As 2024 comes to a close, I've decided to write about what I've learned since founding Parakeet. This post is not an advice piece; it's just a reflection on my dormant personality traits and beliefs that came alive this year.

I believe everything Is malleable.

In 3rd grade, I was part of a group of kids who played competitive chess at our elementary school in Brooklyn. At the time, I was good at chess, but I had many bad habits that made it hard to turn the corner and become formidable. My coach (who happened to be my 3rd-grade teacher) told me that I needed to make small tactical changes to my approach, and I responded with an utterly dismissive and whiny "I can't." I still remember his response, "It's not that you can't; it's that you won't."

This year, I often heard, "You can't do that", "It'll never happen," or "That's impossible." Early on, I accepted hearing this from prospective investors, prospective customers, other founders, friends, and family. However, as the year went on, I viewed that phrase with distaint and skepticism and, in many cases, vowed to prove it wrong. Whenever I hear something can't be done, I'm reminded of my 3rd-grade teacher and start to disentangle why that person believes it's impossible and then slowly start to construct how I can do it.

When I was younger, one of my neighborhood friends loved to climb fences. He climbed all the fences in the neighborhood, including those of small businesses. He looked at every fence as something waiting to be conquered, not something that permanently kept him out. I feel the same way about Parakeet. Every setback is an opportunity; for every no, the next one will be a yes.

I am obsessive

In general, I find any of the late cannon of Eminem to be unpalatable, but the one exception is the song Walk on Water. In this song, Eminem analyzes where he went wrong in his career and why he cannot capture the imagination that he used to during the early 2000s. While I don't feel washed up, the message of holding yourself to a high standard and constantly trying to exceed that standard resonates with me.

I love the loop of perfecting my understanding, expressing it, building a solution, picking it apart and improving it, hearing customer feedback, and tweaking it repeatedly. I sincerely feel my customer's problems and obsess over the best solutions. I dream about it, and every tiny detail matters.

I am competitive

When I was an undergrad at BYU, every Sunday, other students in my apartment complex would get together and play board games and card games to pass the time on a slow Sunday. When I first got to BYU, I played a few games, such as Settlers of Catan, Risk, and Skipbo, but I never found them fun. Whenever asked about it, I always cited that I was not naturally competitive, assuming that's what made people into board games.

While I'm still not into board or card games, it's not because I'm not competitive. Since founding Parakeet, every day has been a full-on competition. Every loss turns into hours of execution and practice, and every no feeds into a cycle of obsession, practice, and improvement. I want to win more than I have ever wanted to win at anything. My confidence grows daily, and my willingness to bet on what my team can accomplish improves daily.