Post SF update - quitting scale ai

It’s been a while.

A lot has happened since I moved to San Francisco. Some wins. Some L’s. Some weird detours I didn’t see coming.

big move #1 - shutting down synctium

When I first got to SF, I thought I’d be building Synctium forever.

Turns out — I don’t want to spend the next decade selling B2B software.

I realized I love building stuff for people I actually understand/ care about. I learned that i wanna build things me and my friends would use. Which doesn’t include a CRM for my relationships.

Most startups are built on a key assumption. If that key assumption is proved wrong, you need to move quickly to another problem or another starutp altogether.

my key assumption with relationships was that people need a system to track their relationships. But, I learned this is only important to those for which relationships = money. Mainly sales people. The market for the rest is too small.

Anyways, in Sf I worked on different projects more related to B2C and growth

I ended up working with a couple of 17-year-old YC founders (of course) on Linkd — a social search algorithm to help you find anyone in your network.

We made it go viral at Stanford after they had first done it at UC Berkley. I studied a lot of about virality and Nikita Bier. Turns out students like something to do with controversiality and anonymity. Which is why we had implemented a leaderboard that ranked how cracked people were at school. And you could anonymously vote for them

Big unlock: distribution is the new product.

I also got to interview Rifath, the guy who built the world’s lightest satellite at 16.
What I learned: even the people who look superhuman are just really, really good at doing stuff fast.

big move #2 - sneaking into founder’s inc (a founder incubator/lab)

I was surrounded by 100+ cracked founders at Founders Inc. Everyone was building. I wasn’t.

I was just hopping around helping with growth, but I didn’t have anything of my own. It’s a lonely feeling when you’re in the right room but you feel like the wrong person.

One of the founders I looked up to noticed I was spiraling and told me something that stuck:

“Not everything you build has to be your life’s work. Choosing what you want to commit your life to is just as important as the commitment itself.”

That was a key moment because I realized even though i have a chip on my shoudler, I don;t need my next move to be my life’s next decade defining move.

So that weeeknd, I built (vibe coded) something I wanted to see into the world.

The Cold Emails Hall of Fame. It’s a collection of successful cold emails that people have sent to top CEOs, billionaires, and celebrities like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.

No strategy. No market research. No big plan.

I shipped it. Posted it. Didn’t overthink it.

One week later:

• 500,000+ impressions

• 600+ newsletter subs

• Cold email community buzzing (we even have a WhatsApp group now)

People started sharing drafts, iterating, hitting send.
One guy landed an exclusive fellowship because of a cold email the group helped him write.

No clue if it’ll ever make money.
But it’s the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever worked on.

big move #3 - working for Scale AI

Around this time, I became close friends with a guy who had just sold his startup to Scale AI. I didn’t even know who he was. I was just helping his wife with growth for her startup.

Funnily enough, he noticed my hustle, he saw Cold Emails Hall of Fame. He saw the other ideas/projects I was posting about on X.

And he thought I was interesting.

Here’s a little hack I figured out:

If you want to be interesting (on social or IRL), you just need to say three interesting things.

• The first time, people think “Oh, that’s interesting.”

• The second time, people think “Oh, that’s interesting.”

• The third time, people think “Wait, this person is actually interesting.”

Anyway, I started working for Scale AI in May.

The speed there is no joke.
They don’t move fast. They move violently.

I joined as a growth intern. It was tough.

In my first week? I accidentally spent $14,000 on an influencer that drove maybe 10 user activations. Horrific ROI.

I thought I was done, but I got another chance. And I’ve learned a ton about operating at speed.

So why am I quitting?

Well, while I was working 12-15 hour days at Scale, life threw a curveball.

Something personal happened in my family, leading me to help my mom with her company.

She’s been building her business in Dubai for 12+ years — bringing international tech to UAE taxis, government projects, you name it.

She did this while having to wake up at 5 AM every day for 12 years to pack lunchboxes for me and my brother.

So yeah,

reason #1: I need to help my mom.
reason #2: I don’t find chasing leads fulfilling. My role doesn’t involve a lot of creativity, and that’s where I feel most alive.

big move #4 - TBD

Here’s what I’m thinking:
Establishing startups in UAE markets through my mom’s company.

• I get to talk to cool founders.

• I get to help them grow.

• I get to stay in SF and keep hacking on fun things.

Never done anything like this before and I’ve got a huge chip on my shoulder. In the next 1 year, I need to have built something that leverages me to leave uni and build in sf full time.

This is why I’d Love Your Help.

If you know:

- People who are great at building D2C brands or running TikTok campaigns for D2C
- Founders looking to break into the UAE market

Please intro me (no obligations).

Thanks for reading.
Appreciate you.
More soon.

— Sid