I don’t know about you, but I spend a LOT of time in front of my screen. It’s the nature of the kind of business I’ve built.

But I’ve also been making it a point this year to get out of my chair and intentionally get in rooms with other people.

For a certified introvert like myself, it can incite some dread to look at my calendar and see something in-person I’ve RSVP’d to.

But almost without fail…

I go….

I stay longer than I expected to…

And I come home inspired by 2-3 unexpected connections made and energized by the collective energy, motivation, and sheer brainpower that’s just flowing around this city.

One of those rooms I’ve found locally is called ctrl + alt + create — a free, monthly vibe-coding meetup started by fellow solopreneur and builder Chris Pirillo.

Chris envisioned and created a safe, collaborative space for technical and non-technical people alike to play around with AI tools, build something (anything!), share, and get feedback.

Anywhere from 50-150 people show up each month. Pretty impressive for a Saturday!

At the July event, Chris invited me to come and share a bit about my new book, but also to highlight some of the sites and tools I’ve vibe-coded that have had direct positive results on my solo business.

And with all the energy in the room, I almost forgot it was live-streamed and recorded!

In a 10-minute lightning talk/demo (my part starts at 17:00), I share:

• Why “vibe-coding” is such a game-changer for soloists
• Three projects I built from scratch in the last 6 months without a technical background:
  • My bio.site-powered homepage, and why I use that platform
  • The Lightbulb landing page and archive, indexed and redesigned by Claude
  • IRIS - my visual critique tool built with Claude and Lovable
• A 3-minute micro-TED talk on my book, The Expert’s Privilege

Enjoy the talk - and if nothing else, consider this the nudge to go out and find a new in-person event in your area.

The energy is contagious.

💡

-Wes