Authenticity Is the Shortcut I Almost Missed

A personal riff on Naval Ravikant’s chat with Chris Williamson

I used to design sensors for fun.
Well, fun and a BSc + MSc in mechanical engineering. My master’s thesis wrapped up, the graduation cap went on, and the “obvious” next step was a lifetime of CAD models and finite-element analysis.

Except I felt the magnetic pull of code. Within a year of earning my M.Sc., I’d jumped into software, shipped my first production bug (and fix!) at Bayzat, and 2 years later joined the data-labeling wizards at iMerit. That pivot was supposed to be risky; instead, it unlocked a playground where work feels like play, exactly what Naval Ravikant described on Chris Williamson’s Modern Wisdom:

“You escape competition through authenticity.”

His words landed like a compile-time error message I’d been ignoring. So here’s my caffeinated take on Naval’s rapid-fire wisdom, through the lens of a mechanical engineer-turned-dev who now juggles a Full-Time job and CoachTrackPro, Watchlopedia, MealTrackPro, and a half-dozen other “side projects” that won’t stay on the side.

1. Productize You

Naval’s mantra: “Productize yourself.”

For me, that means blending three quirks most résumés would keep in separate folders:

None of these came from trend-chasing. They came from asking: What feels like play but solves a real headache for someone else?

Quick gut check: Think of the task you procrastinate everything else to do. Could you wrap that in a template, API, or micro-course by Friday?

2. Treat Life Like a Search Function

Because we’re engineers, let’s talk algorithms: first explore, then exploit.

• Explore mode: Weekend hackathons, open-source PRs, random UI redesigns no one asked for, or late-night rabbit holes into design systems and dev tooling.
• Exploit mode: When something clicks, users engage, feedback rolls in, or you can’t wait to work on it, you commit harder, scale smarter, and make it your thing.

My exploration phase was a period of pure organized chaos, with React apps one week, Firebase backends the next, followed by a crash course in Notion the week after. Some of it flopped, some of it sparked. But it all pointed me toward what I now love doing: building tools that help people track, simplify, or enjoy their lives, whether it's their training, nutrition, or hobbies.

3. Beware Premature Commitment

Naval warns about “30-year grind paths.” I almost locked myself into pure mechanical engineering jobs, with a great title and decent pay, but zero creative oxygen. Swerving back toward code and side projects kept the oxygen flowing and quieted the impostor syndrome.

If your current gig feels like death by PowerPoint, remember: the second-best day to change course is today. Spin up a tiny experiment tonight and see if the market (or your dopamine) cares.

4. A Friendly Game Plan

If you’re building something that’s uniquely yours, you don’t need a masterclass; You need a mindset shift. Here’s the framework I keep leaning on:

→ Start with your edge.
Ask yourself: What feels natural, even obvious, to me, but others constantly struggle with or avoid? That’s your unfair advantage.

For me, it’s things like:

• Seeing how complex systems connect, and knowing how to simplify them.
• Writing clearly in both English and Turkish, especially about technical or niche topics.
• Making tools like Stripe, Firebase, or Google Analytics talk to each other with minimal friction.
• And yeah, being the guy who can write 2,000 words on Legos, technology, and cars without blinking.

You don’t need to be the best in the world at something. You just need to be weirdly good at the combo that makes you you.

→ Build in public (but define your “public”).
You don’t need to post everything on Twitter or LinkedIn. Build in public simply means build with visibility. That could be:

• A small Telegram group of trusted friends
• A Notion page you update weekly
• A private Discord or Slack channel with early testers
• Or just a Google Doc you keep sharing progress in

The goal is to create momentum and accountability beyond your thoughts. Sharing a messy screenshot, a voice note, or a rough Loom walkthrough is often enough to spark feedback, ideas, or even your first fans.

→ Look for real signals.
Not praise, proof. Compliments feel nice, but they don’t validate a product. Look for:

• A Stripe payment
• Someone asks, “When can I use this?”
• A friend is forwarding your page to someone else
• Repeat visits, actual usage, unsubscribes (yes, even those are data)

These are the signals that indicate whether it’s worth your time or if it needs a tweak.

→ Keep it fun (or fix it).
If it starts feeling like a second job or worse, homework, you’ve probably lost the spark. That’s okay. You can simplify, re-scope, or even shelve it for now. This game rewards energy and momentum, not forced hustle.

Final Lines of Code

Authenticity isn’t woo-woo; it’s a practical moat. The more your work resembles you precisely, the harder it is for anyone else to replicate it.

So here’s to writing the code, copy, and coffee-fueled projects that only we can, because that’s where the market (and our sanity) converge.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, the Firestore emulator’s finally ready, Slack’s quiet for once, and I’ve got a few open tabs that aren’t going to build themselves.