Besart Çopa

My name is Besart and I'm currently jamming on consumer AI ideas. My career has been focused on consumer tech and VC, at places like Logitech, AnchorFree (acq. $300M), Citi, Antler, and a16z.

I love consumer startups and have built numerous apps 0 —> 1. I enjoy talking to other founders building in the space, and I share some lessons from those chats on The Zero State.

In my free time, I like to read a lot, lift weights, and, as of '23, paint. Last year I had a painting featured in a gallery, this year I want to sell one.

Always happy to talk with founders or wanna-be founders: copabesart (at) gmail.com.

Bookshelf (Goodreads)

Projects

Caesar (archived)

Caesar is my attempt at fixing a very particular problem: taking reading notes and then easily adding those notes to spaced repetition calendars. After years of misery and lost notes, I got on Figma and started building the app I wished was out there. Not sure how many others will find it as interesting as I do to take voice notes but there's only one way to find out.

CHESTR.app 🔑 (on autopilot)

Every time I wanted to save something on the internet – be it a shirt, pair of sneakers, or a book – I would add it to a Chrome bookmark folder titled "Wishlist." That worked until I saved 70+ items and I couldn't figure out what they were just from the title.

It's a simple problem but the existing solutions were not "it": they either had an outdated design or were too slow for my purpose. For example, Pinterest Chrome Extension takes you through three different pages to just save one item. So I made some designs on Figma and started tinkering.

Chestr lets you save any item in one click, and easily add it to categorized lists without leaving the shopping page. It's not rocket science, but it's nifty. You can sign up for the beta here!

progresslabs.xyz/

Progress Labs (archived)

Progress Labs was my effort at organizing labs, startups, think tanks, and VCs by theme so that one can get a better idea of the ecosystem for each cutting edge technology — 3D printing, lab-grown food, VR/AR, autonomous vehicles — and be able to find the appropriate resources and opportunities within each. This was the first iteration and it turned out 'aight, but I think there's still a great opportunity for a media company or consulting firm to organize the world laboratories, startups, and VCs by theme in an effort to find opportunities in accelerating the pace of technological advancements in these particular emerging technologies.

Writings: The Zero State

Opinion | A Georgetown installation is transforming the discussion of public art

The Washington Post

"For Howard, a scientist who is dedicating his life to solving some of the most complex neurodegenerative diseases through technology, the two Transformers are a way of expressing his passion for the coexistence of humans and machines. And because his lab is in Georgetown, so should his art be.

It is through this lens of public art as a social priming device that the sculpture of Stalin, a totalitarian dictator, would not add the same value to Georgetown as the two Transformers. The statue of a communist dictator would symbolize the antithesis of Georgetown’s historical spirit, but the two Transformers are an embodiment of the typical American industrious extravagance — and the endless life-changing possibilities through which technology can help us “restore human dignity.”

Hacks, Dilemmas, and Lies: Scapegoating Technology (In progress)

A data-based look on social media's impact on elections, democracy, and society at large.

Dawn of Advanced Home Robotics: Strech, Please Bring Me My Coffee (PDF) | Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service

How long until we have advanced home robotics? How long until a robot will be able to bring me my morning coffee in bed? Here I try to answer that. It also includes a candid interview with Aaron Edsinger – one of the leading robot experts in the US, former Google robotics director, and founder of Hello Robot – where he explains some of the key challenges in robotics today. And his estimate of how long it will take for a robot to be able to bring you your morning coffee.

The Unfashionable Solution: Sentiment Analysis of Nuclear Energy in the US (PDF) | Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service

A look at the changing sentiment on nuclear energy in the US. Includes a brief history and a review of the data and research that advocates for the adoption of nuclear energy as the best energy production with zero-carbon emissions.

Everybody Lies All The Time: Guide to Effective UX Interviews

At Chestr, user interviews are core to our product strategy—here I shared an easy but effective tip for getting honest and useful feedback from your users.

Bookshelf (Goodreads)

The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander
Behave by Robert Sapolsky
The History of Philosophy by AC Grayling
Enlightenment Now by Steven Pinker
How the Internet Happened by Brian McCullough
How Buildings Learn by Steward Brand
Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
Rebels, Believers, Survivors: Albanians by Noel Malcolm
Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz
Wealth, Poverty, and Politics by Thomas Sowell
Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
Speech Police by David Kaye

The World: A Family History of Humanity by SS Montefiore
Dune by Frank Herbert
Self Portrait in a Convex Mirror by John Ashbery
Playing in the Dark by Toni Morrison
American Journal: Fifty Poems of Our Time by Tracy Smith
Provocations by Camille Paglia
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace
The Medium and the Message by Marshal McLuhan
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (Hays version*)
A New Program for Graphic Design by David Reinfurt
Numbers Don't Lie by Vaclav Smil

IEEE Spectrum (magazine)

Random Selection of Articles/Papers I Like

"What is economic growth? And why is it so important?" by Max Roser
"Startups are an act of desperation" by Elad Gil
"The Paradoxes of Nostalgia" by Kenny Walden
"Letter to a Young Artist" by Stephen Shore
"Good genes are nice, but joy is better" by Liz Mineo
"Hidden wisdom or pseudo-profound bullshit? The effect of speaker admirability" by Mane Kara-Yakoubian et al.

Snaps 📸 🌎

Contact copabesart (at) gmail.com

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