A living trail of things I’m building, breaking, or pretending to finish.
Some are active, some are dust. All of them taught me something.
This is where I track the chaos, one sprint, stumble, and saddle-up at a time.
Total projects: 15 (Only projects where I was the founder)
🟢 3 succeeded, 🟡 6 somehow, 🔴 5 failed, ⏳ 2 in progress.
Last update: Jun 2025
Air Fiesta ⏳
Aug 2025 – Present
Based on user feedback from Airtales, it’s a hot air balloon multiplayer game for people who love traveling. People can join virtual festivals around the world and discover local hidden gems, like scavenger hunts.
What’s happening?
The game is published for desktop. It’s fun to play, and I have received some feedback, but I feel it still needs a lot of work to be considered a real game. Game development has this aspect where you need to build something to get a sense of whether it’s fun or not, which is quite different from app development, where you quickly create an MVP that solves a problem and then start polishing.
Airtales 🟡
Jun 2025 – Aug 2025
Inspired by Neal game experiments, this was a google earth crowd-play experiment to go back to my roots (game development) and one of my passions (maps).
What happened?
This project was meant to either pivot or shut down. There was no clear business model or a way to at least sustain itself (Google Maps API is not cheap). It was a game where people joined a hot air balloon (everyone on the same balloon) and voted on what to do next, whether to move the balloon, listen to local stories, or change the radio station. Playing it was a completely chaotic experience, and building it was fun. You can read more about the beginning and the ending.
After more than 8k people played and provided feedback, it evolved into Air Fiesta. It remains a hot air balloon simulation on Google Earth but now features a more traditional gameplay style and business model.
Social Alarm 🔴
May 2025 – Jun 2025
Inspired by a message from our niece at 5am, we wanted to wake up to random messages from friends and loved ones.
Why did it fail?
We did some initial market research, studied players, ran some ads to test interest, and completed a technical proof of concept. We ended up stopping this initiative. Our research and ad tests showed that people are more interested in bird sounds or moaning sounds 🫦 than messages from friends. Two companies tried this in the past and completely shut down their solutions. There are also some technical challenges. I’m happy, though, that we gained some insights from the research and proof of concept before building the entire thing. I might write more about my process since I’m enjoying it.
Smart Keys for Mac ⏳
Jan 2025 – Present
It was also my own need. It serves the same purpose as the iOS version but is now designed for desktop, with the concept of AI Shortcuts. https://smartkeys.so/for-mac
What’s happening?
I haven’t found a good channel for this product yet, but since I’m an active user, maybe the most active one, I’ll keep trying it.
Smart Keys for iOS 🟢
Aug 2024 – Present
I wanted to solve my own problem: my broken English and my laziness to learn more. I wanted a simple tool that could review my texts and make them sound more natural without trying to teach me (100% lazy mode). The whole thing ended up as an App Store for your keyboard, where you can add an infinite list of possible keys. So whether you’re polishing grammar, adding a bit of flair to your texts, or translating on the fly, Smart Keys makes it all effortless. https://smartkeys.so/
Why did it succeed?
Low maintenance tech stack and found product-market fit with a positive LTV/CAC ratio.
Hyper-Local Activity and Coloring Books 🔴
Nov 2024 – Dec 2024
Hyper-local coloring and activity book for kids based on their school, neighborhood, or city, especially in small or underserved cities, all powered by AI agents.
Why did it fail?
I ran a pilot in Walnut Creek but didn’t see much traction, so I shut it down. The goal was to sell in bulk to cities, libraries, and events. Technically, this was an interesting project to test agents capabilities. I found this agent use case quite interesting: A positive outcome for small communities that might never happen if done by humans because the ROI would be too small. But scaling the personalization may work.
Secret Project 🔴
Feb 2024 – Mar 2024
Too embarrassed to share what this project was about.
Why did it fail?
I found some interesting channels and managed to test two ideas, but I felt too ashamed to continue working on this. 😰
PromptTea.Party 🔴
Sept 2023 – Nov 2023
Kaggle for Prompt Engineers. I was facing many challenges instructing LLMs, so I thought a crowdsourced problem-solving platform would make sense.
Why did it fail?
Started as a hackathon project, it evolved with some friends in the East Bay, and we shut it down when we realized that LLMs would evolve so quickly that the project wouldn’t make sense.
Youper 🟢
Feb 2015 – Present
Youper combines psychology and artificial intelligence to understand users’ emotional needs and engage in natural conversations. https://youper.ai/
Why did it succeed?
Pioneer in the field, amazing team, VC-backed, and covered by a lot of media.
DonorDrive + Strava Extension 🟡
Oct 2023 – Feb 2025
I wanted to automate my own fundraising for ALC 2024, a bike ride from SF to LA where you need to raise $3.5k, by connecting my training rides with my fundraising efforts.
What happened?
This was my first Build in Public project. It was a successful pilot for ALC 2024, helping me and other participants to fundraise and train more. However, ALC and other non-profits didn’t show much interest. Also, Strava and DonorDrive made their APIs more restricted. Some details here.
Empathy Bottles 🔴
Nov 2017 – Feb 2018
App was inspired by the Nonviolent Communication (NVC) methodology, where people can share personal stories anonymously and also provide emotional support.
https://producthunt.com/../empathy-bottles
Why did it fail?
I chose the wrong tech stack (Ionic) and didn’t have a clear business model for an anonymous social network. Server costs began to increase.
The Last Trip 🟡
2010 – 2015
Youtube channel about landscapes and places that are being destroyed and will soon no longer exist.
What happened?
Besides some videos going viral, the cost and time to make them were high and caused some conflicts with my day job. It also took a toll on my mental health; the YouTuber life is not for me.
Kombina.me 🟡
2014 – 2015
I wanted to sell my car (a VW Bus) to someone who had a good and meaningful idea of what to do with it. So, I created this marketplace for selling goods at a discount based on the buyer’s plans for them. It felt like I was donating to a worthy project. I sold my VW Bus to an environmental and educational initiative.
What happened?
Well, it helped me with my goal, I met amazing people, and had so much fun. But I didn’t do a good job sticking with it to find more customers besides myself. ;p
BackPackBook 🟡
2008 – 2015
This was my first attempt at writing more about travel and literature. It was a blog specializing in travel book reviews.
What happened?
I spent years on this blog, created a lot of content, and built a community around it. Later on, I lost interest and didn’t take it seriously as a potential business model. I also faced many issues with hacker attacks and custom WordPress code.
DiaTech 🟡
2001 – 2003
Web agency and tech infrastructure for small companies, founded with friends.
What happened?
We had many clients and made a good amount of money. However, a lack of maturity was a major issue. Friends became ex-friends, and then I joined another company.
Design Agency 🟢
1998 – 2001
Design agency with my brother.
Why did it succeed?
Merged with another company with friends.
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