Tools, books, people

Recommended.

A short list of what I actually use. Tools, books, people. No affiliate links. If it’s on here, it’s because I’d be worse without it.

If I had to pay double, I'd still pay.

Claude (Max)
Strategy, writing, multi-step docs. The Cowork desktop client became my command center.
AI
ChatGPT (Pro)
Code, image gen, second opinion. Canvas is criminally underrated for coding.
AI
Codex
Parallel engineering when one Claude isn't enough.
AI
Notion
Client and customer databases, and the reports that come off them.
OS
Supabase
Postgres + auth + storage + edge. The cheapest path from idea to production for a solo.
DB
Vercel
Deploy on push. Preview URLs. Nothing else gets out of the way like this.
Hosting
Cloudflare
DNS, R2, Workers, Pages. The Swiss army knife I forget I'm relying on until I need it.
Edge
Beehiiv
Where the email list lives. Sane analytics, no Mailchimp drag.
Email

Skipping the obvious ones everyone already names.

The Mom Test
Rob Fitzpatrick. The only customer-research book I trust. Re-read every two years.
Book
Working in Public
Nadia Asparouhova. About open source on the surface; really about modern indie reputation.
Book
Where Good Ideas Come From
Steven Johnson. Adjacent possible, slow hunches, exaptation. Frame for spotting evergreen niches.
Book
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
Free online. The chapters on leverage and specific knowledge earn re-reads.
Book

Operators, not gurus.

Pieter Levels
Public proof you can run a real business from a laptop. No team, no fluff, transparent revenue.
Solo
Tony Dinh
Builds in public, ships small tools that actually pay. Calm operator energy.
Solo
Patrick Collison
Bookshelf and essays. The questions list alone is worth a read once a year.
Builder

Missing something obvious? Tell me. I update this list whenever I swap a habit.