Going Independent: First Month of Freedom
The first month after leaving Meta - the quiet, the projects, and figuring out what independent work looks like.
One month since leaving Meta. The quiet is strange after years of constant input.
The Immediate Difference
No calendar: For the first time in years, my time is truly mine.
No Slack: The constant notification stream stopped. It took a week to stop checking reflexively.
No hierarchy: Decisions are mine. No approvals, no alignment, no waiting.
No resources: Also mine. No cloud compute, no ML infrastructure, no team.
What I'm Doing
Consulting
A few companies reached out. Taking selective engagements:
- Spatial computing strategy
- Perception system architecture
- AI product direction
~20 hours/week. Enough to stay sharp and connected, not enough to prevent building.
Building
Started three small projects:
- An AI tool I wanted at Meta but couldn't build
- An experiment in synthetic data for a new domain
- A prototype exploring LLM + spatial computing
None are businesses yet. All are learning.
Learning
Catching up on what I missed while heads-down:
- LLM developments (the field moved fast)
- Multi-agent systems (fascinating architectures)
- AI tooling (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.)
Reading, building, experimenting.
What Surprised Me
The quiet is productive: Without meetings, I can think deeply again.
Ideas need constraints: Infinite possibility is paralyzing. Picking constraints helps.
Identity untangling: "What do you do?" is harder to answer now. Working on being okay with that.
Community matters: Miss the daily interaction with smart people. Seeking it in new ways.
What's Next
Not rushing to decide. Experimenting for at least Q4 2024.
Questions I'm exploring:
- What problems can I uniquely solve?
- What would I regret not trying?
- What work energizes vs drains me?
The freedom to ask these questions is the luxury of this moment.