Journal

Field notes from eighteen years online.

01
Apr 13, 2026

The App You Don't Need to Build

Every founder walks in wanting an app. Most of them should walk out with a website. Here's the uncomfortable math on what native development actually costs — and the three questions that reveal whether you need an app at all.

app-designstrategyproduct
02
Apr 06, 2026

Why Your Website Is the Only Marketing Asset You Actually Own

Social platforms rent you an audience. Search engines rent you traffic. Your website is the one piece of digital real estate you actually hold the deed to — and most businesses treat it like an afterthought.

web-designstrategybranding
03
Mar 30, 2026

The Million-Follower Playbook: What Actually Builds an Audience

We've grown brands past a million followers and 100 million monthly views. Here's the unglamorous truth about what makes that number actually happen — and what doesn't.

social-mediacontentgrowth
04
Mar 23, 2026

SEO in 2026: What Changed, What Didn't, and What Actually Works

AI overviews, zero-click searches, and a Google that looks nothing like it did in 2008. Here's what nearly two decades in search has taught me about what still works — and what to stop wasting time on.

seosearchcontent
05
Mar 16, 2026

Why Most Paid Ads Fail (And the Three Things the Winners Do Differently)

After running ads on every platform that's existed since 2008, here's the pattern I see in every campaign that actually pays back — and the one in every campaign that doesn't.

advertisingpaid-mediaconversion
06
Mar 09, 2026

Your Brand Isn't Your Logo. It's the Gap Between What You Promise and What You Deliver.

Everyone wants a brand. Almost nobody wants to do the unglamorous work a brand actually requires. If you think a logo refresh is going to fix it, you're about to spend a lot of money learning a hard lesson.

brandingstrategydesign
07
Mar 02, 2026

The Software Trap: When Custom Tools Start Costing More Than They Save

Custom software is a superpower when it's the right call and a millstone when it isn't. After nearly two decades of building and inheriting both kinds, here's the framework we use to tell which is which — before we write a single line.

softwareoperationsstrategy
08
Feb 23, 2026

The Attribution Lie: Why Your Marketing Dashboard Is Probably Wrong

Every marketing platform reports credit for the same sale. Add them up and you've allegedly made 300% of the revenue your accountant says you made. Here's how to stop trusting the dashboards and start trusting the numbers that matter.

analyticsadvertisingstrategy