September was much faster than August. I launched a game, gave Tech Grails a new look, became a Codex Ambassador and spent time in Berlin and Munich with people I’d been looking forward to seeing. In between, I kept improving Just Move to Europe (JMTE), my guide to Europe’s tech ecosystems.
I’ve been having more conversations with people who know the spaces I’m exploring. The ideas and introductions coming out of them keep giving me more to follow up on. The faster I move now, the more impatient I get with how long things took before. It’s taken a while to build that momentum, and I’m excited about where it’s going.
Europe became a game
A few months ago, I made miniature city visuals for Just Move to Europe. People joked that they looked like something out of a game, and someone even suggested a Pokémon-style version where you could explore the cities. I kept thinking about what that could look like. In September, a building challenge gave me a deadline to take it further.
On September 18, I launched Europe, the Game. You can explore twelve European cities, visit cafés, meet builders and investors, and try a few days of the life you might build somewhere. The encounters and budgets are game fiction, with the JMTE guides there if you want to explore a city properly afterwards. It’s free, doesn’t need a signup and saves your progress locally.
Getting it ready meant simplifying the first few minutes, improving the mobile controls and keeping your progress when you switch cities. I also made a short launch trailer and listed the game on Product Hunt.
Then I took it to Berlin and demoed it at Astra Commons and Bringing SF to Berlin II. Astra Commons was my first public appearance as a Codex Ambassador, after joining the programme earlier in the month. After spending so much time building with these tools, I’m excited to help more people try things themselves and bring builders together around them.
The photographer at Astra Commons used his Codex credits to rebuild his website and play around with graphic design, then demoed it in front of everyone. I love seeing people find their own uses for these tools and get creative with work they already care about.
A lot changed on Just Move to Europe
As I wrote in August, JMTE sometimes gets mistaken for a relocation guide. I reworked the homepage wording and navigation to make it clearer that it’s useful for people already building in a city too. The guides are easier to browse now, and the simplified calculator lets you get to an estimate with less clutter.
I cleaned up the resource library, checking descriptions and destinations, correcting city coverage and making the categories more useful. Across the twelve city pages, I also reordered the resources within each category. What should someone see first when they’re looking for a place to work, a community or people to follow? The people lists got faces and an expanded selection too.
Two new guides went into the library, How to Launch Globally from Europe and Europe’s AI frontier, the latter with a directory of 154 entries to explore.
Someone also pointed me towards sites that dynamically assemble pages around what you’re looking for. JMTE’s search already understands the query, but I’m curious whether the layout could adapt too, in search or on the city pages. The question is where that would actually help.
I’ve also been improving the analytics around searches, resource visits and return use, and working through the feedback on JMTE. One person told me they now use it to find meetups instead of checking several websites, exactly the shortcut I’d hoped for. They also asked about adding Milan and offered to help gather information. I’m weighing whether to add more cities or go deeper in the ones already covered, and have shared some of the questions I’m working through here.
A new look for Tech Grails
Tech Grails got a new landing page, with a laptop that gradually fills with stickers. I had a lot of fun with the visual identity. The simplest explanation is still a Pokédex for tech merch, somewhere to keep track of what you’ve collected and the stories attached to it.
The bigger interest is still fandom around tech companies and how people can be part of a company’s journey without working there. Collectibles are one possible starting point.
The waitlist is live, while the collector app is still a prototype. I’m talking to people in the space, getting a feel for which parts of the idea interest them and where I could take it next.
I also spoke with the founder of Looties, who runs a marketplace for tech collectibles. He takes a museum of tech memorabilia to events too, with a dedicated booth for stickers, hats and other pieces. Turns out I’m not the only one who gets this excited about tech merch :)
Following my curiosity in robotics
A conversation that started through JMTE took me further into physical AI and robotics. The more I learn about the space, the more excited I get about what I could build in it.
Over dinner, I had a long conversation with a robotics founder about the in-house gyms their company is building to train and test its own robots. Other conversations have focused on the AI models powering the robots themselves. Someone also shared a map of potential gaps in the robotics supply chain that I want to explore.
