I’m not very good at building in public.

I tend to build things quietly, release them, and then see if they find an audience. Over the past year or so, I realized I’ve shipped quite a few projects this way — some practical, some experimental, and some that grew out of problems I was trying to solve in my own businesses.

Here’s a quick update on what I’ve been working on, in no particular order.

Spookees

Spookees started as a fun experiment in generative art — creating unique vector characters that could instantly become physical products. It’s part art project, part automation experiment, and mostly just something fun that I enjoy building.

PortfolioWP

PortfolioWP is a modern block-based WordPress theme built for artists, designers, and photographers. After years of building themes and working with creatives, I wanted something simple, fast, and focused on showcasing work without getting in the way. It’s been great to see people using it to launch their portfolios. Plus, it’s what I use for my site — you’re looking at it.

Robot Writer

Robot Writer grew directly out of running a Shopify store. Writing product descriptions, blog posts, and SEO content at scale takes an enormous amount of time. The goal here is simple: upload product photos, and let AI handle the repetitive content work while keeping things aligned with the brand.

The app is currently under review, and I expect it will be released in the coming weeks.

ALTerator

ALTerator solves a smaller but very real problem — missing image alt text. It scans a Shopify store and automatically generates SEO-friendly alt text for images. It’s one of those tools that exists because I needed it myself first.

Swell Scenes

Swell Scenes continues to be the core creative business behind a lot of these ideas. It’s a print-on-demand art brand focused on surf, travel, and nature-inspired artwork. Running it has taught me a lot about automation, SEO, and where creative businesses tend to get stuck operationally — which has influenced many of the tools above.

Take Stage

Take Stage is something a little different. As video platforms increasingly optimize for conversation and noise reduction, they’ve become less useful for musicians trying to record and evaluate performances. Take Stage is built specifically for that purpose — helping musicians record, review, and improve their playing.

SwellApps.ai

SwellApps.ai is the company a couple of longtime friends and I put together. The site serves primarily as a support portal and link hub for our products, focusing on Shopify apps, WordPress plugins, and whatever else we happen to be building at the time. I designed the site with a retro analog aesthetic inspired by the Fallout video game series.

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I’m not sure which of these projects will grow the most, and that’s kind of the point. I like building things, releasing them, and letting real usage decide what deserves more attention.

There’s more on the way.