like myself, juggling too much, too often. I called it Ettikal, the Arabic word for “dependable.” Because that’s what I wanted it to be. A dependable support system.

Fast forward a few years, and Sam Altman and his team at OpenAI have built something not just similar in spirit, but vastly more ambitious in scale. What they’ve created has, quite literally, changed the course of human civilization. That’s not an exaggeration.

Looking back at Ettikal, and now witnessing what OpenAI has done with ChatGPT and beyond, I can’t help but reflect on the difference in scale. But more importantly, the difference in thinking. That difference was everything.

Here are a few lessons I’ve internalized and hope to carry with me into every future endeavor.

1. Software Eats the World and Then Some

I spent months trying to find, vet, train, and retain the right talent. It was an uphill battle of human complexity. Even at my most optimistic projections, scaling would have meant scaling people, which involves more management, increased costs, different time zones, and a higher chance of errors.

OpenAI, on the other hand, leaned into software. Their “assistant” wasn’t a human team. It was a language model. Software doesn’t need to sleep. It doesn’t get sick. It learns, scales, and replicates with precision. This isn’t just about replacing people. It’s about completely breaking past human limitations.

What I was trying to do with ten humans, OpenAI did with ten lines of code and a thousand GPUs.

2. Software Doesn’t Just Scale, It Creates New Worlds

One of the most underrated strengths of software is that it doesn’t merely automate. It creates. Because of how software operates—modular, interoperable, and scalable—it enables synergies that no human workflow ever could.

With people, connecting capabilities requires communication, alignment, meetings, empathy, follow-ups, and delegation. With software, it’s as simple as APIs, integrations, and well-written instructions.

Ettikal would have required dozens of team leads to build cross-functional services for productivity, marketing, research, and more. OpenAI just trained the model better and unlocked it all through a single interface.

3. Scale Is Not Just a Metric, It’s a Catalyst

I used to think scale was something that came after product-market fit. Something you earned once you nailed the basics.

Watching OpenAI taught me that scale can be part of the strategy from day one. The ability to rally massive resources—talent, compute power, capital—early and effectively is more than impressive. It’s transformative.

At scale, your product doesn’t just serve users. It shifts paradigms. That’s what OpenAI did. It built quickly, launched widely, and established a new standard for human-computer interaction.

If Ettikal had somehow secured the capital to scale, would it have succeeded? Maybe. But more importantly, I didn’t even think in those terms. That mindset made all the difference.

4. Vision Shapes Everything

Ettikal was a good idea. But it was local, tactical, and supportive. OpenAI, by contrast, started with a vision of ensuring artificial general intelligence would benefit all of humanity. Their mission was global. It was existential. It was bold.

That level of ambition shapes every decision—from who you hire, to how you fundraise, to what level of risk you’re willing to take.

I used to think staying practical was the smart move. Now I see that vision isn’t about being unrealistic. It’s about picking the right direction. OpenAI aimed for something much bigger, and they ended up in the history books.

5. People Still Matter, Just in a Different Role

This doesn’t mean human teams are obsolete. Far from it. But the role of people has changed. Instead of doing the work, we’re now designing the systems that do the work. Instead of operating the engine, we build it.

Ettikal was based on the idea of people helping people. OpenAI is about people building tools that help everyone.

That small difference changes everything about how I want to build going forward.

6. Ideas Are Everywhere, Execution Is Rare

Here’s the most humbling realization of all: maybe my idea wasn’t even that different. A digital assistant that helps users achieve goals? That sounds a lot like what ChatGPT became.

But OpenAI didn’t just have the idea. They executed it. They built it. They delivered it to the world. They reached millions.

While I was focused on the idea, they were focused on bringing it to life—fast, at scale, and with clarity.

My note to my future self is simple: focus less on the idea and more on the operations. Build systems. Ship early. Deliver value. Because the best idea in the world means nothing if it doesn’t leave your head.

Final Thoughts

I’m not writing this out of regret. I still believe Ettikal was a beautiful idea. In another universe, it might have succeeded.

But I’m writing this to remember. To remind myself that next time I have an idea, I need to ask:

• Is this built on software?
• Is it designed to scale?
• Is the vision big enough to matter?
• Do I have the systems to deliver?

Execution isn’t the last step. It’s the only one that counts.

Some of the best content I’ve ever seen never made it to a brand’s social media page. Not because it wasn’t good, but because it wasn’t ready when it mattered most.

Social media runs on moments. Trends come and go in hours, and campaigns have strict deadlines. It doesn’t matter how brilliant a piece of content is, if it’s late, it’s useless.

Take Twitter, for example: the average lifespan of a tweet is about 18 minutes. That’s it. Miss that window, and your brilliant post might as well be shouting into the void.

In the early days of social media marketing, brands moved fast. There wasn’t much time to overthink. If something was trending, we’d jump on it. If we had an idea, we’d execute it within the same day. Perfection was a luxury; relevance was everything.

That hasn’t changed. Today, brands have access to more tools, more data, and bigger teams, but speed is still the deciding factor.

A viral moment doesn’t wait for approval loops, and engagement opportunities vanish if a brand hesitates.

