I recently got a couple of VCs interested in investing in Commune. Whenever this happens, I always ask why they want to invest and what they are asking in exchange. It's always the same. They want a huge part of the cake. Usually, they want more than half at this stage. And they offer some good money. It's good for me, but it's actually not much for them. I'm talking about tickets from 200k to 500k USD. However, what many people never tell you is that VCs strictly want hockey stick growth....
about 11 hours ago • 2 min read
In my last issue, I asked you a simple question: should I make Commune open source? I got a lot of responses on Commune (yay!) and over on LinkedIn. Honestly, the feedback blew my mind. I expected everyone to shout a resounding yes. That absolutely was not the case. I was surprised most of you recommended I avoid it. Incredible. That included a lot of people in my network who have spent years maintaining open source projects or building open source products. I definitely did not expect that....
7 days ago • 2 min read
Usually, I use this newsletter to share what I’m reading or thinking. Today, I’m flipping the script. I need your brain on one specific thing I’m wrestling with. Should we make Commune fully open-source? I’ve been building Commune as a headless, creator-first alternative to Substack. The goal is total independence. But lately, I’ve been asking myself if we need to take that a step further. You know my track record here. I built the AsyncAPI Initiative on the premise that specifications should...
14 days ago • 1 min read
I was watching La Revuelta the other night, catching the interview with Leiva. In this Spanish late-night show, he talked about something that sounds like a total nightmare for a musician: he’s lost his voice. He literally has to undergo surgery before every tour just to be able to sing or even speak again. I can’t even imagine the stress of that. But then he dropped a comment that really stopped me in my tracks. He said that during the periods when he couldn’t speak —when he was reduced to a...
21 days ago • 3 min read
You know that feeling when you wake up and suddenly realize it’s Christmas again? You wonder where on earth the last 11 months went. People love to say, “Time flies as you get older.” I used to believe that. Now, I’m pretty sure that’s just a lie we tell ourselves. I just wrapped up 2025. For the first time in my adult life, the year didn’t fly by. It didn’t drag on forever, either. It just felt… accurate. It had the exact duration it was supposed to have. No more, no less. I’ve been trying...
28 days ago • 2 min read
Back on November 8th, my wife and I went to see a show by Dani Rovira. If you don’t know him, he is a massive standup comedian here in Spain. My absolute favorite. During the show, he dropped a line that has stuck with me ever since: “Anxiety is living in the future, depression is living in the past.” He delivered it with his usual funny touch, but let’s be real—it is a simple, powerful truth. It reminds me of that famous quote by Michel de Montaigne: “My life has been full of terrible...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
About a month ago, I got back from Paris. I was there for the FOST conference (formerly API Days), and while the tech was cool, the vibe was… heavy. I talked to a lot of people. I’m talking about some of the best engineers in the world. People who know more about specific technologies than almost anyone else on the planet. But you know what I smelled? Fear. Way too many people were terrified of losing their jobs. Others had just been fired and were scrambling. And a huge chunk were stuck in...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
2025 didn’t start with a bang. It started with total silence. If we spoke back in January, you wouldn’t have found a “thought leader” or a “founder.” You would have found a guy recovering from a really rough 2024 that left me burnt out and navigating depression. My KPIs for January weren’t revenue or reach. They were days I exercised, hours meditated, and time spent playing with my daughter. My objectives for April 2025. The first 3 are there to make sure work doesn't absorb me. I kept that...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
On November 3rd, I announced I had joined Hookdeck to lead Outpost. It looked like the perfect setup on paper: a founder-like role, a smart team, and a problem space (EDA) that I’ve spent the last 12 years mastering. On November 24th, exactly three weeks later, I resigned. I’ve spent the last month processing this. I’m sharing the story not because I like talking about my mistakes, but because I bet a lot of you are stuck in the exact same trap I fell into. I spent over a decade in the...
2 months ago • 3 min read