My personal review of the year 2025

A Total Recall happened this year. It was long overdue, and finally, all doors broke loose. And I am delighted with the results!

In 2018, I started a new tradition of sharing my personal review of the year, covering experiences, achievements, learnings, and other essential parts.

Read the last editions via these links: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024.

In a word, the year 2025 has been "shedding" - I have let go of the past, the things holding me back, and the behaviour patterns that did not carry me any longer.

Wow…

Time flies…

Sometimes, you do not even grasp how a year or a decade has passed before you find yourself in an unexpected situation with nothing but memories of the old times carrying you through.

That is when one gets a chance to analyse whether they are still on the right track or have somehow stepped off at the wrong station.

It is in those moments when life gives you one chance to call a mulligan to give yourself the opportunity adjust the path. It is all up to you whether you choose to make changes at this particular moment. However, it is crucial to remember that such moments are rare and should not be taken lightly.

For me, 2025 has been all about that kind of path correction. And by the end of it, I am once again the best self I have always wanted to be.

In 2015, a decade ago, I got my first real startup experience.

Thanks to my parents involving me in family ventures from early on, I was brought up with an entrepreneurial mindset.

But only in high school, between 2010-13, did I start thinking about building scalable tech solutions as my path onwards.

Of course, I had read about the Great Innovators before that.

However, only after I started studying Nikola Tesla's ideas on wireless electricity, researching how sharing economy platforms are built, and going deep into human networks, did I really start considering software as the thing for me.

By 2015, we had started implementing some of those ideas for a gigwork platform with fellow university students. Until one morning, when Tim Draper asked whether what we were doing was in my heart or in my head, stopping me before I could answer.

Tl,dr - we shut it down, I joined an accelerator, helped my dad's startup get into the program, joined the company as CMO, left it, travelled the world to play with robots, returned to help sell the startup and its acquirer raise more funds, established a marketing agency with Lele, got married, became a father, invested into crypto, started building a supply chain blockchain (and a game), initiated a series of events, travelled the world some more, got deep in debt, made some friends, set up a new startup, paid off some of the debt, and just recently we launched our first product.

It has been a mouthful.

For the most part, I have loved it all.

But now I realise, along the way I lost myself.

I have always been a reader. I have enjoyed writing. Tinkering with ideas has been my passion. Cooking and baking were great ways to meditate. Hosting friends and joining dinner parties is the best way to connect. Partying with Lele until the early hours helped us keep the fun going. Simply grabbing a Guinness at the pub has always been amazing.

But somehow, whilst busy following the trends, travelling the world, managing kids’ logistics, trying to keep afloat financially, and just doing things that help relax the mind, I had stopped doing all of this.

And once the plates started to fall at the end of 2022, the whole thing was already crumbling. Somehow, I carried through 2023, hosting the best futuristic tech event in Tallinn, only to get deep into loans. And with the help of friends made through the process, we kept things going through 2024. However, by then, the balance was long gone.

Finally, this January/February, it all came crashing down.

Of course, some parts of it took longer to land, only finding steady ground by September/October. But by then, the change was already in process.

Fortunately, along the way, I stumbled into Alvar Laigna, and with both of us looking for something new to build, we started ideating on Loyalty Programs, later broadening the focus to Commerce and Marketplaces.

Frankly, building all of this, sharing our philosophies on life, playing board games with mutual friends, and simply letting the dust settle, has helped me get back to my merry self.

Two years later, we have finally launched Raamatuhai.ee, powered by Perxify infrastructure.

And by the end of 2025, I have restarted reading books (read eight books in the last nine weeks), writing blog posts (lots of articles on Perxify.com/blog), tinkering with ideas and learning new skills (I actually started writing code for our startup with the help of AI), cooked plenty of home-cooked meals (salmon, shrimps, steaks etc), re-connected with plenty of friends, and tonight, for my birthday, we will be partying until morning. Oh, and I have returned to the best weight I have had since 2022.

Like, it really has been a complete reset for the system.

Of course, not everything is perfect yet. Some of it might take years to get entirely right. But everything that is in my power has been radically shaken, stirred, and fixed.

More so, I have taken up plenty of new positive agilities.

With Lele returning to the workforce full-time, I stepped up as a father, taking the kids to kindergarten, preschool, music school, and all the birthdays. With both of them being fully communicative and inspired by all things around them, it has really been my pleasure spending as much time with them as possible.

This year, I also helped three friends demolish their apartments. Whether it was moving things, taking up the floorboard, crashing a sledgehammer through the walls, or peeling off paint with a knife - we have done it all. And as a result, I even took on some handywork at home, such as applying new silicone to the bathtub (though the result was far from perfect).

So yeah, it truly has been an awakening of sorts this year, and I am delighted with the person I have become through the process.

Moreover, I will do everything in my power to keep all those positive changes alive through 2026 and beyond.

Meaning I am very excited for the next year!

In other numbers, this year the number of work-related meetings & video calls was reduced by a factor of 3 to 184 (37% for the last BananaConf, 41% for Perxify, and 22% for other things). A big part of this decrease was us being head-down, working on Perxify from an office altogether.

In addition, I attended 46 seminars and events, took ZERO flights (only four ferry trips and one train ride), hosted/attended 10 Community Brunches, and joined 15 Kids' Birthdays or School Events. We also had 18 pre-planned friend visits, went to the cinema 11 times, and to 1 concert.

At the same time, I hosted/attended 47 pre-planned game nights, playing 42 different games.

Talking about board games, my favourites after this year are:

• Twilight Imperium (10-12h of utter space opera with friends)
• Tapestry (Amazing civilization-building game)
• Robinson Crusoe (first co-op board game I like)

Personal fitness continues to be essential for me, and this year, I had 99 gym sessions, AKA 1.9x per week. (Perhaps in 2026, I get this back to +2x)

Along the way, my weight first went from 92.0 kg to 95.0 kg, and then to 88.5 kg (minimum 88.25 kg), which is the best since 2022.

Plans for 2026

My main plan is to continue the steady course that I set out for myself this year - keep reading, writing, cooking, spending time with family & friends, and building Perxify further.

Perhaps once, it would be nice to introduce as few changes as possible, doubling down on what is finally working well…

If anything, I do expect us to do hard work on getting Raamatuhai fully live, fundraise for the company, and finally start taking some income ourselves.

I also want to take Scarlett and Alister to Euro Disney for the new Frozen-themed area, visit Legoland in Denmark, go skiing in the mountains, and, if we have enough success, visit Nintendo World in Japan.

Furnishing our home would be nice as well. However, part of me actually wants to consider upgrading to a larger home, as Scarlett will start school next autumn and might need more space for her studies. We will see…

But yeah, for the most part, it is time to double down on what is already working and continue the path set out.

2025 was full of unexpectedness; however, by the end of it, I was delighted with where it led, and I am excited for 2026!