In a remote environment, immediate access to colleagues isn't always possible. A GPT loaded with context about your company and cofounders' thinking can act as a thought partner, helping you overcome the "blank slate" problem without scheduling a meeting.

To avoid loneliness, successful entrepreneurs should cultivate two distinct friendship circles. One consists of industry peers who understand the unique challenges of their work. The other is made of local friends who connect with them as a person, completely separate from their professional identity.

Orlando Bravo argues valuable mentorship isn't found in occasional calls. It's cultivated through daily work with colleagues who have direct context on your challenges. Proximity allows for the deep, nuanced guidance that scheduled, low-context conversations cannot provide.

Individual self-help is often self-indulgent because we cannot see our own blind spots. True growth happens in a community context where relationships built on trust allow others to offer feedback. This makes the collective more intelligent than any individual working alone.

Face-to-face contact provides a rich stream of non-verbal cues (tone, expression, body language) that our brains use to build empathy. Digital platforms strip these away, impairing our ability to connect, understand others' emotions, and potentially fostering undue hostility and aggression online.

The networking movement's rapid global adoption was driven by a simple, powerful rule: focus on the person, not the profession. By banning the typical transactional icebreaker, it created a space for genuine human connection, fulfilling a deep hunger for community in an increasingly online world.

Contrary to the remote-first trend, Crisp.ai's founder advises against a fully distributed model for initial product development. He argues for gathering the core team in one physical location to harness the energy and efficiency of in-person collaboration. Distributed teams are better suited for iterating on an already established product.

Instead of mandating a return to office, create an appealing environment people *want* to be part of. Use "carrots" like a beautiful office, high-value summits, and flexible coworking budgets. The soft pressure comes from sharing photos and creating a sense of a vibrant, connected in-person culture (FOMO).

We spend more time alone due to structural factors and technology that enable avoiding interaction. This 'interiority' is a self-reinforcing cycle: as we interact less, our social skills can atrophy and social inertia sets in, making it progressively more difficult and energy-intensive to re-engage with others.