I never expected quitting a job to be so hard! My time at Lyft has been an enriching journey. Tons of smart people at three very different teams, where I’ve learned how the industry works. The technical challenges were endless: from user-facing features in the app to improving the safety of our routing.

But after two years, I’ve realized that it just wasn’t making me happy. My disconnect with the product was too big, and so much remote work didn’t help, either. The desire to explore grew, with the hope that something else could bring more fulfillment.

I’ve always aspired to build a company, and this was a good moment in life to try. Now or never. So here I am, soon to be jobless, contemplating life, yet excited about what’s next.

Picturing how I feel

My company might fail (in fact, the odds are against me). But I’ll have tried and learned! This decision reassures me I’m making the best out of life, and it frees me of regrets. Mostly. It’s still pretty insane that I quit.

It’s early in my journey, but I can’t stop exploring my area of interest: phones. Or rather, phonesn’t. Not having had the best year of my life, I found myself on the phone too much. The negative effects became obvious, and I want to do something about it.

This space is quite a challenge. Everyone overuses their phone in their own way. You have big companies optimizing their app to get you stuck on it. And often, overuse is a symptom of a deeper problem, where you’d be better off directly fixing that.

Yet, it’s such a huge issue that I’m confident I can build something valuable. You don’t need to be completely addicted to your phone to want to use it less. Among the thousand possible ideas — even manufacturing your own phone —, I might get started with an innovative app to control screentime. It’s frustrating that no existing apps have gone mainstream. Let’s make it fun to reduce your usage.

If this is interesting to you in any way, please reach out! Schedule a chat with me or send me a message on LinkedIn, X, Mastodon, or by email. You can vent about how much your phone controls you, share someone you know, or we could work together. Even catching up is a good reason :)

I feel extremely lucky to be in a position to make this decision. Thank you to everyone for your support!