Sharif Shameem

About

Essays

Questions

Bookshelf

Sharif Shameem

About

Essays

Questions

Bookshelf

Sharif Shameem

22 posts •

Musicians are the luckiest people

One of the most awe-inspiring things to watch is a skilled musician performing live music – especially when they play the piano or guitar and sing together. How can anyone not admire that level

  • Sharif Shameem
1 min read

Shaping my personality via osmosis

The popular adage "you're the average of your five closest friends" is extremely overlooked. The people I interact with the frequently tend to shape my worldview to a terrifying extent, however the amount

  • Sharif Shameem
2 min read

Solving hard problems

To solve hard problems: Simplify the problem as much as possible. Get rid of any extraneous parts of the problem and try to get to the core.Look for similar problems that've already

  • Sharif Shameem
1 min read
Alexandria – a lightweight Library Genesis ebook browser

Alexandria – a lightweight Library Genesis ebook browser

Alexandria is a desktop-based ebook browser powered by Library Genesis.

  • Sharif Shameem
1 min read

Improving Large Video Calls

Today's video calls suck for large group calls. When someone is speaking in a large Zoom call, they're the only person speaking in the entire room. They hold the metaphorical conversational lock and

  • Sharif Shameem
2 min read
Golden Era of Productivity Tools

Golden Era of Productivity Tools

I've used many productivity tools over the years, and I think I've finally been able to refine my workflow to 3 tools that each serve a specific need. Roam ResearchThe first one is

  • Sharif Shameem
3 min read

The Startup Operator's Manual

This is a collection of mental models and frameworks I frequently come back to when I'm thinking about how to run a startup.

  • Sharif Shameem
2 min read
Developing an API for human behavior
super

Developing an API for human behavior

What if humans were as programmable as computers? Imagine being able to shape your own behavior by making API calls. Let's say you wanted to go to the gym every single day. All you would have to do is write the following code.

  • Sharif Shameem
2 min read
You Need to Ship Faster

You Need to Ship Faster

You need to be going faster. The rate at which you're iterating on your product is too slow. You have a limited amount of runway left and if you don't move fast enough, you'll go broke. To avoid going broke, and to build a product that people love, you must ship faster.

  • Sharif Shameem
1 min read
Going Super: Quantifying and Optimizing Your Life
super

Going Super: Quantifying and Optimizing Your Life

A while ago I read about a study with 2 groups of people trying to lose weight. The control group was told to continue living their life as usual, and the test group

  • Sharif Shameem
2 min read

Is this a Bug in React, Chromium, or the HTML Spec?

I came across what I thought to be an interesting bug in React, only to realize it was really a bug in Chromium, only to realize it was really a bug in the

  • Sharif Shameem
3 min read

The Hard Things I Want to Do

I've come to realize that I'm most fulfilled while making progress towards very hard goals, the kind of goals that you're afraid to tell other people about. I'm a firm believer that anything

  • Sharif Shameem
1 min read

Life is Great, So Damn Great

This post is an unfiltered stream of consciousness. If you're expecting to read about software or startups, or even anything remotely insightful, then I'd recommend skipping this one. Today I woke up and

  • Sharif Shameem
2 min read

Using Cognitive Dissonance to Shape Your Behavior

Cognitive dissonance theory states that when two thoughts are in disagreement, or dissonance, then we must reduce the gap between them. For instance, when we believe we are a bodybuilder, yet we do

  • Sharif Shameem
3 min read

Startup Questions to Answer

If a startup idea were so obviously good, it would’ve been done already. This means it's probably a bad idea to judge a startup based on your first impression. For example, Twitter

  • Sharif Shameem
2 min read

Metaprogramming and Reinforcement Learning

Let's say you spend your days assembling RC quadcopters. It's fun, but eventually you get bored of it. So you decide to build a small factory that builds the quadcopters for you. You

  • Sharif Shameem
2 min read

Twitter is far too expensive

Twitter introduced me to my best friend, investors in my startup, and many super smart people. I attribute a lot of the success I've had to Twitter. It did a better job of

  • Sharif Shameem
2 min read

Hacking Systems: An Ongoing List

One of the greatest joys in life is hacking a system. The system being hacked doesn't necessarily have to be a computer — it can be a real world system, and real world hacks

  • Sharif Shameem
1 min read

Happiness vs. Fulfillment

I don't think happiness is the metric I should be optimizing for in life. Instead, I believe a much better gradient to climb would be that of fulfillment. Looking back at the things

  • Sharif Shameem
1 min read

Move to your optimal city

If you still live in the same city you grew up in, you should probably move. There isn't anything inherently wrong about your hometown, I'm sure the local Applebees there is fantastic, but

  • Sharif Shameem
1 min read

Theory: How to become a billionaire without being lucky

I believe the average person has the aptitude to become a billionaire. We live in a dynamic world filled with dynamic people, meaning if I'm just an average person and I suddenly have

  • Sharif Shameem
7 min read
about

Sharif Shameem

Hi, I'm Sharif.I'm the founder of Debuild – a tool that aims to make building valuable software significantly simpler (we're hiring)! I previously founded Vectordash, a cloud gaming company backed by Y Combinator,

  • Sharif Shameem
1 min read
Sharif Shameem © 2021
@sharifshameem