Everyone is writing about AI and how they’re using it. I feel compelled to join the party. I pause though, because I don’t believe I have anything unique to add to the corpus that already exists. Every angle that I could speak on feels like it’s been talked about and rehashed dozens of times.
I feel a deep need and responsibility to learn these tools, the value they provide, how they impact the company I work for, and how they impact the people I have chosen to support outside of my 9-5. It legit feels irresponsible and negligent not to be living in Claude Code every single day.
If I’m going to live and breathe these tools, why not write about how you’re using them and what’s interesting to you? What you think doesn’t work well yet? What has drastically improved since the last time you tried it? What tools are you paying for? What haven’t you tried yet?
I’m not interested in writing how-to articles. Nope, not one bit. I do enjoy learning about companies, founders, their unique angles on a problem. Packy McCormick is one of my favorite writers and I love his deep dives.
I’m struggling with my identity as a writer, that’s the cold truth. Which is why I can’t figure out what to write about. I’ve been admittedly distracted by so many incredible advances in the knowledge work space, seemingly on a daily basis, that I’ve completely lost focus on who I want to be as a writer and the daily actions necessary to get to my desired destination.
But, what is that destination?
I think it looks a lot like Packy McCormick and Reggie James, who just landed an incredible gig at General Catalyst as a creative director.
Telling stories about the people and companies I admire.
The destination is being able to do this every day.
What’s funny is, I’ve already arrived, and yet, I’m not writing. The “destination” I’ve set out to drive towards is a place that I should technically always exist in. There’s no reason why I can’t tell stories about the people and companies I admire, right now.
Why am I not doing this? What’s stopping me?
If I’m being honest, the biggest blocker in my brain is distribution.
I’ve been writing on the internet for a long time now, and I’ve never, ever, really had a viral hit. That’s ok, it doesn’t really bother me that much, but it does color my decision-making. I think I’m stuck on the fact that I could spend so much time on a Packy McCormick deep dive, only for a few hundred people to read it and for 5 people to comment on it.
The problem, for all of us, isn’t that we can’t get distribution; it’s that we can’t guarantee it, and that uncertainty is paralyzing.
This is why SEO and Domain Ratings are so fascinating to me, because this is the closest way to guarantee distribution. It’s not a 100% guarantee, but it feels like the closest thing out there.
If you write something that matches search intent and build enough authority, traffic arrives whether you’re sleeping or not. It’s the antithesis of the viral lottery. But here’s the issue... SEO-driven content and Packy McCormick-style deep dives are different games. One optimizes for what people are already searching for. The other creates demand for something people didn’t know they wanted.
What’s the point if nobody is listening?
Of course, writing is thinking, I know that.
I should write because I love to do it and I’ve somehow forgotten this important fact.
You shouldn’t write because you want thousands of people reading it.
But that’s how I feel at times.
So maybe the writing, itself, is not fulfilling enough.
That’s sad, and terrible, but it’s the truth.
I don’t need millions, thousands will do just fine.
I don’t just want to be heard, I also want to make someone pause and think.
I don’t need 130 million views like Dan Koe’s latest piece.
I just want modest adoration, not household name recognition.
I’ve got this all wrong though, and I know better.
Here’s a reframe. What if the goal isn’t thousands of readers, but being the person who deeply understands the companies and founders I’m curious about? The writing becomes the vehicle for my own education, and the audience is a byproduct. Write to learn. The readers will come because the learning is genuine.
I love to write. I know this to be true because I’ve been writing for the past 16 years and it’s one of the great joys of my life.
I love how it clears my head.
I love the cadence and rhythm of words dancing across the page.
I love how prose can reach anyone, anywhere in the world.
Even if it’s just one person.
I need to focus on inputs, not outputs.
Write every day.
Write about the people and companies you admire.
Great piece, Daniel. I struggle with this same thought a lot and I'm not sure I've come to the a great conclusion yet.
I do love writing, I know that much, but I really love connecting with and impacting people through my writing. It easy to measure impact in eyeballs, likes, comments, etc., and unfortunately that's my default to know if I am impacting folks. It's almost impossible to ever know which pieces will achieve that goal
Most people with a desire to create struggle with this. Especially if they have any sense of integrity.
I've had a couple of popular moments (I don't think they'd qualify as viral) and most of them happened with content that caved to "the machine." And the impressions and engagement were nice, sure, but ultimately they meant nothing.
The few that did matter to me weren't planned. I once got an article randomly picked up in Hacker News and it went to 40k views. And another time I went semi-viral on Twitter because I denounced Product Hunt's injustice system–earning #1 product of the day as a result.
I've been on a content hiatus for a long time because I'm reconciling with the same thing you are. Because I don't want to create content for algorithms. I want to write content that matters to me one way or another.
And I have to believe that that will reach who it has to. And that that will be enough, and it will matter to some.
Humanity has lost so much creative drive on individuals because we're all slaves to the metrics. Most great thinkers and writers of the past put pen to paper because they needed it, not because they wanted to become some overnight success.
Your words and your initiatives matter Daniel. If you keep doing it long enough, sticking to your truth, I believe it will pay off. We have to believe it. We have to.
How are we going to move forward if we don't?