I'm 18, studying Computer Science + Advertising at Illinois. I build things and try to get people to use them. That's most of what I do.
I've been shipping since before I could really code — small sites, tools no one asked for, stuff that broke in front of the three people using it. Most of it failed. What stuck with me is that the gap between an idea and a real thing in someone's hands is a lot smaller than people act like it is, and almost no one bothers to close it.
Right now most of my time goes into Favente. The best marketers for a product are the people who already love it, so Favente helps startups recruit, train, and pay creators from their own user base — with AI that coaches them instead of just grading them, and payouts that land automatically when the views do.
The point isn't automating people away. It's handing someone a superpower and getting out of the way.
If that's your kind of thing, email me. My code's on Work, and I'm on LinkedIn.
— Z