Fred Wilson has been writing on what happened and what will happen for years. I’m going to copy him but with one exception.
I’m writing what happened in 2025 in my life personally and professionally. I’ll follow this post with what will happen in 2026 tomorrow.
Here is a top ten list of things that happened this year that really mattered.
- Hit Forty. The day of my birthday we missed our first flight to Costa Rica. Either that was my first glimpse at aging & memory loss or I didn’t double check my calendar per usual. The latter is the verdict. I booked the trip 4 days prior between tied up on work stuff. Regardless, the time with my family in Santa Teresa was epic. We ate good, slept better, lounged, and just enjoyed each other. But being stuck on hold with customer rep, and having to be a part-time Travel Logistics Clerk got my wheels spinning. More on this in 2026.
- Learned how to surf. You can’t stop waves, but you can learn how to surf them. That I did. It was also fun to see my kids pick up surfing. Learning how to surf seems like a mid-life activity at this point and I’m here for it. What’s cool about it is that I’d much prefer surfing while at the beach than sitting on the beach. I’m not struggling for a tan, and riding an actual wave is the OG swag surf.
- Joined Aspect. Before I joined Aspect full-time, I worked for the company as a rented exec for 18 months. I joined because I wanted to complete the job. Build an engine that produces happy customers. And improve business performance via product differentiation. We’re paving the right path and our customers will enjoy what’s ahead in 2026.
- Picked up snowboarding. After 13 years in Colorado, I finally had the incentive to learn how to go down a hill with my feet attached to a board. If it wasn’t for a scheduled business ski trip, I would’ve held off this extracurricular for longer. This new hobby has turned into time with the kids. We started private lessons at Snowbahn. It’s been fun to compare notes and learn, together.
- Traveled. Be adventurous is a core family value, and travel is one of ways we fill that bucket. My favorites: Costa Rica, Aspen CO, North Carolina, Washington, New York, and Australia. I’m glad I did. And I liked Costa Rica so much that I’m planning to spend more time out there in 2026.
- Hit my body composition goals. On October 29th, I hit 18% body fat and 80% muscle mass target. The works not done though. Maintenance outweighs reaching the work getting here. And now have the mental and habits formed to keep going.
- Coding with agents. Telling agents to go build software before I go into meetings for the day has been liberating. It’s a new flow and I’m seeing the utility of GenAI. I’ll share what I’m building at a later date, but it’s a good time to be in tech.
- Gemini as my personal advisor. I have a running joke with the family that I seek perspective from my advisor, Gemini. It’s true. I like to explore ideas with Gemini before I go into exploit mode on an idea or problem. This is no different than how search engine help folks research and refine thoughts. The interesting part is that my search engine usage is near zero because of Gemini. I’m excited for what’s ahead. Deterministic to probabilistic tools on the internet will continue to be disruptive.
- New software. Granola, Cursor, Gemini, Claude Code, Agent2Agent protocol, MCP, Amplify, and Google’s ADK. These tools have channeled my inner tinkerer.
- Books. I ended the year buying a few fiction books and I’ve already started to dig in. The first book by Andy Weird called Project Hail Mary has been a treat. Business books are great, but the diminishing returns is starting to creep in. I know what I know and business books fine-tune my understanding. Project Hail Mary has been a vacation for my mind, and I’m excited to continue this fiction book binge in the new year.
Happy New Year!