Manuel @ PIRATE 🏴☠️
@manuel.koelman.de
Entrepreneurship. Startups. Leadership. Personal development.
Making business more human. Fascinated by the wonder(s) of life.
Single dad of two. Founder and entrepreneur @ https://pirate.global. Building durable businesses.
Making business more human. Fascinated by the wonder(s) of life.
Single dad of two. Founder and entrepreneur @ https://pirate.global. Building durable businesses.
Failing at the meaningful is better than succeeding at the meaningless.
The real tragedy isn’t defeat, it’s victory in a contest that was never worth entering.
The real tragedy isn’t defeat, it’s victory in a contest that was never worth entering.
December 2, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Failing at the meaningful is better than succeeding at the meaningless.
The real tragedy isn’t defeat, it’s victory in a contest that was never worth entering.
The real tragedy isn’t defeat, it’s victory in a contest that was never worth entering.
The shiny trophy eventually just collects dust.
The dream job eventually becomes just a Tuesday.
The bigger house just creates more floors to clean.
External wins change your circumstances. They feel good for a moment but they don't last.
The dream job eventually becomes just a Tuesday.
The bigger house just creates more floors to clean.
External wins change your circumstances. They feel good for a moment but they don't last.
December 2, 2025 at 2:41 PM
The shiny trophy eventually just collects dust.
The dream job eventually becomes just a Tuesday.
The bigger house just creates more floors to clean.
External wins change your circumstances. They feel good for a moment but they don't last.
The dream job eventually becomes just a Tuesday.
The bigger house just creates more floors to clean.
External wins change your circumstances. They feel good for a moment but they don't last.
The plan is a fiction. A hopeful guess about a smooth road.
The reality is a series of obstacles.
The great reframe is to stop seeing the obstacle as an interruption of the plan.
And start seeing the obstacle as the plan.
The reality is a series of obstacles.
The great reframe is to stop seeing the obstacle as an interruption of the plan.
And start seeing the obstacle as the plan.
December 2, 2025 at 12:11 PM
The plan is a fiction. A hopeful guess about a smooth road.
The reality is a series of obstacles.
The great reframe is to stop seeing the obstacle as an interruption of the plan.
And start seeing the obstacle as the plan.
The reality is a series of obstacles.
The great reframe is to stop seeing the obstacle as an interruption of the plan.
And start seeing the obstacle as the plan.
Complexity is often a hiding place for fear.
December 2, 2025 at 10:41 AM
Complexity is often a hiding place for fear.
In the age of AI, “human made” will carry the same weight that “organic” does today. A marker of rarity, authenticity, and care.
December 2, 2025 at 9:11 AM
In the age of AI, “human made” will carry the same weight that “organic” does today. A marker of rarity, authenticity, and care.
It's almost an "old wisdom": Leadership and running a business are learned by doing.
You can read all the books, but nothing replaces hands-on experience and making real decisions with real consequences.
You can read all the books, but nothing replaces hands-on experience and making real decisions with real consequences.
December 2, 2025 at 7:56 AM
It's almost an "old wisdom": Leadership and running a business are learned by doing.
You can read all the books, but nothing replaces hands-on experience and making real decisions with real consequences.
You can read all the books, but nothing replaces hands-on experience and making real decisions with real consequences.
A loving relationship is in jeopardy when your partner no longer sparks even irritation, boredom, or frustration.
Emotional detachment is the real threat to connection.
Emotional detachment is the real threat to connection.
December 1, 2025 at 4:26 PM
A loving relationship is in jeopardy when your partner no longer sparks even irritation, boredom, or frustration.
Emotional detachment is the real threat to connection.
Emotional detachment is the real threat to connection.
Feeling powerless doesn’t mean apathy.
It signals learned helplessness - a realization that prior efforts didn’t change outcomes.
The path forward isn’t resignation - it’s finding new avenues to influence what you can control.
It signals learned helplessness - a realization that prior efforts didn’t change outcomes.
The path forward isn’t resignation - it’s finding new avenues to influence what you can control.
December 1, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Feeling powerless doesn’t mean apathy.
It signals learned helplessness - a realization that prior efforts didn’t change outcomes.
The path forward isn’t resignation - it’s finding new avenues to influence what you can control.
