Same here. My career situation isn’t looking great, and I haven’t felt truly satisfied at any of the places I’ve worked. I do believe there’s a role out there that strikes a better balance between meaningful work and a sustainable lifestyle—but finding it feels almost as daunting as starting a business from scratch.

You need to do those coffee dates and relationship building to figure out what (other) people want, so it's not even far removed from the philosophy you quote. Yeah, it's _ideal_ if you're your own customer and you have this intuitive knowledge of the product, but that's actually less common (and needn't be common either). As a tech person, I don't find it slimy (at least, anymore). On the pure tech front, it's a process of finding requirements, which flows into the this whole business conversation side of things.

For example, if you view building a business that people want as a challenge, those requirements will vary from place to place and time to time, so finding that out is super important!

Interestingly, I've always viewed the Indian business environment as one that requires a lot more relationship building than (say) a place like the valley, but this article seems to imply that the UAE probably views us the same way I view the US ecosystem...

This quote (or rather, "notion", since I no longer remember where I picked it up from) has stuck with me for over a decade: ultimately all business is based on trust; you can't encode everything in the contract.

There is a gentler version of this that I, a technical person, deeply enjoy.

Trust removes friction. Having an informal network of trusted peers makes everything easier. You get access to expert knowledge, helpful connections and opportunities simply because you're a friend. They also come to you when your knowledge is relevant to their task.

I just see it as another community, except this one is centred around an industry. It's no slimier than introducing single friends to each other, borrowing tools from a friend, fixing a friend's computer or tipping them off when a flat frees up in your building.

In my case, it means that I can call upon the knowledge of an immigration lawyer or a financial advisor for free. It also means that they get dozens of clients from me because they're my go-to experts.

Yep I'll never succeed in a world where I have to "dress the part".

Luckily this is an era where it doesn't matter much