JP Ahonen

What I'm Building is Clearly Impossible Building a new category starts with an obvious question: if it's such a fantastic opportunity, why hasn't anyone done it? The answer is simple: because it's clearly impossible.

What I'm building is obviosly impossible and probably stupid. Here's why I'm doing it.

#buildinpublic

The Davos Defection What Europe can look like in 2035. A narrative change envisioned.

Haha, I just happened to publish something related to your busyness economy 😄

open.substack.com/pub/jpahonen...

The Davos Defection What Europe can look like in 2035. A narrative change envisioned.

"I want to implement something. We're hemorrhaging our best people."

"Last year we lost 300,000 university graduates to European settlement. They're not running from communism or capitalism. They're running to outcome-based economics with UBI backing."

open.substack.com/pub/jpahonen...

This subservience is a real threat.

US political class resents European civilization and will sacrifice our security to prove their dominance. Sovereignty isn't optional.

The subservience is a real threat, now.

US political class resents European civilization and will sacrifice our security to prove their dominance. Sovereignty isn't optional.

If they want to be useful I would expect them to look both ways.

Or shall we pretend everyone is acting in good faith?

“Learning to say No was critical for his success.”

That’s probably true. But also taken out of context it conveys the wrong message unless you’re operating at capacity.

If you have time for Netflix and games, you’re not.

Say “yes” to every opportunity until you are.

That passes the Opposite Test. Either option could work — it’s a bet on how to win.

If it’s obvious, it’s bullshit.

(And if it’s mostly numbers, it’s probably an objective, not a strategy.)

Share this with someone who tried to pull a fast one on you and call it strategy 😉

See? Nobody would ever choose that. So it’s not a strategy.

A real strategy describes a non-obvious selection:

“We choose to invest more into customer service than any competitor.”

Quick test: is that really a strategy?

Turn the statement around. If the opposite sounds ludicrous, it’s not a strategy — it’s a table stake.

“Our strategy is to deliver great customer service.”

Flip it: “Our strategy is to deliver terrible customer service.”

If you are an early stage startup, just don’t do any paid ads, period.

It’s screws up your insights, and will lead you astray. And the more unique your idea is, the most pronounced this effect will be.

Don’t pay for exposure until you’ve got real traction and you know where from.

Louvre robbery: Could a 50-year-old maths problem have kept the museum safe? An audacious heist at the Louvre saw thieves make off with priceless crown jewels in broad daylight – here is how a decades-old geometry problem can help museums boost their security.

I must say, this is perhaps the most delightfully insightful article related to the Louvre heist ever written.

If you consider yourself a geek of any sort, I believe you will find this a worthy read.

www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Torsten Stålhandske, my great great great grand uncle from some 16 generations ago. Added here because it’s a cool picture.

What does it mean to “build a category” in the startup context?

If you have direct competition, and you know customers who do business with them, you’re not building a category.

Building a category starts with trying to figure out if the market exists.

It’s not “ship it” hustle.

“You didn’t hear a word I just said, did you?”

Words of my wife yesterday during a long walk. She was right.

I’m in the middle of The Struggle that Horowitz wrote about. Too often it’s the only thing I can hear even when loved ones talk to me.

I wanted to say I’m sorry.

#buildinpublic

A question: are you using more or less ChatGPT (or alike) than 6 months ago?

While I continue to use it in development work, in other areas my use has been declining rapidly and for the first time since its launch I don’t have a paid subscription anymore.

Is it just me?

The €115M Company That European Startup Rankings Ignored Quantum Systems generated €115M revenue in 2024 with 350 employees and major government contracts across six countries. The Munich-based drone manufacturer appeared on zero European startup rankings t...

“Quantum Systems raised €160M in its May 2025 Series C for expansion capacity, not operational survival. B2B SaaS unicorns frequently operate at losses through Series C to fund customer acquisition and market share capture.”

nu3vo-com.ghost.io/the-eu115m-c...

Zorbas Hotel in Myrtéa, Greece was a funny experience. We were there in February and just about the only guests with our family friends.

Me and my friend were playing chess in the bar when the host said he’s going to bed, but invited us to help ourselves from the bar.

I’ve found some absolute gems over the years, especially outside of typical season it can be very interesting.

The indie hotels tend to be family affairs, and if it’s low season they have the time to share stories (and often cook some family specialty!)

There Will Be CAC A Founder’s Descent into the Paid Acquisition Wasteland How Meta and Google Convinced a Generation of Startups to Burn Runway Drilling for Customers That Don’t Exist

"We did exactly this. Built a fake door, spent money on ads to see what worked." ... ", but everything was manual, human resource consuming, at a completely unsustainable CAC. We thought we could optimize from there. We couldn’t."

#buildinpublic

Two big opposing rallies in Hungary today.

Orban’s pro-Russia one got fewer than 30k.

His rival Peter Magyar got more than 200K.

A team of huskies on a frozen lake. A single sports gets 50-60% of all sponsorship money. It's not sleddog sports.

"It's simply not cool that 0.1% of the athletes get about 97% of all the resources poured into sports."

Read more in my Substack, and please subscribe!

open.substack.com/pub/jpahonen...

I think legally banning and actually enforcing short term rentals is the only way to deal with this.

EU level regulatory framework into place, implemented and enforced locally.

I got to know one when staying in an AirBnB the last time, a few years ago.

I got into a dispute with them, because the apartment didn't have what was promoted, and AirBnB ended up agreeing with me.

Turns out my host wasn't the owner, and the owner was getting pretty aggressive with her about it

By now I already know quite a few people who are employed by foreign real estate owners, posing as local owners.

A local hotel employs local staff. They have permits. They pay taxes locally, and they need to follow all sorts of laws and regulations to make sure their operation isn't a net negative on the community.

About one third of your AirBnB check goes to this guy.

Be a legit tourist. Stay at a hotel.

A local hotel employs local staff. They have permits. They pay taxes locally, and they need to follow all sorts of laws and regulations to make sure their operation isn't a net negative on the community.

About one third of your AirBnB check goes to this guy.

Be a legit tourist. Stay at a hotel.

The small villages all over Mediterranrean are hurting because locals cannot afford to live there because AirBnB investors are killing the local economy and inflating the rental prices beyond sustainable levels. Dont participate in this.

When you travel, what's the most ethical and local-friendly place to stay at?

Find a local hotel which is not part of a chain.

By now the average AirBnB is owned by an investor, not by a local. And by participating in the AirBnB economy you are funding the collapse of local economy.

As an expat in Greece one thing I observe often is American Greeks visiting Athens and just criticizing every dish they come across as inauthentic 😆

It’s the same with Finnish cuisine… you’ll probably have better luck finding Japanese Cuban fusion restaurant than a Finnish cuisine in Helsinki 🥲

grumpy from snow white and the seven dwarfs is shown ALT: grumpy from snow white and the seven dwarfs is shown

One nasty issue when trying to build up niche sports:

A cadre of old timers appears to criticize the next generation for selling out, not being real, and generally just destroying the sport/culture/whatever.

Without proper governance these old timers have the power to stop progress.