The Story Behind Moss AI Studio - And Why I Came Back to Building
I don’t have a traditional origin story. No CS degree, no Y Combinator batch, no “quit my big tech job to found a startup” moment. My path into software was scrappier than that. But it’s the path that led me here, and I think it’s worth telling.
There was a stretch of years where I dove into all types of ways to make money online. Affiliate marketing, building websites for local businesses, spinning up my own niche sites. I tried it all.
Some of it worked, most of it didn’t, but each dead end taught me something new.
What always stood out and stuck was the automation part.
I’d build little tools to scrape data, auto-post content, handle repetitive backend stuff. And, eventually packaged a few of those tools together and put them up for sale. That experiment turned into Booster Bots.
Booster Bots (2014-2019)
I started building and selling software in 2014 under a brand called Booster Bots. I built Windows automation tools - Instagram promoters, Pinterest scrapers, Poshmark bots, Twitter automation software, and custom tools for clients. The products ranged from $29.99 to $99.99, and I ran it like a real shop. WooCommerce storefront, customer support, affiliate program, the works.
Thousands of customers came through that door. Some bought one tool. Some bought the all-access membership. Some hired me for custom builds that I still remember the details of today.
I learned a ton during those years. How to ship fast, how to support customers when you’re the only person on the team, and how to price software that people will actually pay for. But I also learned that building tools that fight against platforms is a treadmill you can’t stay on forever. Eventually the platform changes, the cat-and-mouse game gets old, and you start asking yourself what you actually want to build.
The 3-Year Hiatus
I sold the domain, closed the Booster Bots chapter, and stepped away from building software publicly. I didn’t know if I’d come back.
That period was important. I spent time on personal growth, worked on things that had nothing to do with code, and let myself sit with the question of what I actually wanted to do with the skills I’d spent years developing. There was no rush to answer it.
The AI Spark
Somewhere in 2023 and 2024, something shifted. AI tools got good enough to build real products with and not just novelty demos or GPT wrappers, but actual software that can bring ideas to life. I’d been watching the space for years, waiting for the tech to catch up to the ideas in my head. And suddenly it had.
Handmade Checker is the first retail thing I built since I started developing again. A Chrome extension that detects AI-generated listings on Etsy. It scratched an itch I had as a shopper and I saw people wanting a way to spot listings, they just like, me wanted to know if the “handmade” item I was looking at was actually handmade or AI. I shipped the first version in under two weeks. I waited for Chrome Web Store approval. It failed. I fixed the bugs in 10 minutes. And 2 days later it was approved.
And I remembered how much I love building.
Why Moss AI Studio
Moss AI Studio isn’t a pivot from Booster Bots. It’s a continuation of the same impulse: build useful software, sell it directly, support it personally.
The difference is I’m not fighting platforms anymore. I’m building tools that help customers and shoppers who want to buy real handmade goods, businesses that want to understand their competition, and people who need custom automation and tools to save hours of their week.
The name comes from moss. It grows slow, doesn’t need much, and covers ground steadily. That’s the kind of business I want to build. Not chasing VC funding or hockey-stick growth curves. Just building good software, one product at a time, for people who find it useful.
I’m here. The studio is open. And I’m not planning to stop building anytime soon.