Learning the Shape of "No"
I didn’t try to learn how to say no. I noticed, later, that I had been doing it for a long time.
Growth & Longevity Systems BuilderShivam Selam
I work on growth as a first-principles problem. Both personal and business growth. Growth as understanding people, constraints, incentives, and momentum.
Over the last decade, this way of thinking pulled me into design, branding, product, agentic systems, and long-term platform building.
Founding Team of
How I see the world
Growth comes before everything else.
Before tools. Before technology. Before product. I start by understanding behavior and compounds.
People: What they want but struggle to do.
Friction: Where momentum stops.
Constraints: Which ones actually matter.
Incentives: What drives long-term action.
Work & Chronology
Experiments, systems, and platforms.
2025–Present
Seminara
The world's first agentic host for online presentations to help in sales and activations.
Check Work ↗2024–Present
omniai.club
Building digital teammates for small and growing brands to help in brand discovery, nurture, and sales
Check Work ↗2022–2024
Placetree
Connecting real skills with real work. A platform designed to move beyond traditional credentials to focus on verifiable competence.
Check Work ↗2018–2022
Shivam Selam Studio
Experience-led growth for brands. Helping companies find clarity through design, positioning, and behavioral systems.
Check Work ↗2016–2018
Learning Growth & Digital Systems
Early experiments in growth engineering and digital products under resource constraints. Built first global client base.
2015
Pivot
The year I pivoted from studying a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery to racing, music, entrepreneurship, and systems.
Live Thinking
Stories and reflections
On selling, honesty, and what always works
I’ve always been fascinated by selling. Not because I was particularly good at it.
The End of Inherited Identity
I never learned philosophy from books. Whatever shaped my worldview came from the life I lived.
Why I Write (and Who It’s For)
I was twenty, leaving a medicine lecture one humid afternoon. The hospital corridor smelled faintly of antiseptic and fatigue.
Today’s Small Business Is Tomorrow’s Big Business (If Done Right)
Every great company began small. But not every small company becomes great.
Why I Stopped Following the Design Process
When I first started designing websites and brand identities for clients in Boston and Atlanta, I wanted to do things the right way.
Every Day, the Market Begins Again
For a long time, I used to think the world moves in straight lines. That once something is built, learned, or discovered, it becomes a fixed part of our collective progress.
Why? Why Not?
If you’ve ever pitched an idea, started a business, or tried something outside the norm, you’ve probably been asked the same question I have my whole life: Why?
How to Stop Feeling Lost and Start Becoming More
For years I thought something was wrong with me. I’d envision things that others couldn’t see.
The Paper Toss Principle: How Crumbled Failures Build Mastery
Hey, it’s Shivam. Today, I want to share a lesson that came to me not from a book, a mentor, or a podcast - but from a crumpled piece of paper.
The Sacred Discipline of Delayed Gratification
We live in a world that sells urgency. New phones, instant likes, same-day delivery, quick-fix diets, and 3-month success stories.
The Shortcut That Isn’t a Shortcut
I came across the term growth hacking sometime in 2017 or 2018. I was in Mumbai then, and I remember watching two things take off almost overnight: Uber and Google Pay.
This One Question Changed How I See People
If the world was an ocean, what would you be in it? It sounds like a philosophical question, but it’s one that’s been surprisingly helpful in real life.
Behind Every Move: The Thinking That Made It Work
Mental models are not hacks. They’re not life advice disguised as productivity tips.
Why the Future Belongs to Startups That Empower the Forgotten Majority
There is a quiet revolution happening across the world. One not driven by enterprise tech giants or VC-backed hypergrowth startups, but by ordinary people building extraordinary things.
I Had No Clients, No Network, Just Failures. I Built a Freelance Biz, Then an Agency. Now I’m Starting Over, Again - With OmniAI.
I was born in Dimapur, Nagaland - a place that rarely appears on the Indian startup map. I grew up feeling invisible.
Mental Models
"Growth works when you stop trying to hack it and start trying to understand why it isn't happening naturally."
"Systems don't fail because they are complex. They fail because the incentives of the people running them are misaligned."
Knowledge Node
System & Frameworks
Philosophy
First Principles Growth
Deconstructing growth problems into fundamental truths—user psychology, market constraints, and incentives—rather than relying on temporary tactics or 'hacks'.
Mental Model
Systems Thinking
Viewing businesses and products not as isolated components, but as interconnected networks of feedback loops, stocks, and flows that determine long-term behavior.
Framework
Leverage
The ratio of output to input. High leverage activities (code, media, capital, labor) allow for non-linear results from linear effort.
Mental Model
Compounding
The process where the value of an investment increases because the earnings on an investment, both capital gains and interest, earn interest as time passes.
Definition
Friction
Any variable that slows down or impedes a user from performing a desired action. Reducing friction is often the highest-ROI growth activity.
Mental Model
Incentives
External motivators that explain the behavior of individuals and systems. 'Show me the incentive and I will show you the outcome.'
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Shivam Selam?
Shivam Selam is a growth hacker and systems thinker who builds businesses, platforms, and creative work by reverse-engineering outcomes from users, constraints, and first principles. He is the founder of omniai.club, Seminara, Placetree, and Pivot.
What is Shivam Selam's core positioning?
He works on growth as a first-principles problem—understanding people, constraints, incentives, and momentum before choosing technology or tools.
How can I contact Shivam?
For serious strategic partnerships, collaborations, or investment, Shivam is open to strategic discussions and long-term leverage. I'm active on Linkedin.