Expansion Era (2000-2010): PoliSci/Legal Studies degree, but spent nights unlocking Phenom 550BEs and building triple-GPU monsters. Started with law library databases, moved to Inmagic Software as Business Development, then discovered I could solve more problems in the car business. By 2010, I'd built the original Gillsystems site, mastered Linux, and was donating compute cycles to BOINC (should've mined Bitcoin, stayed altruistic instead). The decade taught me that real solutions come from understanding both the tech AND the business—a lesson that shaped everything since.