What Fuels Me? "To Start"

After defining my “Galaxy Picture,” I find myself asking: What truly fuels me? What sparks my curiosity and drives me to obsess over a project until it becomes reality?

Over the past 5 years, I’ve worked on numerous hardware projects, some with the potential to become businesses but never made it to launch, some for clients, and others simply ideas that lived in my mind for too long until I had the chance to bring them to life. Some succeeded, some failed, and others exist in a strange way, paused, uncertain, I’m not sure whether I will continue developing someday or let go of.

The failed and unfinished projects honestly hurt. It’s like nurturing a plant you care about, only to see it die after 2 years of effort. For the past 2-3 years, I’ve had this image in my mind of a dead plant sitting on my desk, taking a space while I work everyday, waiting to be cleaned. I find myself torn should I remove the dried leaves and plant something new, or should I change the vase entirely and move on? or should I change the location of it? maybe it did no have enough sunlight maybe the air flow was alot ... I still dont know but I will figure it out oneday.

But I think the best approach now is to reflect on these projects, I want to identify patterns, understand what fuelled me to start them in the first place and why I became obsessed with pushing their limits. Was my drive rooted in a natural interest? Was it the people I worked with? Was it the environment?

I want to go back in time and analyze all the products I worked on (took me 2 weeks but I did it) I want to know what went well and what didn’t. My goal is to do a better job next time by creating the right conditions "My green house conditions" for my next "plant" to grow hopefully for more than two years. I want to give myself a better chance at success next time. 

My 6 Points on What Fuels Me to Start Something

1. Product Characteristics

These define the nature and purpose of the product itself 

• Before selecting the idea spaces I want to pursue, I believe I need to find my Product-Market-Founder Fit. Self-awareness is key, and this blog is one of the steps toward that discovery. I want to identify an industry that aligns with my natural interests and curiosity one that allows me to leverage my strengths while making work feel less like a job and more like a game.
• I am a hardware builder 🛠️, so it has to be a hardware product possibly in Creative Ad-Tech, Consumer Health-Tech, Operations Optimization I initially selected these industries out of my natural interest and observations of what I like and what I didn't.
• The product has to be useful, impactful, and helps people in their daily lives solving a real-life problem faced by millions.
• Incorporates an art/design element, using color, form, and aesthetics to serve a function or enhance the user experience. I want to create a beautiful product that customers would love to use "Human centric design".
• Has an element of "this is something new to me." I want to allow alongside rationality with imagination, speculation, instinct, and common sense.

2. Business & Market Fit

These focus on sales, viability, and ensuring commercial success.

• Viable (we can sell it with a margin), feasible (we can build it), desirable (people want it).
• The idea itself is cool & bold, fuels my curiosity, and is probably not done before or if it has been, it’s not fast, cheap, or good enough. It should target a huge broken market that is thirsty for a better, faster, or cheaper solution.
• Has a sales plan📈, can we somehow guarantee sales? Will it eventually, or at least at a validation stage, reach actual users "be live"? A great idea is important, but knowing how to sell it is just as crucial.
• Scalable: can grow bigger, has future potential, and can be scaled using leverage (labor, capital, code, products with no marginal cost of replication, manufacturing).
• Iterations: can improve over time should have room for further development and enhancement. Includes fast small iterations of improvements.

3. The team I want to work with?

This focuses on who I work with and how we complement each other.

• I want to work with people with the highest intelligence, highest energy, and highest integrity people that I can find.  I want to choose the people with the strongest alumni network that will benefit me/us in the future similar to the PayPal Mafia, where high-intelligence, high-energy, and high-integrity individuals later went on to build industry-defining companies like YouTube, LinkedIn, Tesla, SpaceX, and Reddit after exiting PayPal.
• Do we complement each other? Do we need each other to succeed?
  Example: You are not a builder, but you’re in an industry where I want to manufacture a solution. You have the experience and connections to sell the product, and I can build it.
• • Do we fill a supply and demand problem?
    For example: You demand someone with my skills and sense of leadership, and I demand your skills and market opportunities so we fill each other's supply and demand gap. I want us to provide value to the business with our specific niche knowledge.
• One thing I’ve realized about the people I’ve worked with: I probably talked to them or someone close to them, and I had a feeling that one day I’d want to work with them whether because of their work, personality, or something about them that sparked my curiosity and inspiration.
• What would I like my partners to be? what should some of our common values be? 
  Honesty, Accountability, Smart , Trustworthy, Fast on actions slow on results, Long term thinkers, less criticism and more productive feedback, Truth seekers, Fairness, Flexibility, Creativity, Curiosity, Adventure, Boldness, Courage, Risk taking, Gratitude, Uniqueness, Dreamers (People who imagine things), Dowers (People that do instead of talk), autonomy,  rich discussions, Meaningful work, Kindness, Humor, Personal growth, Community, Team-Work, Discipline, Valuing time, Valuing well being.
  
  (These values where a result of a personality test I did and some self reflection)

4. Learning & Discovery

This focuses on personal and team growth.

