I’m Ateeq. In late 2023, I wanted a new job. but I was too lazy to apply normally. I scraped tech company emails instead. I sent mass emails through Salesforce. It worked! I got interviews with minimal effort. Some recipients were understandably upset. The spam approach felt wrong.
This led me to create ColdConnector.com. It helps research recipients properly before reaching out. I spent months building it. I sent about 300 emails over a month. The responses were much kinder and engaging.
Marketing was my next hurdle. I knew nothing about it. I started making informational videos in Canva. These were case studies narrated by AI over stock footage. (because I’m too shy for camera/microphone). Creating subtitles was the most time taking part.
I thought it could be automated. I built SkipFriction.com to add subtitles. It made video creation quick. Then I wondered: why stop there? I added automatic stock footage selection. This became HardToSkip.com.
HardToSkip is now a mature product. It converts text to video using stock footage. It turns audio into video. It adds captions seamlessly. I knew nothing about ffmpeg before. AI taught me everything.
I became so excited about these projects that I forgot about job hunting. I haven’t taken a full day off in ages. My workday spans 13 hours because commute inter-city. I’m married but still find time for side projects. I look forward to weekend/Eid/other holidays because they would give me more chance to work on my projects.
My product building didn’t start in 2023. Between 2020 and ColdConnector, I launched at least 5 products including mymeetapps.com for easy video call joining. People from companies like Salesforce and Pinterest are using it. Back in 2018, I taught coding to underprivileged students in my hometown Sheikhupura (buildspace but at a fraction of scale). They’re now pursuing tech careers.
I use AI a lot. Claude Sonnet and GPT-4.1-mini are my favorites. But I do not take its output at face value. e.g. Yesterday, I needed a complex calculation. GPT-4.1-mini gave me an almost perfect solution. I tweaked it, then had Claude write me a script to test it on 100,000+ records in my database. What might have taken an hour, took four, but it was completely verified.
I love your work. I was kinda sad to see buildspace shutting down. I took your mantra “don’t overcomplicate it, just get something out there” too seriously. Like you, I believe in building things that bring joy, even if they start small and embarrassing. I’ve admired how you’ve created communities around your projects, from Visor to buildspace, and I aim to do the same with my products.