The Next Dot: How to Know What I'm Meant to Build
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.
— Steve Jobs
After concluding five years of building Supersocial, I have been asking myself: What should I build next?
But I realized the better question might be: What story am I already in the middle of?
For me, it began in 2013. I left Israel and moved to London—not with a grand plan or complete certainty—but with conviction. I wanted to create a company that could make technology feel human, joyful, and empowering for anyone, anywhere.
That was Kano, my first venture. We built computers you could assemble like LEGO, code you could learn like play, and tools that turned kids into creators. We reached millions of users worldwide and put the power of computing into the hands of those left out.
But more than a company, Kano was the first dot. And I didn’t realize it then, but it wasn’t the whole story—just the opening chapter.
The Dots That Followed
After leaving Kano's CEO role, I founded Sosu, a venture built around a different question: What if AI could help us grow emotionally, not just productively? Sosu was about companionship, intimacy, and using machines not to replace humans but to help us be better ones.
Then came Kodo, where we used VR as a tool for imagination. We explored how new spatial technologies could unlock play, exploration, and the creative spirit in young people.
Then came Supersocial, a company built on top of emerging UGC platforms like Roblox before most people could see the platform’s magic and scale. We saw a world where social connection and creativity could live inside games, not just outside them. We built worlds that didn’t just entertain—they connected, provoked, and inspired.
Different ventures. Different products. However, one throughline is the belief that technology can help humans express themselves more deeply, connect more meaningfully, and evolve with agency.
I’m still exploring what’s next, but that’s my thread, and I found it by living the story and then looking back.
Finding the Pattern in My Path
Too often, we’re told to find our “big idea” through market analysis, gap identification, or VC whitespace. And sure, that helps. But it misses something essential.
The most resonant ideas come from inside-out, not outside-in. They come from what’s unresolved in us. They come from the hard-earned insights we can’t shake. They come from the frustration that keeps resurfacing, the pain we keep bumping into, and the future we can’t stop imagining.
For me, the pattern has always been evident in hindsight: each venture was an attempt to use technology to help us thrive in a more complex world. Not just survive it.
Questions I’m Asking Myself
As I’m wondering what to build next, I ask myself:
What truth do I know that the world hasn’t absorbed yet?
What problem will I spend 10 years on—even if it fails?
What idea have I already touched, maybe years ago, that still haunts me today?
The most powerful ideas often come from returning to something true, not starting something new. So a story with stakes would suffice. I don’t need a perfectly packaged pitch deck.
A few frameworks that I’m using that are helping me:
1. Mike Maples’s Backcasting Framework:
Starting with “What must be true in the future for this to matter?”, then reverse-engineer your way back to the present.
Ref: Lenny’s Newsletter Interview with Mike Maples
2. Paul Graham’s “What You Can’t Not Do” Test:
In his essays, PG argues that the best startup ideas are the ones you can’t stop thinking about—often the ones you notice in your own life, long before they become obvious to others.
3. Richard Branson’s Bias for Action:
Branson moved fast, learned in public, and built with boldness. He didn’t wait for credentials. “Screw it, let’s do it,” is his mindset.
We Don’t Need the Whole Map
This is what I’ve learned after four ventures and countless inflection points:
I didn’t need clarity. I needed movement.
I didn’t need certainty. I needed direction.
I didn’t need guarantees. I needed courage.
Then, action.
If you’re feeling a flicker of something—an insight, a frustration, a half-formed idea—follow it. It might be your next dot.
Start with what only you can see.
Build what only you can build.
And trust that, someday, it will all make sense.
I’m still figuring it all out on the go.
Yon
👋 Hello! My mission with Beyond with Yon is to ignite awareness, inspire dialogue, and drive innovation to tackle humanity's greatest existential challenges. Join me on the journey to unf**ck the future and transform our world.