I joined Product Hunt about 2 months ago, and ever since receiving my first compliments and comments on our recent product launch, I ve truly felt how nice and supportive people here are. Everyone seems open to discussion, willing to help, and genuinely curious about what others are building.

At first, I thought it would be really hard for a newcomer like me to join such a big community. But it turned out to be much less strict than I expected - actually, it feels like a place with so much potential for us to grow together.

Every day on Product Hunt, I feel like I m learning or discovering something new. It s not just about upvotes. It s about ideas, feedback, and seeing how others think and build.

Happy New Year, everyone. How did you spend the first day of 2026?

For me, the first day of a new year feels like the opening step of a long journey. So instead of rushing into productivity, I chose to begin 2026 by taking care of both my body and my inner world.

Here s how my Day One looked:

An early morning run, pushed myself 1km further to reach 7km
Wrote down all my goals for the year, both personal and professional
Repotted my flowering plant into a new pot
Cooked a nutritious meal for myself with Stranger Things series
Started reading a new book
Cleaned and reset my living space

Since the AI era started booming, everything has been changing incredibly fast and it requires us to adapt just as quickly. AI is now part of both our work and daily lives. It slowly seeps into everything, and over time, it can even reduce how much we think and decide for ourselves.
Of course, I won t deny the huge benefits AI brings.

But the more I saw how easily we can get carried away by it, the more I felt the need to slow down to step back and look at the bigger picture.

After spending time working with AI, I realized a few important things:

As one year comes to an end and a new one begins, I find myself pausing to reflect. If you had the chance to say something to your future self to the version of you in 2025 and 2026, what would it be?

Looking back, I want to thank myself for how much I pushed through this past year:

• For finding a job I genuinely value, even after going through a long period of stress and fear of unemployment

• For speaking up and sharing my own perspectives at work

• For choosing action over just talking

• For walking away from toxic and unnecessary work relationships

• For daring to learn new things outside my original field of study

• For letting go of some comforts and entertainment to focus more on my health

Learning to code or learning how to use AI is important, but what matters even more is learning how to solve problems we haven t even discovered yet.

Recently, I read an article featuring Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, where he said:
Nothing would give me more joy than if none of our engineers were coding at all, and they were just purely solving undiscovered problems.

We don t need to say your product is great, let others decide that.

There is no guarantee that we are the best, or that what we build is amazing. As someone who prefers doing over talking, I always remind myself: what customers say about my product is the most honest reflection of what it truly is.

If users feel satisfied, it means the product is moving in the right direction.
If they don t, it doesn t mean we ve failed completely. It means something isn t right yet, and it s time to fix it.

Is there something you feel you missed and if you could go back, would you make the same decision, or choose differently?

I ve only recently started my professional journey, working at a startup that builds an app. I don t have a long or glamorous career yet, nor a lot of experience. But one thing I do regret is not trying to work earlier, and instead spending most of my time buried in academic studies.

When I finally entered the workplace, I realized that much of what I learned in school was no longer aligned with the market or the speed at which things evolve. The job required soft skills that textbooks and theory never taught. I learned quickly that without self-learning and constant adaptation, it s easy to fall behind.

In the same year I left Google s Mountain View HQ where I was working on subscription experiences used by billions to pursue Murror, two engineers also left Google to build Character AI.
Their early prototype raised safety concerns, but the idea evolved into a platform where people could create virtual characters such as AI companions, assistants, or friends.
We started from similar places, but chose very different paths.
Character AI focused on moving fast to meet market demand and scale quickly, then kids committed suicide using the product.
Murror chose to move slowly prioritizing research, ethics, and user safety. We intentionally designed our AI around a butterfly symbol, as a reminder that it is a tool for reflection, not a replacement for real human relationships. This approach takes more time, and it doesn t always show immediate financial results.
Over time, the contrast between speed and responsibility has become clearer.
At Murror, money is not the starting point. It is a result that comes after doing the work carefully and responsibly.
This is a long journey.
If you are someone an investor, partner, or builder who values patience, resilience, and long-term impact, I believe this path matters. As the world becomes more complex and emotionally fragile, the need for thoughtful, ethical technology will only grow.
This is just the beginning.