Thanks for checking out my monthly blog series. Every month, I highlight new topics that I’ve explored, projects that I’ve completed and helpful resources that I’ve used along the way. I’ll also talk about pitfalls, including diversions, wrong turns and struggles. By sharing my experiences, I hope to inspire and help you on your path to become a better human, in whichever field that may be.

Greetings! Keeping this one short and sweet.

Boy, what a month. Major accomplishments include:

• Re-branding and re-launching Guess My Pay as PeerWyse.
• Releasing the PeerWyse iOS app.
• Finishing the Y Combinator Startup School curriculum, submitting 8 weekly updates and getting Startup School certified!

My co-founder and I are currently in the middle of a YC Build Sprint, a 4-week challenge that leads up to the application due date for the main YC accelerator program. We’ve set a weekly active user goal and are focusing on gathering feedback. With a strict timeline ahead of us, the temptation is SO STRONG to bury our heads in code rather than talking to users and learning about the problems they face. Must….resist…..the urge……

In addition to dominating the YC Build Sprint, my other main goal is to launch my React side project – Hashzag, a hashtag organizer – in September.

Hashzag solves a frequent problem I have when attempting to track and manage hashtags. My current process involves keeping lists of hashtags in spreadsheets (horrible) and using formulas (also horrible) to generate random sets of hashtags within different categories to include with Instagram posts (for example).

If you’re reading this and thinking – hey, I could use something like that – please head over to hashzag.com and enter your email to be notified when it goes live!

Finally, I made some big career decisions in August. I am finally taking action to align my work with my skills and passions – and it feels SO good. I look forward to sharing those details as soon as everything is “official”. 🥳

And with that, August is a wrap! Thanks again for reading and, until next time, happy coding.