Per tradition, my first blog post of the year is a recap of the prior year. Here’s what I remember from 2025.

In last year’s recap, I made this commitment:

Optimism is the antidote to despair. For my part, I’m doubling down on building community, strengthening relationships, supporting people, and trying to make a difference.

I’m going to give myself credit for this one, even though I’ll admit it hasn’t always been easy to stay optimistic.

Much of my year revolved around my three labors of love: Faculty, Studioworks, and Roost.

Faculty

Faculty has built a reputation for doing good work over the years, and it continued to be both a source of pride and a source of uncertainty for me.

For the last few years, I’ve been anticipating a pendulum swing that has yet to materialize. When Andy Bell wrote about how hard last year was, it made me realize that we weren’t alone. Despite our struggles, I think those who aren’t participating in the race to the bottom might be poised for success in spite of it all.

It’s estimated that 90% of startups fail, so if that is your expectation, it makes some sense that fail fast is such a popular concept. The problem, of course, is that this leads to widespread mediocrity, and a lot of good ideas aren’t given a chance to succeed.

If you have a good idea and want to give it the best chance of success, consider hiring Faculty. (To get started, you can email me personally.)

Studioworks

Studioworks officially launched in October, after months of hard work. We aim to be a complete solution for creatives and freelancers who want a simpler way to run their business, so they can spend more time doing the work they love.

We started with invoicing, partly because we noticed a widespread trend among all of our competitors to skim a little off the top of every payment processed through their platforms. Our business model is simple and honest: we charge $39 per month, and that’s our only revenue. We win when our customers win.

Studioworks is opinionated in quiet ways. We focus on the parts of running a creative business that affect trust, clarity, and how seriously you’re taken by clients. Here are some examples:

• Professionalism - Studioworks is designed to make you look professional without making you look generic. All invoices and client pages are hosted on your own subdomain, presented in colors and type that you choose, and free of a lot of the third-party branding noise that makes free platforms feel so cheap.
• Customizations - We spend an unusual amount of time on color and typography. Not for novelty, but because these details signal care and craft.
• Security - Because you’re on your own subdomain and we know what we’re doing, we don’t have to take a paranoid approach to security and do things like log you out all the time or require silly password rules. This affects your clients, too. The result is small conveniences that add up, and you look more polished and competent.
• Reminders - We want to respect the fact that you own the client relationship, not us. We never email your clients without letting you know first. No more embarrassing reminders for invoices already paid.
• Line items - Your work doesn’t always fit neatly into “hours × rate” so we don’t force it to. Fixed fees are presented simply, and we offer more flexibility when you do need to charge in multiples. For example, charging “3 × $500 per item” makes it clear that you’re not charging an hourly rate that might invite scrutiny from finance and delay payment.

In short, Studioworks is designed to help creatives and freelancers look professional and streamline running their business.

I’m excited about all that 2026 has in store for our customers. Proposals, time tracking, file sharing, and a client hub that facilitates everything from contracts to approvals are just a few examples of what we have on the roadmap.

Roost

Running a coworking studio in a world where more people than ever are working from home has its challenges, but I still love getting to work at Roost every day.

I started Roost after realizing that “coworking” had slowly been co-opted by companies chasing scale and margins. What I wanted instead was something smaller, more intentional, and more human — a place for people who genuinely like working around other people (you know, coworking).

Roost is a true coworking studio. There are no private offices. We do have meeting rooms you can book for calls or meetings, but the expectation is that it’s fine to be visible, take calls at your desk, and make a little noise. It’s a space for people who feed off of the energy of other people working.

We’re community-first, but we don’t force it. We don’t offer day passes or short-term memberships, which means the people you see every day are the people you’ll keep seeing. Over time, that creates a familiar, neighborhood-like feeling. It’s worth getting to know people because they’re not just passing through.

We’re also flexible in ways other coworking spaces can’t be. We don’t police meeting room hours or enforce rules we don’t need. Instead, we rely on mutual respect and a shared sense of responsibility for the space and the culture.

