Fridays

It’s Colin’s first Halloween and it’s been a ton of fun for Sophia and I. We dressed him up as a piece of sushi and he’s incredibly cute today. It was a joy dropping him off at daycare with the other babies all dressed up. I’ve never been a huge Halloween guy but I’m loving it as a Father.

On another note, it’s a quiet Halloween Friday in the office where I am maybe one out of five people in the entire coworking space. I do find it interesting just how normal work from home on Fridays has become. I know it’s Halloween and whatnot, but the norm has really become to work from home on Fridays nowadays.

Not that long ago we had companies giving perks like Summer Fridays and work from home on Fridays during non-busy times. My old firm would let us work from home in the off months on Fridays and it was always a treat. I am generally a fan of the trend, but I do find it interesting that Fridays have just become effectively a half day for most people.

I’ve started coming into the office on Fridays myself to try to be as productive as I can with the hopes that I can log off early and enjoy some time before I have to pick-up Colin from daycare and be a Dad all weekend.

At the office especially when it’s quiet, I have all the time to myself to really sit down and grind out work. I’ll usually treat myself to a nice lunch in the city somewhere and then wrap up from a new spot like a coffee shop to enjoy Manhattan.

Keeping motivated

It’s a rainy and windy morning here in New York. Our coworking space feels like there’s maybe 25% of the normal traffic for a Thursday as presumably most people decided to just stay home.

On the work front, there’s not much urgent or pressing right now given the time of the year. There’s no shortage of things to do, but I’m enjoying the lack of hard pressing deadlines right now.

With the weather turning and work in a relative lull, I’ve been pushing myself to enjoy life a bit, but also doing my best to stay motivated and get shit done. It’s sometimes easier said than done especially on days like today where it may be tempting to stay home and have a slow day.

While it may not seem like it, these weeks are incredibly important weeks. Whether it’s knocking out some projects that have been lingering or just accelerating things to get ahead of an end of year rush, these weeks can make or break a quarter or a goal. What we do this week could mean the difference between having a relaxed Christmas or a hectic busy one.

There’s a balance of course. I’ve got to stay motivated and progress things, but it’s also the time of the quarter where we need to relax a bit.

Nvidia $5T and where does OpenAI end up?

Nvidia became the first company valued at $5T yesterday. Apple and Microsoft both crossed $4T as well. The AI boom has been good for the largest players in the space. Call it a bubble, but investors are hungrier than ever to get into the AI boom.

OpenAI also announced that they have restructured their partnership with Microsoft and are now officially a for-profit company. This paves the way for the company to eventually go public.

With the last round at $500B, I wonder how big this IPO can actually get? What is the end goal at IPO? A $1T valuation or perhaps even higher? At this point, I’d wager that $1T would be the floor that they would consider going public at. And if I’m being honest, I wouldn’t be surprised that they get there sooner than later depending on the demand right now.

Is it a bubble or a perhaps once in a lifetime technological advancement? It’s clear that this is both. I don’t know how this will all end up, but I’m still of the belief that the largest companies will benefit the most given the high cost of running AI. So far that has been true.

AI layoffs

Amazon was the big news headline in the tech world as it laid off 14,000 corporate employees today citing making the company leaner and leveraging AI. Apparently, it could affect up to 30k employees and will touch every area of the business. It’s also the largest layoff in company history.

I don’t doubt that companies, especially the large tech companies, need to downsize after the hiring spree post COVID. I know people who constantly brag about how little they work and how much they get paid. However, the size of this layoff is definitely eye opening.

Undoubtedly AI is going to continue to drive layoffs as companies seek to get more efficient. For better or worse, this is just the start of these AI driven layoffs, specifically in big tech. Other big companies are quietly also conducting layoffs just without the scale and noise.

Savoring the last few weeks of baby Colin

I had a good weekend as a solo parent with Colin. We had a fun time hanging out and I took him to playgrounds, play gyms, and even a restaurant for lunch. It was a much different weekend though as my entire day was pretty much focused on Colin. There weren’t many breaks besides his naps and I had 2-3 hours every night after he went to bed for myself at best.

As saying the goes, nothing easy is ever worth it. I suppose that’s why being a parent is incredibly rewarding as it certainly isn’t easy being a Dad. You are definitely giving up most of your personal life for your kids. It’s a choice that I’m happy to make and would make again, but I do miss some time to myself.

I don’t think it’s even the social events or the TV that I miss the most. For me, I really miss the days of being able to go to a cafe with my laptop and just catch-up on things leisurely with no agenda or time frame. I do know that things will continually change as Colin grows older.

