niksmac

Founder. Engineer. AI Product Builder.

I build products at the intersection of AI, privacy, ownership and emerging technology.

Software pays the bills. The camera is the thing I'd do anyway.

Browse the writing →About me

Recent

(07)

10/2026Why Private LLM Apps Matter: The Case Behind MerrinCloud AI assistants keep a server-side copy of everything you tell them. Here is what the policies actually say, and why open-weight models running on your own device change the equation.Digital Privacy · AI 07/2025The Reason FoundersAreHiring Was CreatedWhy I built FoundersAreHiring to fix a hiring process that had stopped telling me anything useful about candidates.Startups · Hiring 04/2025Enforcing Git Commit Message Standards: A Simple Approach for TeamsA commit-msg hook and an imperative verb list that keep our Git history readable without slowing anyone down.Git · Engineering 03/2025Ditching Music Subscriptions for Something BetterCancelling streaming and buying albums gave my listening back, along with an old iPod and the click of the scroll wheel.Digital Minimalism · Music 03/2025Digital Minimalism for Founders: Cut the Noise, Regain Your FocusWhat changed when I deleted most of my apps, cut notifications, and stopped letting Slack reach me after hours.Digital Minimalism · Productivity

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And that's all, folks ツ

Got a project, an idea, or a story to tell? I'd love to hear it.