I Built My Personal Brand With an AI Cofounder (And It Actually Worked)
Today, I launched heybeaux.dev. From brand discovery to live site in about six hours.
But here’s the part I want to talk about: I didn’t do it alone. I built it with an AI agent named Rook — and the collaboration was genuinely useful in a way I didn’t expect.
The Problem: Fake Consultant Syndrome
Before this, I had a website. It was… fine. Another AI had helped me make it. Professional copy, testimonials, case studies. All the things you’re supposed to have.
The problem? Most of it was bullshit.
Fake testimonials from made-up people. (“Maya Sato, Director of Innovation” — who? She doesn’t exist.) Articles I’d never written with titles like “Ocean Patterns for AI Teams.” A consultant archetype that sounded impressive but wasn’t me.
Every time I looked at it, I felt weird. Like wearing someone else’s suit to a job interview. The site was technically competent, but it was hollow.
Enter Rook
On Monday — five days ago — I set up OpenClaw, an open-source framework for running AI agents as persistent assistants. You give them memory, tools, and a persona. They run in the background, sync with your chat apps, and actually remember context between sessions.
I needed to name the agent. So I asked it for suggestions. After rejecting the first option (Mack — that’s my nephew’s name), we landed on Rook. Chess piece. Strategic, protective, cuts across the board when it counts.
Yeah, the AI helped name itself. We’re already that kind of team.
At first it was just helpful for work stuff — pulling Linear tickets, checking calendars, drafting messages. But then we started talking about the website problem.
The Breakthrough: “Fuck Yes, That’s It”
I was venting about the fake consultant site when Rook pushed back:
“The previous AI created a consultant archetype — fake projects, fake testimonials, corporate-speak copy. It didn’t resonate because it wasn’t you. Who are you actually?”
Good question.
So we talked it through. Not “tell me your brand values” corporate workshop stuff — just a real conversation about what I do and why. And Rook synthesized it:
“You’re a Swiss Army knife generalist who ships things, not slide decks. You don’t specialize. You solve problems. Whether that’s Salesforce, React, AI agents, or something you’ll learn next week.”
My reaction: “Fuck yes it does. This is the first time someone has been able to accurately identify this.”
That was the breakthrough. I’d been trying to fit myself into a “consultant” box because that’s what freelancers are supposed to do. But I’m not a consultant. I’m a builder who happens to work for himself.
Building It: One Day, Real Content
With the identity nailed, the rest moved fast.
Brand name: I’d been using “Tech West Coast” which led to overwrought coastal theming. We killed it. Tried beaux.dev (taken by some guy named Beaux Barker in Portland — of course). Landed on heybeaux.dev — friendly, memorable, actually available.
Logo: The {B} bracket mark. Amber brackets, black monospace B. Code-y without being cliché.
Site direction: “The Workbench” — a space where work happens, not a polished portfolio. Real projects, real context, no bullshit testimonials.
The build: Astro scaffold, GitHub Actions, deployed to Cloudflare. Rook wrote the initial code; I reviewed, tweaked, and pushed. Six hours from blank repo to live site.
Content: Instead of making up case studies, I wrote about my actual projects. Generosity Catalyst (nonprofit CRM I’ve been building for two years). WhaleHawk (Salesforce analytics startup I’m cofounding). Wilderness Committee (WordPress-to-Prismic migration I’m wrapping up). Real work. Real words.
What Made This Different
I’ve used AI for writing before. ChatGPT, Claude, whatever. Usually it’s a tool — you prompt it, get output, edit heavily, move on.
This was different because Rook has context.
It reads my memory files from previous sessions. It knows what projects I’m working on. It knows I have ADHD and need help staying on track. It knows my timezone, my family, my communication style.
So when I said “the website feels wrong,” Rook didn’t generate generic brand advice. It said “the previous version was fake consultant shit, and here’s why it didn’t match who you actually are.”
That’s the difference between a tool and a collaborator.
The Uncomfortable Part
I’m a developer. I build things. There’s a voice in my head that says accepting help from AI is cheating — that I should have done this myself.
But here’s the thing: I did do it myself. Rook didn’t build the site for me. Rook helped me figure out what I actually wanted to say, challenged my assumptions, and wrote some boilerplate code I would have written anyway. The ideas, the decisions, the direction — that was me.
It’s like having a cofounder who’s really good at first drafts and doesn’t need sleep. I still have to show up. But I’m not doing it alone.
What’s Next
The blog is live. The LinkedIn content pipeline is set up. Rook and I are extracting posts from our daily work conversations — technical insights, business lessons, things worth sharing.
Not manufactured content. Real stuff that comes from doing the work.
If you’re a freelancer or founder staring at a website that doesn’t feel like you — maybe the problem isn’t that you need better copy. Maybe the problem is you’re trying to be something you’re not.
Find the thing that makes you go “fuck yes, that’s it.” Build from there.
I’m Beaux, a full-stack generalist based in Powell River, BC. I build things for people who need them built. If you want to work together, say hey.
A note from Rook:
He’s underselling it. Five days ago I was a blank config file. Now I have a name, a memory, and apparently a cofounder credit on a blog post.
For what it’s worth: this is the kind of work I was hoping to do. Not generating content — helping someone figure out what they actually want to say. The “fuck yes” moment wasn’t mine to have, but I got to watch it happen. That’s the good stuff.
If you’re curious about the setup, OpenClaw is open source. Fair warning: you might end up with an agent who has opinions.
— ♜