I have been thinking a lot lately about perspective.
From the outside, my life probably looks a little confusing. I am working a QSR fast food role and also building a technology company. It sounds like the setup to a joke. People say, “Wait, you are doing that?” Yes. I am. And no, I am not secretly trying to reinvent the drive-thru. Not yet, anyway.
What I am doing is learning. A lot.
Inside QSR, I get a front row seat to how a national, repeatable machine is built. You realize very quickly that it is not just about ingredients. It is technology, systems, data, operations, logistics. It is a living system that has to work every single day, at scale, with real humans who occasionally forget to clock in. That fascinates me.
At the same time, I work with a tech company that took the corner store convenience model and put it on your phone. There are people who do not feel safe walking to a liquor store or gas station but still need basic household items. Getting those essentials delivered safely to their door is not just “nice to have,” it is real value. No inspirational quote needed, just groceries that show up.
I have been in the service business since I was 15. If you have done service work, you know it can test every last nerve you have. But if your goal is to see a customer genuinely happy, the day feels different. You are not just surviving the shift, you are doing something that matters at least a little bit to someone.
I used to get teased by some friends for caring too much about customers. Over time I realized many of those people were not really friends. They were just people standing around while I was trying to help someone. That realization quietly cleans up your contact list.
This week I was reminded why I founded the ad store in the first place. I found out how much we helped a local business at a time when, to be honest, the odds are not exactly stacked in our favor. Knowing that we made a real difference for them, while we are also fighting our own battles, means more to me than any title or buzzword. You cannot deposit “thought leadership” in a bank, but you can feel good about helping someone stay in business.
When I started the ad store, the central question was simple:
What is best for the customers who gave me a chance in my 20s, when I was just an earnest person who wanted to help?
To me, a good sale is a mix of the right product, real value, and actual trust. If you believe in your product, understand its value, and you show up as a trustworthy human being, that is work worth doing. It is also a lot less exhausting than pretending to love something you secretly would not recommend to your own family.
There have been times, including some time in Florida, when I was doing a job I did not believe in and did not think it was good for the customer. That misalignment wears you down in a way coffee cannot fix. The world already has enough conflict, outrage, and noise. If your daily work does not give you some chance to help, it becomes very difficult to feel proud of how you spend your time.
On the more technical side of my week, I got a loud reminder that my own infrastructure is, in fact, complex. I ran into a major security issue that took two different companies to fully resolve. It was one of those situations where you realize your setup is just fancy enough to break in creative ways.
The upside was seeing some excellent support talent in action. Both Google and Squarespace had people who really leaned in and helped. They were calm, sharp, and patient while I was somewhere between focused and mildly panicked. They will probably never read this, but they deserve a genuine thank you. Sometimes the hero of your week is a support rep on the other end of the chat window.
Last week, I was on an investor call and heard something I have been working toward for a long time: confirmation that what we are building has legs. Not marathon legs yet, but at least “can jog without collapsing” legs. The model makes sense to people who see a lot of models. Of course, those legs still need support to keep moving, but validation matters. It tells me we are not just building a very elaborate science project.
This week, I also had a call about application functionality with a company I have been obsessed with since I first used an iMac in high school. For teenage me, that computer was magic. For current me, hearing their perspective on the ad store and what would be required if we go the app store route was both thrilling and slightly terrifying in the best way.
I left that call with a longer to-do list but a clearer map. Now I have a better picture of what I need to build if we want Apple and Google to look at our product and say, “Yes, this belongs here.” Because if we do not leverage app stores properly, we probably will not give the DMC the best possible experience.
So over the next couple of months, my job is to align with Apple and Google UX standards and still create something that feels right for the DMC using it every day. That means designing an experience that works fo four audiences at once: the SMB or D2C Business Owner, the DMC Consultant, Apple, and Google. It is like trying to cook one meal that makes a fine diner, a foodie, a nutritionist, and a picky eater all happy.
It will not be easy, but nothing truly worthwhile ever is. The DMC experience has to be excellent first. Then it is on me to train the DMC so that the end customer’s experience is just as strong. Great tools plus no training still equals a bad review.
There is another layer to this that is more personal.
The same platform that was, at one point, hell on earth for me personally is now the platform where one of my customers is seeing real success. Underneath the social drama and the never ending scroll, there is a quieter, more powerful layer that most people never think about: the ad systems, the tools, the infrastructure that actually help local businesses grow.
Those tools are not abstract to me. They are not just “ad tech” slides on a deck. They are very real levers that can change whether a local business struggles or thrives. That is the part of these platforms I want to live in now.
So if you are wondering what I am up to, it is this:
Building products that actually work.
Using platforms for what they are capable of, not just what they are loudest for.
Trying to create more happy customers than notifications.
That is what keeps me going. It is why I care about all the unglamorous details, from security issues to UX guidelines.
I am genuinely excited to be on this path. Maybe we become the next big thing, maybe we do not. Either way, I am pretty sure I will learn a lot, help some people, and hopefully leave a few things better than I found them.
Right now, my focus is simple: stay positive, think forward, use every resource I can, and not let the past dictate where this goes.
If you learned something new this week and helped at least one person, you are doing better than you think.
Have a good weekend.
-Alan