Reflections After Six Months on a Career Break

I’m wrapping up an unexpected but perfectly timed six-month professional pause.

Right as generative AI tools exploded into the mainstream, a whole new world opened up. The playing field shifted — suddenly, individuals like me could ideate, build, test, and ship like small teams. After a few sleepless nights filled with prompts, prototypes, and potential, I realized: I needed a plan.

So I split my time into two main tracks:

Track 1: Turning ideas into products

I dove into product-building headfirst. I learned how almost any idea can be turned into an app — faster and more independently than ever. I explored how to drive traffic from channels I’d never used before.

I built apps and games — sold one, monetized two. Along the way, I spent more than I’d planned on tokens and learned (sometimes the hard way) what DevOps and testing really mean in a solo setup.

I also built my own ideation funnel — capturing ideas, speaking with dozens of potential users, and developing several concepts into MVPs.

I built, deleted, shared, iterated, pivoted, and returned — and that loop still continues. It’s a great loop if you enjoy creative friction.

Coming from marketing and GTM, reaching an audience came relatively naturally. But even with that edge, I still ran into the usual early-stage gaps: UX, polish, and credibility. And most of the time, those gaps require funding — even in this new era of "build fast with AI," scaling something meaningful still takes more than just tools.

Track 2: Helping others go to market

At the same time, I started working as a freelancer — helping businesses with go-to-market strategy, content, and execution.

Generative AI gave me developer hands, but also editorial precision and analytical power. I began weaving these capabilities into a structured workflow I now call GTM as Code — a way to treat marketing operations as something scalable, testable, and modular. More about that in my GTM as Code blog series.

And in between — ideas for the commons

Not everything I explored was designed to be monetized.

Some ideas were simply meant to make things better — in education, journalism, public access to knowledge, and everyday digital infrastructure.

Ironically, this is where AI might be most impactful — in areas that VC usually won’t touch. Unsexy problems. Niche user groups. Public systems. Things that won’t 10x your ARR, but could 10x someone’s experience of the world.

Thanks to GenAI, what used to take a team and a grant now takes… curiosity and a few tools. We’re just beginning to see what’s possible here — and I plan to stay close to that space.

If you're a student or builder looking for a meaningful side project — reach out. I’ve got a list.