Begin before you have a name for it.

The question “What do you do?” becomes surprisingly difficult when you begin working independently. A job title used to answer it for you. Now the answer has to come from the work itself.

I began this chapter in May 2026, working across climate, innovation, and venture development. That is a broad description. The practical questions were much narrower: who understands this problem, what information is missing, and what would help someone make the next decision?

That is where first-principles thinking becomes useful to me. Instead of starting with the name of a business I could build, I can start with a problem I can help someone resolve. The unit of value might be a well-framed research question, an introduction with a clear purpose, or a decision brief.

There is a difference between being interested in many things and asking someone to buy an undefined collection of interests. Independence makes that difference visible.

The question I want to keep asking is: what becomes clearer, easier, or possible because I was involved?

A useful experiment

Describe one piece of work without using a job title. Name the person it helped, the question they faced, and the thing they could do afterward. If that is difficult, the offer probably needs more definition.

Question still open

How do I keep the breadth that makes my work interesting while making each individual offer easy to understand?