AI? Just Give It a Go

A few years ago I was a Web3 founder. Venture-backed, deep in the ecosystem, fully bought into the idea that blockchain was going to change everything.

Then it didn't. Or at least, not on the timeline anyone promised. I stepped away burnt out, went back to running my events company, and basically checked out of the tech world entirely.

That's when AI blew up.

I missed almost all of it. While everyone was talking about ChatGPT, I was trying to recover from the Web3 hangover and genuinely couldn't stomach another "this changes everything" conversation. So I ignored it.

I came to AI very, very late.

By the time I finally paid attention, it felt like everyone else already had a head start. People were building agents, automating workflows, shipping products. I was still figuring out what a prompt was.

For months I asked questions that probably sounded ridiculous. I felt stupid regularly. But I kept at it, mostly out of stubbornness.

What finally clicked? It wasn't some grand moment. It was mundane.

I was trying to plan a team-building event for a tech company. They wanted something creative. I was drawing a blank. Out of desperation I typed a bunch of keywords into ChatGPT and it came back with five ideas I hadn't considered. One of them was a coding-themed escape room.

That was it. Not world-changing. Just useful. And that was enough.

Now I have an AI agent that handles daily outreach, researches clients, drafts proposals, and monitors competitors. Automatically. I didn't build it because I have an engineering background. I built it because I was willing to look stupid while figuring it out.

The difference between someone who "gets" AI and someone who doesn't isn't a computer science degree or 10 years in tech.

It's just confidence. Or stubbornness. For me it was both.

Every HR leader, business owner, manager who says "I'm not a tech person" — I used to be that person. I had the Web3 credibility and still felt like AI had passed me by.

What I've figured out: the learning curve is real, but it's shorter than you think. I still get things wrong. I still ask questions that sound ridiculous. But I now get things done that I couldn't before.

Coming in late turned out to be fine. Staying out would not have been.