For 6 years, my WhatsApp groups had a quiet pattern. Someone would ask “does anyone know a good plumber?” — I'd reply, and a few hours later they'd say “thank you, you're a lifesaver.” Multiply that by hundreds of messages, across years, and you get a problem I didn't see coming. People were relying on me. I was missing replies, losing threads, forgetting names. The thing that started as helpful had quietly become unsustainable.

So I tried to engineer a way out. First idea: a chatbot. Then I got laid off from a corporate job — and an app I'd been building for that team disappeared overnight. Two things clicked at once: if I don't own what I build, I don't get to keep it, and the chatbot was thinking too small. The fix wasn't automating my replies — it was building the place those questions should've been asked in the first place.

So I started GoLocial. Solo — design, code, testing, strategy. Day job by day, this by night. No salary from this. Just belief. If you've got feedback, an idea, or you just want to say hi — please do. This is your platform too.