About
The whole
story.
I'm Conor Dobbs. I grew up behind the counter — my family ran restaurants and bars, the kind of places where you bus tables at 12 and learn to count cash before algebra. I understood a P&L before I knew the term.
I went to college for management because that was the plan. Then I realized I didn't want to manage someone else's thing — I wanted to build my own. So I've built the hard parts of AI — voice systems, autonomous agents, video pipelines, a lead system that runs at 7am while I sleep — for myself first. So building one for your business isn't an experiment; it's something I've already shipped.
None of it was the plan. All of it is the work. Now The Sound Method is the front of that work: a one-person studio that runs a real, self-improving AI operation — and teaches and ships what it learns.
One person is the advantage, not the caveat. You talk to the person doing the work — no account managers, no handoffs — and you own the code at the end. I document everything. Some of it ships. Some of it breaks. I keep both.
EVERYTHING CONNECTS.
NOTHING IS WASTED.
Transparency
The failure archive.
Things that didn't work, documented on camera. Failure without documentation is just forgetting. Failure with documentation is data.
Twelve Best Buy Trips
Home lab networking in a new apartment. One problem after another. Wrong cable, wrong switch, wrong assumption. Twelve trips total. Kept count.
Lesson: Plan the cable runs before you move in. The wall studs do not care about your port layout.
The eGPU That Never Worked
Borrowed a GPU. Strapped it to a PSU sitting in a bin. Tried to get it running as an eGPU through the ThinkCentre. Got nowhere. Documented the whole thing anyway.
Lesson: External GPU viability depends heavily on PCIe bandwidth and firmware. The ThinkCentre was not the machine for it. I knew this going in. I did it anyway.
The Escape Key That Would Not Fit
Got a custom metal escape key at Open Sauce 2025. The tolerances were off. It would not seat flush no matter what I tried. The keyboard shipped without it.
Lesson: Custom keycap machining is not precise at convention scale. The keyboard looks stellar anyway.
The Two Quadros That Did Not Work
Acquired two Quadro cards for the server build. Neither worked in the configuration I needed. One had driver issues. The other had compatibility problems with the board.
Lesson: Workstation GPUs are finicky outside workstation motherboards. Lesson logged, cards returned.
The Proprietary Subwoofer Board
5.1 surround system in an apartment. The subwoofer was locked behind a proprietary signal protocol. Desoldered the board. Rewired it manually. Added a week to the project.
Lesson: Consumer audio gear hides behind proprietary connectors on purpose. If the specs are not in the manual, the specs are not for you. Or you desolder it.
Location
Sacramento, CA
One bedroom. Server in the closet.
Next step
Like how I think?
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