Building a startup is hard. Proving you exist to an algorithm is harder.

Building a startup is hard. Proving you exist to an algorithm is apparently harder.

I'm a solo founder building an iOS social app. Somewhere between shipping the product, finding users, fundraising, and maintaining LinkedIn, Product Hunt and a dozen other channels, being a founder has turned into a full-time job in being visible.

And here's the irony: my LinkedIn account is restricted, while its identity-verification flow keeps sending me in circles. My passport is a valid identity document, but the automated process hasn't given me a workable way to complete verification or reach a meaningful human review.

The issue isn't whether I can prove who I am. It's whether the system accepts the document I actually have.

When did founders become responsible not only for building a product, but also for maintaining an online identity that algorithms can arbitrarily lock away?

And what should platforms owe legitimate users when automated verification fails?