Inheritors 2/3 - The old world

A journey of perseverance.

Filip Nowak · 2 min read

I talk with a lot of different demographics - students, young builders, professionals, executives, people long into their careers.

Many of them will help out. Some feelings I've been able to identify behind that support:

• What we do is cool, and it resonates with them personally
• They want to be a part of the story and become a part of our network
• They like young people taking initiative
• They want to learn and be kept up to date on what's happening in AI & Robotics

First of all, I would like to thank all the people who have simply believed in us - partners, volunteers, community members, attendees, advisors - without much to offer and with clearly not much experience of running a company. You know who you are and I hope that one day I'll be able to repay this debt.

But there are also some horror stories.

At an event I pitched North Star to someone high up in a similar business and I was told: "Your parents must be rich." Truly, one of the most repulsive things you can hear as a young entrepreneur whose parents, are in fact not rich, right after putting a bunch of my savings into an initiative meant to bring people together.

Another time an exited founder got annoyed because we didn't know who they were - and brought up our non-Belgian origins while at it.

The barrier of not speaking Dutch has also cut us off from some opportunities. This part is understandable, though. Nonetheless I have a bit radical opinions on this - if you're building in tech english is the lingua franca and promotes internationality (Belgium should pride itself as an international hub!! What is going on!), do better.

I hold these memories as something that pushes me forward. It is meant to showcase, that we've had our fair share of struggles. This is also where the name of this series comes from - Inheritors - there's an old world of how things are done, of people who make decisions and hold the power to make or break initiatives. But this old world will fade at some point. I see a future where such initiatives can prosper without having to jump through this many hoops.

A reflection moment

This is a very important part for me, because it's also our strategy for collaborating with people - on which side are you? Will you be remembered as a mentor and supporter?

What kind of a world will you be leaving behind?

I'm nudging towards collaboration here, and while I think it's incredibly important, it's simply impossible to work with everyone. Sometimes it doesn't fit the organization's messaging, more often there just aren't enough resources. And underneath sits a harder question - who will you associate your name with?

Of course I'd love to say - we will support everyone and everything! Bring all you've got! But there is a cost to every association. A community runs on trust, and trust is the one thing you can't rebuild on a deadline. So we choose who we stand next to carefully - and if we ever say no, it's rarely personal.

Now you can flip this, why should a big company work with you?

Lesson learnt the hard way here and a very important piece of advice I got from someone I look up to - create a strong internal sense of value, because otherwise you'll be taken advantage of. Not every company is NVIDIA or OpenAI. You will either vibe with people or not and if you push to be working with the 2nd type then it will not end well for either of you.

Grants

At 25, I am exactly a generation younger than the average Member of the European Parliament, who is 50. Only 4.6% of MPs in Europe's lower chambers are 30 or younger. Yet my generation is not detached from Europe: 43% of young Europeans have already studied, worked, volunteered or participated in an activity in another EU country, and 61% say they are optimistic about the EU's future. We are not yet in charge, but the handover has already begun.

You're either smart or work harder than anyone else, you're probably not as smart as you think - to become smart you need to have gained experience, to gain good experience you need to work hard. There is no free lunch.

Was it a rant?

This is a reflection on a way of living, what drives me and on a way of presenting myself. Which is also a hot topic in our own organization. Because it will attract people and set standards for how we operate, here's a quote I like:

Culture is a thousand things a thousand times.

Founder branding is very important. At this point we can proudly say that we caused communities to pop up and people to further or start their careers in AI or robotics. This means there's a bit of an example we're setting. On a relatively small scale, but nonetheless, I remember each time someone tells me about it (please continue to do so!!! you guys are amazing)

This is the end of this part, it set the stage for what it's like dealing with this old world. Either if you're the inheritor, or the one leaving a legacy - I hope it was something that left you to ponder a bit, about what the future holds and how we can make it a time worth living in. For the next part, I prepared a letter specifically for people in similar situations - young founders, community builders and the people who might feel a bit lost. Read "A path to walk" here.