Roost isn’t for everyone, and that’s by design. But for the right people, it’s a calm, welcoming place to do good work. I’m proud of what it continues to be, even as the world around it keeps changing.

The rest of the year unfolded in smaller moments — family milestones, injuries (unfortunately), recoveries, trips, concerts, and other small moments that matter (to me). Here are a few things that stood out, month by month.

January

• Tegan tried scuba diving and loved it.
• Jessica and I hosted a few Studioworks AMAs.
• Jessica and Nick visited Boulder, and we held a special Studioworks event at Roost.
• I started strength training in an attempt to regain my lost athleticism.

February

• I started playing pickup soccer again.
• I got recertified in CPR and Wilderness First Aid.
• I attended Klondike with Killian and Troop 78.

March

• Snowshoe hike in RMNP.
• We went skiing in Breckenridge, one of our favorite places.
• Tegan and Killian both won an award for their work with the Library Teen Advisory Board.

April

• Soccer season started. Strength training paid off, and I was back to scoring goals and loving it.
• Then I got injured.

May

• Tegan graduated from middle school.
• Tegan and Christina went to NYC to celebrate.

June

• I had knee surgery for the second time.
• We began onboarding Studioworks customers with 1:1 sessions.
• On June 30, we rolled Studioworks out to all Founding Members.

July

• Indigo Girls at Red Rocks. I didn’t get to meet them this time, but it was still awesome.

August

• I bought the Switch 2 with Mario Kart World. Fun for the whole family.
• Killian went on a backpacking trip with Scouts I was meant to lead, but I had to miss it due to my injury.
• Creative Mornings Boulder!

September

• Silksong released, and it crashed every video game store.
• Chris Glass visited Boulder. It was so good to see him.

October

• I took Tegan and Riley to see Jonas Brothers at Ball Arena.
• I went to Brooklyn for Kinference, which felt a lot like a Brooklyn Beta reunion.
• I attended Troop 78’s famous survival outing and built my own winter shelter.

November

• Tegan had her wisdom teeth removed.
• Joy Oladokun at Boulder Theater.
• Christina got to accompany Killian on a Troop 78 trip to the Great Sand Dunes.
• My dad visited Boulder while on a multi-day road trip. It was great to see him.

December

December was very full. Or maybe I just remember it better, since it just happened.

Early in the month, Jessica and I were on a couple of podcasts:

• Design Better, hosted by Eli and Aarron, explores the intersection of design, technology, and the creative process.
• ShopTalk, hosted by Chris and Dave, is a weekly podcast about building websites and the people who make them.

My mom visited Boulder and got to experience the early Christmas season, including seeing Tegan in the Christmas parade.

We hosted a very special event at Roost featuring Kelli Anderson, Erica Heinz, and surprise guest Rosston Meyer from Poposition Press. Right before they arrived, the power went out. Here’s what I wrote the next day:

Last night didn’t go as planned. Somehow it was even better.

The power went out just before Kelli Anderson and Erica Heinz arrived. Candles came out. String lights ran on batteries. We poured mulled wine and spiced tea, set up the battery-powered projector, and gathered closer.

Kelli and Erica were incredible, and we had a surprise guest: Poposition Press! The room was warm, attentive, and fully present. It felt intimate, human, and quietly magical.

Grateful for everyone who rolled with it and made the night what it was, and thanks to Dylan Zsigray for taking some photos.

I’m already planning more events in 2026 and cannot wait. Dan suggested we take the blackout vibe (candles, intimacy) to future events, even when we have power. I like it.

I took 6 kids to see Zootopia 2 (Tegan, Killian, and Riley each brought a friend). I love the cinema and thought Zootopia 2 was very cute.

2025 was hard in ways that don’t always show up cleanly on a timeline, but I’m still here, still building, and still grateful for my family, friends, and the people I get to work with.