It's about the stories we get to tell

I was interviewed this week for an academic project on my approach to journalism, why I got into it and my thoughts on the current state of the profession. It got me thinking deeply about why I do this, and what I love about being a journalist.

And I do love writing for a living. It's always been my passion and the times early in my career where I took jobs to pay the bills that didn't involve writing, I was not a happy camper.

This week, I wrote about two companies that reminded me again of what's important and why I do this: because I love to tell stories and the more passionate the founder, the more fun it is.

First, I wrote about Thoras.ai, a Kubernetes optimization startup from twin sisters, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Afghanistan after the Soviet Union attacked the country in 1979. There, they gave birth to twin girls, who would become engineers and then startup founders. It had so many incredible elements: the parent's struggles, two young women founders in an industry sadly still dominated by males, and they happened not only to be sisters, but twins, who were both engineers. It was such a great story.

I also wrote about a Boston-based startup called Cyvl.ai, a company using a combination of AI, sensors and data technology to help municipalities understand their transportation infrastructure in a more automated and digital way. The founder came up with the idea for his company while working a summer job for his home town's public work's department between his freshman and sophomore years at college. His dad had also immigrated to the U.S., but from Colombia. He worked his way through college, became an engineer and raised a son who was one too, one who started his own company.

Both companies' founders expressed such enthusiasm about what they are doing and why they are doing it, and a deep appreciation for the sacrifices their parents made to get them here, that made me realize: this is why I do this job and what a privilege it is.

So when I'm feeling a little down, I just have to remember this is why I do this: to tell these stories. As John Sebastian once wrote (and Tom Petty made famous):

And if you ever wonder why you ride this carousel
You did it for the stories you could tell

See you next week. Here's some stories I wrote recently on TechCrunch:

With Affinity acquisition, Canva should be able to compete better with Adobe’s creative tools

Nvidia could be primed to be the next AWS (with Alex Wilhelm)

ServiceNow is developing AI through mix of building, buying and partnering

TigerEye founders build on prior startup experience to create business simulation tool