Back2024 RecapJan 13, 20252024 was a transformative year for me. I went from being a Senior Software Engineer at a fintech to becoming a solopreneur building my own products. In this post, I'll share my journey through the year, the challenges, learnings, and my vision for the future.Career change to solopreneurLayoff2023 was a year with a lot of tech layoffs, I mostly watched those news thinking that it would not affect me.I had been a Senior Software Engineer at Southeast Asian fintech Xendit for almost 3 years. I had relocated to Singapore about one and a half year ago.In January 2024, there was a layoff and I was one of the ones affected. I was kind of prepared for it and did not take it badly. In fact, it was probably the best thing that happened to me at the time.There is a saying that you either work for the money or work for the learning. The learning aspect for me was very small already. I was the most senior member in the team, and there was very limited work across teams. There were great engineers in the organization, but I had almost no interaction with them.I did learn about people management and project management which I really appreciate, however in terms of software and tech I was not learning much.Even without the layoff I needed to start looking for something else.The most immediate problem for me to solve after the layoff was my Singapore work visa because otherwise I would have needed to leave Singapore. I briefly looked around for open positions and job hunting I could do, but honestly there was nothing that really excited me that much.So, the plan was to start my own company in Singapore and use this pathway to get my work visa. One week later, I already had the Singapore company incorporated and was going through the steps to get the visa. Luckily, I eventually got the visa that I needed.Solopreneur journeyThis was not the first time I was in this position of not having a job.Back in 2016/2017, I had left a startup and was studying new things such as AI technology. However, I did not have the resources and guidance to get into AI and eventually went to co-found Edugo (at the time called Edugora).Back in 2019/2020, I was doing freelancing with my own company in China. I was not able to build a product and started doing freelancing instead. I did not like the freelance experience as I did not have the network or specialization, so it was very hard to get good projects to work on. I ended up taking a job at Xendit which was great for me at the time because it was all remote.These experiences of trying to start a business or product, and the experience of working in mid-stage startups shaped what I wanted to do.What I enjoy most is building great tech products, both interms of product and technology. I decided it was time for me to double down on this path:The pathway that I have identified is to be a solopreneur and bootstrap a business.The solopreneur path has become more and more viable in the last decade, with things like cloud technology lowering barriers to entry, and ChatGPT democratizing information and learning.levelsio is maybe the solopreneur with most visibility. He is really good at communication and execution. But the thing about being a solopreneur is that we must carve our own unique path.There is also this saying going around about a 1-person company unicorn, likely enabled by AI.For me, it does not have to be one person. It can be a small team, depending on what kind of product and business you are building. Small teams are actually all that is needed to make an impact on the world.There are countless examples of industry-changing products or technologies that were basically written by 1 or 2 people in the beginning, especially in the software context.The other important aspect is that this business must be bootstrapped, and not go through the VC money path:So, the plan is simple:I'm good at building products and I'm interested in a product-led business rather than a sales/marketing-led business.Easier said than done, but essentially this is the plan, and I have to spend the next years executing it.Choosing the productThe next most important thing for me to choose was what product to build, especially if I want to build a product led business.I've been of course thinking about this. Only this year I've reached a clear conclusion of what I want to build. It took a few months of trying different things and soul searching.Surprisingly, this is not too far different from the direction of what I wanted to build 10 years ago. 10 years ago, I decided to learn programming, there were things I wanted to build.I was not a good programmer back then, and wanted to get a job to learn how to build tech products.I've now already learned too much, and technical skills or product skills is for sure not what is preventing me from building the things I want to build. The tech and product landscape has changed a lot in the 10 years, but some of things I want to build are still the same.What I want to build in my life is those 3 things: a Visual Novels platform, a Music platform, and a Learning platform.I will start by building the Visual Novel platform, and that is what I have spent most of 2024 building.This is all comes to personal experience, those are things that I wish it existed when I was young and that could have made my life better.I have a much greater felling of importance, duty, feelings to finish this job rather than working on building applications for other companies.Software and techI have always wanted to write code in certain way, but often you cannot do that in when working as a software engineer in a company.Therefore in a team environment, we tend to pick technology and frameworks which are more familiar and accessible to most people.By working alone, I