Hi. It's been a while. Almost 3600 days since I last hit publish. That's wild. I’m getting back into it. Weekly notes, straight to your inbox, every Thursday. Let’s dive in.
Not the kind that comes from a meditation retreat—but the kind you earn. The kind that shows up when your actions match your instincts. When you're no longer borrowing goals from Twitter threads or building things that drain you just to prove something.
I used to chase momentum—more speed, more noise, more wins. Now I chase alignment. And it's not quiet because it's empty — it's quiet because it’s right.
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Most people are addicted to the chaos. But chaos is expensive. Peace? That’s real wealth.
3 Things Worth Sharing
1. Business Insight
The best businesses don’t “scale”—they deepen.
Instead of obsessing over growth, ask: Can I go deeper? Deeper into customer problems, deeper into value, deeper into storytelling.
Depth compounds.
2. Tech
Figure 01 Robots are here—and Brett Adcock is moving like a freight train. This isn’t just Boston Dynamics 2.0—these humanoids are being rolled out in the real world, working shoulder-to-shoulder with employees at BMW. If this lands the way it looks like it will, the next industrial shift won’t be driven by code—it’ll walk, balance, and hold a wrench.
Worth watching closely.
3. Adventure
Went bowhunting for fallow deer in the Bedford mountains this past weekend with a few mates. Early mornings, cold air, and long walks in the veld. No signal, no noise — just good company and wild country.
The best thinking happens when you're tracking something.
Evert’s beautiful stag shot with a bow at 14 yards.
What I’m Reading
High Agency — an essay on the rare trait of bending reality without waiting for permission. If you’re a builder, this one hits deep.
Revisiting “Shoe Dog” — still the rawest look into building something from nothing.
Fred Again – Boiler Room Set — energy in audio form. The soundtrack to building with feeling. Evenings feel like mornings.
Currently working on
Halalisana Township Incubator is located in Humansdorp, South Africa. We help local entrepreneurs move from idea to execution, guiding them from pre-incubation through to funding and scale. We currently have 21 businesses incubated. We also offer conferencing facilities, co-working, and a coding academy for kids.
It’s early, but every step is rewarding
AI Radar
Firebase Studio – Just launched. Makes backend logic, authentication, and DB workflows stupid simple. Feels like cheating.
21st.dev – A clean, well-curated repository of modern components. Great for building fast without starting from zero.
GPT-4o Image Generation – The new image feature is insane. Sharp control, stunning quality, fast output. Feels like we just jumped 2 versions ahead of everything else.
Bolt Integrates Stripe — A longed-for feature to make sales integration for no-code app building easy.
Question I’m Pondering
What would this look like if it were simple?
Why I’m Writing This
It’s been 10 years since I last shared anything consistently online. Privacy gave me peace, but it also took something: the outlet, the friction, the signal chain that comes from pressing publish.
No feedback loop. No resistance. No community. Just me. Whilst I do enjoy my silence, silence can also become a cage.
And the way I live—quiet, enclosed, intentional - I need an outlet again.
This newsletter is the start of that. A place to think out loud, build in public, and start conversations that matter.
Until Next Time
– Jacques
P.S. If you enjoyed this, share it with someone who thinks like you.
Check out other things I’m busy with:
We Edit Podcasts – A full-service B2B podcasting agency that helps brands turn listeners into customers.
Hunting Portal – Your next hunting adventure starts here. Outfitters, taxidermists, gear heads, and more.
Halalisana—We help township-based businesses grow, scale, and thrive in South Africa. We offer conferencing, co-working, and a coding academy.
Melck Group – Buy undervalued real estate in a small coastal town in South Africa.
Thanks for reading Jacques' Notes! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