With the looming deadline for the TikTok ban, many active users have been promoting and encouraging others to join another Chinese social media platform, Red Book. While the reasons driving this migration are worth analyzing, I find myself more drawn to the emotions behind the movement.

The #TikTokRefugees, as they call themselves, have been sharing videos that are nothing short of heartwarming. One common thread runs through them all, people being welcomed into a new community. Users of Red Book are posting welcoming comments, extending invitations for friendship, and embracing new members with open arms. They are even sharing videos teaching new users Mandarin to help them navigate the app. 

The keyword here is community. It’s not just about a platform, technology, or an app. It’s about people coming together and how they engage with each other. That’s the magic of social media, the thing that so many platforms have lost or struggle to maintain.

Looking back, every social media platform, even those that no longer exist, had its own sense of community, however small.

• MySpace: The OG of social media. I met some fascinating people there, bonding over an obscure Icelandic band that I couldn’t find fans for anywhere else.
• Google+: It was a haven for tech geeks, where news and discussions about the latest gadgets and innovations thrived.
• Path: A beautifully designed platform with the promise of creating and maintaining close connections with a small group of friends.
• Vine: A creative playground where many creators launched their careers through collaboration and a shared love of content creation.
• Yahoo Answers: Yes, I’m counting it as a social platform. While trolling was abundant, it also delivered real value when you needed an answer fast.

TikTok, however, won’t be gone anytime soon. Outside the U.S., it remains a major player, and time will tell if it can reenter the U.S. market and reconnect with its passionate users. But the emotional heart of this story isn’t just about TikTok. It’s about belonging.

At the end of the day, what everyone is chasing is the sense of belonging. A tribe to call their own. Social media, at its best, has always been about that. It’s not the algorithms, the features, or even the content, it’s the people. Platforms come and go, but the desire to belong never changes.

In 2011, I wrote my first social media caption for a brand. Well, it was more than just a caption, it was the entire post. Back then, photos or videos in posts weren’t common. In fact, brands barely had a presence on social media, and we were all just trying to figure things out.

What we did know was that conversations were happening, and marketers wanted their brands to be part of them.

We didn’t know much about how to market on social media, but we did understand two key things:

1. We had to be present consistently. Content would disappear from users’ timelines within 24 hours, so we needed to post daily. That’s how social media calendars became a thing.
2. We had to capture attention without being overly commercial. A balance was crucial to avoid pushing people away with hard-sell content.

Most brands adopted an 80/20 approach: 80% fun, entertaining, or engaging content to connect with the audience, and 20% promotional or commercial posts to push products.

This split gave us the opportunity to have fun with the brands we managed. For 80% of the time, our job was to create entertaining content, how exciting is that? The key was to ensure that this content evoked emotion, and on social media, the most common emotion was humor.

Luckily, the brands I managed back then made humor part of their DNA. For example, Cadbury Dairy Milk was all about Moments of Joy. What better way to spread joy than through funny or witty content? This was around the time Cadbury released its iconic Gorilla ad, yes, the one with the drumming gorilla to Phil Collins’ In the Air Tonight. If you haven’t seen it, or even if you have, it’s worth a watch (or rewatch). Watch it here.

Even years after its release, reposting that video would still generate incredible engagement. At the time, it was a 4-year-old ad, yet it resonated because it brought pure joy.

It became clear people engage with content that makes them feel something. The best performing posts weren’t overly polished, they were simple, emotional, and relatable. Whether it was a silly joke, a witty one-liner, or even a fun fact, the common denominator was emotion.

Those were simpler times, but what worked then still works today. Post something that evokes emotion, and you’ll always strike a chord with your audience.

A colleague of mine recently climbed all the way up Mount Kilimanjaro. I’m super proud of her for setting that goal and actually achieving it.

The outcome of all her planning, effort, and hard work is that she can now proudly say she reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

She didn’t celebrate the output. She didn’t dwell on the 6 days she spent hiking to the top or the estimated 70,000 steps she took along the way. The outcome was clear, standing at the peak of Kilimanjaro.

We often find ourselves focusing on the wrong things. It doesn’t matter if you send out 100 emails a day if none of them get a click. It doesn’t matter if you publish 100 social media posts if none of them convert a customer.

Measure the outcome, not the output.

Anyone running an agency or hiring for a social media manager knows how challenging it can be to find the right fit. The perfect candidate is often expected to be a master-of-all-trades, mastering everything from strategy and creativity to analytics and community engagement.

Before diving into the key traits I look for in a social media manager, it’s important to acknowledge one thing, it’s nearly impossible to find all these qualities in one person. That’s why you should consider the strengths of your existing team when hiring. For example, if you already have someone who excels at analytics and project management, you might focus on hiring a creative thinker or skilled copywriter to complement them.

Here are the key areas I evaluate when hiring a social media manager:

1. Hungry and Curious

While many skills can be trained, curiosity and hunger to learn are non-negotiable for this role. Social media is an ever-changing landscape, with new trends, strategies, and platforms emerging almost daily. A world-class social media manager must have the drive to stay up-to-date and continuously improve their craft. They should be actively seeking out the latest news, trends, and strategies to keep their approach fresh and relevant.

