Why I started a web development company in the age of AI
I'm Adam. I've loved building for the web since I wrote my first line of code at 11. After years working across marketing, finance, ecommerce – on everything from websites to B2B platforms to consumer apps – I decided it was time to start my own company. And yes, in a job market where "AI will take our jobs" is the headline of the week, that might seem like odd timing. Bear with me.
Why start a company now?
After nearly two decades working for various companies, I'd seen the same pattern repeat itself. Talented teams weighed down by their own structure. Good projects slowed by process, not by ability. I kept thinking there had to be a better way to deliver this kind of work.
I was also at a point in my career where I needed a change. The problem was that even if I moved to a different company, I'd probably end up in a similar place a few years down the line.
Then, a freelance project came up. I decided to take it on – just to do something different for a change.
I managed to deliver a fairly complex project in a much shorter time than when working with larger teams. And then there was the enjoyment. Oh, the enjoyment of uninterrupted, productive work. Yes, there were problems, but solving them was actually fun when there was no bureaucracy or meetings I felt obligated to sit through. It was pure joy.
But isn't AI about to replace developers?
I started Origin Wave as a freelance side project in 2024. The year everyone was shouting about how AI was replacing developers. Was I worried about that? No.
Not because I'm dismissing the change – it's real, and it's big. But from where I'm sitting, AI doesn't replace developers. It gives them more capacity. The thinking, the problem-solving, the understanding of what a business actually needs – that's still the hard part. AI doesn't do that. What it does is take care of a lot of the legwork around it.
In my day-to-day work, I use AI constantly. Not to write code for me, but as a thinking partner. Talking through different approaches to a problem. Learning new concepts faster by getting explanations tailored to how I think. Debugging. It's made me more productive, not less relevant.
What you'll find here
This is the first post on the site. The plan is to share what I'm learning as I build this company – what's working, what isn't, and the occasional opinion on where the industry is heading.
If that sounds useful, stick around.