did not have those restrictions. I wanted a tech stack that:Throughout this journey of rebuilding my tech stack, I ended up writing from scratch the frontend and backend framework that I will use to build my applications.I plan to write a separate article to go on more details of this journey.AI ToolsWe can't talk about technology without talking about AI in 2024For someone who is working in tech, I use AI embarrasingly little and late. I write almost all of my code myself.There is a lot of changes, hype, noise and FOMO in regards to AI which is challenging to manage emotionally.I've decided to not be a first mover, and not even a fast follower, but to be a slow follower.It would take me just too much time and effort to stay updated with the latest research and products, tools, and doing trial and error with technologies that are changing all the time.I plan jump into AI when:There will be a lot of things I will be missing out because I'm not a first mover, but the tradeoff is I get my time to focus on my non AI product and technology.Some of the AI tools that have become mature enough and I have been using are:AI Alignment CommunitiesAI Alignment research is basically making sure the the super intelligence that we are developing is aligned with human values and that AI does not get out of control.I was very curious about this topic and attended a hackathon from Apart Research. They are a very interesting organization, they do AI Alignment research lab and also organize regular remote hackathons to involve a wider public.Attending this hackathon, I learned aboutThis space is super interesting and exciting, but for me I had other plans at this time, so I did not show up for the next hackathons. I would like to come back to this field once I have got more time.AI related offline eventsI attended two AI events in Singapore:While Singapore may lag behind tech hubs like San Francisco or Beijing in frontier AI development, it remains a regional leader especially given its size and resources.Personal DevelopmentDiscovering Formal AxiologyI had done a couple of volunteering sessions back in 2023 with Halogen. I would go to a secondary school, and help some students with their business canvas.In 2024, there was a event for appreciating the volunteers. I was sure it would be one of those networking events, I would go talks some people, and that would be mostly it. Funny thing is then serendipity came into play here:This was a very important discovery for me, and I intend to study this topic much deeper.Mentor for Build for Good HackathonBuild for Good was a 4-weekend hackathon organized by Open Government Products where I volunteered as a mentor. I was matched with a team of NUS students working on solving local problems in Singapore.Key aspects of the hackathon:During the event I got more first hand experience of Singapore government's efficiency and innovation.InvestingThere's a common saying in investing: "The best time to invest was 20 years ago, the next best time is now."I only started exploring investing this year. For a long time, I avoided it for several reasons:However, my perspective has shifted recently:I've come to realize that letting savings sit idle is actually less responsible than thoughtful, calculated investing. The key is taking a measured approach to risk while putting your money to work.BooksI really enjoyed the books I read this year. Here are some highlights:PersonalDentalAfter years without dental checkups, I discovered I needed two wisdom teeth removed. Due to the significant cost difference between Singapore (~1200 SGD/tooth) and China (~300 SGD/tooth). The cost of flight tickets to China and getting the tooth removed there was cheaper than doing it in Singapore. In addition, I got to visit my familiy which is always nice.Traveling to ItalyI also spent a month in Italy for the second year in a row. I enjoyed local food, and went to ski. My favourite part is my daughter going to a school in Italy and playing with local Italian kids. Her Italian got much better and she learned a lot of Italian songs. Hoping that we will be able to go in 2025 as well.ReflectionsLooking back on 2024, I had both successes and areas for improvement.Side projectsOne regret is not working on side projects while I had my full-time job. Starting from scratch after leaving my job meant slower progress. Between work and family commitments, I found myself spending many late nights on work tasks.In hindsight, what I could have done better:This would have given me a head start on my current ventures.SerendipitySerendipity sometimes does its magic. This year, my biggest unexpected discovery was formal axiology. While we can't control luck, we can increase our opportunities by:If I had just stayed home, I would have missed out on many opportunities. By putting myself out there, I created more chances for good things to happen unexpectedly.Optimize for learningI learned an important lesson from starting to invest late: begin early, even if it's small. This applies to everything - investing, technology, or any new interest. The key is to:These small experiments in different areas help you gradually build both knowledge and confidence.Looking Forward to 2025As I reflect on 2024, it was an important year where I have made a major change in my career to transition into a solopreneur. Looking ahead to 2025, I have several key priorities:Product DevelopmentTechnology & AIPersonal Growth2024 was a year of laying foundations: establishing my tech stack, defining my direction, and making the leap to independence. In 2025 we will be seeing some result and outcomes of the decisons I have made in 2024.The path of a solopreneur is challenging but exciting. I look forward to sharing more about this journey in the coming year.