2024¶

No One Has Potential But Yourself

I had a conversation with my friend today that shook something loose in my head: no one has potential. Like most of the lies I tell myself, this is obviously false - and yet, sometimes we need these extreme statements to see a deeper truth.

We often combat excess pessimism with excess optimism. We see potential in others and believe they can change. But this is just a projection of our own potential and values and beliefs.

Let me explain.

We throw around "potential" like it's something we can spot in others - this capacity for growth, for becoming. It's the story we tell when we hire someone who isn't quite ready, when we date someone who isn't quite there, when we believe in someone who hasn't quite proven themselves. We use it to describe the ability of a person to evolve and adapt, to grow into who they're "meant to be."

When I think about ambitious people, I never focus on their potential - their actions speak for themselves. I don't say "she's got a lot of potential" but rather "she's in the studio every day." The daily choices of ambitious people tell a clearer story than any assessment of their potential ever could. Their consistent actions drown out empty words and hypotheticals.

But after thirty years of watching people's stories unfold, I've come to understand something a little sad:

Everyone with true potential is already burning with passion and energy. They exist in a constant state of becoming themselves. There are always better words to describe their actions than just potential.

This comes in the form of someone saying they'll change their behavior once this happens or that happens. But more realistically, the ones with true agency aren't waiting for things to happen to them - they're already taking action, making their own opportunities, and shaping their own path forward.

This isn't just philosophical musing - it's a pattern I've seen play out in every relationship, every hiring decision, every friendship. When I see my friends choose the wrong people, whether in business or love, it always comes back to this fundamental misunderstanding about potential.

The potential you see in others is a reflection of the potential you have in yourself. And it's often cases of those who have the most potential are the ones that tend to overestimate potential in others.

This has been one of my biggest mistakes - believing I wasn't somehow alone in my ambition to evolve, to adapt, to grow. Let me share a story that brought this home.

In 2022, I met an artist in New York City. When they shared their dream of having their first gallery show, my mind immediately jumped to all the possibilities. I could see it clearly - the galleries we needed to visit, the portfolio we had to build, the right people we needed to meet. The path seemed obvious. Just effort.

But six months went by. Then a year. Then more. Nothing changed except the frequency of complaints about bosses, about systems, about circumstances. The more they complained about their inability to get what they wanted, the more frustrated I became. It took three years to accept that the potential I saw wasn't theirs at all - it was just a projection of how I wanted to live my life, the values I held for myself.

Now, lets contrast this with the people I spend my time with now. I never one said to my self "they have potential they just need to...". These ambitious people are already doing the work. Kinetic vs potential energy.

The ones with real momentum are always telling you what they're doing, asking for help, seeking feedback. Or they just disappear for long periods and come back with the thing they wanted, ready to celebrate together.

For most of my life I had an excess optimism about others' abilities, while many had an excess pessimism about their circumstances. The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between. But this realization, though humbling, has been incredibly liberating.

Here's what I've come to understand: The people with true potential aren't the ones having long discussions at basecamp. They are on the trail, the ones in motion, the ones you meet coming down from the summit with dirt on their boots and stories to tell.

And here's the truth - if we're living this way, truly pursuing our own potential, we can't afford to stand around at basecamp either. Waiting for others to pack their bags and gather their courage. We need to be on the trail. Because that's where we'll find our true companions - not in the comfortable conversations about what could be, but in the breathless exchanges between climbers passing on the path alive with purpose.

They don't need someone to see their potential - they're too busy staring down the path, watching their step, moving forward in a state of constant becoming.

So, what does this mean for you? Think of these people you're always waiting on, and trying to help. Is the potential you see in them a projection of your own potential? Or have they taken action already?

Legal Office Hours for AI Consultants

I want to invite my lawyer, Luke, to talk a little bit about the legal side of consulting. If you're new you should also checkout our consulting stack post.

