You’re receiving this monthly newsletter because you’ve been a valuable part of my life in some shape or form (or I’d like for you to be 🙂). See this video for context.
Let’s catch up sometime :)
What I’ve been up to 🌱
Work has been thrillingly busy. We’ve right in the middle of several GenAI conversations across multiple layers of the GenAI stack—from conversations wtih implementation partners looking to build fluency in AI to LLMs excited to bring their platforms to leading enterprises. On top of the innovation consulting work, my team successfully launched PokerGPT to the public. It’s been a long time coming, but we were able to generate our first dollar of revenue and share our product to hundreds of users. In the middle of some exciting times at Onova.
On the side, speed has been slowly picking up on myrel, social PRM mobile application that me and a few friends are building on nights and weekends. We launched a local profile page, enabled QR code profile sharing, and redesigned our inbox to generate a smoother user experience. We debuted a v2 beta in New York to The Girls’ Club, and have plans on putting this up in the App Store within the next 2 months :)
I had a very successful first month of the year aligned to my 2024 theme focus. I’ve reconfigured my systems (now adding Arc Browser and Notion Calendar to my stack of Things3 and Superhuman), deprioritized distracting hobbies (eg. poker, social events, tech parties), and prioritized spending time with family, growing roots in a few aspects I want to be very strong as, and in my faith. I’m being quite intentional about keeping in line with my theme this year, and hoping to keep it up in the rest of the 11 months of the year.
What I’ve been thinking/learning about 💭
I’ve started this year with a commitment to spending more time around masterful individuals—people who focus and do a select few things extremely well. I’ve purchased a Kindle, reconfigured my iPhone home screen, and cleaned out my content subscriptions to reflect that. Recently, I’ve been listening to interviews with product leaders through Lenny’s Podcast, hearing about various ways they approach resource allocation, engineering strategy, and product vision. It’s been an interesting primer for the resultant rabbit holes that I’d eventually find myself going towards (eg. on managing engineering teams and communication with leadership). I’ve been using these learnings across the many verticals of my life (relationships, faith, careers) and I’ve been seeing a lot of positive learnings from it.
At a recent dinner I had, someone told me I was quite intense—and that got me thinking quite a bit. I started thinking about intensity and the meaning of that. I was caught off-guard because I had never thought of or have been referred to as that before. After thinking through this a little more, I realized that this was not an inaccurate depiction of what I was subconciously striving for. In line with my 2024 theme of focus, I am strongly convinced that optimal progress (and relatedly, fulfillment) is often related to high-quality work on an urgent timeline. I say urgent because this is a by-product of passion (eg. if you care about something, you want to share it quickly with people).
Lmk if you are (or know someone who is) working on or thinking about the above!
Personal asks 🙏
We’re looking to hire at Onova! If you or anyone you know is interested in creating product-focused hackathons to drive cool tech and innovation at the enterprise level, let me know.
I’d want to gather some more feedback on relationships for myrel. My question to all of you: how do you share your contacts with people you just meet? It would be great to hear a response in the comments or a reply to this email on this :)
What’s next for me ⚡️
Heading over to Europe for a friends trip in the middle of February. If anyone will be in Lisbon, Porto, Barcelona, or Paris from Feb 15-24, let me know!
Continuing the grind. I’m preparing for a Capgemini x Google Gemini Hackathon and a near-future App Store launch.
Thanks for reading this month’s update. Would love to hear how I can help you this month (maybe I can make some intros, work through some thoughts with you, or otherwise). See you next month 👋
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Loved reading these updates Brandon! Your “intensity” is what makes you special and is definitely one of your greatest strengths — as both a colleague and a friend ☺️💙