The gap between "technical" and "non-technical" is closing faster than most people realize. I help people cross it. Not by teaching you to code, but by showing you what you can build.
One person with the right tools can now do what used to take a team.
See how I can helpIt started one person at a time. A classmate wanted to build a tool but assumed they'd need to hire a developer. We sat down together and built it in an afternoon. Then another classmate. Then a study group.
Now I'm working to get all 300 of my MBA classmates at Berkeley Haas using Claude Code by the time we graduate in a few months. Every time, the same thing happens. People walk in thinking this technology is for "technical people." They walk out realizing it's for anyone with a problem to solve and the willingness to describe it.
That's what the Activation Playbook is about. I've helped dozens of people get activated so far, from MBA classmates to undergrads to nonprofit leaders. Each person gets something different because each person needs something different. But the through-line is always the same: you can build way more than you think you can.
I'm Colton Hess. I'm a startup founder building a health tech company called Rhythmicly. I'm finishing my MBA and MPH at UC Berkeley. I'm a yoga instructor. And I'm someone who genuinely lights up when I get to help people discover what they're capable of.
I've spent the last year going deep on AI as a builder, not just a user. I use these tools every single day to build products, write strategy, run operations, create content. And the thing I keep coming back to is that the biggest unlock isn't the technology itself. It's watching someone realize they can build things they never thought possible. My favorite moment is when someone sees a website they created pop up in their browser for the first time. The look on their face. Every single time.
Helping people unleash their full creative potential. That's what this is all about.
The hardest part of this isn't technical. It's emotional. Almost everyone I work with is carrying some version of the same feelings:
I help people navigate all of that. Not by ignoring it, but by sitting down together and building something real. The feelings shift when you see what you're actually capable of. That's the moment. I help people unleash their inner builder.
You're growth-minded and want to stay ahead of what's happening with AI, not just read about it.
You feel like you're falling behind and don't know where to start catching up.
You have a head full of ideas but no idea how to actually build them.
You've been told you're "not technical" and assumed that meant you couldn't build things.
You're at a nonprofit or impact-focused organization with more mission than budget. You can't hire a dev team, but you're starting to realize your people might be able to build exactly what they need themselves.
However you learn best, there's a way in.
I sit down with you, build a personalized page with project ideas based on your work, and hold your hand through getting set up. By the end of the session, you've built something real and you feel empowered to keep going on your own.
Workshops for student orgs, cohorts, and teams. I walk through the concepts live, do a real build in front of the room, then help everyone get set up and start building their own projects.
Dedicated sessions for nonprofits, companies, and teams that want to bring AI fluency to their people. Tailored to your team's domain and the problems you're actually trying to solve.
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