Man Man gives me hope
Khaman Maluach is the starting center for Duke men’s basketball this year, and beyond being an incredible player, he’s one of the most positive and inspiring figures in sports today. His infectious energy and unwavering positivity are a much-needed source of inspiration during these challenging times. Check out this incredible story of how he discovered basketball and found his way to Duke!
Building PathSights
Last year, I had a product idea I was eager to build. As a people manager, I faced a recurring challenge that I wanted to solve. I did all the upfront work—defining the problem, validating my assumptions, researching competitors, and identifying market opportunities. I was excited and ready to move forward.
Then, I hit a wall: actually building the MVP 🤯.
Traditionally, getting a product off the ground means either hiring developers or finding a technical co-founder who shares your passion. Both are steep hurdles, and without a clear path forward, my idea stalled.
AI Changed Everything
Fortunately, we’re in the age of generative and agentive AI, where building software is no longer limited to those with deep engineering expertise. I could write an entire post about why I’m optimistic about AI’s role in software development, but in short: AI empowers anyone to build and launch products.
Of course, challenges remain—cost, understanding basic software principles, and learning how to work effectively with AI tools—but the barriers are lower than ever.
I had given up on my product idea until tools like Loveable started appearing. At first, I was skeptical. Could I really build an app myself, without knowing how to set up databases, handle authentication, or write backend logic?
Turns out, yes. And in the process, I became a whole lot smarter.
From Zero Code to a Working Product in Three Weeks
In just three weeks, I took my year-old product concept and began building it—simply by prompting Loveable. I quickly learned that Loveable operates on a limited number of messages, so I started optimizing my prompts using ChatGPT before submitting them. Looking back, it’s wild to think that in just a month, I went from no code to a functioning app that people can actually sign into and use.
The Product: PathSights
Throughout my career—both as an Individual Contributor and a People Manager—I’ve often struggled with unclear roles and expectations. How many times do we see our job description after getting hired? How often do we truly understand what’s expected at the next level?
This is the problem I set out to solve.
My hypothesis: By giving managers a clear space to define roles, career paths, and structured 1:1s, we can improve manager-IC relationships and help organizations retain top talent. When people feel valued and see a clear growth path, they’re more likely to stay and thrive.
I’m starting with a manager-focused view that enables:
Clearly defined roles
Custom career paths
Meaningful 1:1s
In the coming weeks, I’ll be reaching out to my network to test these initial features. If all goes well, I’d love to expand PathSights into a collaborative tool for both managers and individual contributors.
If any of this sounds useful or interesting check it out at www.pathsights.com.
Thanks for stopping by ✌️
Designing with Gen AI
Last week, I stirred up a conversation on LinkedIn by predicting that Figma will evolve into a tool primarily for defining styles, while generative AI tools like Loveable and Replit will become the faster, more efficient way to mock up designs. If there’s one thing that gets Designers talking, it’s predictions about design tools!
Honestly, I wouldn’t have believed this myself a few months ago—but as they say, seeing is believing.
My Experience with Loveable
Recently, I started using Loveable to work on one of my own product concepts. I had a page layout in mind, so I described it in a simple text prompt. In seconds, Loveable generated the front-end code and rendered the interface.
The eerie part? The design looked strikingly similar to a Figma mockup I had created months ago. Intrigued, I kept going. After about fifteen prompts, I had multiple pages of my app built and interacting with each other.
It felt incredible.
Was the interface perfect? No. Did I have to tweak and refine elements? Of course. But in just thirty minutes, I had a functional starting point for a web app—without spending a single second nudging pixels in Figma.
This was a "once you see it, you can't unsee it" moment for me. These tools will take time to mature, but I don’t think there's any turning back.
Will Gen AI Make Designers Obsolete?
Absolutely not. Many designers worry that AI will replace us, but I see it differently. AI won’t eliminate design jobs—it will fundamentally change how we work, just like every major technological shift before it.
I’m going to date myself here, but I remember designing before CSS. The first products I worked on were built in Flash and HTML, and much of my job involved exporting images for UI elements like rounded-corner buttons, which seems absolutely insane now. If you know you know.
Just like CSS, Figma, and other breakthroughs in tech, AI will reshape design—but it won’t replace the need for thoughtful, strategic designers. Instead of focusing on tedious tasks, we’ll now be able to spend more time defining the right problems to solve and crafting better experiences.
The future isn’t about AI versus designers—it’s about how we evolve alongside these tools.
Where to get started
If you’re feeling anxious about AI’s role in design, take a deep breath, stay curious, and have fun exploring. You don’t need to be an expert (no one is yet) or even have a fully formed opinion—but you do need to be aware of AI’s capabilities and how it can enhance your work as a designer.
A great way to start is by experimenting with some of the tools shaping this shift:
I’m always up for discussions about Design and Tech so reach out to me on LinkedIn if you want to continue the conversation.
My Midjourney Attachment
I first started using Midjourney in the summer of 2022, right when it launched. At the time, it wasn’t all that impressive, but every few months, they would push an update, and I started to see its potential. The tech was cool, but it still felt a bit gimmicky. Still, I kept playing around with it just to see how it evolved—and at some point, I decided to sign up for a paid subscription.
