Fun

Happy 50th Birthday, Apple!

Today, Apple turns 50.

I cannot tell you how much my first computer, an Apple II, impacted me.

It was my first computer. It had a green monochrome monitor. It had 16KB of memory, which is roughly 2 million times less than the 32GB MacBook I am using to write this post. By any modern standard, it was primitive. To boot it, I had to use a cassette tape. Yes, cassette tape!

Thankfully, it had a few expansion slots, so the machine was quickly upgraded to 64KB, with a floppy drive and later two of them to facilitate copying disks, plus a sound card to make some noise. Still no hard drive, of course. That would have been too expensive to ask my parents to buy for me.

What made that machine special was not the hardware. It was what it unlocked for me.

For the first time, I could be creative through writing software. I started with the programming language BASIC, which felt magical back then. Occasionally, I had to write in assembly language, which meant dealing with 0s and 1s directly and pulling hair along the way. It was clunky. It was frustrating. It was also incredibly fun and deeply fulfilling when the program finally worked!

So I wrote games and other fun programs to keep myself entertained. Looking back, that was the real gift. My late father did not just buy me the best toy I could have imagined. He gave me a machine that allowed me to become a permissionless innovator, a tinkerer, a self-taught learner, and someone who learned early to think differently.

That mindset stayed with me.

It shaped how I see the world as an engineer, as a founder, and now as an investor. Long before I had the language for it, the Apple II taught me that technology is at its best when it gives people leverage, creativity, and the freedom to build.

Apple’s anniversary post mentions the Apple II among the products that helped define the company’s first 50 years. For me, it did something even more personal. It helped define mine.

Maybe that is where it all began. Thinking differently is not just about being creative. It is about seeing what others do not see yet. In many ways, that idea has stayed with me ever since and still shapes how I think about technology, innovation, and investing today.

Looking back, I think learning to think differently was where the idea that seeing the future is our superpower first took shape.

And thank you to one little Apple II with 16KB of memory, a cassette tape, and just enough magic to change a kid’s life.

Happy Birthday Pi

Today is Pi Day, and it feels like a good excuse to reflect on an old friend.

Most people say goodbye to our friend π after school. I’ve been lucky enough to stay in touch. The relationship has evolved over the years, from a childhood friendship in math class to something that followed me into engineering school and later into my work. It is a good reminder that the academic foundations we build early do not stay behind. They continue to shape how we see the world and how we build what comes next.

At Two Small Fish, the next frontier of computing is our investment thesis. We see it taking shape across five areas: Vertical AI Platforms, Physical AI, AI Infrastructure, Advanced Computing Hardware, and Smart Energy. For Pi Day, I thought it would be fun to pick one equation I learned along the way for each of these five areas, and reflect on how it still connects to the technologies shaping this next frontier.

For Vertical AI Platforms, I think of the Gaussian distribution: f(x) = 1/(σ√(2π)) · e^(-(x-μ)^2 / 2σ²), which is foundational in probability and statistics. Even as AI becomes more vertical and more embedded in real workflows, it still rests on probability, statistics, and uncertainty. π is there too.

In Physical AI, the equation I think of is ω = 2πf, which defines angular frequency. I studied control systems and, one summer during my junior year at university, wrote software to control a robotic arm. That was an early lesson that once software meets motion, π becomes part of how the physical world is described.

In AI Infrastructure, I think of the Fourier transform: X(f) = ∫ x(t)e^(-j2πft) dt. I studied signal processing, my bachelor’s thesis was in image processing, and my master’s thesis was on noisy CDMA wireless networks. That math shaped how I thought about signals, images, noise, and communication then, and Fourier shows up in modern LLMs now.

In Advanced Computing Hardware, my equation is ℏ = h/2π. I studied optics in communications, which included a lot of quantum mechanics, so Planck’s constant was part of the vocabulary of the field. What stayed with me is that π shows up at the quantum level as part of the structure, not just the math.

In Smart Energy, the equation I would use is Xₗ = 2πfL, which calculates inductive reactance. It is a simple reminder that in AC systems, frequency directly shapes behaviour. As energy systems become smarter and more dynamic, π remains embedded in the physics underneath.

That may be why Pi Day still resonates with me. π is one of those rare constants that keeps reappearing across disciplines, from robotics to quantum mechanics, from signal processing to energy systems, and now across the next frontier of computing.

P.S. I also realized I missed mentioning my other friend Euler back on February 7. Next time!