We celebrated our SECOND year in Lisbon a few weeks back.

And because I have zero chill and no one can just enjoy their meal or drink in peace, I made everyone emote.
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Nothing like forced feeling talk!! 😍
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​“What was your proudest and least proudest moment of Year 2 in Lisbon?!”, I excitedly asked my blank stared round table of men. ​
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My favorite “GAME” (used in the rough sense) is asking questions that I have no idea the answers too. ESPECIALLY to my family…
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I went first: (I did categories because I’m a psycho so I’ll share the business stuff)

A proud moment?
​Building something meaningful in the AI space, even if it’s not massive.
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​A not-so-proud moment (HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU HAVE?? 🥴)
How quickly I can go from confident to insecure based on someone else’s announcement or Linkedin post. (like shouldn’t I KNOW better by now??)​
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​More on that in a sec.
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​The kids are finally back to school after the longest staggering start week ever and I am proud to say it’s been 5 whole days and I have not lost my cool in the miniscule parking lot at drop off that has a take no prisoners attitude and is a place not meant for my disposition I’ve decided.

So earlier this week after relishing in the silence I bumped into David at my neighborhood café.
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David is a 30-year legendary Hollywood production designer who’s been using My StoryPro for a year.
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​As we wait for lattes, he tells me:

“I’ve used all the big AI tools, but they never feel like me. Yours does. It’s so damn human..

He credits it with getting a TV pitch greenlit. Then he adds something that stopped me:

“At my age, this tool made me feel like I can still learn new tech and stay relevant in entertainment.”

David told me this greenlit documentary (that he’d just landed back from NYC from that day) would be his first ever as an executive producer. AI is eating into his lane and he’s evolving..

****Where is your hidden camera when you need it? 🫠 oh but don’t you worry I came after him the next day…. More on that below…

As I started to float above my body in that coffee shop, I kept hearing the words “I’ve used all the BIG ONES…and I always come back to your [small] one.”

There are MANY days I wonder if I am in over my head in this space.

But then I bump into David and it’s like my universal nudge to keep going.

And then later that same day another universal nudge in the form of a piece of research that gets blasted on my nerd algorithm feed.

NVIDIA (the massive tech company behind most AI development) published research showing Small Language Models are the future of agentic AI.

English please Patrice!

Basically, the tech world is realizing that smaller, focused AI tools often work better than the giant “do everything” models.

Specialized beats generalized when you’re trying to solve a real problem.

Like storytelling.

I love this for all of us?
Why?

Because it means you don’t have to be everything to everyone to win.
Small is not the problem.

It could be the whole point.
​You don’t need venture capital.
You don’t need to dominate every market.
You don’t need 100K followers or viral LinkedIn posts.
You don’t need Target shelves.

Whether you’re building an AI tool, a business, or a career -you just need to solve one problem really, really well for the people who need it solved​
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Like we do for David… (YOU bet I ran and get my lav mic and told him he needed to say what he said to me in line ON👏🏼 CAM👏🏼)

Two years in Lisbon, and I’m still asking myself (and my family SORRY BOYS) the hard questions about what we’re building ( as in our life) and why.

David’s doing the same thing. He’s not just adapting to new technology – he’s thriving with it. Staying curious instead of playing it safe.

And inadvertently loving it.

Sometimes the scariest thing – staying small, going niche, trying something completely new – turns out to be exactly what you needed.
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Which brings me back to that dinner table question.

Whether you’re two years into a new city, two years into a business, or just two minutes into wondering if you should try something different…

Remember: small isn’t a weakness. It actually is your edge.

And staying curious is the only way any of us stay relevant..

And if you want to hear it straight from David’s own mouth (reminder to all to NEVER leave home without a lav mic) — check it out here.

XO,
Patrice