As the product improved and started generating images that actually matched my prompts, I found myself using it almost every day to explore ideas. It didn’t take long before I found practical uses for it, like creating cover art for music albums.
I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but at some point, creating images in Midjourney just became part of my daily routine. And if I’m being honest, I’ve gotten pretty attached to it. I don’t always do much with the images I create, but there’s something really therapeutic about visualizing ideas in seconds and bringing random thoughts to life. It’s a great feeling to type something like “abstract time-space continuum” and instantly get a few wild interpretations.
I don’t think AI should replace traditional art, but I also don’t see why we wouldn’t use it to explore concepts and spark new ideas.
At the end of the day, I’m not taking AI image generation too seriously—I’m just having fun with it. Here are some of my favorite generations from 2024.
Legend in Hearthstone, Finally
I remember seeing Hearthstone before it was released and being completely amazed. It looked like a combination of two of my all-time favorite games, World of Warcraft and Magic The Gathering. It turned out to be exactly that, but smoother to play and entirely online.
Hearthstone features a ladder system where players gain and climb ranks. While the system has changed over the years, it essentially boils down to two tiers: Legend and Pre-Legend. Once you reach Legend, you stop climbing ranks and instead get an overall number rating relative to other Legend players. Wins and losses affect your rank within Legend, but you can’t fall out of it.
In the ten years I’ve been playing this game, I never once made it to Legend. Partly because the grind is intense and partly because I’ve never been interested in playing the “meta” decks with high win percentages. My preference has always been to play for fun—whether that’s chasing memes or experimenting with whatever flavor of deck excites me during the current expansion.
Last month, something shifted. For some reason, I picked Hearthstone back up and decided it was time to get the Legend monkey off my back. I climbed all the way to Diamond with three wins—just one away from Legend—only to hit a terrible losing streak. Frustrated, I gave up.
Then, at the start of January, I had a change of heart. I told myself, “Get back in there, see how it goes, and if you happen to climb well, maybe go for it.” I picked up the same deck I used last month, Secret Hunter, and shot up from Bronze to Diamond in just a few days. I’d never climbed that fast before.
From there, I mostly stuck with Secret Hunter but mixed in a few games of Swarm Shaman whenever I ran into decks heavy with Taunts. After countless games, I finally made it to Legend! Check out the screenshot from my first game at Legend—you can see just how insane this Hunter deck can get in only a few turns.
NJ Drones
As someone who grew up on Unsolved Mysteries and The X-Files, my fascination with aviation and UFOs goes way back. I’ve seen just about every goofy UFO video out there, but what’s been happening in New Jersey this past week? It’s something else entirely.
If you haven’t heard, the skies west of Newark have been lighting up every night with... drones? At least, that’s what they seem to be. As soon as the sun sets, a swarm of drones starts buzzing around, and they stay up there all night long. Tons of people have been posting videos of it, and honestly? It’s super weird.
Now, as much as I love UFO lore, I’m a pretty skeptical guy when it comes to videos. But this? There are just so many sightings, night after night, that it’s hard to brush off. Even MSNBC covered it, so... that’s gotta mean something, right?
My favorite artist of 2024, mk.gee
It’s been a long time—probably ten years—since a new artist genuinely surprised and moved me, but Mk.gee has done exactly that. Like most discoveries these days, I stumbled on him through YouTube, watching a live performance of his song “Are You Looking Up.” I must’ve watched that video five times in a row, then kept coming back to it daily for the next two weeks.
Not to sound cheesy, but the vibe of that song and video just hit so right. Mk.gee has this incredible way of feeling both familiar (big time Police vibes) and completely fresh at the same time. As a guitarist, I’m obsessed with the tone he’s created—it’s funky, textured, and unmistakably him. I also love how he kind of does “his thing” on every song, but instead of feeling repetitive, it’s just so genuine. A great guitarist doesn’t need to overcomplicate things—they can do a lot with a little.
What’s especially fascinating about Mk.gee is this: his albums? They’re… okay. But his live performances? Absolutely next level. It reminds me of how I felt about Dave Matthews Band back in high school. I liked their studio stuff, but it was the bootleg live albums and concerts that really made me a fan.
I’m super bummed I missed Mk.gee’s recent tour, but I’m excited to try and catch him next time he’s on the road. Check out his incredible live performance of ROCKMAN from SNL a few weeks ago.
Back to blogging
I’m getting kind of tired of social media these days. It feels like there’s this never-ending pressure to create engaging content. Remember when the internet felt more... pure? When we’d just share whatever was on our minds without overthinking it or chasing likes? I miss that.
These days, social platforms just don’t feel like they’re built for that kind of simplicity. Over time, I’ve found myself posting less, scrolling more, and slowly turning into a professional lurker. And honestly? It sucks.
I love the internet (yes, I’ll keep calling it that), and I actually enjoy putting stuff out there. So, I’m trying something different: blogging on my own little corner of the web again. Short posts. Journal entry vibes. No algorithms, no engagement anxiety, no worrying about whether anyone reads it.
If you’re here, hi! Thanks for stopping by. And if you’re feeling the same way, I hope you find your own space online—a spot where you can just be you.