Enterprenuer
Jon is co-founder of Outdone. This company was created to ease the stress of gift shopping.
Outdone’s AI-powered gift recommendation engine was built and launched by Jon.
It is a first of its kind on the internet! He is passionate about photography, snowboarding, and climbing, in addition to his professional pursuits.
What is the story of Outdone?
My co-founder and I struggled to complete our holiday shopping in 2019.
Even worse, the internet didn’t seem to have any solutions.
Many gift guides were available, but they seemed rushed and hard to navigate.
We knew there had to be a tech-driven solution that everyone could understand.
We created Outdone, an AI-powered gift recommendation engine.
How do you stay productive?
My 9-5 work hours are spent at a fast-growing martech company where I have been responsible for business development and strategy for three years.
Outdone is my most productive time of the day, usually between 8 pm and midnight.
After work, I go home, do some exercise, eat, and work the next day unaffected.
How do you bring ideas to life?
Slowly work your way up. Every great product starts as an idea in your head.
You can only see the product come to life if you are willing to work towards it.
Although it may be difficult to see progress every day, you will soon realize that you are a long way from where you were.
What’s your favorite trend?
I find it inspiring to see the growing trend towards entrepreneurship and creation, which has been fueled by the increased focus on work/life balance.
People are working harder to realize the ideas they have had in their heads for years but never had time to do.
This is one of the silver linings to a difficult period for so many.
This will lead to some fantastic products, art, and books.
What habits make you productive?
Cal Newport’s book will help you see how I can deep work.
Deep work, for the uninitiated, is the ability to focus intensely on a task for relatively brief periods.
This mindset and strategy have been transformative for me, who was once easily distracted.
This has been a massive help to me, and I can still do so much.
What’s your advice for the Noob?
Do not be afraid to give it a shot! I OFTEN DISMISSED MY IDEAS because I found them too overwhelming or too large.
Through Outdone, I learned that just a little bit of hard work could result in some incredible accomplishments.
What is one thing we can all agree on?
Double Stuf Oreos’ filling is not as delicious as classic Oreos. Double Stuff are made with less effort, I swear.
What do you recommend as an entrepreneur?
Expand your horizons. You can read and talk about topics that you are unfamiliar with.
What’s your rich strategy?
Share early versions with everyone. It’s possible to get some fantastic feedback from someone who might not be evident at first glance.
How do you overcome Failure?
After a few months of working together, one freelancer quit us.
This was a major setback as it meant that we had to rebuild Outdone from scratch.
Our meticulous vetting of each hire overcame this.
Can you share a business idea?
I created a business plan for sharing mopeds in significant cities in college.
Although this plan is now a little outdated by CitiBikes and Bird Scooters, I believe it still has some legs.
What’s your recent best buy?
North Face Thermoball Slippers are unique. They’re a puffy jacket that you wear for your feet.
Although The North Face is a marketing partner, that’s not why I’m recommending them here.
What are your favorite Softwares or Apps?
It is a great tool. It is our planner, task tracker, and brain.
It allows us to organize and store all of Outdone’s knowledge in one place that is easy to navigate.
Which book would you recommend?
The Alignment Problem – Machine Learning and Human Values is a stunning article by Brian Christian.
The Alignment Problem, unlike other books, is fascinating because it explores the intersection between AI and psychology.
The book is a warning shot about the potential future if we don’t ensure that machine learning models are designed to avoid undesirable consequences.
What’s your favorite quote?
“If you don’t know where your destination is, you can take any road to get there.”
TL;DR by Jon Nass
- Do not be afraid to fail
- Do not let a task seem too daunting. Just start working on it.
- Do not let perfection be an enemy of the good, especially when you launch a product.
