About Vinod
How I went from a desperate sales job to building startups with AI coding tools while working full-time, and why I'm sharing everything I learn.
The story
My first job was a sales job that I hated every single day, but I did it for ten months anyway.
As a fresh engineering graduate, I expected a bright future. But reality was brutal. Every engineering job required 3-5 years of experience, and I had none. For an introvert like me, cold calling and getting rejected by receptionists was torture.
But I refused to quit on myself. After ten months, I enrolled in a six-month programming course and threw myself into it completely — 12 to 16 hours a day, every day. I ate, slept, and coded.
“You learn the most when you troubleshoot. Following documentation is easy, but when something breaks, you're forced to dig deeper. That pain becomes your greatest teacher.”
The journey
The Sales Job That Changed Everything
Started with a sales job I hated every single day but refused to quit on myself. After 10 months of torture as an introvert doing cold calls, I enrolled in a 6-month programming course and coded 12-16 hours daily.
Corporate Growth
Rose from junior developer to senior roles, building enterprise systems for 100,000+ employees. Learned to bridge business and technology in high-stakes corporate environments.
Side Hustles, Freelancing, Agency Work
Ran multiple side businesses while maintaining corporate career. freelancing, agency work, WordPress sites, Amazon FBA. Learned end-to-end ownership and the reality of bootstrapped entrepreneurship.
Writing & Content Discovery
Grew to 150,000 monthly readers on Medium. Joined Ship 30 for 30 which changed my writing completely. Launched YouTube interview series 'Career Journey'. Writing forced me to think clearly and simplify complex ideas.
Career Leap Coaching
Built CareerLeap to help programmers accelerate their careers. Learned the challenges of coaching technical professionals through career transitions and growth phases.
The Pivot to Founders
Mentor advised: 'Stop focusing on programmers. help founders instead.' Interviewed 100+ early-stage founders, launched Micro SaaS YouTube series, but realized I was 12 years away from hands-on coding.
Rediscovering Coding with AI
Dove back into coding using AI tools like V0, Bolt, and Cursor. Built CareerLeap as my first AI-powered app. Started staying up until 4-5 AM coding again. hadn't felt this passion in years.
Building with AI
Shipped 9 products using AI coding tools while working full-time. Co-founded Sucana with a goal of $10K/month by June 2026. Embraced location flexibility, working from 15 cities across the year.
Building Sucana
Building Sucana full-time with my co-founders Virgil and Victor. Shipping features every week, onboarding early agency users, and learning what it takes to grow a B2B product from zero. Writing about the entire journey in Build Notes.
Who I am
Bridge Builder
25+ years translating between business leaders who speak in outcomes and programmers who think in step-by-step instructions.
Troubleshooter Detective
You learn the most when you troubleshoot. I discovered early that in tech, you earn more respect for fixing outages than writing elegant code.
End-to-End Builder
Comfortable with both corporate scale (100K+ employee systems) and startup speed. Side hustles taught me end-to-end ownership without guardrails.
Execution Expert
Excellent at bringing visions and ideas to life. Whether working solo or leading teams, I can handle big initiatives and deliver results consistently.
Writer & Educator
Using words and frameworks to simplify complexity. From 150K Medium readers to teaching founders through YouTube and newsletters.
Enterprise Experience
Agile Transformation Lead
Led organization-wide Agile transformation, implementing new frameworks and processes that improved team efficiency by 25% and reduced project delivery times by 20%.
Consumer Product Delivery
Led quarterly planning, product roadmap, release planning, and delivery of consumer products, ensuring alignment with business goals and stakeholder expectations.
AdventHealth Digital Products
Led development teams to build consumer healthcare products including AdventHealth Apps, AdventHealth.com, and AdventHealth Account, serving millions of patients.
Enterprise Intranet Platform
Built Office 365 (SharePoint Online) based Enterprise Intranet for 100K+ employees, including content migration using ShareGate and ControlPoint administration tools.
Workflow Automation Systems
Developed advanced Nintex (SharePoint) workflows including equipment request processes, significantly improving operational efficiency across the organization.
Enterprise SSO Integration
Implemented SAML-based Single Sign-On for seamless integration between AdventHealth and vendor applications including Epic, Cerner, Concur, Agfa Xero, and NetLearning.
Seven-Eleven POS System
Onsite coordinator for a Seven-Eleven point-of-sale product, managing an offshore team of 60 developers and ensuring successful delivery to enterprise clients.
Wyndham Resort Management
Built resort management application for Wyndham Hotels, handling reservations, guest services, and property management operations.
Education & Training
1:1 Marketing Coaching
Virgil Brewster
Hands-on coaching on idea validation through customer outreach, conducting discovery calls, identifying painful problems, and packaging solutions to sell.
Rapid Transformation Intensive
Benjamin Hardy
A 12-week program focused on radical personal growth, shifting from incremental to exponential results by mastering your past and aligning present actions with your Future Self vision.
Creator MBA
Justin Welsh
A comprehensive system for building a profitable one-person business and audience online.
Creator OS
Justin Welsh
Operating system for creating content consistently and building a personal brand.
Part-Time YouTuber Academy
Ali Abdaal
A course on building a successful YouTube channel while working a full-time job.
Building a Second Brain
Forte Labs
A methodology for saving and organizing ideas, insights, and connections to enhance creativity and productivity.
Ship 30 for 30
Dickie Bush & Nicolas Cole
A 30-day writing challenge to build a daily writing habit and publish online consistently.
Dare to Lead
Brene Brown
Leadership training based on research about courage, vulnerability, and building brave cultures.
Leadership Challenge Course
The Leadership Challenge
Leadership development program based on The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.
Prosci Change Management
Prosci
Certification in the ADKAR model for leading organizational change and transformation.
PMP Certification
Project Management Institute
Project Management Professional certification for leading and directing projects.
MBA
Webster University, St Louis, MO
Master of Business Administration with focus on management and leadership.
Getting Things Done
David Allen Company
Productivity methodology for stress-free performance and capturing everything in a trusted system.
Bachelor of Engineering
North Maharashtra University
Foundation in engineering principles and technical problem-solving.
Writing & content
I had been blogging since 2006, but around 2022 I joined Ship 30 for 30. a writing program that changed everything. It taught me to focus on one topic, one person, one outcome per essay.
On Medium, I grew to 150,000 monthly readers. I also launched a YouTube interview series called Career Journey, reaching the top 3% of podcasters by staying consistent and recording ~60 episodes.
The key insight came from mentor Virgil Brewster: “Stop focusing on programmers' careers. instead, help founders.” That pivot led me to interview 100+ early-stage founders and ultimately discover my calling in AI-powered entrepreneurship.
The mission
I want to build products that solve real problems for marketers and share every lesson along the way. If my build stories, tools, and frameworks help one marketer save hours on reporting and focus on growing their clients, that is a win.
“Use your struggles as fuel. Build fast, learn faster. Teach and share as you grow. Keep reinventing yourself, because the journey never really ends.”
Build Notes
I am building Sucana and sharing everything I learn through my newsletter and YouTube channel.
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