Once in a Lifetime

I’ve been watching a quiet movement against subscription software. The cost of building new products is approaching zero. AI tools, no-code platforms, and cloud infrastructure mean a solo founder can ship production-grade software in weeks. Competition for every utility category is exploding. And something interesting is happening with pricing models. My frugality mindset made me seek out lifetime alternatives for tools I knew I’d need long-term. When you’re cost-conscious, you do the math: $15/month = $180/year. For a social posting tool, a screenshot tool, a voice dictation? ...

September 27, 2025

The 'You're Absolutely Right' Test

AI coding has 10x my ship velocity. I’ve crossed a threshold where the bottleneck isn’t writing code, it’s knowing what code to write. This changes my job to be a reviewer and architect, for the most part. The new skill: iterative interrogation until you reach the simplest working solution. Here’s what I’m seeing in practice An agent’s first solution typically optimizes for completeness. It builds the general case. New tables, abstraction layers, API endpoints—all “technically correct.” ...

July 18, 2025