I've been in San Francisco for a few days now, and I need to say something to my fellow Canadians.
A LinkedIn post by Sammy Tourani, . Post 9 of 90, newest first.
I've been in San Francisco for a few days now, and I need to say something to my fellow Canadians.
First off: I'm extremely proud of how many of us are out here. It's proof that Canada produces some of the most talented engineers, designers, and builders around the world...
But being here has also given me a reality check:
Trying too hard to sound impressive is embarrassing.
In Toronto, we get used to networking conversations becoming mini pitch decks.
Where do you work?
What do you do?
How much did you raise?
How many users do you have?
Then you go to a random event in San Francisco, spend 20 minutes trying to sound impressive, and the person responds saying:
“Nice. I work at Anthropic.”
The people doing the craziest things here usually talk about them the least.
Someone at a frontier lab will say, “I’m an engineer.”
A founder who just raised millions will say, “I’m working on a startup.”
That’s it.
When everyone around you is doing something impressive, being impressive stops being interesting.
Your title cannot carry the conversation for you anymore.
What stands out in this city is whether you’re curious, genuine, enjoyable to be around, and a hard worker.
I’m still new here, so maybe this is a naive observation.
But the takeaway is that the more secure you are in what you’ve achieved, the less you need to convince everyone around you that it matters.
Just be yourself. ❤️
Photos in this post:
- The Golden Gate Bridge lit up at night under a starry blue sky.
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