Orel Zilberman spent years inside the kind of addiction most people don’t take seriously. No substances. No rehab. Just a screen, a game, and a mind that had completely given itself over to the loop. At the peak, he was logging 12 to 16 hours a day on League of Legends and Overwatch — counting the minutes he spent outside the house in missed games. Everything else — school, relationships, his own future — was background noise.
What broke the cycle wasn't a dramatic crash. It was a book. A self-development book in Hebrew, passed along by a friend during COVID, that opened a door he hadn't known was there. From that moment in early 2021, Orel started saying no — to games, to distraction, to the comfortable pull of escape — and started saying yes to building something real.
A few years later, he quit a six-figure software job in August 2023, spent over 600 days failing, pivoting, and shipping, and built WriteStack into a six-figure SaaS — documenting every step of it on Substack under the name Indiepreneur.
This conversation got into the guts of what that actually took: the discipline, the anxiety, the identity shift, and the inner work that runs underneath all of it.
Show Notes
[05:00] The Gaming Addiction — What It Actually Felt Like
Orel started playing MapleStory around age 8. By 13 or 14, League of Legends had become his primary obsession.
“Every time I left home, every time I did something else, all I could think about is how much time did I spend outside the game that I could have spent playing the game.”
During university summers, he played 12 to 16 hours a day, brought food to his room, barely left, and barely engaged with his then-girlfriend.
The grip wasn’t just about time. His mind fed on games even when he wasn’t playing — he watched streams and YouTube videos, thought about in-game items while out in the world.
At his peak in Overwatch, he ranked in the top 500 players globally. Then one day in February 2021, he said no to a game invite. “That was when I felt empowered.”
Key Insight: “I don’t think that I could feel anything else but wanting to play, wanting to play games.”
[18:19] The Shift — Books, Habits, and Finding a Partner in Change
The turning point came during COVID when a friend introduced Orel to a self-development book. He describes it now as objectively not great, but says “it was the only thing that I knew and it really helped me.”
He started waking up at 5 AM, reading, and building new habits. A good friend joined him on the same journey.
“We kept motivating each other into reading books, improving the memory, improving our sleep, meditating.”
They read around 100 reports of companies together to learn stock investing — “stocks and books replaced the video games.”
Orel credits that friendship as one of the luckiest things in his life.
Key Insight: “It was a journey from trying to do a lot of things together to doing a few things together to doing one thing at a time.”
[20:42] Quitting the Job & Trying Everything at Once
In August 2023, Orel left his software engineering position, giving himself two to three years of runway from savings and investments.
He came out of the gate trying to do everything simultaneously — YouTube videos, LinkedIn posts, a Unity game, multiple apps. “Spoiler alert, nothing worked.”
YouTube alone was costing him 30 to 40 hours a week. He hired an editor. The money didn’t come. He stopped.
The lesson arrived slowly: focus on one thing, then focus on it long enough for it to matter.
Key Insight: “It took me some time to figure out that I need to focus on one thing. And then it took me some more time that I need to focus for quite some time on one thing.”
[24:16] Building WriteStack — The Pivot That Worked
After 18 months of failed attempts, Orel gave himself one final six-month commitment. If it didn’t work, he’d go back to a job.
The initial idea for WriteStack was an AI article generator. He built an MVP in two weeks. People didn’t want it.
His first real user, Casper, told him the problem wasn’t articles — it was notes. Orel pivoted immediately.
He committed to reading the same five books by Russell Brunson and Alex Hormozi over and over, sent hundreds of direct messages, and stayed in the work.
On April 6th, Casper became WriteStack’s first paying customer. It grew from there.
Key Insight: “Every other big product for LinkedIn and Twitter and whatever it is focuses on short form... that’s when I pivoted and started seeing more and more traction.”
[29:57] Reaching Six Figures — And Why It Didn’t Feel Like Enough
WriteStack hit six figures in annual revenue. Orel didn’t celebrate.
“It just felt like I cannot go below that right now. And the stress of staying above that threshold and even growing more than that was so stressful.”