In August, Luke officially launched Virgil. Their goal at Virgil is to be a one-stop shop for a startup’s back office, combining legal with related services that founders often prefer to outsource, such as bookkeeping, compliance, tax, and people operations. We primarily operate on flat monthly subscriptions, allowing startups to focus on what truly moves the needle.

He launched Virgil with Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, and Jeremy Howard, CEO of Answer AI. He's able to rely on the Answer AI team to build tools and help him stay informed about AI. He's licensed to practice in Illinois, and they have a national presence. That's his background and the essence of what we're building at Virgil.

Decomposing RAG Systems to Identify Bottlenecks

There's a reason Google has separate interfaces for Maps, Images, News, and Shopping. The same reason explains why many RAG systems today are hitting a performance ceiling. After working with dozens of companies implementing RAG, I've discovered that most teams focus on optimizing embeddings while missing two fundamental dimensions that matter far more: Topics and Capabilities.

Those Who Can Do, Must Teach: Why Teaching Makes You Better

"Those who can't do, teach" is wrong. Here's proof: I taught at the Data Science Club while learning myself. If I help bring a room of 60 people even 1 week ahead, in an hour, that's 60 weeks of learning value creation. That's more than a year of value from one hour. Teaching isn't what you do when you can't perform. It's how you multiply your impact.

Its a duty.

What is Retrieval Augmented Generation?

Retrieval augmented generation (RAG) is a technique that enhances the capabilities of large language models (LLMs) by integrating them with external knowledge sources. In essence, RAG combines the generative power of LLMs with the vast information stored in databases, documents, and other repositories. This approach enables LLMs to generate more accurate, relevant, and contextually grounded responses.

How to Improve RAG Applications; 6 Proven Strategies

This article explains six proven strategies to improve Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems. It builds on my previous articles and consulting experience helping companies enhance their RAG applications.

By the end of this post, you'll understand six key strategies I've found effective when improving RAG applications:

• Building a data flywheel with synthetic testing
• Implementing structured query segmentation
• Developing specialized search indices
• Mastering query routing and tool selection
• Leveraging metadata effectively
• Creating robust feedback loops

How to Get Started in AI Consulting:

Picture this: You're sitting at your desk, contemplating the leap into AI consulting. Maybe you're a seasoned ML engineer looking to transition from contractor to consultant, or perhaps you've been building AI products and want to branch out independently. Whatever brought you here, you're wondering how to transform your technical expertise into a thriving consulting practice.

Consulting writing

I want to share something that completely changed my consulting business: writing consistently.

Last month, a founder reached out saying, "I don't know who you are, but your blog posts keep showing up in our team's Slack. Are you available to help us?"

Two days later, we closed a $140,000 deal (for a 3-month project). Only 3 sales calls were needed.

This wasn't luck – it was the compound effect of putting words on the page every single day.

Who am I?

In the next year, this blog will be painted with a mix of technical machine learning content and personal notes. I've spent more of my 20s thinking about my life than machine learning. I'm not good at either, but I enjoy both.

Life story

I was born in a village in China. My parents were the children of rural farmers who grew up during the Cultural Revolution. They were the first generation of their family to read and write, and also the first generation to leave the village.

How to Lead AI Engineering Teams

Have you ever wondered why some teams seem to effortlessly deliver value while others stay busy but make no real progress?

I recently had a conversation that completely changed how I think about leading teams. While discussing team performance with a VP of Engineering who was frustrated with their team's slow progress, I suggested focusing on better standups and more experiments.

That's when Skylar Payne dropped a truth bomb that made me completely rethink everything:

"Leaders are living and breathing the business strategy through their meetings and context, but the people on the ground don't have any fucking clue what that is. They're kind of trying to read the tea leaves to understand what it is."

That moment was a wake-up call.

I had been so focused on the mechanics of execution that I'd missed something fundamental: The best processes in the world won't help if your team doesn't understand how their work drives real value.

In less than an hour, I learned more about effective leadership than I had in the past year. Let me share what I discovered.

The Process Trap

For years, I believed the answer to team performance was better processes. More standups, better ticket tracking, clearer KPIs.

