Ewakened — Tales and takes from the frontline of tech.

Introducing Runner

It was December 28th. I woke up at 6am and Cursor had been running all night. I had Claude working while I slept, writing code, pushing commits, doing things that would have taken me a full day. Just sitting there staring at the screen, coffee getting cold, and realizing life wasn't going to be the same. I got a taste of the agentic workflow and couldn't go back. Turns out I wasn't the only one. When the Christmas break ended, Charlie and Yitong, my co-founders at Agora, had similar epiphanies

How I build: Dec 2025 Edition

I treat AI as a tool and like any tool, people can use the same tools in different ways to acheive different results. I recently realized that I use AI differently than some of my colleagues so I was encouraged to share how I code. Before I talk about the tools and tactics, it's important to remember that I have a golden rule when using AI to code: Don't get AI to build something you don't understand or haven't built at least 3 times before. CRUD application? ✅ Simple Tab View Mobile App? ✅

The Messy Middle

My family is moving into a new house and we wanted to do a little bit of remodelling upstairs. Nothing big, just closing off a wall, making a closet a little bigger and swapping out a sink in the bathroom. My wife's family owns a construction business, so we are lucky to have an inside track with contractors and knowledge. My father in law is a genius, he runs his own construction business but still made time to come and measure, sketch and draw up the plans himself. My wife and I his customers

Someone needs to hear it

So, you want to write something but you are feeling like you can’t finish and post it for a really simple reason: there are 6 people in the world smarter than you on this topic, surely they should write it not you. During an interview today for Agora’s product manager, a warrior of art reminded me of this mental block and it rung so true. How many great pieces of advice, lessons, ideas and inspiration are left unsaid due to someone feeling as though they aren’t qualified enough to talk about it

Agora - Year One

🎯Agora is a software business that I started with Charlie and Yitong. We recently raised a $5M round led by Haun Ventures and are excited about the next chapter of the business. You know that feeling when you start a new job. You are sitting there at your computer, a new one, reading something or typing something, basically trying to look busy. You have this realization that you have no idea who these people are beside you. I mean you know them, but you don't really know them. You are reading t

You are spelling Love wrong

I've got a busy summer. Agora is growing, we just hired our 6th developer and we have some exciting new protocols that we are building decentralized governance for. I shouldn't take a vacation, I am too busy. But I will, and I am. I still see echos of the hustle culture and productivity porn that I came of age professionally in but thanks to Cal Newport's Slow Productivity movement and Tim Ferriss' new outlook on life, I feel the tide is changing. So how do you spell love? T-I-M-E There is

Meta Bites the Apple

Someone on Meta's PR team deserves a big bonus with the announcement of Meta Horizon OS today. 🏃‍♀️Horizon OS is a new platform like iOS or Android designed for VR software. Meta has partnered with other big names, Asus, Lenovo, Xbox to build devices using this new OS. Why does PR get the win? Simple... this is definition press release driven development. If I had to guess, when Apple was ready to launch the Vision Pro back in February and word got out that YouTube and Netflix were absent, so

The AI Race Has Begun

Today marks the beginning of the AI race. Wait, wasn't that a year ago when ChatGPT burst on the scene? ChatGPT created a new paradigm for how we would be interacting with AI models. ChatGPT popularized conversational workflows. These tools works best when you imagine you have a very smart friend sitting beside you. Simply turn to it and ask it anything you want, and well, you get pretty good stuff back. My family is taking a vacation over March break, and we were looking for a place to stay in

They didn’t hire you to sit silently

Just don’t be a jerk about it.

Habit Change That Works

Eawakened: How to Form a Habit That Sticks For 378 days, according to my strides app, I’ve worn the badge of “healthy hands.” That might sound ridiculous coming from a chronic nail biter like me, but trust me, these fingernails – once perpetually bloody stubs – are practically pageant-worthy. No, they’re not ballerina-length masterpieces, but considering my history, they’re pretty darn phenomenal. And I have one unexpected hero to thank: a podcast episode and a simple phrase that shifted my en

The Audio Diet

In this fast-paced world, where every moment counts, I’ve recently noticed a peculiar habit of mine: a relentless quest for sound and information. As a dedicated father and entrepreneur, my days are a juggling act between family responsibilities and business ambitions. This leaves little room for stillness, a rare commodity in my life. For two decades, I’ve embraced meditation, seeking solace in mindfulness. Yet, in a candid admission, I find my mind seldom at rest. Whether I’m engaged in munda

What do to with ideas

In my mind, always bustling with ideas, I find myself constantly trying to create. Everywhere I look, I see opportunities, businesses, and also distractions. My nature is to fully commit to an idea, to nurture and build upon it. Yet, there are always other tempting ideas floating around, luring me to explore them. I am loyal. I ignore these other ideas, knowing I don’t have the time to invest in them. I feel that ideas are like living entities, craving growth and consuming the thoughts and desi

ChatGPT Prompting and Meta Prompting

So, you’re considering using ChatGPT to assist in your work. I find myself using it more than what many might deem reasonable. Why? Deep down, I’m an AI maximalist. I firmly believe that each of us will eventually have a personalized AI companion that will observe our daily activities, identify efficiencies, draw connections our minds might miss, and even tailor communications when we forget. I am excited for this future, and I believe that ChatGPT is a step in that direction. I don’t think thi

What are Droposals?