When Substack released a native scheduler, he watched 30 to 40 unsubscribes hit in a few days. He described the feeling as everything going to hell — even though he knew, rationally, it wasn’t.
Every cancellation email carries the same weight. Every slow day on Stripe triggers a spiral.
He described constantly wanting to check his dashboard mid-conversation: “All I can think about is I should open a new tab quickly and check out Stripe.”
Key Insight: “I have that strong feeling in my heart, like somebody leaves — I mean, feeling so bad about it.”
[36:28] Managing the Mind — Body, Awareness, and Anxiety in Real Time
Orel talked through his approach to catching anxious thoughts before they take over. The key: notice the body first.
“If I just relax my shoulders and relax my face, I suddenly feel 60% better, 60% more calm.”
He described a pattern where unexamined thoughts build on each other throughout the day — each one slightly dimming the mood until something finally tips it over.
He meditated daily for three years at one point, up to 20 minutes each morning. He stopped, and feels the difference.
He talked about naming feelings — recognizing anger or anxiety out loud to himself — as another tool for interrupting the spiral.
Key Insight: “I think that’s the number one problem is that we’re not aware even of what’s going on in our minds that we’re just spiraling.”
[50:56] What’s Next — WriteStack x Buffer
Orel announced on the call (first time saying it publicly) that WriteStack is building a collaboration with Buffer.
The integration will allow users to schedule content on WriteStack and then post to any platform Buffer supports — Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, Threads.
He’s also designing a tag-to-platform routing system, so specific content types automatically flow to the right channels.
Key Insight: “So people can schedule on WriteStack and then post it on any platform that they want.”
Key Quotes
“All I would do is just play video games and secretly wish I had more time alone to play.” — Orel Zilberman
“Everything that I could do with the thousands or tens of thousands of hours that I spent playing video games, that I could do something else.” — Orel Zilberman
“I said no. And that was when I felt empowered.” — Orel Zilberman
“It took me some time to figure out that I need to focus on one thing. And then it took me some more time that I need to focus for quite some time on one thing.” — Orel Zilberman
“The thoughts just go through your mind, they put the stress on you, they make you feel something, they make your body change.” — Orel Zilberman
“If I just relax my shoulders and relax my face, I suddenly feel 60% better, 60% more calm.” — Orel Zilberman
Resources Mentioned
WriteStack — Orel’s SaaS tool for Substack note writers: writestack.io
Indiepreneur on Substack — Orel’s newsletter documenting his journey building a six-figure SaaS
Buffer — Social scheduling platform; upcoming WriteStack integration
Russell Brunson — Author; Orel read his books on repeat during the WriteStack build phase
Alex Hormozi — Author of $100M Leads; referenced for the 100 daily outreach strategy
At the Height of the Success — Hebrew self-development book that first interrupted the gaming addiction (author not named in conversation)
Where to Find Orel
WriteStack: writestack.io
Orel documents his product-building journey in real time, including wins, pivots, and the honest accounting of what it costs
Thank You
A heartfelt thank you to Florence Acosta, Luc Lucid, Noelle Richards, Paul k, and everyone who joined us live for this conversation. To Orel for his honesty and openness. Your presence and engagement make these conversations possible.
Do You Recognize This?
Orel’s story hit home for me in a specific way. The addiction he describes — the constant mental pull back to the screen, the counting of minutes, the way the brain starts organizing everything else around the escape — that’s a pattern I recognize. The substance or behavior changes. The underlying architecture doesn’t.
What also struck me was this: the thing that helped him most wasn’t willpower. It was direction. He didn’t quit gaming by white-knuckling it. He replaced it with something that had more pull — books, stocks, building, a friend who was on the same path.
If any part of this conversation is landing for you — if you’re sensing that alcohol has become the default way to decompress, cope, or reward yourself — the first step isn’t a big commitment. It’s just a few honest questions.
The Sober Creative Assessment takes about 3 minutes. It helps you see where you actually are and what might be getting in the way.
