Day One: Off to a "Viral" Start

Some founders go viral on day one with a product launch. I went viral with a stomach bug.

But that’s not the real news. I’m launching MuseKat.

MuseKat is my new company, focused on AI-powered learning experiences that make exploration more engaging, personalized, and fun. It’s starting with a museum app that helps parents and kids discover exhibits through custom audio tours. But this is just the first step.

Yesterday was supposed to be my first official day as a founder, but norovirus had other plans. My toddler was up puking all night, my IRL meetings got canceled, and I spent the day in full chaos mode. Honestly? Feels like an oddly fitting start. Because if I’ve learned anything—from COVID career pivots during maternity leave—it’s that there’s never a perfect time to start. You just go.

That’s exactly the mindset I’m bringing to MuseKat. Today, MuseKat looks like a museum learning app for parents to enjoy custom audio tours with their kids—but it’s really about something bigger.

AI is reshaping how we learn, and I see MuseKat as the first step toward making those experiences more personalized, immersive, and curiosity-driven. A few weeks ago, I tested MuseKat at the American Museum of Natural History. Watching real families use it—seeing kids light up, parents lean in, and conversations spark—was the moment it clicked. This wasn’t just an idea anymore; it had real impact.

And this is just the beginning. The way we learn is evolving fast, and at this point, what school looks like at the end of this year—let alone this decade—is anyone’s guess. But instead of waiting to see what happens, I’m building for it.

MuseKat: From Idea to Reality

I’ve spent my career helping great leaders and technologists launch ideas, reorganize teams, and make sense of the madness. But I had never put myself in the driver’s seat until now.

Long-time readers of this blog know this decision has been a long time coming. Some of you even told me my quit your day job energy in December was contagious enough to make you rethink your own plans. (Hopefully not as contagious as the norovirus, but hey, I’m taking notes.)

For years, I’ve been writing about the future of education, work, and community—how technology is reshaping how we learn, work, and connect. But at some point, thinking wasn’t enough. I needed to build.

Since last summer, I’ve been actively exploring possible problem spaces, bouncing between fractional work projects at the intersection of AI and education, starting block associations, and even considering full-time roles. But the more I searched, the clearer it became: There wasn’t a single job out there I wanted more than the one I could create for myself. Once you accept that, it’s a powerful feeling.

For years, I told myself I needed a big idea to start something. Then AI flipped that thinking upside-down. Suddenly, I had more ideas than I could act on, and I realized my generalist background let me move faster than many specialists. I also assumed I needed to code—until I built my first web app in a weekend and saw real families using it in a museum a week later. That was it. The time to build is now.

Why Not Me? Why Not You?

Big changes never come at a perfect time. But the acceleration of technology, the cracks in our institutions, and the sheer potential of what’s possible convinced me that now is the moment to act. For me. But maybe also, for you too.

As I’ve written about, the activation energy between idea and reality has never been smaller. The tools are here. The opportunities are endless. AI’s productivity gains are impossible to ignore. Just this weekend, I built my first AI agent, shipped a new product feature, read two books, and still managed to make it to a friend’s party. When you’re working on something that excites you, the momentum is unstoppable.

Instead of waiting for the next wave of technologists to shape the future, I’m stepping in—and I hope more of you will too. What happens when more business generalists—not just specialist technologists—start companies? When we stop waiting for permission and start doing? When we move beyond understanding the problem space to actually building the solutions ourselves?

I know I’m not the only one feeling this shift. If you’ve been standing at the edge of something new, take this as your sign. Jump in. Experiment. Start before you’re ready.

I’ll be building in public—which means thinking out loud, testing ideas, and learning in real time. And I could use your help.

• If you’re a parent or museum-goer, I’d love your feedback on MuseKat (including on a few new features I'm testing right now).

• If you’re deep in technical architecture, I’d love your advice on scaling AI-driven experiences for the mobile web.

After all, if norovirus can spread overnight, so can new ideas. So let’s get to it.