Before we dive into Droposals, it’s important to understand what Web3 Proposals are. Web3 Proposals – What Are They? In the Web3 universe, Proposals serve as a democratic tool enabling protocol or NFT collection communities to vote on various changes. These could range from alterations to the smart contract, website modifications, or amendments in tokenomics. With the power to vote, the community decides whether these changes should be enacted or not. What’s so unique about Web3 Proposals is

Moving to Next.js Serverless Functions for REST APIs

I’ve recently embarked on rewriting Agora using NextJS 13 and it’s stirring up some serious déjà vu of my Rails and Django days back in 2007-2009. The premise of a framework-driven infrastructure resonates with me. Coupled with the prospect of partnering with Vercel, I’m eagerly anticipating a leaner, more efficient developer experience and a highly performant web app. One of the most exicting new features is serverless function support. This feature, specific to NextJS 13+, has the potential t

I take the call

Lately, I’ve started answering sales calls. Yes, those unexpected interruptions that occur just as you’re settling into work. As a father and husband, I never set my phone to Do Not Disturb or Focus mode, as there’s always the underlying fear of a call from school or camp with news about my children. This leaves the field open for inside sales representatives to make their pitch. Inside representatives arguably have one of the most challenging roles. Their job isn’t primarily to sell a product,

Write, don't copy

Often times as programmers, we use tools like LLMV to copy and paste code from one place to another. We can debate the pros and cons of this another day but my challenge to you is to write the code yourself. Don’t copy and paste. You’ll learn more and you’ll be a better programmer for it. It sounds so simple and trivial but the act of writing out the code that someone else wrote for you, like writing notes as student helps imprint the code in your mind. You’ll be able to recall it faster and yo

Low key excited for Threads

I am excited for Threads. I think it could be the Twitter of old. Let’s go Mark.

GPT4 is the new 3D Printing

There are always new buzzwords and concepts that capture our attention. GPT-4 has been one of the most talked-about developments in the field of artificial intelligence. However, as I look at the trajectory of GPT-4, it’s worth comparing it to a previous moment in tech history: the 3D printing boom of a decade ago. When 3D printing first emerged, it was hailed as a game-changer that would transform the way we live, work, and consume products. The promise was that we would never have to buy anyt

Early Thoughts on NextJS Coming from Ruby on Rails

I have been a Ruby on Rails developer since the pre 1.0 days and truly do love the framework and all it has to offer. However, for those paying attention, around the time of Rails 4-5ish area the growing power of React and Node was becoming overwhealming and while DHH and Basecamp were still driving a ton of innovation on the front-end with their Basecamp.com re-write and the addition of webpacker, it became clear that the Rails way was falling short when compared to tools like React. I recenty

How to Not Land a Starship

I was visting my parents today and my mom brought up the Starship explosion. In case you missed it, the testflight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket exploded this week during a testflight. I am sure this was a dissapointing day and a massive setback, but did you know that in 2023, as of this writing in April, there have been 24 documented successful Falcon 9 missions from SpaceX. 24 successful missions where a Falcon 9 goes up, comes back down, and lands by itself. You probably didn’t know that. My p

Fickle minds

Not more than a year ago I told myself and the world that I would stop jumping around from blogging platform to platform. Dreamweaver then Blogger then Posterous then Wordpress then Ghost then Jekyll then Posthaven then Hugo then Gatsby then Wordpress then Jekyll And here we are, and here we will stay.

More coffee dates

My resolution this year is to say yes to more of those coffee dates you get asked to go on. They start like Hey! I was wondering if I could grab a coffee with you and get your help with hunting for my next gig, been working as a growth PM for a year now and figured you’d be a good resource for tips on making my next move Sometimes these are fishing expeditions, driven around getting a new job or introduction, but often, as advertised, someone out there either looks up to you, respects your opi

Consistency Is Hard

I will write a book, how hard can it be? I think back to this article I read So You Want to be a Writer?, that prompted me to publicly commit and write this writing daily and back then, in September I committed to write 80 posts by the end of the year. I have written… 7. Consistency is hard. I have read many books on habits, on kaizen, on daily improvement, all of that and all I have really learned is that consistency is hard. Am I too hard on myself though? I’ve got a busy day job, a healthy