asif hassan

i started as a graphic design kid (who also loved writing) at a marketing agency when i was 18 - first hire, with absolutely no idea what i wanted to do with my life.

over time, a beautiful habit took shape - i simply couldn't look at problems and not solve them. "i'll figure it out" became my career. the agency life, of course, wasn't for me, but before i left it for good, and while also searching for the "what next," i rallied a tiny lil' team (hoping to bring them better work, experience, and connections they could take forward on their own) to solve marketing, branding, and production problems for 155+ clients.

during that phase, having worked with so many people, i realized one thing: i don't want to just solve any problem. i want to solve them for people who have an insane passion for everything they lay their eyes on, and an obsessive care for craft in everything they do, however tiny. that started my journey of being the first hire, the right hand, to many, in various capacities - more often than not, in every capacity.

met tanuj, who i worked with on marketing for the art of bitfulness, community and events at people+ai, and then at sthaan. met aastha, who's bringing breathwork to a place near you with still. met aparna, who wrote chemical khichdi and continues to write wonderful pieces on her linkedin. met chandni and saurabh, and their entire crew, who are building a village of the most beautiful people i've met.

all this to say, i've done a little bit of everything with some incredibly crazy, beautiful, smart people.

now i'm in the founder's office at riffle, once again doing a bit of everything - across growth, product, and ops. anurag and deo are also incredibly crazy, beautiful, smart people. riffle is building the figma for music, with a crew that's giving me the time of my life.

riffle is interesting for me - it's the first time i'm walking into an existing context. i didn't set up a team; i wasn't the first hire. and that comes with a lot of (good) newness for me. always learning.

off the clock

i collect hyperlinks for fear of losing them, and annoy people by only sending the readwise version i've highlighted even if you want the original. i used to be insufferable about scheduling, but as i get older, i'm becoming less and less scheduled.

ask me for a random hyperlink →

i nerd out about planes and can't stop noticing how much i write about the passage of time (this year's birthday piece was going to be called "the march of time." my birthday's in march). i'm particular about where i go; if you know me, you already know where to find me.

we live in interesting times, and i'm almost childishly excited about building something of my own soon - for i wouldn't be happy if i didn't use this journey to build something that solves a real problem for people. i'll use that as a conduit to help even more people, build more, and live a little. :)