After many years of railing against going on Twitter (now X), I’m finally pulling the band-aid and getting on the platform.
It’s become clear to me, and to the people around the company, that my role increasingly involves being a spokesperson. But I don’t really have a good way to talk directly to everybody. X gives me that opportunity.
There’s also a broader point: almost nobody talks about AI in the real world—where it intersects with cars, trucks, tanks, and fighter jets the way we see it at Applied Intuition. I think X can be a channel to do that.
Historically, if you’ve watched my talks, you’ve heard me say that one of the keys to Applied’s success is focus. And I’ve often demonized social media, specifically X, as wasteful and distracting. It encourages superficiality, showmanship, and the wrong values over real substance.
Some of that is still true. But as the company has grown, the balance has changed. The value of having a microphone now outweighs the downsides. So I’m going to try this. If it works, great. If not, I’ll go back to not being on X.
One of the hallmark trends of our generation is the fall of confidence in institutions. From the 1970s until now, people have lost faith in almost every major institution, from government to corporations.
Post–World War II, America trusted places like General Motors or The Wall Street Journal as organizations acting in society’s interest, serving as gatekeepers. The world was different. Information was scarce and slow-moving. The internet blew all of that up, and we now live in a reality where the average person doesn’t trust what a corporation says.
You see this in politics too: being the “establishment” candidate is basically a death sentence now.
The alternative narrative (the “new media”) is fundamentally direct-to-consumer. Just like brands that skip traditional distribution, ideas now bypass institutions entirely.
Everyone from Alex Karp to Zoran Bamford to President Trump operates on this wavelength:
I don’t want to hear from your corporation or your party. I want to hear directly from you.
Institutional filtering is now an anti-signal. How many corporate X accounts are you following and taking seriously?
My entry onto X is a little unusual. I already have an established career and track record. I haven’t tweeted much, yet I somehow have a few thousand followers. It’s not a cold start.
My prediction is that engaging on X will actually help the company. There’s a dismissive thread in the broader AI discourse about AI in cars, trucks, and other vehicles… and I can contribute something useful to that.
Personally, I think it will bring more stress. I’ll lose some focus. But I’ve always said a CEO must do whatever is required to make the company successful. If I can avoid clickbait and the caustic nature of anonymous strangers arguing online, I should get more good than bad out of it.
And I’ll adopt Marc Andreessen’s philosophy: block early and often.
Overall, this is an experiment. We’ll see how successful, or unsuccessful, it is.
Old habits die hard. I still feel like I’m in the fraternity of founders, so it’s hard not to offer a few thoughts for anyone building a company, a nonprofit, a political movement, or anything else.
First: it is your responsibility to have a direct conversation with your customers, constituents, potential employees—whoever. Even if it’s personally taxing, it’s a requirement.
Thinking back, even my own anti-social-media stance wasn’t as pure as it sounded. I’ve always been active on LinkedIn, which is still social media. It just has norms that align better with my values: focus on the work, not theatrics.
Second: keep your identity small.
My refusal to join X became part of my identity, which is probably one of the biggest reasons I never joined. Instead of using first principles (e.g. does this accomplish a goal?), I held onto a belief almost religiously.
In reality, if I’m spending time repeating the same explanation to customers, prospects, or reporters, instead of saying it once on X, I’m being less efficient. Using first principles, X is simply a more efficient communication tool.
Third: reluctantly, I’ve come to accept that I do have a distinct point of view to share.
Historically, I’ve believed no one really has special insights. It all comes down to execution and focus. That belief has served me well. But the world is a battle of ideas, and if you don’t participate, the environment moves around you.
As a founder, you are trying to influence how others see the world. X is one channel for that.
That’s a long way of saying:
I was wrong.
And I held onto those wrong beliefs for too long.
I’ll write more and share more. And, for the first time ever, follow me on X @qasar.