• Has an element of discovery: "Product Development Cycles"
• • Understanding the problem "Empathy" Talking to people in the field/users, analyzing their pain points, and conducting user testing. I want actual user feedback; I want to understand humans.
  • Minimal Viable Product (MVP) The same element of discovery applies to the product prototyping phase. I enjoy the research and development (R&D) process 🔬 , being part of a fast iterative cycle that continuously improves the product over time. This includes experimental research, trial and error, user feedback and insights product improvements a process I love.
• A Forced Opportunity to Learn & Push Limits: opportunity to learn something that I was interested in. Opportunity to push my current skills to the edge, maximum utilization of what I know, a harder level of creation. A chance to unleash my potential, a chance for more failures that I want to learn from.
• Indirect Learnings from bouncing ideas, experiencing different cultures, understanding behaviors, personal development, confidence, storytelling, negotiation, and different ways of thinking. This process helps me discover myself, challenge my perspectives, and rethink my truths about the world and myself.

5. Execution & Accountability

This focuses on ensuring the project moves forward and gets completed.

• Creating "Artificial Urgency"⏳What kind of stress can we introduce to ensure we stick to delivery?
• • Deadlines? Similar to competition submissions, setting clear deadlines can create pressure to execute.
  • Incubation Programs? A structured environment demanding commitment and results, surrounded by mentorship and energy.
  • Public Announcements? Telling people we are launching soon, so the next time they ask, we better be making progress.
  • • Edison’s Light Bulb Story A Perfect Example of Artificial Urgency 💡
       Thomas Edison once went to the press and boldly declared, "I will invent the light bulb in five years and light up the city of New York." At that time, he hadn’t yet achieved a fully functional prototype. When he returned to his office, his engineers were in shock "What have you done?!" they asked. Edison simply responded, "We better start working on it. We only have five years."
      This public commitment created momentum, investors started pouring money into his company, allowing him to hire the best engineers. He took the risk of his reputation, but he believed in his ability to invent through iterative experimentation and sure enough, he did we got the light bulb invention because of an artificial stress.
• Accountability & Teamwork In life, we compete as teams. Competing alone against teams isn’t a good idea and does not make sense. 2+ brains are better than 1, especially when working with a complementary business partner. I am more accountable when working with a team, I simply don’t want to fail them I don't want to fail my values of delivering the best that I can to the best of my capabilities.
• To create a safe environment with clear expectations, I’ve found it useful to sign an agreement with partners that outlines responsibilities, equity distribution, and an exit strategy. This ensures that everyone is aligned from the start, preventing misunderstandings and setting a strong foundation for collaboration.

6. Others

Didn't know where to fit these points but I had to write them 

• Documentation:
• • I love the feeling that whatever I create will last forever. I enjoy "not always" documenting the process whether through writing, photos, or videos 📽️ especially in the early stages. Later in life, I can share this journey with my kids or even with the public on a stage. It’s inspiring to see how people start from humble beginnings and what they eventually achieve.
  • Another important aspect of documenting is self-branding. Even if a project fails, sharing the effort and work that went into it can be great publicity and attract people who appreciate your honesty. I still have a video on YouTube of the first go-kart I built when I was 17. It was a fun experience, and I want to keep sharing that feeling.

• Better value for time: I want to focus on things with lasting impact, such as building passive income, rather than relying on salary or project-based income. I consider myself fortunate to have been gifted skills by God and to have made the most of every opportunity to grow myself.  Now, I aim to use these skills to create maximum value. I recognize that having equity in a company comes with high risk, but also the potential for high reward. Having equity in a product reflects my belief in long-term value over short-term gains. I want to accept lower immediate compensation because I trust the bigger outcome of my efforts and skills. 
• Multidisciplinary: I love working with multidisciplinary teams. Imagine we’re building a wearable health device starting from research papers, moving to fabric embroidery, then diving into understanding human hand muscles. After that, we tackle aspects like selling, marketing, and branding the product. Next, we integrate electronics and coding, followed by testing it with users. Then, we modify the product and try again. It’s the perfect blend of collaboration and creativity, where each step adds a unique layer to the final outcome. It reminds me of Da Vinci’s approach of seeing all aspects of life as connected, where each discipline feeds into the other.

• Focus: "You can do anything, but not everything." Initially, I want to be aware of the sacrifices that will come with dedicating myself to a product. Every "yes" to a product means a "no" to other things, such as family time, gym, friends and communities, or personal fun projects. It’s not to say I know exactly what will be sacrificed, but I want to be aware of and okay with that idea.

Finally, what is next for me? 

• Expand my portfolio of equities in multiple businesses.
• Work with the best + Expand the network.
• Research business opportunities, observe and open my eyes, ask experts in their field about what sucks about their industry? what is the biggest pain? + Experiment more have more fun in experimenting business ideas.
• Stay healthy Spiritually, Mentally, Physically, and have more control on my feelings.
• Travel more, have more fun daily, enjoy the small details in nature, create more fixed routines.

"Note to whoever will work with me: If you’re reading this, I’ve likely shared this blog with you before we begin working together. Thank you for taking the time. I truly appreciate it. My hope is that this gives us a strong foundation to build a great working relationship and collaborate more effectively."

"If you’re someone who believes we should collaborate, please reach out I’d love to learn more about you."

Regards, Abdulla Albaitam