I don't like LinkedIn

Not a hot take. I know.

I really don’t like LinkedIn. So, yes, I’m aware there’s a lot of irony and hypocrisy involved in my writing this, ultimately to post it to LinkedIn. So save your judgement, I’m already judging myself.

So what’s my beef? Most posts are low-value fluff, especially with so many of them now being AI-generated. A lot of talk, not a lot of doing, educating, or learning. It gives me ‘the ick’ big time. The stuff I do like is where people are sharing what they’ve learned, built, and engage in genuine discourse.

But there’s another reason I’ve avoided posting for six years and isn’t just the fluff. It’s that I’m terrified of judgement, not just online, but real life too. But over the last few years I’ve started to care less.

So the big question: ‘Jack, why post now after years of silence?’ Well unfortunately this is where my professional network lives and I’ve got some things to share.

I’ve set myself a challenge: three products in three months. There’s a fourth, fifth and sixth idea too, but perhaps starting with three is ambitious enough.

If you know me, you’ll know my home office recently turned into a supercomputer. I’m half kidding - In 2019 it would have been one of the top 500 supercomputers in the world. Nerdy? Yes. Unbearably warm? Also yes.

Why build all this infrastructure? Well learning AI for me is not just ‘how do I use Claude’. It’s AI systems engineering, AI security, LLM evaluation, and whatever else the day throws up. Whilst I use AI a lot in my job, getting into these deeper applications requires more use cases. More projects.

ColdAnvil.com is the first out the door; You guessed it, another AI-based-tool. It’s an AI development studio, where me and my team (of bots) work on projects.

The first thing we’ll release on ColdAnvil is an idea-to-business product that helps anyone turn a rough idea into a real product. I want to make it so that you don’t need to work in tech to build something useful. We’re lowering the bar, so that anyone can make a business out of the idea they wrote on the back of a napkin at the coffee shop. Product-people - If you think it sounds like another ‘Lovable-clone’ I’m open to feedback/debate in the comments ;)

And because three products in tree months isn’t quite enough to keep me busy: At the very same time, I’m training to be an executive coach at Henley Business School. Most of my direct team know this, but I do love coaching, and it’s for selfish reasons. The most fulfilling part of my day is often when I help someone solve their own problems. Personal experience is fine to share, but it doesn’t always translate. Coaching someone to solve their own problem is a gift that keeps giving. If you’d like to be coached, for free, I do need to rack up some coaching hours for the qualification, so please get in touch.

If you want to learn about the other mystery projects, follow along.