It signals learned helplessness - a realization that prior efforts didn’t change outcomes.
The path forward isn’t resignation - it’s finding new avenues to influence what you can control.
AI agents change the game: pricing moves from seats to outcomes.
The more value they generate, the higher the ROI.
Legacy software sells access. Agents sell productivity.
The ceiling is no longer the user count, it’s the value you create.
The more value they generate, the higher the ROI.
Legacy software sells access. Agents sell productivity.
The ceiling is no longer the user count, it’s the value you create.
December 1, 2025 at 12:26 PM
AI agents change the game: pricing moves from seats to outcomes.
The more value they generate, the higher the ROI.
Legacy software sells access. Agents sell productivity.
The ceiling is no longer the user count, it’s the value you create.
The more value they generate, the higher the ROI.
Legacy software sells access. Agents sell productivity.
The ceiling is no longer the user count, it’s the value you create.
Productivity is not about making perfect decisions.
It is about making the cost of imperfect decisions irrelevant.
It is about making the cost of imperfect decisions irrelevant.
December 1, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Productivity is not about making perfect decisions.
It is about making the cost of imperfect decisions irrelevant.
It is about making the cost of imperfect decisions irrelevant.
AI agents won’t replace e.g. Intercom by being clever.
They’ll win by being reliable across the messy, universal tools people already use: browser, email, docs, systems.
The breakthrough isn’t vertical specialization. It’s consistency and trust.
They’ll win by being reliable across the messy, universal tools people already use: browser, email, docs, systems.
The breakthrough isn’t vertical specialization. It’s consistency and trust.
December 1, 2025 at 9:26 AM
AI agents won’t replace e.g. Intercom by being clever.
They’ll win by being reliable across the messy, universal tools people already use: browser, email, docs, systems.
The breakthrough isn’t vertical specialization. It’s consistency and trust.
They’ll win by being reliable across the messy, universal tools people already use: browser, email, docs, systems.
The breakthrough isn’t vertical specialization. It’s consistency and trust.
Grit and speed will outperform raw talent.
December 1, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Grit and speed will outperform raw talent.
Biological minds evolved under a single rule: survive long enough to reproduce.
Artificial minds evolve under a different rule entirely: reduce uncertainty in a high-dimensional space of patterns.
One mind fears death, the other has no concept of it.
Artificial minds evolve under a different rule entirely: reduce uncertainty in a high-dimensional space of patterns.
One mind fears death, the other has no concept of it.
November 30, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Biological minds evolved under a single rule: survive long enough to reproduce.
Artificial minds evolve under a different rule entirely: reduce uncertainty in a high-dimensional space of patterns.
One mind fears death, the other has no concept of it.
Artificial minds evolve under a different rule entirely: reduce uncertainty in a high-dimensional space of patterns.
One mind fears death, the other has no concept of it.
The best basic leadership advice I have found: Always lead with optimism, good faith, and positive intent.
Bring your best self, every time.
Even if it doesn’t work, it’s still the right approach, and it shapes your character and influence.
Bring your best self, every time.
Even if it doesn’t work, it’s still the right approach, and it shapes your character and influence.
November 30, 2025 at 2:56 PM
The best basic leadership advice I have found: Always lead with optimism, good faith, and positive intent.
Bring your best self, every time.
Even if it doesn’t work, it’s still the right approach, and it shapes your character and influence.
Bring your best self, every time.
Even if it doesn’t work, it’s still the right approach, and it shapes your character and influence.
Earning more money gives you freedom of choice.
Spending less than you earn gives you freedom from anxiety.
You need both to feel rich.
More income widens your world, but margin lets you breathe in it.
Spending less than you earn gives you freedom from anxiety.
You need both to feel rich.
More income widens your world, but margin lets you breathe in it.
November 30, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Earning more money gives you freedom of choice.
Spending less than you earn gives you freedom from anxiety.
You need both to feel rich.
More income widens your world, but margin lets you breathe in it.
Spending less than you earn gives you freedom from anxiety.
You need both to feel rich.
More income widens your world, but margin lets you breathe in it.
You can’t fake deep care.
Customers feel it. Partners notice it. Colleagues are moved by it.
Caring deeply is the invisible force that builds trust, loyalty, and momentum.
