What I learned in 2025 as a tech founder

Some years pass easily. Others are like a toddler tantrum in a corner shop. They are boisterous and disorderly, but we somehow still learn something from them. For me, 2025 was unquestionably the second kind.

If you had asked me back in January what the year would look like, I would have given you a neat plan full of milestones and deliverables, alongside all the other formalities that founders like to act as though they are in control of.

I used to think a founder’s role was to keep everything afloat. Now, I know it’s more like learning when to step back and let someone with more knowledge take charge.

I witnessed our team overcome obstacles this year that might have crushed us a year ago. They solved problems I didn’t even see happening. They built things that once lived only in my head rent-free for far too long.

Customers surprised me too, and (mostly) in the best ways. When you build something like the MAGIC AI Mirror, you hope people will like it. You don’t expect them to send emails that sound like they are writing to an old friend. I read encouraging messages from our customers who have rediscovered strength that they thought they had lost.

Their stories remind me why we made a seven-foot prototype that looked like it was from the Science Museum. Every bit of progress this year felt greater because it held a purpose.

And then there is my kid! They have no idea how much of my perspective this year belongs to them. They have made me appreciate even the smallest victories. A full night of sleep, or managing to take a call without background squealing, now calls for a victory parade.

Watching your child grow is the most peculiar combination of pride, panic, and “please don’t put that in your mouth”. But I would never trade it for anything. Oddly enough, a lot of the patience developing at home finds its way back into the workplace. So does the unpredictability.

This year was not perfect. Deadlines moved. I made decisions I’d love to rewrite. But keeping the messy bits under the covers feels a bit dishonest.

The truth is, most of us building anything are winging it more often than we admit. Be it a company, or a family. The good news is that winging it still moves you forward if you are surrounded by people who believe in what you are building. Even on the days you are not entirely convinced of yourself.

As we wrap up 2025, I’m not trying to manufacture some grand life lesson. I’m just grateful. Grateful for the team that carried more weight than they will ever take credit for; for the customers who let MAGIC AI Mirror be part of their lives; and for the tiny humans who remind me that nothing is as serious as I sometimes make it.

If next year is anything like this one, I will count myself lucky. Even if the chaos shows up again, I have learned that it’s rarely the enemy. It’s just the universe clearing space for the next good thing.