Today, no startup motivation :)
This week, no startup motivation. Just a small story from the weekend with my son, Yaman, and one simple question: what happened to the spider?
Hi,
Today, no startup motivation. :)
No growth lesson. No strategy. No investor talk.
Today I want to share a small story from the weekend.
I was sitting with my son, Yaman, and we were watching an animation together.
Yaman loves Marvel heroes. He collects their figures. Spider-Man has a special place for him. Miles Morales too.
The animation we were watching was actually not about superheroes. It was about animals.
But somehow, while we were talking, we came to one question:
In the Spider-Man story, everyone talks about the hero. But what happened to the spider?
We always know the human side of the story.
A spider bites someone. The human gets superpowers. He becomes Spider-Man.
But then Yaman and I asked another question:
What if a human could get superpowers from a spider… and what if the spider got some human abilities too?
That was the moment the story became really interesting for us.
Not just: “What happened to the hero?”
But: “What happened to the spider?”
Maybe the spider did not stay the same either. Maybe it also changed.
Maybe it stayed tiny, but started to think like a human.
It could ask questions. It could make plans. It could worry. It could talk. It could look at the human world and the animal world at the same time.
That became the beginning of our character.
We called him:
Humander.
A little bit human. A little bit spider. But not exactly either one.
Humander is still very small. He is not a big superhero. He is not a monster. He is not a normal spider anymore.
He is a tiny spider with big thoughts.
He thinks too much. He worries too much. He wants to do something important. But he is still only a tiny spider in a very big world.
And that made us laugh.
At some point, Yaman started acting like the creative director.
He had ideas. Strong ideas. :)
He told me what was funny. He told me what did not make sense. He told me what Humander should do. He told me what Humander should never do.
Honestly, he was probably right most of the time.
Then we started playing with the idea.
We drew the character. We imagined his world. We talked about where he lives, what he wants, what he is afraid of, and why he thinks too much.
Then we used some AI tools to see the idea quickly.
Not perfectly. Not as a finished movie. But enough to make it feel real.
In a few hours, a small question on the couch became:
a character, a world, a story, and even the beginning of a comic book.
A few years ago, this idea would probably stay in a notebook.
Maybe we would say: “Nice idea.”
And then maybe we would forget it.
But now, we could see it on the same day.
That was the magical part for me.
Not only the speed. Not only the technology.
The real magic was creating something with my son while the idea was still fresh.
Before we overthought it. Before we made it too serious. Before we killed the fun.
A small question became a small universe.
Everyone knows the story of the human who got spider powers.
But what about the spider who got human abilities?
That question became Humander.
Sometimes the best ideas do not come from a strategy meeting. Not from a pitch deck. Not from an investor call.
Sometimes they come while sitting on the couch with your child, watching an animation.
Everyone was watching the hero. We looked at the spider.
And that was the best idea of my week.
Next time, I want to write about something very different: how people are becoming more and more lonely.
But I will save that for another email.
For now, Humander is here. :)
P.S. Yaman and I also started turning Humander into a comic book.