Customers feel it. Partners notice it. Colleagues are moved by it.
Caring deeply is the invisible force that builds trust, loyalty, and momentum.
November 30, 2025 at 11:11 AM
You can’t fake deep care.
Customers feel it. Partners notice it. Colleagues are moved by it.
Caring deeply is the invisible force that builds trust, loyalty, and momentum.
Customers feel it. Partners notice it. Colleagues are moved by it.
Caring deeply is the invisible force that builds trust, loyalty, and momentum.
Life is a hall of mirrors.
The more projections we recognize, the less the world controls our reactions.
Seeing clearly is not about controlling others. It’s about becoming accountable for our inner state.
It enables the shift from merely reacting to consciously responding.
The more projections we recognize, the less the world controls our reactions.
Seeing clearly is not about controlling others. It’s about becoming accountable for our inner state.
It enables the shift from merely reacting to consciously responding.
November 30, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Life is a hall of mirrors.
The more projections we recognize, the less the world controls our reactions.
Seeing clearly is not about controlling others. It’s about becoming accountable for our inner state.
It enables the shift from merely reacting to consciously responding.
The more projections we recognize, the less the world controls our reactions.
Seeing clearly is not about controlling others. It’s about becoming accountable for our inner state.
It enables the shift from merely reacting to consciously responding.
Resilience isn’t built by feeling good. It’s built by getting better at feeling bad.
November 30, 2025 at 7:56 AM
Resilience isn’t built by feeling good. It’s built by getting better at feeling bad.
Do the thing you think you cannot do. That’s where courage is born.
November 29, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Do the thing you think you cannot do. That’s where courage is born.
When AI could only handle tiny tasks, speed was everything.
Now that agents can run in parallel on complex work, the priority flips: quality of output matters more than latency.
Now that agents can run in parallel on complex work, the priority flips: quality of output matters more than latency.
November 29, 2025 at 2:56 PM
When AI could only handle tiny tasks, speed was everything.
Now that agents can run in parallel on complex work, the priority flips: quality of output matters more than latency.
Now that agents can run in parallel on complex work, the priority flips: quality of output matters more than latency.
In AI: The perfect user interface is a direct function of the underlying model's capability.
An experience that feels magical today would have been clumsy and useless on an older model.
As capability advances, the ideal way to interact with it changes completely.
An experience that feels magical today would have been clumsy and useless on an older model.
As capability advances, the ideal way to interact with it changes completely.
November 29, 2025 at 11:56 AM
In AI: The perfect user interface is a direct function of the underlying model's capability.
An experience that feels magical today would have been clumsy and useless on an older model.
As capability advances, the ideal way to interact with it changes completely.
An experience that feels magical today would have been clumsy and useless on an older model.
As capability advances, the ideal way to interact with it changes completely.
Hustle without patience burns you out.
Patience without hustle leaves you stuck.
Patience without hustle leaves you stuck.
November 29, 2025 at 10:56 AM
Hustle without patience burns you out.
Patience without hustle leaves you stuck.
Patience without hustle leaves you stuck.
Algorithms will soon replace much of middle management.
Reporting, coordinating, tracking - machines can already do it better.
The real question is how organizations should be restructured when bureaucracy is automated.
Reporting, coordinating, tracking - machines can already do it better.
The real question is how organizations should be restructured when bureaucracy is automated.
November 29, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Algorithms will soon replace much of middle management.
Reporting, coordinating, tracking - machines can already do it better.
The real question is how organizations should be restructured when bureaucracy is automated.
Reporting, coordinating, tracking - machines can already do it better.
The real question is how organizations should be restructured when bureaucracy is automated.
The cruelest regrets aren’t about the past.
They’re about an imagined present that never existed.
You’re haunted not by reality, but by a ghost.
They’re about an imagined present that never existed.
You’re haunted not by reality, but by a ghost.
November 29, 2025 at 8:11 AM
The cruelest regrets aren’t about the past.
They’re about an imagined present that never existed.
You’re haunted not by reality, but by a ghost.
They’re about an imagined present that never existed.
You’re haunted not by reality, but by a ghost.
If you are miserable on the climb, you will be miserable at the summit.
November 28, 2025 at 4:41 PM
If you are miserable on the climb, you will be miserable at the summit.