Things I would have done differently (consulting)

5 hours ago

Investing in tools earlier, even for small monthly fees, saves time and money in the long run.
Manually handling invoices and time tracking was inefficient; switching to a $40/month SaaS tool reduced invoicing time from 2-3 hours to 30 minutes.
A $1k/year time tracking tool immediately highlighted missed billing that paid for three years of cost in the first month.
Building reusable internal tools has provided ongoing benefits both financially and for team morale.
Trusting gut instincts about clients, projects, or teams is usually correct about 80% of the time and should be heeded.
Avoid building custom versions of existing SaaS tools unless the cost justifies it, such as for very expensive subscriptions over $200/seat/month.

AI models have reached an inflection point where their output is worth more than the cost for real development work, leading to increased inference spending.
The author's annual AI inference spend grew from $100 in 2023 to $5000 in 2025, reflecting growing utility.
o1-pro was the first model consistently useful for professional coding, capable of debugging large files and saving hours per week.

Simple Gantt is an easy way to build project timelines, track progress, and keep projects on schedule.
No per-seat pricing; same price regardless of team size, with unlimited teammates on paid plans.
Quick setup: create an account and your first project is ready automatically in seconds.

Open Design was built as an open-source, local-first alternative to Claude Design within eleven days by Tom Huang's team.
The development process emphasized 'humans write the contracts, agents write the implementation, and validation decides what survives.'
Key features include BYOK (bring your own key) support for 22 agent CLIs, Apache-2.0 licensing, and a file-first method using DESIGN.md for design systems.

Jim Barksdale's theory: there are only two ways to make money in business: bundling and unbundling.
The author accidentally started a Ruby+AI meetup (Artificial Ruby) in New York, which grew to 60+ attendees.
Running the meetup involved tedious tasks like syncing RSVPs, newsletters, and estimating attendance, which led to building a custom tool.

AI agents are starting to replace SaaS tools, particularly simpler ones, as the build vs. buy calculus shifts.
Demand for simpler SaaS is evaporating; engineers can quickly build internal tools with agents.
Companies are questioning renewal quotes from enterprise SaaS and considering building solutions themselves.

AI models have reached an inflection point where their output is worth more than the cost for real development work, leading to increased inference spending.
The author's annual AI inference spend grew from $100 in 2023 to $5000 in 2025, reflecting growing utility.
o1-pro was the first model consistently useful for professional coding, capable of debugging large files and saving hours per week.

Simple Gantt is an easy way to build project timelines, track progress, and keep projects on schedule.
No per-seat pricing; same price regardless of team size, with unlimited teammates on paid plans.
Quick setup: create an account and your first project is ready automatically in seconds.

Open Design was built as an open-source, local-first alternative to Claude Design within eleven days by Tom Huang's team.
The development process emphasized 'humans write the contracts, agents write the implementation, and validation decides what survives.'
Key features include BYOK (bring your own key) support for 22 agent CLIs, Apache-2.0 licensing, and a file-first method using DESIGN.md for design systems.

Jim Barksdale's theory: there are only two ways to make money in business: bundling and unbundling.
The author accidentally started a Ruby+AI meetup (Artificial Ruby) in New York, which grew to 60+ attendees.
Running the meetup involved tedious tasks like syncing RSVPs, newsletters, and estimating attendance, which led to building a custom tool.

AI agents are starting to replace SaaS tools, particularly simpler ones, as the build vs. buy calculus shifts.
Demand for simpler SaaS is evaporating; engineers can quickly build internal tools with agents.
Companies are questioning renewal quotes from enterprise SaaS and considering building solutions themselves.

Hasty Briefsbeta