It’s hard to ignore just how fast he’s growing. His naps are getting shorter. He’s getting more demonstrative and doing a lot more physically. His personality is starting to come out. I think it’s likely that he’s going to be walking in the next few weeks or so. I’m excited for him to be a toddler, but going to try to savor the last few weeks of him being a baby for now.

Enjoying the moment

Watching Colin grow has been the biggest joy of my life. This morning, I couldn’t help but just stare at him play with his toys. Just a few months ago, we bought him this toy chest where you can take balls and drop them in at the top and the ball rolls down like a roller coaster. When we first got it, he didn’t know what to do with it and barely would watch the balls roll. Now he’s picking them up and dropping them in to watch them himself.

It’s the simple things like watching him develop and progress. As everyone says, these days go by real quick and I need to make sure to enjoy every moment of it. I’m doing my best to stay present whenever I’m with him and focus on just being with him and enjoying the moment.

However, it’s a lot harder than I’d like to admit. There are many moments when I’m just thinking about work with him and I’m not fully present. Last night, I was trying to push through a grocery delivery order while also playing with him. The craziness of life does creep up and my monkey brain has always liked to jump around.

However, the most important thing right now is Colin and I need to remember that I’ll miss these days. Everything else can wait for until after bedtime.

Special weekend of solo parenting

Sophia left this morning to go back to SF for a wedding so I’m solo parent for the long weekend. I’ve done it before so I’m not worried or stressed, but undoubtedly it is much more difficult and you just have to be more on top of your game.

Difficulties aside, I’m excited for the alone time with Colin. It forces me to be much more present and focused on Colin. For better or worse, I have to be laser focused on just being a Dad and taking care of him.

I’m not sure what we’ll do yet. I’ll probably stick to the model of one activity a day as anything more than that is just too exhausting for me and I don’t want to overstretch myself. At the end of the day, at this age, it’s more so spending time with him.

Healthy politics

We’ve been having healthy and educated debates in the office about the NYC mayoral race. It’s been really refreshing given today’s politic environment. There’s a good contingent of folks who are pro-Zohran and a good contingent against him.

We come from different backgrounds and countries, and many of us have differing political views. Being able to have educated and civil conversations about the Mayoral race has been really interesting and eye-opening.

This is what it’s all about. We need to be able to listen to another’s opinions and views, and keeping an open mind about it. I’ve learned a lot from my pro-Zohran colleagues and while I haven’t changed my mind about him, I am more hopeful that he would work as Mayor.

AI content

Since OpenAI’s launch of Sora 2, my social media feeds have been filled with AI generated videos. These videos are getting so good that I’ve had to do a double take at times to make sure that it was indeed AI generated.

The speed at which AI is advancing is remarkable and we’re watching it all live. It was just a year ago where AI generated short clips were barely watchable.

At what point does the majority of content on social media just become AI generated? I’d guess that it’s going to happen sooner than later. I am curious as to how consumers, and social media platforms, reward or nerf AI generated content.

Will consumers remain partial to real people like content creators today? Or will it not matter if the content is AI generated in the future as long as the content is good? There’s something to be said about authenticity in the modern world. At the same time, content is king and people cannot consume enough of it.

Back at it

I’m much happier going into work on a Monday this week after the week off. It’s night and day to where I was a couple weeks ago. I’m stoked to get back into it and close out the year strong. On a personal level, these next 2 months are going to be about living a healthier life style. That means getting back into shape and also a much healthier work-life balance. I want to feel great going into the holidays.

On the work front - the government shutdown has put IPOs for Q4 in jeopardy. We had a strong Q3 performance of IPOs and had thought that we’d see another handful of tech IPOs in Q4. However, the uncertainty of the government shutdown effectively leaves a 2 week gap before Thanksgiving and a 2 week gap after Thanksgiving for companies to go public. I’d guess that many companies will likely just wait until 2026 at this point.

Tanned, bitten, and ready to be home

I’m back home in New York after spending 5 nights at a resort in Playa Mujeres just outside of Cancun. Overall, I had a great vacation with the family and personally I accomplished what I wanted to do which was unwind, detox from work, and rest.

It was our first perhaps “real” vacation as a family of three. We’ve taken small weekend trips before and done road trips, but we hadn’t flown somewhere new and exotic with Colin yet. As always, he was great on this trip and seemed to have a great time.

We spent our entire time on the resort doing I suppose what most families do at these all-inclusive resorts which was sleep, pool/beach, and eat. It was not the most exciting trip, but perhaps this is the just new the reality of traveling with young kids. That’s something that I’m still getting used to and perhaps this trip was the first big taste of it.

Regardless, I did have an overall good time despite this not being the most adventurous vacation that I typically enjoy. Most importantly, I was able to get away from work and I’m proud to say that I did not open my laptop once. I did read my Slack and emails, but I mostly refrained from responding to anything.

