My name is Patrick Cahill, and this is my blog.

I am learning and experimenting every day, and as I do, I am grateful for the opportunity to share the experience with you. I sincerely hope that something here will help you achieve your objectives faster and to a level you didn't think was possible.

Let me share a bit about what you can expect to see here.

I am an entrepreneur who, along with my co-founder, 

sold a SaaS workflow automation platform.

As I write this, we are launching our second company. I will share insights on startups and entrepreneurship in general and do deep dives into product and engineering (My areas of expertise as a CTO).

In my experience with building startups, I have had successes and failures. I have gained a lot of knowledge through time-consuming trial and error. I will share the lessons so you can discover new mistakes instead of repeating mine.

Why? I have benefited a lot from other people's wisdom over the years and wouldn't be where I am without the help of others; this is a small way I can pay it forward.

The content here will approach software development from two points of view: the developer or architect solving specific problems and that of Engineering leadership, building teams and systems where developers can do the best work of their lives.

I can speak to both of these perspectives based on my past and current experience.

Before launching a company, I worked as a software engineer. My primary language was Java, and I spent time implementing functionality for the systems I supported.

As a founder, I begin by acting as a solo developer building out an MVP of our idea; then, I move to build software and product teams full of unique and talented people that do the bulk of the heavy lifting. 

Even then, I continue to commit code, comment on pull requests, and facilitate robust debates around requirements, design, and architecture.

Expect a mix of technical deep-dives or "Why we went with" type articles and more organization and SDLC-focused content.

At first look, this may seem like it is out of step with my professional site, and to be honest, I thought about setting up a separate area for this content. However, after some thought, I realized that my methodology for building the best companies and teams includes taking care of yourself. Read on to understand why.

While building Script, my first startup, my first child was born. At the time, I weighed 270 pounds and ate whatever, whenever. I worked 80 hours a week and got 4 hours of sleep per night. I was constantly working, tired, burnt out, and using junk food as a coping mechanism (We all have our vices).

It was so bad I was on my laptop coding in the delivery room during the early stages of my wife's labor. I took a brute-force approach to work, and as a result, I had gone way past the point of diminishing returns on the effort I was putting in measured against the outcomes I was generating.

As you might expect, I am not proud of that story. However, my son's birth made me realize I needed to re-examine my approach to work.

I have a lot of thoughts that I will explore in future blog posts; however, the short story is this.

After making many adjustments, I now maintain ~10% body fat, can see my abs for the first time in my life, exercise daily, work around 40 hours a week and get 7-8 hours of sleep most nights, regularly eat 2-3 meals with my family and read to my kids before bed.

Oh, and I'm more productive with work than ever.

Here are the pics so you know it happened.

The first image is me in the peak of our expansion; the moving boxes are for moving from our co-working space to our first full office. The second image is me on April 1, 2023, after three and a half years of prioritizing my health.

Between these photos we continued to scale and eventually sell the company. I did some of my best work during the period where I started to prioritize my health.

This was a multi-year process that required incremental changes and continuous optimizations in time management, nutrition, exercise etc. I stopped my 3am coding marathons and have prioritized sleep and waking up early and my productivity and decision making continue to improve because of these changes.

I hope these before and after photos demonstrate why these posts are included. I am not successful in business despite the time and effort put into my health and family; I am successful because of it.

I have more to say (and plan on writing about it), but in the name of keeping this post an introduction and not a book, I'll try to summarize: If you take away anything from this first post, I hope it is the two thoughts below:

Material possessions and being busy are not indicators of success. If the people you look up to as successful are burnt out, actively damaging their bodies through lack of sleep, exercise, poor nutrition, neglecting relationships, and having no time to enjoy what they are doing, I would think long and hard before emulating their behavior. 

That lifestyle is not how I would define success and you should reject it as well. 

I come from a hard-working family (read long hours and hustle). I used to think it was all about how hard I worked and how busy I was, but now, I know there is a way to build a successful business, take care of yourself, and have good relationships with your family, all while going to bed at a reasonable hour. 

There is no reason to accumulate money and possessions if you have no time to enjoy them and no one around you to enjoy them with.


If you can't care about your health and relationships, you won't build systems that allow you to care about those who work for you. Your team will burn out, and you will be wondering why. Lead by example; the best leaders do.

Initial commit; Initialize the blog with the first post. Introduce myself and explain what the blog is about 

Hello World

This last Saturday morning around 7 am, I found myself in St. Petersburg standing on the beach of a public park. The park, situated in the heart of downtown, features a large grassy area that separates the tall buildings from the Gulf of Mexico. The park was full of walkers, joggers, people practicing yoga or meditation, and a couple of people with metal detectors searching for treasure.

