Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Source: Executives Press
Following the success of our 2019 launch, where we featured 100 executive diaries, we are now preparing to introduce 100 startup and brand stories in our Marketplace section. This launch will further our mission to preserve the stories behind every brand, documenting the innovation and wisdom that shape the business world.
While our platform is nearly ready, we’re taking a bit more time to ensure everything is perfect for our community. This additional time will allow us to fine-tune our offerings, ensuring we deliver the highest quality content and services to our users. We are working tirelessly to bring this vision to life and are excited to unveil a platform rich with stories that showcase the brains behind the brands.
— Muhammad Nauman, Founder, Executives Diary Inc.
To Write a Good Book, You Have to Be a Book: The Journey of Executives Diary
On Saturday, August 17, 2019, our office was buzzing with excitement. We celebrated my brother’s birthday, and I was ready to launch ExecutivesDiary.com with 100 diaries. We had sent out our PR via PR Web, hoping to be featured in the Market Insider section of Business Insider Magazine. You can read the original press release about the launch here. It was a momentous weekend, with the dates in August 2019 mirroring those of 2024. Our official launch was scheduled for Monday, August 19, 2019.
But when I woke up that morning, everything changed.
Our website had been hacked, website was down. I tried restoring the backup, but it didn’t work. I purchased a premium WordPress plugin to detect malware, but it found nothing. For three days and nights, I stayed awake, working tirelessly to figure out what had gone wrong. It was the night before Eid, and while my team was on holiday, I was battling to bring our site back online. When exhaustion finally overcame me, I took a sleeping pill to ensure I could attend Eid prayers. Two days later, I woke up in a hospital bed.
When I finally returned home, I was rested but defeated. Yet, with a clearer mind, I began to brainstorm. What had I missed? I decided to check the database, and there it was—a hidden super admin account that had been deleting our WordPress app, unseen in the user list on the super admin dashboard. I deleted the account and regained control, but by then, the damage was done. My motivation was shattered.
I didn’t know who to blame—my childhood best friend who had worked on the site, my brother’s best friend who had developed the app, or the Indian freelancer I had hired from Freelancer.com. But blaming wouldn’t bring back what was lost.
I chose the hard route: custom coding the diary app from scratch. I drained my savings during this difficult phase, procrastinating and losing focus. In 2020, after watching “The Social Dilemma,” I decided to pivot toward creating a decentralized, federated social network and pitching it to investors.
I couldn’t afford native writers, and while Pakistani writers were talented, their tone didn’t resonate with a global audience. Friends and family advised me to quit, while my mentor suggested I return to freelance work on the Warrior Forum, where I have over 400 reviews.
Then, in 2023, AI came to my rescue. It became my editor and proofreader, just as it has helped refine this article. I started hiring community builders, and by focusing on the ExecutivesDiary.com/blog, where we began writing professional biographies, we finally became cash-flow positive.
Today, after five years of persistence, we’re launching Market.ExecutivesDiary.com.
ExecutivesDiary.com has been up and running since 2019, and now, with our new marketplace, we’re taking things to the next level. Here, we’ll feature stories of brands because, as I always say, “Behind every venture, there are brains that shape a startup into a brand, and behind every brand, there are seasoned professionals who steer it in new directions.”
We’ve worked with many freelance contributors in the past, but there are a few I must name. First, Sania Ahmed, who believed in me when I didn’t even believe in myself. She kept working with me without pay and helped turn our efforts into profit. She’s still working with us remotely from a small village near Lahore.
I also want to extend a special thanks to my in-house team who have worked tirelessly on Market.ExecutivesDiary.com. Ayesha Karamat, Laiba K, Nimra Saeed, Sadia Tariq, and Tuba Tufail —thank you for working day and night to make this vision a reality. You are true champs.
I would also like to thank Rutab Khan, Huma Ashraf, Areeba, Marwa, and Tahira—our biography writing team—for their incredible work over the past year in producing more than 300 biographies for our blog.
I’m also deeply grateful to the hundreds of executives who have trusted us over the past five years, sharing their diaries and biographies on our platform. Your stories have been the foundation of Executives Diary, and we will continue to bring more value to our platform in the years to come.
Starting today, we’re launching our Diary Marketplace. While I haven’t abandoned the vision of a federated social network, which I first announced on LinkedIn, I stand by this belief:
“Try to live an impactful life rather than just chasing success. Impact lasts for ages, while success fades with time.”
I invite startups and brands to feature with us at no cost. If you don’t have the time, our writers can work with you on your story at very minimal rates.
Here’s the link to the Brand Diary Joining page:
Here’s the link to the Startup Diary Joining page:
If you’re interested in sharing your story on ExecutivesDiary.com and preserving your legacy, please contact us at mystory@contributor.executivesdiary.com.
Our vision is to preserve human history, innovation, and wisdom for future generations to learn from and be inspired by—especially your grandchildren, who will look up to you with pride.
I look forward to the community’s support as I continue dedicating my life to this work. There’s no word for “quit” in my dictionary, even if I get hacked seven more times.
Thank you for reading. Best wishes and blessings to you and your family. We are one big family.
