Why I Built This Website

I've always believed in the power of showing, not just telling. It's a principle that's guided me through building products, pitching ideas, and navigating my career. So when I found myself with a few weeks of downtime between projects, I thought — why not practice what I preach?

But let's be real — this wasn't just about having a fancy digital business card. (Though I won't complain if it helps with that too!) I built this site for three main reasons that I thought might resonate with some of you:

1. To Learn by Doing (and Failing a Bit)

Here's a confession: despite working with engineering and design teams for years as a product leader, I hadn't actually built something end-to-end myself in... well, longer than I'd like to admit. I was starting to feel that disconnect that happens when you're always on the planning side but never in the trenches.

I wanted to get my hands dirty with modern web tech — Next.js, Tailwind, React Server Components, Framer Motion. Not just reading about them or reviewing PRs, but actually wrestling with them myself. And wrestle I did! I can't count how many times I broke my layout trying to get those fancy animations just right.

I didn't want to just follow some cookie-cutter tutorial either. I wanted to build something that felt like me — something minimal but polished, functional but with those little details that make you go "oh, that's nice." You know what I mean?

2. To Experiment with AI-Powered Development

Okay, I'll admit it — I'm a bit of an AI nerd. I've been playing with these tools since the early days, but Vercel's v0 completely changed the game for me. Have you tried it yet? It's wild.

I'd type something like "create a glass-morphism hero section with subtle parallax effects when the user moves their mouse" and... it would just do it? Like, actual working code? The first time it happened, I literally said "no way" out loud to an empty room.

There were hiccups, of course. Sometimes v0 would get a bit too creative with my color scheme, or I'd have to rephrase my prompt three different ways to get what I wanted. But that process — the back and forth, the refinement — taught me so much about how prompt design and product design are starting to overlap in fascinating ways.

I also found myself bouncing between ChatGPT and v0 — using one to help structure my ideas, the other to translate them into clean components. It felt like having a pair programming session with two very different but complementary minds.

3. To Create a Central Hub for My Work

My career path hasn't exactly been a straight line. I've zigzagged through healthcare, hotel distribution tech at MakeMyTrip, urban mass transit, and logistics. While that's been incredibly enriching, it's also made it hard to tell a coherent story about what I do and what I care about.

This site is my attempt to bring all those threads together. Right now it's pretty simple — just a Home page, an Experience timeline, and this Spotlight section where I'll share things I'm thinking about or working on. But I'm excited to see how it evolves.

It's not really a portfolio in the traditional sense. Think of it more as a personal lab — a space where I can document what I've built, what I'm building, and the messy, interesting process in between.

What's Next?

I've got a few ideas brewing for what comes next:

• A proper blog engine (probably MDX-based) so I can write more easily about product, tech, and the occasional random thought experiment
• A dynamic project showcase where I can highlight some of the side projects that never see the light of day (we all have those, right?)
• A few easter eggs just for fun — because what's a personal site without some hidden surprises? (Hint: try the Konami code...)

But honestly, the most unexpected outcome of this whole process was rediscovering how much I love building things. Not just shipping features or hitting milestones — but that feeling of starting with a blank canvas, getting lost in the details, and watching something take shape that didn't exist before.

If you're on the fence about building your own site — just do it. Not for the LinkedIn kudos or the job offers (though those might follow). Do it to remember what it feels like to make something that's entirely yours, quirks and all.

Anyway, I'd love to hear what you think, or if you've built something similar recently. Drop me a line through the contact form, or just say hi if you're passing through.

Thanks for reading this far!

— Subhav