About Aden
I spend too much time thinking about why things work the way they do. It started with computers - that rabbit hole of “how does this actually work?” led me from Windows to Linux to probably too many years at uni trying to understand how typing on a keyboard somehow makes things happen on a screen.
On Building
I love building things. Started with physical projects - crafting sailboats from wood, experimenting with hovercrafts, and launching bottle rockets in the backyard. Naturally drifted into electronics, tinkering with circuits and components. These days I mostly build software and web applications, but that fundamental joy of creating something from scratch has never changed.
On Startups
Look, startups are objectively a terrible idea. Most fail. You'll work too much, stress too much, and probably make less money than if you'd just gotten a normal job. Or literally just sat on your money.
But here's what fascinates me: startups are never solving just one problem. At minimum, you're juggling two core challenges. First, there's the actual product - the thing you're building. That's the easy part, believe it or not.
The second problem is trickier - it's perception. Marketing sounds like a dirty word, but really it's about execution. Sometimes you need to convince people they even have a problem to begin with. Think about it: nobody was asking to rent strangers' spare rooms before Airbnb. Nobody thought “hey, I wish random people would drive me around” before Uber.
This is where my obsession with user experience comes in. Not just the “how does this button work” kind of UX, but the whole picture - how people perceive, understand, and ultimately use what you're building. It's this weird intersection of psychology, design, and problem-solving that keeps pulling me back in, even when I know better.
These Days
Still trying to figure stuff out. People call it overthinking - they're probably right. But sometimes going too deep into the “why” of things leads somewhere interesting. Other times it's just a waste of time. I'm getting better at telling the difference. Maybe.