Leaving San Francisco
I moved to San Francisco to be young, wild, and stupid. Well, mission has been accomplished. Now I'm leaving.
This post is something of a status update and a goodbye letter. A year and a half in the Bay Area changed how I think, how I work, and what I want to build. I'm writing this to close the chapter properly and open the next one.
The Dream
Moving to San Francisco was a dream of mine. Go to the city. Meet the people. Do the crazy things. Figure things out as you go.
If you know me, you know I'm the kind of guy who just goes and does things. Opinionated, blunt, direct. I don't shy away from extremes. So when I decided to move, I didn't ease into it. I went all in.
For the better part of the previous five years, I was the opposite: working remotely and never leaving my house. I was a hermit.
San Francisco was a full 180 for me. I decided to become the most outgoing version of myself. The extroverted party guy. The one who makes things happen. The one everybody wants to hang out with. The one who isn't afraid to speak his mind.
I'd say I pulled it off.
Building at Vapi
I got into DevRel when I moved to SF. Joined Vapi, the voice AI company, as DevRel Lead.
Vapi built an incredible product. They led the way in conversational AI experiences with voice, and I'm convinced the founding team and engineers there are the best of the best. I salute Jordan and Nikhil for doing the tough work of founders that they're doing to this very day.
I am eternally grateful for my time there and all the people I met. The recognition that came from the work was real. The Voice AI events, the brand association, the community I helped build. To this very day, people reach out to tell me that the movement I started left a mark. That means a lot.
But the biggest personal transformation happened outside the work itself.
Introvert to Extrovert
Traditionally, I was an introverted person. The kind that optimizes for staying home. The DevRel role forced me to flip that switch completely. It was a challenge, and I'm happy I went for it.
I showed up everywhere. Every event. Every launch party. Every conference. I became the guy in the room. And it worked well too! A lot of my efforts at Vapi yielded massive brand recognition across the Bay Area and beyond.
But here's the thing nobody tells you about being the party guy for your job: it gets old.
You do the same thing over and over. New venue, same energy. New launch, same hype cycle. We're so back. It's so over. At some point, the excitement fades and you're left wondering if this is actually what you want to do.
I exhausted my interest in that direction. Not because it wasn't valuable. It was. But because I learned what I needed to learn from it, and staying longer wouldn't teach me anything new.
Why I'm Leaving
I've found that San Francisco is exhausting for me. Something is always going on. Every day a new launch. Every week a new AI company. The energy is relentless and it never stops. This city is definitely not for everyone.
I'm tired.
Not burned out in the dramatic sense. Just ready for a different pace. I need to take a few months, slow down, and focus on something that isn't about being in every room.
I'm not sure if I'm coming back anytime soon. I'll still drop into the Bay Area and tech events across the US. I'll still show up for my friends and colleagues. I'll still speak and present. But I won't be at every single event anymore.
The always-on lifestyle isn't sustainable for the kind of work I want to do next.
What Comes Next
I'm going to become more serious about my YouTube channel. If you're not subscribed, go subscribe: youtube.com/@dan_goosewin. I'll be talking about tech, AI, and the change that's coming.
I'm also building a company. I can't tell you much about it quite yet, but I can tell you that it's related to AI and software development. The long-term mission is clear. I want to prepare the world for the change that's about to come.
What we're seeing right now with the disruption of the workforce, the shifting world order, the economic transformation, it's just getting started. It's going to be a lot bigger and a lot more dramatic than what we're seeing today. AGI is not a hypothetical anymore. It's an incoming certainty.
I want to dedicate my work to three things:
- Minimizing the risk of extinction. This is the floor. If we get this wrong, nothing else matters.
- Making technology a birthright. Not accessible. Not available. A birthright. Every single person on Earth should have access to the tools and knowledge that technology provides.
- Ensuring quality of human life doesn't decrease. AI replacing jobs makes people anxious and fearful. I want to turn that fear into optimism.
I want to be the guy that shifts public opinion from fear to optimism and excitement for the future.
The Case for Delusional Optimism
I've seen a lot of change in my life. Ballet dancer to engineer. Hermit to party guy. Employee to founder. Every single time, change did wonderful things for my life.
Being delusionally optimistic is an incredible advantage that most people don't grasp. They don't even realize it exists. When you genuinely believe things will work out, you make decisions that create the conditions for things to work out. It's self-fulfilling in the best possible way.
If you're feeling like things aren't going your way, if you're feeling down or hopeless, go talk to somebody. You're not alone.
And always remember: you only get one life. Live it up. Be happy.
It is up to you to shape yourself. You decide what you feel. You decide how you react. You don't decide for others, and you don't let others decide for you. You are here for you.
If you decide to be happy, you will be happy. If you decide to change the world, you will change the world.
You're the one who calls the shots.
So, go be delusionally optimistic. The world needs more of it.
Dan Goosewin out. Reach me on X/Twitter.