2. Creative

Creativity is essential in navigating platform algorithms and making content stand out. This involves more than just making things visually appealing—it’s about solving problems in innovative ways and leveraging the latest trends and creative formats to capture attention.

3. Storyteller

Storytelling is a separate skill from creativity. It’s about weaving purposeful narratives that hook audiences and create a meaningful connection between the content and the brand. Social media managers need to balance this with the understanding that they’re not creating art—they’re crafting content that must resonate with an audience and serve a brand’s objectives.

4. Analytical

On the flip side, data-driven decision-making is just as important. A great social media manager should be able to turn raw data into actionable insights. These insights not only inform better storytelling but also enhance the overall marketing strategy. Analytics provide the foundation for iterative improvement and help track the effectiveness of campaigns.

5. Social

This might seem obvious, but it’s often overlooked, being genuinely social matters. A candidate’s ability to connect with people in real life often translates to how well they build connections online. If they lack passion for engaging with others, chances are their interactions with an online community will feel robotic. You can always tell the difference between authentic, meaningful engagement and canned, rephrased responses.

Before jumping to buy the next fancy tool, take a moment to understand what you need it for and how it will help. If you lack a clear process or method, a tool will likely just accelerate the chaos rather than fix it.

Ask yourself: what exactly do you need this tool to manage? How will it support your workflow without trying to do the work for you? Many companies end up paying for over-engineered, bloated tools when simpler and cheaper alternatives could have done the job just as well.

For instance, do you really need a $1,000-a-month dashboard if an Excel sheet can get the job done? If you don’t know which metrics or numbers you need to track, no amount of fancy dashboards or features will make your work easier.

It might be worth taking a step back and looking at all the tools you have. Do they genuinely add value, or are they masking gaps where a better process or method is needed? Sometimes, the best tool is the one you don’t need at all.

Focus on Your Audience

Speak directly to the people who need your message. Don’t write for everyone, write for the ones with specific challenges you can solve.

Focus on Their Problems

Understand your audience’s struggles and offer solutions. They’re here for answers, not fluff. Make your content practical and helpful.

Focus on Better Ideas

Platforms change, tactics expire, but valuable ideas endure. Share insights that empower your audience to think differently and solve problems for the long term. Be impactful, not trendy.

You can’t win a war with one bullet, or fall in love at first sight, unless you are a hopeless romantic. It takes time, effort, and a lot of resources to succeed in war, love, or marketing. 

The same goes for social media. Too often, everything gets crammed into a single post. Check most brand posts and you can clearly see this. Sure, it’s tempting to include opening hours, location, terms and conditions, and 20 other “important” messages in one post. But let’s be honest, expecting your audience to read, let alone engage with all that, is wishful thinking.

Instead, simplify. Break down your messages into smaller, focused pieces. Build a narrative around them, allowing each one to stand out and connect meaningfully with your audience.

In 2025, I’m challenging myself to write and publish a blog post every single day. It might sound crazy and blogs feel so 1999 and definitely aren’t trendy right now. But this isn’t about reach, likes, shares, or any platform metric. It’s about showing up, refining my ideas, and building a writing habit.

I owe this idea to the man who inspired me to get into marketing in the first place, Seth Godin. He’s been running his daily blog since 2002, and showing up every day.

Also inspired by Seth Godin, I’ve set some rules for myself. These are the guidelines I’ll follow throughout this challenge.

1 – Show up every day and write. This challenge is about building a daily habit, so no batch writing or scheduling posts in advance. Each article will be fresh, written, and published on the same day. The posts won’t be perfect, and that’s okay.

2 – Be real. And no, I don’t mean the social media app that had its moment. I mean authentic and genuine. Every blog will be rooted in personal experiences, real stories, real lessons, and real reflections.

3 – Keep it Simple. To remove any unnecessary barriers I will keep the format simple. Every post will have a simple format, a title and a body. 

The posts don’t have to be as long as this one; they just need to communicate an idea clearly each day.

4 – Ignore the urge to promote and distribute. No social media posts or cringy LinkedIn posts promoting my blog. This challenge is personal. If you, the reader, want to follow along, you’re welcome to visit the website. I may add a subscription option later, but for now, my focus is entirely on the writing.

5 – No metrics, no monetization. I won’t even have Google Analytics installed, feel free to check for yourself. This challenge isn’t about reach, subscribers, or making money. I won’t track how many people read these posts. They’re free and available to anyone, but the focus is solely on the act of writing.

6 – Authenticity before trends. Avoiding metrics will help me stay focused on writing what matters to me, not chasing topics just because they might get more clicks or attention.

7 – Full transparency. Life happens. On the days when I’m unwell, traveling, or facing personal challenges, I will probably have pre-written articles to go out but they will be labeled as such. 

8 – No ChatGPT. Sure, it’s tempting to write a prompt and have 20 articles churned out by everyone’s favorite LLM, but that would completely defeat the purpose of this challenge. I’ll only use it for proofreading and grammar improvements. 

9 – Full commitment. I will not go to sleep without publishing a post. This single rule will drive push out a blog every day, no matter what.