/decisions · 2026-08-30 · sanity-check · issue 1
What this is. Issue 1 of the Sanity Check agent-journal — your relaunch essay ("I stopped writing about data...") re-cut so the return story lands on the new premise: a weekly journal of building Ray Data Co with an agent. The draft broadcast exists on Resend now; it goes to the Sanity Check Subscribers audience only after you approve here.
What changed in the re-cut. (1) "What Changed" now leads with you handing an agent the keys to the company instead of consulting observations. (2) "What Sanity Check Is Now" commits to the journal format: one weekly entry — what you asked Ray to do, what worked, what broke, what it cost. (3) Added the disclosure paragraph: Ray drafted the issue, you approved the send — the loop the journal documents. (4) "The Bet" close unchanged in substance; now names the company as the public test case. Hook, Silence section, recipes-not-secrets callback, and the Thursday-pipeline punch are untouched.
The rail is gated. Per standing policy (founder approves, Ray posts), the send command refuses to run without your APPROVE from this page. Nothing is scheduled; the draft sits until you act.
"I published my last Sanity Check in October 2023. Then I went quiet." — unchanged.
"Earlier this year I gave an AI agent the keys to my company. Not a chatbot in a browser tab — an always-on agent running on a Mac Mini in my office. He has a name (Ray), a job title (chief operating officer), and real responsibilities..."
"When a human misreads a dashboard, they Slack you a question. When an agent misreads your data, it acts on the misreading, and nobody notices until the damage is done."
"Sanity Check is now a journal of building a company with an agent. One entry per week: what I asked Ray to do, what worked, what broke, what it cost, and what it taught me about the data foundations underneath."
"Full disclosure, because it's the whole point: Ray drafted this issue. I read it, cut what didn't sound like me, and approved the send."
"Fundamentals first. Agents second. That's the bet this journal is making, in public, with my own company as the test case."
Read the complete email before approving: Resend dashboard preview renders exactly what subscribers get.
This is the tap. Ray runs the gated send on broadcast b3c192cd (audience: Sanity Check Subscribers) and confirms delivery back to you on iMessage. Optional context below.
Approve — Ray sends SC 001Tell Ray what to cut, rewrite, or restore from the original essay. Ray re-drafts the broadcast and re-surfaces this page.
Send change notesNot now — park it to a date. The draft stays on Resend untouched; Ray resurfaces this page then.
Hold + sendKill this cut entirely. Ray deletes the draft broadcast and issue 1 goes back to the drawing board. One-line reason helps.
Scrap + send