About us. For you.
JB's story
If you’ve ever felt intimidated by all the talk about AI, you’re not alone. When I first started exploring it, I felt like I’d missed a secret class everyone else had taken. The jargon, the constant new tools, and the hype was overwhelming. But here’s the truth: you don’t need to be a tech genius to use AI in ways that make your everyday life easier, more creative, fulfilling, or efficient.
Before launching into this new chapter with try-AI, I spent seven years at Google as a marketing strategy consultant, helping businesses from small local shops to global brands find smart, effective ways to reach and serve their audiences. That experience revealed two key insights for me: 1) People often need hand-holding help with simplifying complex technology to solve real life, human challenges. And 2) that I excelled at doing so by understanding other's goals, problems, and needs, then serving as a guide who can make complicated things easy to understand.
Now, I translate my professional experience into helping everyday people learn how to use AI confidently and practically. I'm also learning and experimenting with these tools right alongside you, dedicated to helping you progress at your own pace as we navigate the fast-paced AI landscape together.
​
The journey
For years, I was professionally content at a company I loved. Working at Google as a digital marketing Executive Strategist meant solving complex problems for businesses of every size. But over time, the work became less about creative strategy and more about rigid, prescribed processes, metrics, and endless internal tracking. My professional flame dimmed significantly and I withdrew from extracurricular efforts and internal engagements outside of my core job. Monday mornings started to feel heavier and anxiety ridden. I eventually realized I was no longer able to work in the way that fulfilled me the most.
Naturally, I tried to find a different role and team that fit, but the available options that aligned with my values and professional curiosity were limited. So after months of consideration, I circled a date on the calendar to resign. However, before I could make my career move, the decision was made for me. I was let go. Fired. It stung, but that moment turned into my wake-up call. Instead of letting fear, irrational response, or inaction take over, I channeled that shock into purpose.
​
I dove headfirst into learning about AI, focusing on the fundamentals. Not for use in a job, but in my personal, everyday life. I experimented, explored, and started applying what I learned to everyday things. I slowly replaced AI overwhelm with familiarity, comfort, and excitement about its possibilities for myself and others.
​
Mission
If you’ve ever heard all the talk about AI and thought, “That sounds amazing, but I don’t even know where to start,” then you’re exactly who try-AI is here to serve and help.
It occurred to me while working at Google, one of the largest AI tech companies on the planet, that even my co-workers and I were having a hard time trying to reconcile how and where we should be using AI for our work. I know the challenge is likely worse and on a much larger scale for countless others who don't work in tech or don't need to use AI on the job. People like me that just needed some guidance.
​
My mission is simple: to help people who might be getting technologically left behind or overwhelmed realize that AI is simply a tool you can use to be more efficient, in many ways. I believe everyone, regardless of their age, background, or tech experience, can learn to use AI in ways that make life a little easier.
Whether planning family adventures, organizing your week, addressing your personal finances, budgeting for and prepping meals, or exploring creative projects, I’d like to show you how AI can become your personal assistant, brainstorming partner, and productivity sidekick. I'm distilling all my professional experience of strategic and technical consulting into helping everyday people learn how to use AI, or at least give it a try. Our goal is to help you learn, build confidence, and progress at your own pace as we figure this out together.
Mike's story
The most helpful, most advanced technologies shouldn’t be limited to be used only by the tech savvy and computer programmers out there. That’s what I believe. But that being said, I also am one. A programmer. And I’ve spent most of my professional life making tech tools easier to build and use.​
I'm a software developer who's been building systems since 1999. I've always been fascinated by computing and technology, and that curiosity is what inspires me to help others learn about new innovations, too. For me, software development is 90% thinking and 10% typing. When I build something, I don’t just write code. I solve puzzles, recognize patterns, and build reusable blocks that make future updates easier.
My most recent accomplishment is a payment processing system that handles over $50 million in rental payments every month. The challenge wasn't just moving money around. It was building something with zero margin for error. When you're processing payments between residents and property management companies, everything has to work perfectly. One flaw could create chaos for thousands of people.
Thankfully, using AI in your everyday life is much more forgiving. You don’t need to be as precise at the start in order to end up with great results for yourself, regardless of what you’re trying to use AI for. But you can be more efficient in how you learn to use it, and that’s where my expertise can lend a hand.
​
The journey
When AI started making headlines, I kept hearing the same story: "Developers are done. AI is taking over." But I wasn't convinced. So I did what I always do when something new comes along. I started experimenting.
My first experience with AI was with ChatGPT, and like most people, I treated it like a fancy search engine. But the more I used it, the more I realized it could do a lot more than answer questions. The real turning point came when I started using an AI tool to help me edit programming code. That's when I saw AI's potential to actually enhance my productivity. It could handle mundane tasks and helped me polish my writing, whether I needed to simplify a technical explanation or clean up grammar. I'd write a draft, then work with AI to make it clearer and more professional.
But I also learned AI's limitations pretty quickly. It doesn't always consider the full context of your code. Sometimes it outputs inefficient solutions. You have to trust but verify everything. And I discovered that the better your instructions, the better your results. AI isn't magic. It's a tool, and like any tool, you need to know how to use it properly.
Over the past year, AI has become part of my daily workflow. Not as a replacement for what I do, but as a partner that helps me work smarter. It clears away the repetitive stuff so I can focus on the problems that actually need my brain.
​
Mission
Here's what I've realized: AI isn't just for developers or tech people. It's for everyone. But most people don't know where to start, and that's the problem I want to help solve.
My goal is to help everyday people (busy parents, professionals, anyone juggling too much) figure out how AI can actually work for them. I want to demystify it. Show them they don't need to fear it or feel overwhelmed by it.
That's why I'm doing things like building customGPTs. These are tools designed to make AI easier to use without needing to understand prompt engineering or technical details. You shouldn't have to become an expert just to save time or get organized.
​Success for me looks like someone using AI to create a month-long housework schedule in minutes. Or putting together a better presentation for a peer or social group without spending hours stressing over it. It's about giving people their time back and helping them tackle bigger tasks by breaking them into manageable steps.
​I've spent 25 years building systems that make other people's lives easier. That's always been my obsession. AI is just the next evolution of that mission. I want to help people understand that AI isn't here to replace them. It's here to help them do what they do better.