Hi Reader, I went to a VC panel last week. Two investors on stage, a room full of founders, the usual questions about what's getting funded in the age of AI. Halfway through, one of them said founders don't need their permission anymore. She was talking about startups, and I sat there thinking about everyone I know who's weighing whether to go out on their own. What I'm noticing She meant it as a market observation. Building something small and profitable is a solid goal now: something that...
11 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, My first child was born at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. Those first postpartum months were isolating. Every exposure meant ten days home from daycare, and it didn't take long to feel how incompatible that was with a full-time role, and how much it strained our whole family every time someone had to drop everything and take off work. It started to feel wrong that I had to choose between being there for my kid and doing work I cared about. By then I'd been in the workforce...
18 days ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, Fractional Jobs just put out their 2026 Fractional Work Report, a survey of 1,733 fractional workers. The number that caught my eye: 94% have won clients through network referrals, and 72% found their very first client through someone they already knew. That tracks with my own experience - almost every engagement I've had started as a conversation with someone who already knew me. What I'm noticing When you go independent after years in senior roles, you pivot, but the network you...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, A few years ago I saw a functional medicine doctor for the first time. I came in with one complaint, expecting a quick answer and a prescription. Instead she spent the first hour asking about everything else. Sleep, stress, what I ate, what my life looked like ten years ago. She wasn't treating the thing I walked in with. She was trying to figure out what was behind it. I've thought about that visit a lot since. It's close to how I try to work with a business. What I'm noticing...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader, I've noticed something about the people doing the most interesting work with AI right now. They're a little weird. Not weird as in difficult. Weird as in they have a rich interior. Strong convictions about how things should work. Unusual hobbies. A distinct way of seeing that doesn't quite match anyone else's. What I'm noticing For a long time, a lot of professional success ran on being reliably competent at ordinary things. Produce the doc, run the process, hit the standard. AI is...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, When my kids were babies, our pediatrician had one rule she kept repeating: let them chew. Pouches and purees are easy. But babies who only get liquid food are slower to develop the muscles that let them bite, and those same muscles matter for learning to talk. They need to work at real food to build the machinery. The same thing is happening with AI. What I'm noticing We are getting very good at consuming ultra-processed information. Summaries of summaries. The takeaways without...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, A few weeks ago I gave a 90-second lightning talk at a conference in Miami. Experiment Live - a meetup for people who work in experimentation and product. Ten speakers, two minutes each, one slide. Mine was titled "AI grows the tree. You prune it." Here's what I meant. The opportunity solution tree Teresa Torres, who writes and teaches about continuous product discovery, has a framework called the opportunity solution tree. The short version: if you're trying to drive an outcome,...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi Reader, I was talking with someone who spent two decades leading large engineering teams, hundreds of people at peak. She's figuring out what's next, and she said something I keep hearing: "The thing I got good at was managing people. Delegating, figuring out who does what. But teams keep getting smaller and flatter, and I'm not sure that matters anymore." I told her the opposite is true. What I'm noticing As AI agents start doing real work, drafting, analyzing, handling customer...
2 months ago • 1 min read
Hi Reader, There are parts of parenting I would never automate. The bedtime routine. The walk to school. The moment when they climb into your lap for no reason. Those aren't on the list. But school lunch labels? The dentist reminder that could easily be a recurring calendar event? The forms that come around the same time every year? Those I've automated. Without apology. When I went independent, I told myself I wanted to be more present with my kids. What I learned is that presence has less...
3 months ago • 2 min read