XX Fellowship

What will you work on during the retreat?

For context, start by reading my response to “Have you made any progress…”

Feedback was generally positive but I was hoping that people would be more excited about the idea. This is what I am currently working on. Exploring different ideas, building, and testing them out quickly. So that by the time fall semester comes by, Orbit would be ready to launch

last month, I experimented with the idea of using generative AI and AI Agents to automate everything standing between you and the perfect person for you to meet up with: devpost.com/software/orbit-w84iq1

This idea ended up winning in LAHacks, but since this idea has already kinda been built by 2 rising startups: boardy.ai & series.so I’m still looking for different ideas in the space of GenAI because there is so much potential in it in the context of social networking. People are building dating apps that revolve around AI Agents like ditt.ai from a Berkeley dropout. I’ve worked with these tools but I’m not sure what differently I can do compared to the 3 startups I mentioned

One idea that I’m exploring is combining these 2 apps into one. So it would be both, a personal relationship manager and a finder. The no.1 personal CRM specialized for university students, or young founders, etc… That will take quite a while to build tho😬 But as always, since I have the will, I will find the way. If I get to join the XX Fellowship program, it would accelerate and increase my chances of success. So I’d love to go on a call to discuss this further. C u then🙂

No matter what I end up doing with Orbit. It will continue to follow the Orbit manifesto: youtu.be/vaBTLpGfVQE where I share the pillars I am following and will continue to follow as I continue building it

Have you made any progress yet? If so, what have you done?

10 months ago, I started Orbit, a platform to fight loneliness among university students. As someone who recovered from social anxiety after years of struggling to connect with others, this mission means a lot to me. From the start, Orbit has been my top priority — my magnum opus and the culmination of everything I’ve learned about human connection and t he psychology and sociology behind it. When the idea of Orbit first came to life, it was very different to what it is right now. Around September, I began interviewing students in dining halls to better understand their challenges with forming new friendships. After 8 months of testing, pivoting, and building, we had a big user testing session event where we would run the app live with real people and users. At that time I started building a Discord community to be able to directly talk to people excited about the app and willing to provide feedback. In just the 2 weeks before the event, I managed to get the server up to 120 members by being a walking billboard around campus. I wore a giant QR code linking to our Discord server across campus every day for weeks: photos.app.goo.gl/V2BrX1nzapNhVq7RA . It led to spontaneous conversations, rapid user growth, and even a local news feature: https://rami-maalouf.tech/livewire

The other app that I’m also actively looking for feedback and looking to iterate and flesh out is Exo. I launched an MVP but it’s also far from reaching PMF.

Why is this idea important to you?

I’m a true believer that bonding and connecting with people is the most important aspect of life. Forget the job opportunities and career advancements, it’s also about life satisfaction. That’s what life is all about in my opinion: The People and your ability to deeply connect with them. I am a recovering socially anxious/awkward person who struggled to value themselves. This mindset impacted every area of my life. I struggled to trust people and deeply bond with them. Thankfully, through learning about why I do things and how to change, how to become the person that I want to be, I learned so much about human nature and what it takes to connect with people. Now I want to share that wisdom with the world through content like YouTube videos and tech like apps. By me striving to reach my fullest potential, I inspire to bring out the best in the people around me. Which in turn will attract the right people in my life (mentors, partners, or friends) (which ties to my answer to “What’s your biggest obstacle right now? What is holding you back? How can we help?”). “Everything that I’m doing is to help inspire students to make the best of their university experience”. I mention that during the interview I had with my university. More info:

What’s the most ambitious thing you’ve done?

I think the way I live my life in general is filled with ambition. Went through all my university while building something big on the side that I spent more time on than my actual courses, yet I still mananged to maintain a high GPA (3.7/4).

In addition to that, going to the gym at least 5 times a week. Having a healthy diet. Being very frugal with what I spend my money on:

I barely eat out
When I travel, I couch-surf and hitchhike/carpool/train and sleep over in airports to save a couple of hundred dollars
I take 10 eggs with me when I travel somewhere so I don’t have to spend on food. I do that not because I am scared of losing my money. But because I know millions of people around the world (including some of my family members) are struggling to even pay for basic needs like food and education. You can see the list of videos where I take on dares given to me by students, donating money to charity for each one I complete. Follow-up videos have me flip the script; I give dares to students and gently nudge them to take uncomfortable actions themselves — with each completed dare triggering another donation to charity: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL31PgFrDdJlyt4EvRW6ferNBVzDPvHWto

I’m the kind of guy who would build non-profits, even if I’m in need of money. Because for me wealth comes from my ability to create a positive impact on the world. (not saying that I won’t build a profitable business, but if it makes sense for it to be a non-profit, I’m more than willing to build something that the world needs with 0 profit).

What’s your biggest obstacle right now? What is holding you back? How can we help?

I’ve been facing several obstacles lately—but I’ve realized that many of them stem from one core issue:

Finding my people. I unfortunately haven’t found my “people” yet. I’m searching for a community that matches my ambition, my hunger to grow, and my drive to create meaningful change in the world. And through that exchange ideas, knowledge, learnings, wisdom, and perspectives.

I know I am not the only person who deeply thinks about the social/societal/psychological problems of the world that I strive to fix. I wanna talk to these people and gain different perspectives on the problem. I want to sit with them, hear what they’ve seen, felt, and thought about, and expand the way I see things too. Because we all come at the same problems with different eyes. It’s in that overlap, that friction, that connection, where breakthrough ideas come to life.

What is your biggest ‘oh shit moment’? The hardest time in your life, where everything was on the line? How did you get over it?

The biggest challenge I have faced in life was overcoming porn addiction while also feeling lonely. So of course, I am now on a mission to help others break free from anything that controls them. The risk I took was sharing everything that I learned from that experience despite people advising me not to. I can’t stay quiet about something that is aligned with my purpose of helping people reach their full potential. This Kobe quote from the book/autobiography Mamba Mentality perfectly describes my ambitions: “I liked challenging people and making them uncomfortable. That’s what leads to introspection and that’s what leads to improvement.

You could say I dared people to be their best selves.

That approach never wavered. What I did adjust, though, was how I varied my approach from player to player.

I still challenged everyone and made them uncomfortable, I just did it in a way that was tailored to them. To learn what would work and for who, I started doing homework and watched how they behaved. I learned their histories and listened to what their goals were. I learned what made them feel secure and where their greatest doubts lay.

Once I understood them, I could help bring the best out of them by touching the right nerve at the right time.”

What else are you obsessed with besides this project? Where does your curiosity roam?

I already mentioned several of my obsessions like creating content, inspiring, fighting addictions, social anxiety… Here’s something that wasn’t mentioned in my previous responses: I love the word “investigating”. It excites me. Especially when it’s related to psychology, sociology, or technology and how it impacts us in our day-to-day. I love investigating people and deeply understanding them. We are all complex individuals striving to be understood. I believe that within each person is a universe waiting to be discovered. Through these connections, you can learn so much about yourself and teach others about themselves. That is the beauty of friendships, connections, and relationships. There is nothing more powerful than two people engaging in deep conversation and understanding each other’s universes. In my opinion, it is the most powerful force in the world, and I want to help unlock that for everyone, especially in university. I talk more about that in my Orbit manifesto: https://youtu.be/vaBTLpGfVQE Of course, I don’t only love investigating people, but I also love investigating myself. This is why I journal and write down my thoughts everyday. It’s like my 2nd brain and is almost all public. You can look through my notes here: https://notes.rami-maalouf.tech

Rami's Universe

Explorer