I am unreasonably into matcha. Not in a casual “I’ll have a matcha latte” way. In a “what farm in Uji did these leaves come from and what was the shading duration” way. I’ve tried matcha at dozens of cafes across multiple cities, and the quality variance is staggering. Some places use ceremonial-grade matcha whisked properly. Others dump commodity powder into a cup of steamed milk and charge $7 for it.

I bought a Concept2 Model D during COVID like half the fitness world. For the first few months, I did what most people do: sat down, rowed until I was tired, and got off. No plan. No progression. No idea if I was actually getting better.

Then I got serious. I started researching training methodology and hit a wall. Cyclists have TrainerRoad, Zwift, and years of structured FTP-based training culture. Runners have Garmin Coach, Nike Run Club, and an entire industry built around pace zones and race-specific programs. The rowing equivalent? A PDF of the Pete Plan and a subreddit.

In 2022, I watched a real estate deal fall apart in the worst way possible. An operator had raised capital from over thirty investors for what looked like a legitimate syndication. It wasn’t. The money was mismanaged, promises were fabricated, and investors were left with nothing. The FBI got involved.

In March 2019, I had a simple problem. I’d received stock option grants from a couple of companies and wanted to see what they’d be worth under different vesting schedules and stock price scenarios. The spreadsheet I was using was getting unwieldy. So I spent a weekend building a small web app to replace it.

My Garmin watch, Eight Sleep mattress, MacroFactor nutrition logs, and Concept2 PM5 rowing data all lived in separate apps that had no idea the others existed. The Garmin knew my resting heart rate was elevated but didn’t know about last night’s four hours of sleep. MacroFactor knew about the caloric deficit but not the brutal VO2max session that morning. Each app had a piece of the picture. None had the whole thing.