-
The First Campus That Was Built for Me
- October 9, 2026
- Posted by: Brett Knapik
- Category: Hearing Loss
No Comments
A letter from NTID showed me a university built for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, where support was already in place and nobody had to fight for it.
-
What Would a CTO Even Do All Week at a Company Your Size?
- October 6, 2026
- Posted by: Brett Knapik
- Categories: Founder's Advice, Leadership
At pre-seed through Series A, the CTO work that can sink you is a short list of decisions. A fractional CTO puts senior judgment on them, part-time.
-
My Hearing Aids Made Me a Target
- October 2, 2026
- Posted by: Brett Knapik
- Category: Hearing Loss
A kid who hides his hearing aids is making a rational call. For a child with hearing loss, bullying is the social cost of wearing them, and adults miss it.
-
Your New Senior Engineer Wants to Rebuild His Last Company. Should You Let Him?
- October 1, 2026
- Posted by: Brett Knapik
- Categories: Founder's Advice, Leadership, Software Architecture
A senior hire wants big-company architecture at your two-developer startup. Each piece fixes a problem headcount created, so ask whether you have it yet.
-
What to Build Next When Everything on the List Looks Important
- September 30, 2026
- Posted by: Brett Knapik
- Categories: Founder's Advice, Leadership, Software Architecture
A startup technology roadmap is a short, ordered list of bets. Sequence every item by what it teaches you and whether you can undo it.
-
Before You Replace a Developer, Watch One Change Reach Production
- September 29, 2026
- Posted by: Brett Knapik
- Categories: Founder's Advice, Leadership
Founders wondering if their developers are slow should check the delivery process first. Five pods went from two months to one day with the same engineers.
-
Fifth Grade Came Up in Therapy Decades Later
- September 25, 2026
- Posted by: Brett Knapik
- Category: Hearing Loss
A bad teacher in fifth grade, on top of hearing loss, cost me confidence that took decades to repair. Teachers, the kid in your room is counting on you.
-
Your Customers’ Data Is Already in a Prompt. Who Decided What Went In?
- September 24, 2026
- Posted by: Brett Knapik
- Categories: Founder's Advice, Leadership, Software Architecture
Every AI feature sends customer data into a prompt. How I built one that leaves private answers out by default, and three questions to ask your team.
-
You Shouldn’t Have to Hold Your Breath Every Time Your Product Ships
- September 23, 2026
- Posted by: Brett Knapik
- Categories: Founder's Advice, Software Architecture
How much testing does a startup actually need? What a machine must check on every change, and the one rule that stops an AI agent from deleting a failing test.
-
The Model Your Product Runs On Has an Expiration Date
- September 22, 2026
- Posted by: Brett Knapik
- Categories: Founder's Advice, Leadership, Software Architecture
AI model retirement is on the vendor’s calendar. What founders control is whether a swap is a config change and a test run, or a project nobody budgeted for.
