$ gdsc
Reviving a Club: What I Got Wrong and What I Got Right
After a year as president, I’ve now stepped into the tech lead role. It’s been a time of reflection on what worked, what didn’t, and what I learned in between. Taking over the club wasn’t a walk in the park - especially since it had been pretty inactive before I took over. But that also gave me the freedom to shape it into something new, even if I stumbled along the way.
Let’s start with what I got wrong: I tried to do everything myself. Founder mode (haha Paul Graham) kicked in hard, and I was putting events back to back, leading tech workshops (when I had a tech lead for a reason), and even changing workshop agendas at the last minute. All this, while getting speakers way too frequently and not keeping the team in sync. That’s a recipe for burnout - not just for me, but for the whole team. And when you’re juggling everything yourself, it’s easy to miss that it’s supposed to be a team effort.
What I should’ve done: delegate. If you want people to step up, you have to let them. It’s like what Paul Graham says about startups: you can’t scale yourself. A strong team builds momentum, but only if they’re given the trust and freedom to act.
Now, what I got right: I put a ridiculous amount of effort into getting kick-ass speakers back to back and leveraged my network. Sure, it was a little chaotic, but we made noise, and people started paying attention again. The club came back to life, and the energy was real. I poured that same energy into marketing/social media (Instagram!), but in hindsight, I should’ve recruited a dedicated marketing/UX team to set us apart from every other club on campus. You can hustle all day, but strategy beats sheer hustle in the long run
Ultimately, the biggest lesson is that revival doesn’t happen alone. Leadership is about building a team you can trust, creating space for them to grow, and keeping everyone on the same page. Because, while sheer willpower got us far, it’s a well-aligned team that sustains momentum.
GO GDSC!