Salah as a kid, in a Batman costume

Salah Alboijan

صلاح البعيجان · Updated

I spend most of my time building things and working with people I think are really good at what they do. Most of that has been around software and startups. I studied software engineering at KFUPM, and I’m currently CTO at Netzero, where I’ve had the chance to build products, teams, and a company from pretty early on.

I like hard problems, people who care deeply about their craft, and the messy early stages of figuring things out. Outside of work, I invest in startups here and there, write about things I’m thinking about, and follow whatever I happen to be curious about at the time.

I change my mind often, get curious about too many things, and I’m still figuring most of it out.

You can find me on X, LinkedIn, GitHub and Medium, or reach me via email.

Things I believe

    • 01

      Bias for action

      people who move with 80% of the information usually beat people waiting for 100%. if the decision isn't huge or irreversible, just move.

    • 02

      Sunk cost fallacy is the root of all evil

      “but we already spent so much on it” is how you end up spending even more. how much you already spent has nothing to do with whether you should keep going. a bad idea is still a bad idea.

    • 03

      Think from principles

      when you're trying to solve something, don't immediately look at how everyone else does it and copy that. start with the actual problem. what are we trying to achieve? what do we know for sure? what are the real constraints? a lot of bad decisions happen because we inherit someone else's assumptions without realizing it. understand the problem first, then build the answer from there.

    • 04

      Feedback is a gift

      feedback is the fastest way to get better. i'd rather be told i'm wrong than comfortably believe i'm right.

    • 05

      High standards are contagious

      people adapt to the bar around them. set it high and they step up. lower it once and that becomes the new normal.

    • 06

      Know no

      every yes is a thousand nos to something else. saying yes to one thing means saying no to all the other ways you could spend that time, energy, attention, or opportunity. every yes costs you something. choose what gets your yes carefully.

    • 07

      Make it feel right

      hard to explain. easy to know when something doesn't feel right. don't ignore it.

Writing