Sari Azout on the art of patience, building a Sublime internet, and the future of creativity

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Feb 17, 2025

In this engaging discussion, Sari Azout, founder of Sublime and a trailblazer from Barranquilla, Colombia, shares her journey from a cerebral child to an influential entrepreneur. She reveals how writing sparks her creativity and emphasizes the importance of conviction in a commodified digital landscape. Sari discusses transforming passive consumption into active creativity with Sublime, a tool designed to never lose inspiring ideas. The conversation also touches on balancing familial duties with creative ambitions and the meaning behind her son's name, Aleph.

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ANECDOTE

Childhood in Barranquilla

Sari Azout grew up in Barranquilla, Colombia, a city known for artists like Shakira.
Her father, an entrepreneur, asked nightly, "What did you do today to change the world?"

INSIGHT

Moving to the US

Sari Azout moved to the US and studied at Brown University, valuing the freedom and intellectual environment.
She strategically planned to stay in the US after graduation, viewing banking as a means to that end.

ANECDOTE

Banking Career

Sari Azout's early banking career during the 2008 financial crisis gave her valuable lessons.
Despite securing her US residency, she felt a disconnect between banking and meaningful impact.

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Shoe Dog

Phil Knight

Shoe Dog is a memoir that chronicles the journey of Phil Knight as he builds Nike from its humble beginnings as Blue Ribbon Sports. The book is a personal and detailed account of Knight's experiences, from his early days selling Japanese running shoes out of the trunk of his car to the global brand Nike is today. It highlights his relentless work ethic, the challenges he faced, and the key relationships with his partners and employees that were crucial to the company's success. The memoir also touches on Knight's personal life, including his family and the emotional struggles he encountered along the way[1][3][4].

The Disappearance of Ritual

None

Byung-Chul Han

Byung-Chul Han's "The Disappearance of Ritual" explores the decline of rituals in modern society and its impact on our sense of meaning. Han argues that the relentless pursuit of efficiency and productivity has eroded traditional rituals, leading to feelings of emptiness and alienation. He examines how rituals provide a sense of belonging, structure, and shared experience, contrasting them with the atomized and individualistic nature of modern life. The book offers a critical perspective on the societal shift away from ritualistic practices and their consequences for individual well-being and community cohesion. Han's work encourages a re-evaluation of our values and a potential return to ritualistic practices to combat the pervasive sense of meaninglessness.

Invention

A Life

James Dyson

This book tells the story of James Dyson's life, highlighting his numerous inventions and the challenges he faced in bringing them to market. It covers his early life, his education, and his development of various products, including the ballbarrow and the Dual Cyclone vacuum cleaner. The book emphasizes the importance of education, mentorship, self-reliance, and the critical role of engineers and scientists in society. It also reflects on Dyson's experiences with business partners, the British innovation environment, and his perseverance in the face of numerous obstacles[1][3][4].

The Ride of a Lifetime

Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company

Robert Iger

In 'The Ride of a Lifetime,' Robert Iger shares his experiences and the lessons he learned during his 15 years as CEO of The Walt Disney Company. The book covers his early career, his rise to the CEO position, and his strategic decisions that transformed Disney into a global media giant. Iger discusses key acquisitions like Pixar, Marvel, and 21st Century Fox, and emphasizes the importance of leadership principles such as optimism, courage, decisiveness, fairness, and integrity. He also reflects on his relationships with influential figures like Steve Jobs and George Lucas, and how emotional intelligence played a crucial role in his business dealings. The book provides insights into Iger's vision for Disney, which included a focus on high-quality branded content, embracing technology, and expanding globally.

The 48 laws of power

Robert Greene

In 'The 48 Laws of Power', Robert Greene and Joost Elffers synthesize three thousand years of the history of power into 48 laws. These laws are derived from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz, as well as the lives of influential figures such as Henry Kissinger and P.T. Barnum. The book provides tactics, concepts, and lessons on how to achieve and maintain power, emphasizing prudence, confidence, and self-preservation. Each law is illustrated with historical examples and is designed to help readers understand and navigate the dynamics of power in various aspects of life, including work, social hierarchies, and politics.

In this episode of Out of the Clouds host Anne Mühlethaler explores the evolution of digital spaces with Sari Azout, founder of Sublime, a personal knowledge management tool for creatives.

Born in Barranquilla, Colombia — the magical hometown of Shakira and Gabriel García Márquez — Sari describes herself as a cerebral child who found her intellectual home first at Brown University, where she developed a "fiercely independent mindset" and discovered the joy of the library as a social space.

With remarkable foresight( Sari "could always see around corners") she strategically planned her path to remain in the U.S. as an international student and got into banking, ultimately landing at Barclays during the 2008 financial crisis. This experience taught her valuable lessons about the importance of connecting work to meaningful impact.

Next the pair discuss Sari’s project, Sublime. Sari articulates her vision as both practical and philosophical, calling it "the personal knowledge management tool of my dreams." She explains that in a world where "intelligence is being commoditized," what remains valuable are "conviction, point of view, courage, intention — the artist's way." This connects to her writing practice, which has revealed that "ideas never come to me before I write. They always come to me in the process of writing."

Their conversation delves into Sublime's three core promises: never lose a valuable idea, never be uninspired, and transform from passive consumption to active creation. Sari emphasizes wanting to "facilitate helping people make things, not just consume things," noting that "being a consumer is just a state of helplessness." Drawing inspiration from books and Marshall McLuhan's quote that "the medium is the message," she envisions a "sublime internet" that moves away from quantifiable metrics toward meaningful engagement.

Sari also speaks candidly about the tension between selfishness and selflessness in entrepreneurship, and her "willingness to be misunderstood for a longer period." She shares her vision of transitioning from the attention economy to the intention economy, reframing digital tools as something "people use instead of products people consume."

The episode concludes with Sari sharing her perspective on happiness and describing her version of "paradise on earth" as working all day alone in anticipation of an evening in great company. This interview with Sari is a fascinating exploration of how we might build more intentional, meaningful digital spaces that serve our creativity rather than just our consumption. Happy listening!

Selected links from episode

Out of the Clouds website: https://outoftheclouds.com/

Out of the Clouds on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_outoftheclouds

The Mettā View website: https://avm.consulting/metta-view

Anne on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/annvi/

Anne on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@annvi

Anne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anne-v-muhlethaler/

Sublime.app

Join Sublime via this exclusive link

Sari Azout on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/saraazout

Sari on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sariazoutbaka/

Subscribe to Sari’s newsletter https://substack.com/@sariazout

And to the Sublime newsletter https://substack.com/@sublimethenewsletter

Tyler Cowel quote: “One of the highest value things you can do in life is raise other people's aspirations.”

Robert Green’s book, the 48 Laws of Power

Can you imagine a library of possibilities for reimagining the web -

Austin Kleon

Ev Williams

The Disappearance of Rituals by philosopher Byung Shul Han

The Zine

Non-Stop from the Hamilton musical soundtrack

The story of Aleph, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet

The Aleph by Jose Luis Borges

X 10 Coffee https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0BbDdRh2A4

What song best represent you, the Spotify playlist featuring guest answers from Out of the Clouds"

Ride of a Lifetime by Bob Iger

Invention - A Life - the James Dyson biography

Shoe Dog, a memoir by Phil Knight, the creator of Nike

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