Had the chance to sit down with my good friend Carter Abdallah (Baxate) and catch up after a long hiatus.
Baxate has grown his social media platform to over 750,000 followers on Instagram and TikTok while juggling a full time job as a software engineer. One year ago his life changed forever when he quit his job in big tech to join Brev.dev as a founding engineer. The company was acquired by NVIDIA earlier this year.
In this episode we talk about how building a following on social media has changed our lives, the acquisition, and many more topics around tech, success, and life. We filmed this episode the day before his 25th birthday.
Carter's IG: https://www.instagram.com/baxate_carter
Carter's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@baxate_carter
Ben's IG: https://www.instagram.com/benswolfson
Ben TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@benswolfson
00:00 Teaser
00:38 Overview
1:20 What is it like being internet famous?
9:15 How Carter met his girlfriend
14:25 Should you build a personal brand? Product vs. Distribution
19:55 Social responsibility in making content
22:17 Carter's path to virality
27:45 How to go viral on social media
30:15 Why does Georgia Tech produce so many tech influencers?
33:49 Blind discussion (teamblind.com)
38:33 Carter's time in Big Tech and moving to SF
44:40 Software Engineering or Influencer?
48:18 Finding Life's Global Maxima
53:38 Carter's North Stars
58:07 Ambition and Dating
1:02:37 Dating apps
1:08:26 Life in Silicon Valley
1:14:46 Wealth drivers in the US and Internationally
1:17:57 Creativity, originality, and isolationism in content creation
1:23:49 How to provide value in making content
1:27:09 Carter's Acquisition and Joining NVIDIA
1:32:39 How Ben uses being an influencer at work at IG
1:34:25 Squashing the beef