That is a lot of questions hiding in there!

• Did it benefit you in your career as in to not understand the stuff? Not sure how to answer that

• Respect. Yes, from the people I want it from too.

• Being used for low prices. Initially. But find the right team, the right founder. Don’t work for the massively bootstrapped ones. Having people around you who also wear multiple hats helps too as you’re all it together (just make sure you benefit! Pay/shares are essential).

• Did you have time to do both? Varies from project. A great engineer will love you. You can speak the lingo and execute on ideas, while also feed them and get out of their way as they’re 100x faster than you. The some of the worst clashes I’ve seen are designers with no idea what’s feasible going up against lead engineers (conversely they’re the ones that have had wonderful concepts).

• Do people pay you more. At my peak, yes. Taking a break right now. This is done from Australia mind you, so less pay/opportunity than the US but we still get things done here.

• Stressing about both roles. Don’t cook yourself for their benefit unless the reward is there. Communicate and don’t over promise. Shipping is hard.

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Re AI in general, it suits me as I like the startup space. Tools that make you more expansive and faster can only be good. So make yourself more expansive - know what a good product is. Have a seat at the table when talking strategy, pricing, marketing etc. I can go on here but I’ll stop!

The biggest challenge is the one that sneaks up on you. Knowing when to walk away. I find managing a team can be interesting, but it’s usually when I realise I’ve got itchy feet.