October 14, 2025

I am 36 years old today. I still have decades ahead — enough time to attempt nearly any transformation.

On my 50th birthday — October 14, 2039 — I intend to gather 1,000 people who are changing the world. Not people who can change it. People who are changing it. Right now. In their fields, their communities, their spheres of influence.

This is not about networking. This is a commitment to a path.

I don’t know if I’ll achieve this. But I’m already thinking beyond it — to projects, ideas, and work that might transcend my lifetime. This goal shapes how I’ll live the second half of my life.

This is not a promise. This is an invitation to witness.

WHY 1,000 PEOPLE?

To achieve this goal, I must become a different person entirely. With 1,000 such people, I can create world-class projects that genuinely shift reality. To bring them together, I must:

1. Be in their social circles and earn the right to invite them
   • Access the environments where such people exist.
   • Be in situations where I can meet them.
   • Know these people personally — or have the ability to make a public call they’ll answer.
2. Transform myself and make contributions worthy of this circle
   • Develop my own qualities and change my own life.
   • Become someone they want to be around.
3. Command resources at scale
   • Be capable of organizing such an event.
   • Have resources or access to resources of appropriate caliber — not just to gather people, but to actually change the world alongside them.

WHY THIS MATTERS

Once, I heard a story about one person who refused to compete for power during president elections. His reasoning was profound:

“Even if I win, who will I bring with me? I know perhaps 20 people capable of leading at this level. But where is the rest of the team? Without them, even victory would be defeat.”

I need allies. Not employees. Allies.

WHO I’M LOOKING FOR

I’m looking for people with specific qualities — people who are genuinely changing the world. I reserve the right to refine these criteria as I go. But here’s what’s already clear to me today.

A lesson in responsibility

In 2017, I co-founded a social project using augmented reality in education. We funded it ourselves. Built it. People applauded. Then we ran out of money and shut it down.

We got lucky — it failed early, before anyone became truly dependent on it. And yes, the project came back to life — this time built on sustainable rails, not good intentions. Eventually, it became one of the top EdTech companies in the country. It’s still thriving today, but without me.

Here’s what that taught me:

There’s a difference between giving away what you don’t need and taking responsibility for what you create.

• When you donate old clothes or money to a charity, the consequence is contained. Your risk ends when you hit “send.”
• When you build something people depend on, the stakes are different.

If it collapses because you couldn’t sustain it, you’ve created harm, not help. You’ve wasted their trust, their time, their plans built on your promise. There’s a difference between generosity and creating risk through naivety.

People who carry the weight of their choices

I’m not looking for donors. I’m looking for people who open Pandora’s boxes — and live with what comes out.

Leaders who understand that their decisions will often have consequences they can’t control or predict in the moment. That some of those consequences will be devastating. That people who follow them might fail, might suffer, might lose years to a path that doesn’t work.

And they do it anyway — because they’ve chosen this path and accept that fact.

Think about OpenAI. They released technology that will transform hundreds of millions of jobs. It might enslave humanity. It might liberate us. No one knows for certain. But they opened the box.

That’s the weight I’m talking about. The weight of knowing your actions will ripple in ways you can’t fully control — and choosing to act anyway.

And I’m walking this path myself

With this manifesto, I’m opening a box whose outcome I cannot predict. It might be completely fruitless. I might give up along the way — this path might be beyond my capabilities. My skills, qualities, or efforts might not be enough. Or something significant might happen in my life that changes everything.

But I’m committing to this path anyway.

This is my Pandora’s box. I’m writing this in the moment, not in retrospect. This isn’t a story — it’s a statement of where I’m going. I’m taking on risks publicly, making commitments, putting my skin in the game.

THE HARD TRUTH: I don’t deserve a place among the 1,000 I’m looking for. Not yet.

I might know many people, but most don’t belong on this list. And neither do I — not today. I’m not even close. But I have the same amount of time to that point as everyone else. This is a conscious search for my tribe.

Here are the patterns I’m looking for:

• People with measurable impact. Not just ideas or intentions — launched products, research, implemented policies, visible changes in communities. Results the world can see.
• People who build bridges. They connect different domains, audiences, and clusters of knowledge. They’re the weak ties between worlds — where innovation actually happens.
• People who mobilize resources. Money, teams, access. They don’t just have ideas — they make them real.
• People who carry the weight. They don’t donate what they don’t need. They don’t delegate responsibility to someone else. They take ownership of a piece of the world, knowing the consequences might be unpredictable or uncontrollable — and they do it anyway.

These aren’t requirements. These are patterns I’ve observed in people who genuinely shift reality. And these criteria will evolve as I meet more of them.

THE PARADOX

I don’t actually know how to achieve this. I face a challenge that seems almost impossible. My goal is 1,000 people — five times beyond the ~200 relationships humans can naturally maintain. And they’ll be:

• Scattered globally: Different continents, time zones, cultures, languages.
• Diverse fields: Different industries, worldviews, approaches.
• Constant flux: Currently a traveller, but even if my lifestyle stabilizes, I’ll always face rotating connections.

The deepest challenge: What must change more — myself, or how I interact with the world?

And I’m attempting this while the world sits undefined on the threshold of massive changes. I lack the frameworks, metrics, systems, tools, and skills required. I’m betting my life on finding the answers in the process.

Yes, I reserve the right to adjust this goal. But not to deceive — to actualize. The form may look radically different. But the essence remains unchanged.

WHAT THIS IS (AND ISN’T)

This IS:

• A public record of effort over self — mental, physical, and social transformation.
• An experiment in building legacy while alive.
• A resource for my daughter, my descendants, and anyone who wants this path.

This is NOT:

• A guarantee of success (I may fail, I may stumble).
• For everyone (but you can adapt these insights to build your own path).
• A path where I already know the answers.

THE INVITATION

I share this journey in two dimensions: in the moment when the future is unknown, and in retrospect when patterns emerge. This is building in public — raw, unfiltered, real-time.

You’ll witness:

1. Raw moments of victory and defeat.
2. My personal frameworks and systems of thinking as they evolve.
3. The people and ideas that shape this journey.
4. How someone builds themselves toward the impossible.

What you won’t see me do: Stop.

TO THE READER

This is about sharing the journey of a person who refused to live an ordinary life.

This is for my daughter — to show her what’s possible when you take a leap of faith. And for anyone else ready to walk this path.

If you’re one of those who might join that circle of 1,000 — I look forward to meeting you along the way.

And if this helps someone emerge who eventually joins that circle — I’ll be doubly happy.

Let’s see where this leads.

— Dmytro Grepan Bangkok, November 2025

Days until age 50: 5,089