Inside a Startup, Why this & Why now: A small reset before a new year of compounding

I Paused My Newsletter - Here’s What Startups Taught Me About Coming Back

Jan 27, 2026

Writing a newsletter is hard. Staying consistent is even harder. The Pink Crab 🦀 warned me about it - and I can only confirm everything.

Vestingnotes went quiet for a few weeks.

In the past weeks, my mind felt like the images below: many staircases, many directions, moving from one to another.

But now there is only one staircase. It’s long, but growing linearly.

This maze of staircases didn’t appear because the ideas ran out. It came from trying to balance a role inside a fast-growing startup with the discipline of a weekly newsletter. That balance isn’t easy - and anyone who chooses the startup path knows that from the start. If it feels hard, it’s usually a sign you’re in the right place.

So here I am again. Back to writing. With new questions, a clearer structure, and a renewed commitment to keep going.

It all starts from two simple things: I like talking about startups, and I’m obsessed with why. Why this idea and why now.

And that’s how Inside a Startup connects with Why this & Why now the two core pillar of Vestingnotes.

Btw I wish all of you a fantastic 2026! 🎉
A year of steady growth, intentional decisions, and quiet - but powerful compounding.

A small change

These weeks were also deeply reflective.

I used the time to give Vestingnotes a small aesthetic refresh and to bring a bit more order to the website. Nothing dramatic, just small adjustments.

Now let’s talk about the two pillars mentioned, which represent the backbone of Vestingnotes and what it aims to do.

Pillar #1 - Inside a Startup

This pillar isn’t going anywhere. It’s where everything started.

Inside a Startup is simply a new name. The idea remains the same: the first-hire perspective.

It’s a collection of stories from the inside - starting with my own journey as the first hire at nestermind, and expanding to observations and experiences from others going through similar early-stage paths.

It’s about what happens when you join early, before roles are clearly defined and before there’s a playbook to follow. When decisions are made in real time, priorities shift fast, and learning happens by doing.

The name changed. The perspective didn’t. This remains the core of this community - and it always will be.

Pillar #2 - Why this & Why now

This pillar focuses on two simple questions that sits behind every venture:

Why this and Why now. It’s a space to understand ventures through simple questions - like why they started, and why now.

Some pieces are personal reflections. Others come from conversations with founders, operators, or investors who are directly connected to the venture. Different roles, same question.

It’s about recognizing windows of opportunity before they’re obvious. About starting when things are still unclear, and choosing to act without full certainty. Not every venture succeeds. But every venture has a moment where it makes sense.

This pillar is about finding - and understanding - that moment.

And just to be clear: this is not a podcast. It’s written interviews (for the moment 👀).

Feel free to suggest any person you’d like me to interview 😊.

A few things you might’ve missed on “Vestingnotes”:

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the structure behind Vestingnotes - how to make it a broader space built on two pillars. Like two legs it can stand on, and eventually run on. Fast. And uphill, as always. 😃

I’m excited to start gathering your feedback and insights on what’s coming. Vestingnotes isn’t a promise of perfection. It’s a promise to do the work - consistently - in order to get closer to it.

2026, will be a year of editorial discipline. Of showing up. Of protecting consistency and trusting the kind of compounding most people are searching for, but few are willing to sustain.

I’ll keep writing from inside the process, not after it. With curiosity, with doubt, and with the belief that the things that truly matter grow this way: slowly, almost quietly, but always with intention.

Let’s start with myself - a small spoiler.

Think of this as the kind of question you might ask a startup founder, an investor, or anyone building something with intention. Why this? And why now?

Why this?

I’ve always felt the need to make sense of what I’m living while I’m living it. I’m less interested in finished stories and more drawn to the process - to the tension between uncertainty and responsibility. Vestingnotes is how I think in public, how I connect dots between startups, people, timing, and my own path as a first hire building from the inside. Writing helps me slow things down, stay honest, and remain curious, especially when everything moves fast.

Why now?

Because this phase feels fragile and intense at the same time. I’m inside something that’s growing, where days are full, and there’s little distance between action and consequence. If I don’t pause to reflect now, this period will pass unexamined. Substack gives me a simple, quiet place to return to - something stable while everything else is moving. Writing here is a way to create continuity in the middle of change, to stay intentional, and to hold myself accountable to the kind of consistency I want to live by.

An Open Invitation

If you’re living an experience similar to the Inside a Startup pillar - joining early, building from the inside, figuring things out as you go - don’t hesitate to reach out. I’d love to exchange notes, compare perspectives, and learn from your journey.

And if you belong to the second pillar - Why this & Why now - whether you’ve started a startup, invested in one, I’d love to hear from you. Share your why this and why now, and I’ll bring those perspectives into future issues of Vestingnotes.

This project grows through conversations.

nestermind is where I work - and where I grow 😃

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