On the other hand, I had an orange buoy strapped to my waist, a swim cap on my head, and wearing a skin-tight triathlon suit, or what I affectionally refer to as an adult-sized onesie.

Think yoga shorts attached to a zip-up short sleeve top made from the same material for a visual.

I was standing on the sidewalk in the middle of a crowd of about 90 people, none of whom I knew, all dressed similarly.

Today was the first time I would participate in an Open Water Swim.

Below are a few things I want to mention before continuing.

I don't swim in the ocean, except to play in the waves with my kids.

I am not usually one to walk around in skin-tight clothing.

My natural inclination is to avoid trying new things with large groups of people I don't know.

A little over a month ago, I was hanging out at the Valspar PGA golf tournament with Ed Buckley, the founder, and CEO of PeerFit, (which was acquired by FitOn) and now the CEO of FitOn Health. ( A pretty active guy in fitness and business).

We were chatting about fitness, and he mentioned participating in a Half Ironman in December, a distance he had also done the previous year.

I have wanted to complete an Ironman since college but have always thought it was too much work and that I would need more time. It would make more sense to do it later in life. It is a recurring thought I have had to do it after college, after Script, after my kids were older, and so on.

Here was a guy who had navigated several acquisitions in the last year and was a busy CEO with multiple side projects, just as, if not more, busy as me. Yet, he casually mentions things on my bucket list I've been putting off with excuses.

I mentioned to Ed reflexively, "Wow, I've always wanted to do an Ironman," to which, without skipping a beat, he extended his drink towards me and said something to the effect of, "It's in December; prices haven't gone up yet, sign up!".

After spending about 500 milliseconds contemplating my choice, I moved the drink in my hand towards his to "clink" our glasses in acceptance. As I watched my drink draw closer, my mind started to race for reasons I could use to decline politely. 1. I need more time. 2. What about the logistics? 3. I don't own a bike, and they are expensive! 4. The fears and anxiety of picking up two sports I've never seriously participated in (Cycling and Swimming). Before I could finish my thoughts, our glasses clinked together, and I said, "I'll do it!" and we drank to my acceptance of the challenge.

Then, Without further mention, we moved on to another topic, and as quickly as it had come, the conversation shifted to something else.

The group we were with continued to chat, but I was no longer paying attention. Instead, I was in my head, thinking about what I had just agreed to. I tried to brush it off and enjoy the golf, free food, and open bar.

I kept replaying the conversation for the rest of the day.

After the tournament, I went home and talked it over with my supportive wife, who gave me the green light to go for it.

Just over 30 days after my conversation with Ed, I was on the beach and about to swim. But, standing and waiting to get into the water, I find myself way outside of my comfort zone, a feeling I have been experiencing a lot in the month since I started my Triathlon training.

Getting to this point has been more of a mental challenge than a physical one. The biggest hurdle I have had to overcome is my fear of not knowing how to do something or looking foolish.

I have battled this fear all of my life. It usually leads to low anxiety levels in social situations and, at worst, holds me back from trying new experiences or building relationships.

Another name for this type of fear is pride, not the healthy pride, such as pride in one's work, but the lousy pride that tempts you to compromise on opportunities to grow in the name of keeping up an appearance.

The opportunity to repeatedly face this fear and choose to take action despite it has been the most rewarding aspect of my journey to becoming a Triathlete. I have gotten chance after chance to try new things, be a beginner, and ask questions of people far more knowledgeable than me, and I am a better person.

As I walked out into the water, shuffling my feet to avoid stepping on a crab or a stingray, a rush of adrenaline hit. I was doing something I'd never done before, and it was because I was willing to put myself out of my comfort zone.

I swam over 1500 yards that day, or about 0.85 of a mile in about 38 minutes, and met extraordinary people warmly excited to share tips and tricks with a first-timer.

I returned to the beach without encountering marine life (another fear) and stood and looked out at the water.

I was grateful to be here, to have accomplished something new, and to come back and do it again.

In life, whether in relationships, business, or sports, we should never let our pride stand in the way of trying new opportunities or rob ourselves of the gift of being a beginner. Exploring new areas of interest and participating in novel and unique experiences gives life a richness you will never find by doing the same things you've always done.

Take a small step to put yourself out there, and every once in a while, say yes without thinking and try something new. The more you exercise this muscle, the more opportunity you will have.

The story about how the PGA Tour led to my first open-water swim

Writing on software engineering and company building while maintaining my health and not burning out.

Hello World

Open-Water Swim