I’m already talking to potential cofounders. If you’re building in the space or want to, let’s talk.
Tools I tried
I spend a lot of time jumping between chats and email, piecing together what needs my attention. I tested a friend’s beta tool, which connects to WhatsApp, email and other apps and gives you a morning briefing on what happened. I’ve been listening to the briefings and can see myself keeping this as part of my daily routine.
I also tried Instinct, a personal AI assistant you can text or call. These tools feel like small steps towards the future I wrote about in The Single-Use Software Era, with less interface and more happening in the background.
Sharing the work
A friend and I have now recorded a pilot for the project I mentioned in August, though we’re still deciding what to share first. We want to talk about technology, building companies and life in Europe and Silicon Valley, with room for our different experiences. We’d also like to record an episode together in person.
I published six posts on LinkedIn and 20 on X. I started a free month of LinkedIn Premium on September 22, and my engagement immediately seemed to pick up again. That day had the biggest impression spike of the month. My first thought was that LinkedIn was feeling a little pay to win.
Looking at the full month, the Berlin demo recap accounted for just over half of my 18,097 LinkedIn impressions. It also had photos, people tagged and a game launch to talk about, so I can’t tell whether Premium had anything to do with it. Across September, my LinkedIn content reached 6,671 people. September also brought 240 new followers on LinkedIn and 75 on X.
Back with my Munich people
I went to Bits & Pretzels in Munich through Isar Unfiltered, START Munich’s programme around the conference. It brought together 100 builders for talks, small-group sessions and side events.
One highlight was starting Monday with a breathwork session and the reminder that we’re basically walking nervous systems. Breathwork has helped me manage my stage fright, which I’ve written about here, so I really appreciated having that as part of the programme.
I also really liked the microcircles, small roundtables with founders and operators. I chose sessions on when to pivot and what founders would do differently. We got into fuckups and the in-between stages of building, when you’re making decisions without knowing yet how things will turn out.
Between the conference and side events, I caught up with so many wonderful people. There was also a small fangirl moment when I ran into Raycast CEO Thomas Paul Mann (thanks for the stickers & for building a product I love using!).
What I took home was how much support I have around me. People believe in what I’m doing and in me as a person. They’re suggesting ideas, connecting me with others and offering to help make them happen. It’s honestly so cool.
Women in AI Social, round two
Tanja, Tina and I hosted our second Women in AI Social on October 1, just after Bits & Pretzels. Stefan Andresen from DeepL saw my post about our first gathering on X and suggested doing the next one together. He connected us with his colleagues Katharina Ott and Lianna Wehinger, who helped us organise the evening and shared their research in text translation and real-time voice translation.
We also wanted to hear from more women in the community while keeping the relaxed atmosphere of the first gathering. So we asked during registration whether anyone wanted five minutes to share a project or some research. We received more than 20 proposals, and three women shared their work that evening. We’d love to keep that mix of sharing work, meeting people and catching up.
A big thank you to the 1000 Satellites team for hosting us in their beautiful Weisses Quartier space for this one.
The plan is to make these gatherings monthly, and we’d love to bring them to other cities too. Keep an eye on our calendar for what’s next.
Also, life
At the Point Nine Builder Café in Berlin, I shared two exercises from the OL Collective that I’d found helpful, and people wanted to try them too. They’ve helped me understand what matters to me and how I want that to show up in my life and work. Sharing these exercises has become a way to get to know people better. Quite a few of us want to make more time for these questions, and I love hearing where the conversation goes when we do.
I also swapped one of the headshots on my website for the portrait Vikash drew of me in a café in Florence in August. I’ve been enjoying making the site feel more like me, one little detail at a time.
October
September gave me more to show and more people to talk to. I want to create more opportunities by reaching out to people whose work I’m curious about and following through on the introductions I’ve received. I’m also aiming for another cofounder trial.
I have a few freelance opportunities on the table too. I want to decide what fits alongside my own projects and how much time I can realistically give it.
I’m in SF for the first half of October, then Berlin and Munich for a week each. If you’re around, hit me up :)