For just that reason alone, it was a trip well worth it. I was fully able to get my mind off of work and focus on just enjoying life a bit more. I needed to get away and recharge a bit and this trip allowed that. It was great for Sophia and I to be able to get away from home for a bit and spend some time with each other as well.

On top of my personal needs, it was also awesome being able to spend the week with Colin at the resort. We created some special memories on his first international trip and I was happy to be able to cherish those moments with him.

Alas, I’m back home in New York and I’m here for the entire month until the holidays start. I’m excited to finally be back and nursing the maybe 50 mosquito bites I have all over my body. Our busy summer and fall schedule is now officially over and we can focus on ourselves and enjoying New York.

Not a victim

I’ve held a lot of anger and frustration these last few months than I have in my life. The combination of exhaustion from new fatherhood alongside the work stress has really taken a toll. When these stressful moments hit, I have recently had a tendency to blame others for the issues. Some of the things that I’ve said over the last few weeks:

“This person is causing me a lot of stress”

“I’m tired because you made me go on that weekend trip”

I’ve unfortunately let things spiral especially the last couple of months. It’s easy to play victim here when things are tough and I’ve let that creep up in my life. This isn’t me though.

One of my mantras in life is that I am responsible for everything in life whether that is good or bad. Of course that’s never fully 100% true, but it’s something I’ve lived by the last 10 years. In other words, I take full responsibility and ownership of my life and I am in control of it.

Playing victim does me no good in life and puts the blame on other people. In reality, I am in control of my life and I need to do better. I can say no to things. I can force myself to get more rest. I can get myself to a better physical and mental state. It all starts with realization though and I hope today is a good turning point to get everything back on track.

The Degenerate Era

The news of the private markets was prediction startup Polymarket raising a massive round at a $9B valuation yesterday. There’s many crazy aspects of this, but one of the things that stood out was that there are only about 50 employees at the company right now. Hats off to the Polymarket team.

When COVID hit, I fully bought into the degenerate era. Between stock picking and traditional gambling, Americans were flocking for entertainment. I definitely did not predict that the vehicle that degenerates would flock to in 2025 is through the “prediction market” startups. Of course, they are not just offering predictions on real world events anymore. They have gone into where events happen almost everyday which is in sports.

The regulatory agencies do not seem intent on slowing this down although I do see the big money casinos possibly having a say in this down the road. Regardless, the product-market fit here is proven.

Americans love to gamble and this is the era of the degenerate. We’ve only begun to get started.

Recovery and the AI upcharge

While I’m far from feeling great again, I feel a lot better than I did yesterday. My voice and energy levels are starting to come back, and I’m no longer coughing every 30 seconds. I’m viewing the next few weeks as a “recovery” period for me.

The past two months have been filled with various illnesses, exhaustion, and elevated stress levels. Some of this was was unavoidable like my son bringing home various sicknesses from daycare constantly which seems to be the norm in the fall. But of course a lot of it was very much avoidable as well with way too many trips and exhausting travel.

With our vacation next week and then the rest of October and November prior to Thanksgiving at home in New York, this is the period of recovery for me where I can focus on my physical and mental health. Life should get a lot more boring which is exactly what I need right now in my life.

On another note, it feels like the “AI upcharges” have started to hit our SaaS subscriptions. We upgraded our Slack this morning and it’s now loaded with AI features that supposedly previously weren’t there. Of course, this all came with a cost of these features and it was not a optional upgrade.

I suspect nearly everyone of my SaaS subscriptions will try to do the same. Slowing growth rates across the board for SaaS is going to create pressure to find growth in some areas. While this is all predictable and I’m not surprised, it’s going to be interesting to see what new products actually add value and what is effectively a wrapper on an existing product.

It’s only been an hour, but I have yet to see anything in my Slack look any different than before.

Slowing life down a bit

I’m finally back home after being on the road for the last 2 weeks and it was an incredibly exhausting one. Between all the personal events like a wedding, spending time with the inlaws and Colin, and traveling mixed in with a hectic work schedule, I feel like these last two weeks took years off my life.

It wasn’t all so bad though. I had a good time out in Amsterdam and then had some time with a friend in DC for the UW and Maryland game which was a lot of fun. We also closed out the quarter strong despite all the craziness. But alas, I am sitting here on a Monday at home and the cold I caught last week seems to have struck back, and I do feel like I’ve been hit by a dump truck.

Once again, my body is telling me once again that I need to do a better job taking care of it. I am 35 and I am no longer in my “youth”. Despite this, I am still very good at “powering through” when I am tired and exhausted. Whether that’s staying up for another drink with a friend despite the yawns, or simply just saying yes to a social event despite really needing a night in, I’m pretty damn good at it.

