After many years of railing against going on X, I’m finally pulling the band-aid and getting on the platform.
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.
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. The conversation about self driving should be more than Waymo vs Tesla.
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. As information got to end users faster, the narrative became a bit harder to control. But it wasn’t so much that these institutions were blatantly lying – but institutions, like a business, are just groups of people working together. And within every group there is a complex sometimes conflicting goals and actions. All this results in the average person getting mixed messages and therefore not trusting the institution. You see this in politics too as being the “establishment” candidate is basically a death sentence now.
The alternative narrative is fundamentally direct-to-consumer. Just like brands that skip traditional distribution, ideas now bypass institutions entirely.Everyone from Alex Karp to Zohran Mamdani 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?
The title of this post is lifted from a Kanye song. It’s been interesting to see people I’ve known closely over the last 15+ years in the valley be lauded, become active on X and then be hated. Not disliked but really hated. Sometimes even I can’t believe what this fairly sane person is posting. But I think that’s less about them and more about the medium. Almost everything has nuance. But nuance is not what X is for. And when you include nuance, you come across as a weasel - trying not to be pinned down. So people go the other way - they hold seemingly very strong views without any wiggle room. Better to be a jerk than a weasel.
And into this environment I trek. If you know me, I’m all about nuance. I’m also pragmatic. I’m not about to change how people communicate on X. So what I’m saying is, there will be a time when you think “I miss the old Qasar, not the new Qasar”. I haven’t changed, I’ve just been filtered through a medium. And remember better to be a jerk than a weasel.
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 venture-backed silicon valley company.
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 lip filler of social media) but this will be different.
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. And not many people run a $15B+ physical AI company with revenue and free cash flow. And by not many, I think literally zero other people.
And more philosophically, as a founder, you are trying to change – some might even say influence – 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. Give up your old ways, for they might be holding you back from bigger things. Conversely, they might actually have been the reason you’ve been successful.
So, ceremoniously and for the first time ever, follow me on X @qasar.