Phone call with Steve. We were talking about the current load and how much is going on. It's hard to keep up. Steve is feeling pretty overwhelmed. He and the other team members are running the ship while I am off on the side trying to work on plans and investor stuff. It's pretty rough. There is also some underlying tension from a miscommunication and overstep on my part. See EOT # 12731 for some back story.

Here are some of my notes from the meeting with Steve:

- We started out and I read a post-it note full of some things that I think Steve has issues with - my personality traits. See attached, if you want for the post-it note. We are all working hard, but we have different opinions on what will help and where to focus. Similar but also somewhat different directions. Neither one is bad, just different approaches.

- He is busy taking care of business and paying clients. He is trying to only work on funded projects and projects that have ROI (return on investment).

- Trying to fill in the blanks (needs of whatever is needed).

- Steve is shooting for full AI projects - code, planning, fixes, etc. Steve is heavily leaning on AI as the backup or fallback. He is totally going in the AI direction for as much as he can.

- He showed me a small website that a guy built using just AI. Here's the link. I pulled it up. It looks great. It is pretty impressive. It doesn't have any real content, just a shell, but it looks amazing. We talked and chatted about that for a while. There is some fear that some of these guys are going to take over and build what we have built over the last 20+ years. Basically, a question of what is stopping them from taking the next step and building it out on their own? I see it, what we have and offer, as way deeper than that, but there is some worry and unknowns.

- He is seeing or thinking that people don't want any real interface... they just want a simple chat type interface and AI will do everything for them. I was telling him that our full interface and existing pieces need to still be there. There is value there. It is nice to be able to do anything that you want (say an AI chat window), but there are also times and places for a quick and easy button or link. We need both. Our interface is not our real product.

- We talked about how Wayne is working with some AI agents to work on the database and some database updates.

- Steve is feeling a little bit of panic mode. He watches and reads a lot of tech news. Huge changes are happening all around us.

- Only working on funded projects.

- Relying on Craig for all money type decisions (controller level control for funds).

- There is an urgency to what we are doing.

- AI is going so fast, it is scary. He is scared.

- Small talk about IP (intellectual property) and how we can't stop AI. If they want to do something, they can just do it, change it a bit, and run with it.

- He wants me to look into complex binary (tech stuff). He is planning on doing some more research there. Basically, skipping the code and going right to binary level commands.

- Brief talk about how people interact with things. He was saying that people don't want to do any data entry. They just want the AI agent or system to do it. Something like this, I have a document, I upload it, I then have the AI agent enter it into the system. Thanks, all done. AI does it all. As a side note, there may be some automation things that we can do, but don't think that everything will be like that.

- Talking about taking care of the business right in front of us. I don't deny that... and I know that there is a need there. We have been doing that for the past 20+ years. It is also a small trap, in some ways. It keeps us from breaking out of our form or container. We are somewhat maxing out our current model.

- If you read between the lines, he and the team are busy, with paying clients. There is a demand for what we are doing.

- We finished up the meeting, and he was going to go jump into another project that is needed. He is working super hard. He is trying to fill in the gaps as best as he can. I'm super grateful for that.

- After the meeting, I was talking with Heather (my wife). We were talking about an analogy of a malt shop or ice cream shop. Say you have a line out the door, small rush, tables need to be wiped, and dishes need to be done. Everybody is busting their buts, except for one guy in the back who is dreaming of a better way to do it. That doesn't fly very well. Sad to say, I'm that guy. I'm not trying to hurt anybody, and what I am doing is super important, it just gets judged pretty harshly. I fully understand. I have been in there busting my but as well, for years and years. I just know that there is a better way. The story above changes when you say, this small rush has been going on for years and years. We have all been pushing on things. It is not just one night, where things get busy. That longer timeframe makes a big difference.

- Tying this back to adilas (above ice cream shop analogy). We offer custom code. That is awesome and totally part of our model. However, we get so tied up in doing custom code that we can't finish what we really need to. We end up getting stuck in that scenario, kinda like the malt shop. There is a balance. You have to have the money to keep going, and that is super important (work right in front of you). You also need to look to the future as well. I heard a guy say one time, there is a difference between working in your business and working on your business. We need both. It's a fine line and tough balance.