With Colin at 11 months now and both Sophia and I feeling exhausted from life, it’s a good time that we take a breather and slow down our lives a bit. That likely means more nights in and less alcohol. More healthy eating and exercise. My body and mental health could really use that break.

Time to relax

I’ve got yet another cold. I can’t tell if Colin just picked up something and gave it to me, or if I just caught something during all my travels. Either way I suppose it’s the new normal to be sick all of fall now with a kid and lack of sleep.

Luckily, the quarter is finally over and after spending the morning wrapping up on a few things, I can take some time off to relax the next few days and try to get caught up on life.

That leaves me with about a half day to go out and try to enjoy Charlottesville. It’s a gorgeous day and I need to get out and get away from my computer for a bit. I’m fortunate to have this time with Sophia, Colin, and my in-laws and I plan on focusing on that the next couple of days. It’s time to relax a bit after an exhausting quarter.

Another end of the quarter

It’s yet another end of the quarter. For better or worse, every quarter is the same with lots of deadlines going to the last minute. It’s the nature of the business as startups have lots of changes at the end of each quarter and people are busy in the last month of the quarter.

For me, I have most of the day booked to focus on closing things out. Then I’m hoping to wrap some things up in the morning tomorrow. My hope is that I’ll be able to take pretty much the rest of the week off to relax.

I’m always spent by the end of the quarter. This quarter was especially difficult with all the travel and I could use a few days of rest and some good quality time off. Luckily, I have a trip to Mexico with the family in a week and half that I’m really looking forward to. It’ll be our first extended vacation this whole year.

Before I know it, it’ll be the holidays and the end of Q4 which comes with it’s own set of challenges. My focus this month is making sure I get some good rest and get back to a good mindset. I can feel the burnout creeping up and that time off is going to be critical to make sure I’m on top of my game to close out the year strong.

A change of pace in Charlottesville

After a long week and weekend, I’ve made it to our Airbnb in Charlottesville where we’ll be staying for the week with the in-laws. As expected, it was a rough Friday of travel flying from Amsterdam to Virginia for a weekend wedding.

I made it to the welcome party for a beer and then volunteered to take Colin back to the hotel and sleep. I had a good time during the wedding on Saturday, but I bowed out early and took an Uber back with Sophia before the shuttles left. Thus is the life of a parent I suppose.

Candidly, I wasn’t very excited to be here in Charlottesville for the week. After being gone, I just wanted to be home. But now that I’m here, I’m glad we took the time. It’s great for my in-laws to get quality time with Colin and they seem to be loving being grandparents. It’s also helpful to have an extra set of hands helping out.

It’s also fun to change the scenery a bit and get out. I feel fortunate that I can work remote from here. A change of pace in my hectic life was exactly what I needed. I’m hoping to grind things out the next couple of days so I can enjoy the last two days exploring the city a bit. There’s a ton of history in the area and I’m excited to see what it has to offer.

Last day in Amsterdam

Just as I’ve started to beat the jet lag and get comfortable, I’m nearing the end of my trip to Amsterdam.

We had a great 2.5 half days with the team here so far. We spent all of Tuesday and Wednesday at an offsite planning for the next 2 years of Secfi. We touched upon everything from hiring plans to potential company trips. It was an incredibly productive couple of days.

Of course, we had to mix in some fun in the mix so we had working drinks and dinner. I’ve known everyone on the team for 4+ years now, but it is always a good idea to get together and build some camaraderie.

I decided to stay an extra day so I could hang out with the product and engineering team at our office all day. I’m not here in Amsterdam often anymore so I thought it was a good idea to dedicate an entire day to see them and also hang out a bit. I’m glad I did as it would’ve been a shame to head back last night or this morning so quickly. So today’s focus is definitely around spending time with the team more.

I do love it in Amsterdam. Perhaps after my 10th+ trip a few years ago, I took it for granted and didn’t appreciate it as much. I’m already getting sad to leave. Luckily, I have the morning tomorrow to walk around and explore a bit before my flight. Perhaps next time, I’ll carve out an entire day before or after work so I can do a proper catch-up with the city.

Hello from Amsterdam

I powered through the red eye flight and made it to the Amsterdam office with only a 20 minute power nap at my hotel. Like almost always, the thought and anxiety of the flight was a lot worse than the actual flight. I’m sitting here at 3pm Amsterdam time in fairly good spirits and energy.

The gorgeous Amsterdam day definitely helps things. I forgot just how much I love the city and Dutch culture. The Dutch are some of the best people in the world. There’s not too many other countries with such a focus on community and the environment.

Ideally, I’d have a bit more time to hang out and explore Amsterdam again. But this trip is for work and I’m hyperfocused on making the best use of my time out here. It’s going to be a great week and there’s not many better places for me to get shit done than Amsterdam.