A New Beginning

It’s been three years since I sold PSPDFKit to Insight Partners and stepped away from the company I built from the ground up. That journey, which started with a simple PDF rendering component and grew into a global document solutions provider with customers like Dropbox, Box, and IBM, was an incredible chapter of my life.

But after a decade of immersion in the world of iOS and native development, I decided to take a step back. To explore new interests, dive into new technologies, and recharge my creative energy. Some might call it a sabbatical; I’ve been calling it “vibe coding” - following my curiosity without the pressure of deadlines or market considerations.

Changing Galaxies

And now, I’m ready for something new. Instead of continuing in the familiar universe of native app development, I’ve decided to venture into a different galaxy: web technology.

After years of Objective-C and Swift, I’m now diving into React, TypeScript, and the modern JavaScript ecosystem. It’s both humbling and invigorating to be a beginner again - wrestling with package managers instead of Xcode, figuring out CSS instead of Auto Layout, and discovering that the web has evolved dramatically while I was focused elsewhere.

Why the Change?

The web platform has matured significantly. The tools, frameworks, and capabilities available today make it possible to build experiences that rival native apps in many ways. And the reach - being able to deploy instantly to billions of devices without app store approval - is compelling.

But most importantly, it’s about growth. Trying something new, pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and rediscovering the joy that comes from building something from scratch, making all the mistakes, and learning with every line of code.

What’s Next?

I’m not quite ready to reveal exactly what I’m building yet. It’s still taking shape, evolving as I explore and experiment. But it’s solving problems I care about, in a space I’m passionate about, and it’s filling me with the same excitement I felt in the early days of PSPDFKit.

What I can say is that I’m approaching this new venture with the same principles that guided my previous work: attention to detail, focus on user experience, and a belief that software should be both powerful and a joy to use.

Stay tuned for more updates as this new journey unfolds. The best way to follow along is right here on this blog, or connect with me on Twitter or BlueSky.

It’s good to be back! ✋