essays

best read top to bottom. they build on each other, so the newest one is at the end.

nobody showed me how

on Reddit at 2am, cold emails that changed everything, and what happens when the guide doesn't exist.

18 min read

context transfer is dead

on the thing nobody's talking about, the spreadsheet that broke my brain, and why your 21-year-old intern might be more valuable than your VP.

14 min read

three sentences that governed my entire life

on the quotes you don't find. you earn them.

11 min read

i'm writing for the person i was at 2am

on brain rot, the 47-second attention span, and why i'm deliberately ignoring every content rule that exists.

13 min read

your to-do list has been lying to you for 20 years

and other thoughts about productivity tools in the age of AI agents.

10 min read

you cannot be this person for yourself

on the cheapest therapist you'll ever have, the 11pm test, and the thing Armon Dadgar said about HashiCorp that i haven't stopped thinking about.

19 min read

stop selling subscriptions. sell work minutes.

on the $954 billion invisible tax, the death of per-seat pricing, and why the smartest companies aren't replacing their EAs. they're giving them superpowers.

10 min read

everyone thinks i'm older than i am

on immigrant pragmatism, the friends who made obvious things obvious, and why success is environmental.

11 min read

the fake winners

on $2.5M raised for nothing, why Sora died with a billion eyeballs, and the specific flavor of validation that ruins founders.

16 min read

the creation myth

on the lie at the center of every startup story, why Ivan Zhao moved to Kyoto on a $150k loan from his mom, and the math of not quitting.

29 min read

you were never given, you were built

on the luxury of 'finding your path,' 300 applications into the void, and why the kids who had to write their own first draft are the ones least surprised right now.

18 min read