I was dead wrong.

Here's the truth that surprised me: The most effective teams have very little process. What they do have is: - Crystal clear alignment on what matters - A shared understanding of how the business works - The ability to make independent decisions - A systematic way to learn and improve

Let me break down how to build this kind of team.

The "North Star" Framework

Instead of more process, teams need a clear way to connect their daily work to real business value. This is where the North Star Framework comes in.

Here's how it works:

1. Define One Key Metric: Choose a single metric that summarizes the value you deliver to customers. For example, Amplitude uses "insights shared and read by at least three people."

2. Break It Down: Identify the key drivers that teams can actually impact. These become your focus areas.

3. Create a Rhythm:

4. Weekly: Review input metrics
5. Quarterly: Check relationships between inputs and your North Star

6. Yearly: Validate that your North Star predicts revenue

7. Make It Visible: Run weekly business reviews where leadership shares these metrics with everyone. Start manual before building dashboards - trustworthy data matters more than automation.

This framework does something powerful: it helps every team member understand how their work drives real value.

The Weekly Business Review

One of the most powerful tools in this framework is the weekly business review. But this isn't your typical metrics meeting.

Here's how to make it work: - Make it a leadership-level meeting that ICs can attend - Focus on building business intuition, not just sharing numbers - Take notes on anomalies and patterns - Share readouts with the entire team - Use it to develop a shared mental model of how the business works

Rethinking Team Structure

Here's another counterintuitive insight: how you organize your teams might be creating unnecessary friction.

Instead of dividing responsibilities by project, try dividing them by metrics. Here's why: - Project-based teams require precise communication boundaries - Metric-based teams can work more fluidly - It reduces communication overhead - Teams naturally align around outcomes instead of outputs

Think about it: When teams own metrics instead of projects, they have the freedom to find the best way to move those metrics.

Early Stage? Even More Important

I know what you're thinking: "This sounds great for big companies, but we're too early for this."

That's what I thought too. But here's what I learned: Being early stage isn't an excuse for throwing spaghetti at the wall.

You can still be systematic, just differently:

1. Start Qualitative:
2. Draft clear goals and hypotheses
3. Generate specific questions to validate them
4. Talk to customers systematically

5. Document and learn methodically

6. Focus on Learning:

7. Treat tickets as experiments, not features
8. Make outcomes about learning, not just shipping
9. Accept that progress is nonlinear

10. Build systematic ways to capture insights

11. Build Foundations:

12. Document your strategy clearly
13. Make metrics and goals transparent
14. Share regular updates on progress
15. Create systems for capturing and sharing learnings

The Experiment Mindset

One crucial shift is thinking about work differently: - The ticket is not the feature - The ticket is the experiment - The outcome is learning

This mindset change helps teams focus on value and learning rather than just shipping features.

Put It Into Practice

Here are five things you can do today to start implementing these ideas:

1. Define Your North Star: What's the one metric that best captures the value you deliver to customers?

2. Start Weekly Business Reviews: Schedule a weekly meeting to review key metrics with your entire team. Start simple - even a manual spreadsheet is fine.

3. Audit Your Process: Look at every process you have. Ask: "Is this helping people make better decisions?" If not, consider dropping it.

4. Document Your Strategy: Write down how you think the business works. Share it widely and iterate based on feedback.

5. Shift to Experiments: Start treating work as experiments to test hypotheses rather than features to ship.

The Real Test

The real test of whether this is working isn't in your processes or even your metrics. It's in whether every team member can confidently answer these questions:

• "What should I be spending my time on today?"
• "How does my work drive value for our business?"
• "What am I learning that could change our direction?"

When your team can answer these without hesitation, you've built something special.

Remember: Your team members are smart, capable people. They don't need more process - they need context and clarity to make good decisions.

Give them that, and you'll be amazed at what they can achieve.

P.S. What would you say is your team's biggest obstacle to working this way? Leave a comment below.