Posts

“Why do I start a startup?” This one question guides me through uncertain and discouraging moments. I figure it might be helpful to structure my thoughts and note my answers down. Beside serving as a reference for myself (or my reader), I’m also curious to see whether my answers change over time. If so, how? Seeking unpredictability When I was a teenager and in my early twenties, I liked setting up three year or even five year goals for myself—I worked towards coming to the US for college, moving to NYC as a young professional, and getting promoted in a prestigious firm in Hudson Yards. My life had been largely on track of my plan and I felt proud of it. ...

Background I’ve been actively developing our product lately, which consumes a lot of Anthropic tokens by repetitively inputting and outputting a set of text data for testing and iteration. As we all know, tokens are expensive (👀); I try to be mindful of the cost as a founder and for our clients. Last week, it occurred to me my Claude Max 5x ($100/month) was under-utilized. I started wondering whether I can use my Claude Max plan to save API cost, and I found the following approach. ...

I’m in Paris this week, which is about 2 times as large as Manhattan and home to 2 million Parisians. Compared to NYC, Paris has no lack of mind-blowing restaurants and museums, though I found AI’s footprint to be surprisingly lighter here. This observation got me thinking and jotting down the following notes during my journey. Google doesn’t automatically return AI summarized result at the top Google has been showing an AI summarized results at the top of a search result for a while, but I have heard many complaints about this feature from both my non-tech peers and fellow technical bloggers. These people are not AI haters, but instead want the autonomy to choose when and how AI content is presented to them. ...

Like most startups, we approached a particular problem space with an initial hypothesis and began validating that hypothesis with potential buyers and users. In our case/for our startup, that problem space is customer service. Though many people may assume it’s an overcrowded market, we believe there are still unaddressed needs. My cofounder and I talked to more than fifty customer experience leaders and practitioners across industries last month. Here are nine takeaways from the conversations. ...

Why? I have been using Miniflux and Plex for a couple of years. Miniflux serves as a blog and news feed, since I can control who I follow and how information is presented to me. Plex allows me to enjoy my local movie collections similar to any other streaming service. In my article Convenience vs Agency, I discussed how I want more agency over my digital life and assets. In addition to Proton Mail and Firefox, Miniflux and Plex are the services I chose to meet that need. ...

Feedback can be scary—it can be a critique from a reader, a complaint from a customer, or even a rejection of a dream job. When I was a child and young student, I felt intimidated by comments from others. Directly facing how other people view you (or your work) takes courage; the skill of giving and taking feedback doesn’t come naturally. But when feedback is delivered and received intentionally, it can serve as a powerful tool for your goals. ...

In 2025, I experienced a few life events that required me to request government services at both the federal and state levels. Some of the experience was a jaw-dropping journey, which I would call Kafkaesque customer service. If you continue reading, you will find my story both surreal and realistic. Three months ago, I requested a service from the NY state government online. I subsequently received four to five letters in my mailbox, three of which required more information from me. I filled out the requisite forms, collected, printed, and attached all my supporting documents, and mailed them out one by one within a few days. After providing all the information, I heard nothing from the state government via mail or online portal for the next two months. My worries grew over time. ...

Introduction I have coded a lot with the help of AI/LLM in 2025. These AI tools have dramatically changed how I code and my workflow, which I have been doing for more than 10 years. If you take a look at my blog list, it is full of AI related content. My blog is taken over by AI not because I treat it as part of my job, but rather because my working style and daily life has been constantly evolving with AI. I found it fascinating to think and write about it. ...

TL; DR Cursor has published a 2025 report for every user, and I enjoyed reviewing it. I couldn’t stop thinking about how the economics works for Cursor given the numbers. Therefore, I did some analysis based on my report and other reports from X. Here are the key takeaways: Even consuming 250 million tokens in 2025, I am an average user compared with other Cursor users. It means many enthusiastic vibe coders or professional coders are taking advantage of or exploiting Cursor. As an average user, I paid $180 for my subscription to Cursor, but used $838.55 to $2,014.95 worth of tokens. Cursor is spending more money on other power users. Users’ engagement is subsidized by investors’ money, similar to how Amazon, Uber and Airbnb acquired and retained their users. As history tells us, the current spending is not sustainable and will shift in future. Introduction AI has changed my workflow as an engineer in the last 3 years. Instead of digging through Google results and Stackoverflow, I “chat” with Cursor and ChatGPT for coding problems, or directly assign tasks to AI coding agents. Below is a screenshot of my Cursor usage in 2025. ...

I’ve been minimizing my dependence on big platforms like Google, Amazon, and Meta in the last few years, because I want to be mindful of my daily interactions with modern society. It sounds philosophical, but I think even minor decisions and daily interactions can reflect our agency as individuals. If you are interested in my experience, please continue with this article or jump to the platform of your interest. Cancel Amazon Prime A couple of years ago, I realized I only used Amazon Prime for one or two purchases a month, on average. This did not justify the cost of the Prime subscription, and I subsequently cancelled it. After that, I proved that I could survive without Prime with the privilege of living in NYC. ...