Hi friends, Happy New Year! Looking back at 2025, what a year. I lived in 5 different cities before finally returning to San Francisco. A year ago, 90% of my revenue came from sponsorships. Today, 90% comes from coaching - the work I genuinely love. I created something that doesn't really exist in the tech world: real guidance on building optionality, fulfillment, and agency over your career. The thank-you emails from you who finally found clarity, started building their dream careers, and...
5 days ago • 2 min read
Hi friends, It's December 31st. What a year this has been. I lived in 5 different cities before finally returning to San Francisco. A year ago, 90% of my revenue came from sponsorships. Today, 90% comes from coaching - the work I genuinely love. I created something that doesn't really exist in the tech world: real guidance on building optionality, fulfillment, and agency over your career. The thank-you emails from you who finally found clarity, started building their dream careers, and felt...
6 days ago • 2 min read
Hi friends, Here's what I underestimated when I quit my job at Amazon: I thought having an audience meant having customers. I was wrong. Building an audience and building a business require completely different skills. Let me explain the two business models I experimented with — and what I learned. The Influencer Model: Sponsorships & Partnerships As an influencer, you create content that gets engagement — likes, shares, comments, clicks. The typical business model is getting sponsors on your...
19 days ago • 3 min read
Hi friends, A few weeks ago, one major tech company offered $25K for a few LinkedIn posts. The contract was ready to sign. I said no. Here's back story: Over the past year, I'd been experimenting my business model: podcast and LinkedIn with sponsors, building courses, 1-1 coaching. Each one taught me something about what energized me versus what just paid well. By the time that $25K offer came, I had clarity: I wanted to focus on 1-1 coaching this year. I'm grateful for the opportunity and...
24 days ago • 3 min read
Hi friends, I have been quiet over the last week, because I was busy doing coaching calls with subscribers. Many told me about their "passive income" dreams:"Maybe a course I can sell, or maybe investments." I have some strong opinions on this, and let me tell you what I really think. "Don't sell your time for money." You probably heard about this. "Build passive income. Escape the 9-to-5. Create a product that makes money while you sleep." Here's the inconvenient truth they don't tell you:...
26 days ago • 2 min read
Hey friends, Right before Thanksgiving, I spoke to a few high-achieving senior ICs with 10+ years of work experience. They look at their resume and see a mess: "I worked in health tech for 3 years..." "Then I got into consulting for 5 years..." "Then I got into Data Science for 4 years..." They panic. They think: “I don’t have a niche. I’m a master of nothing. I’m competing against people who have done ONE thing for 15 years." "Should I take more courses? Should I do more side projects? I...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Hi friends, Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not, I want to use this week to pause and look back. Looking back at the last 12 months, here is what I’m deeply grateful for: 1. The "East Coast Dream" and new friends I finally got to experience living in New York for 5 months. Midnight pizza slices. Picnics in Central Park. Rooftop happy hours. Last time I spent 4 weeks there, I went to every meetup I could find. But this time, I was less social. I realized that as I get older, I become...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Hi friends, Last night, someone asked me what I changed my mind about in 2025, and I thought it would be fun to share it with you. I used to think that people building AI startups were stupid. I mean, 90% of AI startups will fail. OpenAI might release something tomorrow that turns their product into just a feature. My former coworker literally put this on his LinkedIn: "working on automating myself out of a job." LOL. Yeah... But why are you still doing it? But I changed my mind about it....
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Hi friends, I'm writing this email to clarify a point. When I wrote about the Contractor Economy - viewing your full-time job as a contract - people thought I meant: do the bare minimum, stop caring, keep one foot out the door. That’s the OPPOSITE of what I meant. Here’s the misconception: People think “contractor mindset” is just quiet quitting with better branding. It’s not. Quiet quitting is disengaging from your work because you’ve given up on it mattering. The contractor mindset is fully...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read