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