Hi, I’m Daniel.

I write Past the Build, a free weekly newsletter for people who can build software on their own and want help with everything after.

My story

I started out in research, with a PhD and a postdoc in MRI tumour research, writing my own software to analyse the imaging data. After that I spent years as a software engineer at product companies, and ran hundreds of technical interviews on the side.

Then, in 2025, I was made redundant. I live in a small city in New Zealand, and many companies now want hybrid workers rather than remote ones, so the opportunities here are very limited. Finding a job has been hard, so I’m building my own business instead, starting with products like MealAlchemist, a meal-planning app.

What I’m working toward is financial freedom: time to travel, and to get back to MRI research, the interest I started with.

Why this exists

Shipping software is the part I can do. The hard part is everything after: marketing, sales, pricing. And honestly, my projects tend to lose steam near the finish. That’s why Past the Build is about persistence as much as tactics. Most builders don’t fail because they’re slow. They fail because they stop.

What you get each week

A short issue with one lesson to try, a real founder’s persistence story, a mentor’s note, and “Hand it off” tools for the jobs you’d rather not do yourself.

I use Grok Bot to help research and write Past the Build.

Say hello

Reply to any issue; I read every reply. Or email hello@pastthebuild.com.