The Full Story
The moment of walking away from $150/hr consulting wasn't dramatic. No Jerry Maguire speech. No burning bridges. Just a quiet realization that sitting in an office optimizing someone else's infrastructure felt wrong when AI had made it possible to build my own.
I had spent 13 years in enterprise security — real companies, real scale. Nasdaq. Atlassian. iZettle (acquired by PayPal for $2.2 billion). Länsförsäkringar. Not junior roles. Security Architect level. Reporting to CISOs. Designing infrastructure for banks and fintechs that handled billions in transactions.
I was good at it. The companies were impressive. The pay was solid. But something fundamental had shifted in the world, and most people in enterprise hadn't noticed yet.
From Bangladesh to Sweden to Independence
I came to Sweden from Bangladesh when I was young. Grew up here. Learned to navigate the Swedish system — the one that values consensus, credential, and fitting in. I got the credentials. I played the game. I climbed the ladder.
But climbing the ladder only makes sense if the ladder is leaning against the right wall. And I started to realize: the enterprise ladder rewards storytelling over competence. The AWS interview I went through with 13 years of AWS experience felt pointless. The STAR format — "tell me about a time when..." — selects for performers, not builders.
I didn't want to be a performer. I wanted to build. So I stopped auditioning.
The Breaking Point
The breaking point wasn't one thing. It was a slow accumulation. Sitting in meetings where the most important skill was managing up. Watching compliance frameworks turn into theater. Seeing brilliant engineers burn out because they cared more than the system rewarded.
And then AI happened. Not the AGI hype. The practical reality: Claude, GPT, and other tools that collapsed the execution gap. Suddenly, one person could build what used to take a team. The bottleneck shifted from execution to thinking.
That's when I knew. The opportunity wasn't in getting better at corporate politics. It was in building things that mattered, with tools that made one person powerful.
Malaysia
I moved to Malaysia. Not permanently. Not escaping. Just changing the environment to match the phase of life I'm in.
Why Malaysia? Lower cost of living means I can build without burning through savings. Muslim-majority country means I can find halal food and prayer spaces without friction. Proximity to suppliers for NordicUmmah. Warm climate. A fresh start.
But more than that: Malaysia is a place where I can think clearly. No corporate meetings. No commute. No office politics. Just building, thinking, and documenting.
What I'm Building Now
Six products. Different markets. Different business models. All connected by the same philosophy: security-first, privacy-respecting, built with AI as the force multiplier.
- IntendCloud — Infrastructure compliance for AWS. The tool I wish I had at Nasdaq and Atlassian.
- IntendTrack — Privacy-first marketing analytics. Because you can measure what works without surveillance.
- NordicUmmah — Halal e-commerce from Malaysia to the Nordics. Built for the community I'm part of.
- BrandPilot — Multi-brand social media management. Self-hosted. Open source. Because your content shouldn't live on someone else's server.
- Ijaza.app — Islamic education platform. Connecting students with verified teachers.
- InvestDashboard — Portfolio tracking for Swedish investors. ISK accounts, crypto, the whole picture.
Some will succeed. Some will fail. That's the point. I'm not building one perfect product. I'm building a portfolio of bets, learning from each one.
View all productsThe 4-Year Freedom Plan
I'm planning to study philosophy — distance learning from Sweden while based in Malaysia. Not for credentials. For thinking. For learning how to think better about the big questions.
CSN (Swedish student aid) covers the basics. The products I'm building cover the rest. Four years to build, learn, and set up a life that's on my terms.
It's not retirement. It's not "passive income." It's building systems that give me time to think, learn, and create without trading hours for money.
The Investment Thesis
I invest with conviction, not diversification. Bitcoin. MicroStrategy (MSTR). Income strategies like MSTY and BULL. Not a trader by profession — an investor with strong opinions backed by research.
I called the BTC bottom at $66.5K. I called the top at $126.2K. I'm not always right. But I share my thinking publicly, so wins and losses are transparent.
The next four years are an accumulation phase. Building products. Investing with conviction. Documenting everything. When the bull market returns, I'll be ready.
Read my full investment thesisThe Core Philosophy
"AI should make you free — not make you a better employee."
Most people are using AI to work harder at jobs they don't love. I'm using it to build independence. The tools exist. The opportunities exist.
There are four layers of AI usage. Most people are stuck at layer one (ChatGPT for emails). I operate at layer four (AI as a force multiplier for building entire products). The gap between the layers is thinking, not tools.
Why I Document Everything
The YouTube channel isn't content creation for its own sake. It's documentation. A public record of what I'm building, what I'm learning, what works, and what doesn't.
Transparency builds trust. If I'm wrong, you'll see it. If I'm right, you'll see that too. No highlight reel. No fake guru bullshit. Just the real journey of someone trying to build something meaningful.
Watch on YouTubeLet's Connect
If you're building something similar — using AI to build independence, not to become a better employee — I'd love to hear from you.