Welcome to Jab's Lab

Where having the courage to create is celebrated.

To create is to take a risk.

But sharing what you’ve created with the world, on a public stage… that is truly vulnerable. It is putting yourself out there for the world to see. And I respect anyone who does it consistently.

I have always loved building things, whether it be building LEGOs as a kid or building software products now¹. But oftentimes, I don’t believe the things I create are worthy of being shared. From my new personal website to recently revamping Split It, most of the things I have published online have mostly remained unseen by people outside of my immediate family and friend group.

Why is that? Creating is hard enough, but in my mind, failure is even hard to face. What if people don’t find my creations or ideas valuable? What if people disagree with what I have to say? What if I am not worthy of entering this creative landscape online?

These thoughts all hold me back. It is such a challenge to put ideas and creations out there on the Internet, but it can also be so rewarding. I have seen people make friends, nurture relationships, and develop amazing things online. All the while, I’ve been watching enviously from the sidelines.

Every New Years Day, my sister Lauren asks every member of our family to come up with a word that will define our upcoming year – one word that we embody with our actions, underscoring every facet of life. This exercise has led me to some profound reflection over the years, with my words in the past two years being Present and Connected.

This year, my word is Courage.

I want to have the courage to risk rejection, to risk criticism. The courage to take risks, to meet new people, to have deep and meaningful conversations, to have fun, to share when I’m down, to show up for the people that matter in my life, and most imminently for me, the courage to put my thoughts and ideas on a page and share them with the world.

So without further ado, welcome to Jab’s Lab – my weekly musings on tech, business, startups, and life.

For those of you who don’t know me, I am Cory Jbara – an entrepreneur, a software engineer, an MBA candidate at Chicago Booth, and someone who constantly strives to learn. I am so appreciative that you found my Substack, and I hope my writing is valuable to you, encourages thoughts and ideas, gives you a new perspective, or at the very least puts a smile on your face while reading.

For me, this blog is my personal way to overcome my fear of judgement, which has prevented me from posting, commenting, or publishing in the past. The only way I see to overcome this paralysis is to follow the advice of one of my old mentors, and JFDI².

Write the article and click “Publish.” That’s it.

These two steps are way harder than I initially anticipated, and believe me, there’s always a reason not to post. But my plan is to do it anyways. Post a draft that’s not ready. Post a thought that’s not perfect. Post Part I of an article to give me the accountability to write Part II. Every Tuesday morning, I’m clicking “Publish”.

For those of you reading and following my journey, I thank you. I’m hoping that through this process of writing and publishing, I will continue to learn about myself, hone my thoughts and voice, and foster connections along the way. I hope you come to read, listen, engage, and challenge my ideas. And I hope you enjoy my endeavor to share my ideas with the world.

Articles you can expect out of Jab’s Lab:

1. Why I decided to build and relaunch Split It with a paid tier several years after launch.

2. What constitutes success in startups, and why I think we need to redefine it.

3. Starting a tech company in today’s age, and why you shouldn’t spend a ton of money to build your product before validating the idea in the market.

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1. Let’s be real, I still play with LEGOs to this day, I’m staring at a rocket ship on my desk that I built the other day at the ripe age of 29.

2. Thank you Frank Lockom for this lovely nugget of advice that has stuck in my mind for years.