Big Tech’s Big DisplacementLast week, Amazon announced the latest in a series of massive tech layoffs with 30,000 people displaced overnight. The month before, Axios reported on a Senate Democrats report that concluded that up to 100 million jobs could be erased due to AI in the next decade. 100 million jobs. It’s clear that the workforce in 5 or 10 years will look dramatically different from how it looks today. And unfortunately, layoffs are part one of this transition. While I haven’t been ...

IntroFor most of my career, I’ve had the privilege worked among the giants of the tech industry, helping their big ideas take shape and scale. Over the years, I got really good at taking just the tiniest kernel of something fresh and blowing it up into something real. I perfected this craft as a fractional operator, where I moved between startups, venture firms, nonprofits, and even crypto foundations, adding fuel to other people’s visions from the inside out. Along the way, I always quietly ...

The Broken Traditional Office SetupYesterday on LinkedIn I shared a post expressing how I’ve reached the limit of my time working largely solo in a tiny shoebox office, and I’m looking for what’s next.I shared some of my paradoxical challenges in my current situation:As a creator, I need a private space and room to make things, play my own music, and be loud on calls when I need toAs a collaborator, I need space for people to roll up their sleeves, whiteboard some ideas, and sit next to me an...

Intentional Schedules for “Builder Brains”Earlier this week, Marc Herson posted on LinkedIn that founders with ADHD operate a little bit differently and suggested that rigorous scheduling systems are the best way to complement that so-called “builder brain” energy. Then he shared he “ADHD Founder Operating Rhythm” schedule as an example for what works for him. Here it is:Source: Marc Herson’s LinkedInWhile I’ve never been diagnosed with ADHD, as soon as I saw Marc’s schedule, I laughed out lo...

The Unfinished Circuit“Mom…! Help me make my circuit.” I look across the table at my 5-year-old’s unfinished after-school project. “Uhhh…looks pretty good to me,” I mumble feebly. “But it’s not done! The light is supposed to turn on, see?” she demonstrates, holding the LED close to the cables. “This one is the hot wire,” she explains, pointing out the red wire. “This black one is the neutral wire. Come on, let’s build!”I’ll admit it, I’m impressed. Her knowledge of proper circuitry terms has ...

Thinking in Mixed MetaphorsI’ll never forget the first time ChatGPT validated one of my off-the-wall mixed metaphors. I was on a flight to a company retreat in December 2023, finalizing slides for a community-building workshop. As I struggled to define the invisible force of power that community building brings to organizations and networks, I looked outside and marveled at the invisible force around me: Airplane flight. It got me wondering… Then I turned to ChatGPT.“If I’m making an analogy ...

Demos & Discussions in the AI AgeLast week, we convened about 40 parents of young kids to learn from each other and to get hands-on with AI. We met not just to talk about what this new technology means for our children, but to build with it. It struck me how quickly “vibe coding” (aka: building software without writing code) has made it possible for parents like us to experiment with technology in deeply personal ways. For me, the first apps I built weren’t for work at all. They were for my f...

When the Weird Becomes the New NormalLast week got weird…even for me. On Tuesday, I was interviewed by a robot hand for an AI documentary premiere. On Wednesday, I co-hosted an event with 50 parents about raising kids in the AI age. And on Thursday, I joined a “prompt battle,” racing to see who could vibe-code the better mini-app in eight minutes. That’s not even counting the other big moments: Leading my first 60-minute workshop at a major tech conference, launching a new app in beta with a ...

Free Build First Events this OctoberEarlier this year, I launched an AI learning lab called Build First which offers practical skills to teach AI fluency through hands-on immersions. My favorite way of getting to learn and build AI this year has been doing it in public, iteratively, and collaboratively. So I’ve been inviting other folks to join along through a series of events and AI Power Hours, where we build something from 0-MVP in 60 minutes flat. Our October events are now live, includin...