Before listening to How to Take Over the World's episode on Benjamin Franklin, my impression of him was limited to “kite, key, electricity.” Afterward, I realized he didn't just discover electricity -- he basically invented the blueprint for self-improvement, then actually lived it.

He wasn't just an inventor; he created institutions and actively built himself. And he did it in a way that it feels surprisingly relevant today, without losing his sense of humour.

Some things that stuck with me.

Benjamin Franklin: The Original Self-Made Person

He's the most literal example of self-made people. He didn't just bootstrap a career, he designed who he wanted to be and iterated toward it.

At one point in his life, he wrote out a list of 13 virtues. Things like …

Risk is often overestimated; opportunity is often underestimated.

Podcast: https://www.founderspodcast.com/episodes/374-rare-jeff-bezos-interview

YouTube: https://youtu.be/s71nJQqzYRQ

Build something that outlasts you

Since early days of Amazon Bezos was thinking long-term and was quite clear that he wanted to build a company that would outlast him.

Spotify's Daniel Ek shares a similar sentiment: Companies grow like children — initially they are a reflection of their creator, but over time they develops its own traits and characteristics.

Steve Jobs said something similar: You build a company that will stand for something a generation or two from now.

Follow your curiosity

One of his driving principles is "I wake up and follow my curiosity". Paul Graham calls curiosity the best guide for doing great work.

Instead of …

Week 1

• Assign a buddy or mentor but avoid using a direct manager for this, as the person won't be that open and comfortable with their manager.

• Less emphasis on paperwork, focus more on mission, impact, values and culture.

• Set up an interactive onboarding task to keep them engaged from day 1.

• Encourage them to ask questions, voice concerns, and share ideas openly. It's very important to teach them to not remain limited to DMs and become comfortable in public channels with the whole team.

• Help them set up 1:1s with different members of the team

First month

• Make sure their local set up is up and running.

• Assign small tasks to them. This can be small bugfixes, features and any documentation update. Documentation update is …

uv and PEP 723

I have recently started using uv a lot, specially for quick standalone scripts, most of these scripts are generated by various LLMs for different tasks. The biggest pain point I had with these scripts was to setup a virtual env, installing the packages and asking ChatGPT and other LLMs to give me requirements file/list.

uv changed that by utilizing PEP 723 and embedding these requirement inline to the script.

At Diversio, I frequently use GitHub Copilot a lot, and there I've added a small instruction to make sure it's embedding the requirements in the script itself.

When asked to generate a uv based Python script, at the very top of the file, insert an inline metadata block listing all external packages in …

Introduction & Evolution at Diversio

At Diversio, our hiring process has evolved significantly over the years. In our early days, we relied heavily on detailed resume screenings and take-home exercises. Today, we’ve adapted to a new landscape where remote hiring, AI-assisted filtering, and a streamlined interview process help us manage the increased applicant volume while ensuring we find the best long-term fits.

Key Changes at a Glance:

• Transition from take-home exercises to real-time, remote interviews.
• Adoption of AI tools (like our custom GPT) to efficiently filter resumes.
• Increased focus on cultural fit and long-term alignment.
• Emphasis on transparent, remote hiring practices.

How We Used to Do It (Pre-ChatGPT)

We were very lucky in terms of hiring at Diversio until 2023—we had an excellent attrition rate and …