Why I’m Closing BondCompass

Hey Friend,

This has been a long time coming.

I’m writing today to let you know that I’m shutting down BondCompass and moving everything over to my Substack newsletter, Plain Sight. If you’ve been part of BondCompass in any way—signed up, came to an event, or even just read the materials—you’re part of why this next step exists at all.

I want to explain what’s changing, but more importantly, why.

What BondCompass was really about

When I first started BondCompass, I thought I was “building a speed‑dating platform.” That was the surface layer. Underneath, I was actually obsessed with something else: how people connect, and all the subtle ways our world is being pulled apart.

BondCompass experimented with:

Attachment‑style informed questions instead of small talk
Short, structured conversations instead of infinite swiping
Privacy, consent, and emotional safety instead of data extraction and gamification

In every test, the moment that mattered wasn’t “did they match?” It was something quieter: someone hearing themselves say something true out loud, sometimes for the first time.

That’s when it hit me: this was less about dating and more about remembering how to be human together.

Why I’m closing BondCompass

There are a few practical reasons: maintaining a standalone platform, keeping infrastructure alive, debugging little edge cases at 2 a.m.—it all adds up. But the deeper truth is this:

The problem I want to work on is bigger than one dating-style product.

I keep seeing the same pattern everywhere: mechanisms of self-maintained division.

Not just in politics or media, but in subtle, everyday ways:

Algorithms that reward outrage and hot takes over nuance
Dating systems that turn people into profiles, then pit those profiles against each other
Narratives that make you feel like you have to “pick a side” on everything, including parts of yourself

When you zoom out, it’s all the same strategy: fragment people, keep them reactive, keep them lonely, then sell them solutions to the loneliness.

BondCompass was my attempt to build a small island of sanity inside that system. But over time, I realized I needed a different tool if I wanted to address the strategy itself, not just one of its symptoms.

That tool is writing.

Illustration: writing as a tool for connection

Why “Plain Sight”?

I named the newsletter Plain Sight because most of what’s hurting us isn’t hidden in some secret archive. It’s right in front of us. We swim in it every day.

Divide‑and‑conquer doesn’t just show up as big, evil master plans. It shows up as:

The way you talk to yourself after you make a mistake
The way groups slowly turn into camps, and camps into enemies
The way fear, shame, and scarcity make us forget that we actually need each other

Plain Sight is where I’m going to:

Break down these patterns in clear, everyday language
Share stories from my life and from people I’ve met who are quietly resisting this fragmentation
Offer one simple countermeasure you can actually use, today, without needing an app, community membership, or new identity

I don’t want this to be abstract theory. I want it to feel like sitting down with a friend who says, “You’re not crazy for feeling this way. Here’s what’s going on. Here’s what you can do next.”

The simple countermeasure

Let me give you the heart of it right now, because you deserve that upfront:

The most powerful antidote to divide‑and‑conquer in your life is deliberate, honest connection with one other person at a time, anchored in curiosity instead of winning.

Not a movement. Not a brand. Not a massive group chat.

Just: one conversation, on purpose, with someone you treat as fully human.

That sounds almost insultingly simple. We’re used to “solutions” that involve dashboards, frameworks, and 37‑step systems. But here’s why this tiny move is radical:

Divide‑and‑conquer needs you to flatten people into labels
It needs you to assume you already know who they are
It thrives when you’re too exhausted, numb, or busy to ask a genuine question

The countermeasure is to quietly refuse that. To choose, again and again:

“I don’t know this person’s whole story. I’m going to ask. I’m going to listen. I’m going to let myself be seen a little, too.”

You can do this with a partner, a friend, a family member, or even someone you don’t usually agree with. You can do it in person, on the phone, over text, wherever. What matters is the intent.

Illustration: a deliberate, honest conversation between two people

In Plain Sight, I’ll share:

Specific question prompts you can use
Ways to notice when you’ve slipped back into “us vs. them” thinking
Practices for staying grounded and honest when conversations get uncomfortable

Think of BondCompass as the lab where I tested structured questions and safe containers. Plain Sight is where I bring the distilled learnings out into the open, for everyone—not just people who can make it to a particular event.

What this means for you

Here’s what’s changing for you as a current BondCompass subscriber:

I am closing down BondCompass as a standalone product and platform
I’m moving the community over to Plain Sight, my Substack newsletter
You’ll start receiving posts from me there in your inbox, including this announcement

No extra steps are required on your end—I’ll handle the migration in the background. If at any point you don’t want to receive these emails, you’ll be able to unsubscribe with a single click. No hard feelings, genuinely.

If you stay, here’s what you can expect:

Essays about how divisive mechanisms work in our relationships, our culture, and our inner lives
Simple, concrete practices for building real connection and resisting fragmentation without burning out
Personal stories from my own experiments—what’s worked, what’s failed, and what I’m still figuring out

My goal isn’t to speak at you like a brand broadcasting, but to speak with you like a human trying to make sense of all this alongside you.

A quiet thank you

I want to say this clearly: thank you for showing up for BondCompass.

Every time you answered a vulnerable question, tried a new format, or trusted the process, you were giving me data—but not the creepy tech‑platform kind. You were showing me what actually helps people feel more human and less alone.

That’s priceless.

I don’t see closing BondCompass as a failure. I see it as a foundation. We’re taking what we learned, what we tried, what didn’t work, and we’re letting it support something that can reach farther and go deeper.

“Plain Sight” is my best attempt—right now—to meet the moment we’re in.

What I’d love from you

As we make this transition, I’d love two things from you:

Stick around long enough to read the next few issues. Let them land. See if they resonate. If they don’t, you can always opt out later.
Try the countermeasure. Before you even read another word from me, choose one person in your life and have a deliberate, honest conversation with them. Ask them one question you’re genuinely curious about. Answer one honestly yourself. Notice how it feels.

That’s it. That’s the work.

Thank you for being here at the start of this next chapter. I’m closing BondCompass on July 2nd, 2026, but the core of what it was always meant to be is not ending—it’s just moving into plain sight.

With care, Sabir