💬 AI-Powered Portfolio Search

February 16, 2026

Why I Added AI-Powered Search to My Portfolio (and Why It Matters for Business)

Most professional websites are built for browsing, not understanding. Visitors click through pages, skim case studies, and piece together whether someone's experience fits their needs. That works—but it's slow, and it puts the burden on them. I wanted to flip that model. Instead of asking visitors to navigate my portfolio, I wanted them to ask questions and get clear, relevant answers—instantly.

What's live on this site today isn't "finished," and that's intentional. It still needs tuning. But it already demonstrates the direction—and the value—of this approach.

The Business Problem: Static Content Doesn't Communicate Value

Most portfolios and product websites suffer from the same issues:

• Important experience is buried across multiple pages
• Visitors don't know what questions to ask—or where to look
• The site explains what exists, but not why it matters to them

This creates friction at the worst possible moment: first impression. If someone has to work hard to understand your value, they often won’t.

The Shift: From Navigation to Conversation

The core idea was simple:

Let people describe their needs in plain language, and meet them there.

Instead of forcing visitors into predefined menus, the site now acts like a knowledgeable guide—summarizing relevant experience, connecting dots across projects, and pointing to concrete examples.

The responses aren't perfect yet, and some questions work better than others. But it's already clear how much faster people can get oriented compared to traditional navigation.

Why This Matters Beyond a Portfolio

While this lives on my personal site, the implications are much broader.

1. Early Value Beats Perfect Polish

One of the biggest traps in software and product development is waiting until something is “done” before showing it.

This is very much a working prototype:

• Good enough to be useful
• Rough enough to reveal what needs improvement
• Real enough to generate feedback

That’s often the fastest path to something great.

2. Faster Understanding = Better Decisions

Whether you're evaluating a consultant, a product, or an internal tool, speed to understanding matters. Conversational interfaces reduce the time it takes to answer your real question.

Even in its imperfect form, this approach gets people to "oh, I get it now" faster.

3. Practical AI, Not “AI for AI’s Sake”

There's a lot of noise around AI. This isn't about novelty.

The AI here does a practical job:

• Synthesizing existing information
• Presenting it clearly
• Adapting to user intent

It still needs refinement, but it proves that AI can add value without being flashy or fragile.

A Product Mindset, Made Visible

This project reflects how I tend to approach product work in general:

• Ship early, then iterate
• Optimize for clarity over completeness
• Learn from real usage, not assumptions
• Improve the system continuously

That mindset matters more to me than whether a feature is “done.”

Why Platforms Matter

This came together quickly because I leaned on managed infrastructure from Cloudflare.

Letting the platform handle scalability, reliability, and AI plumbing freed me to focus on:

• User experience
• Content quality
• Integration with the existing site

That same tradeoff—buying leverage where possible—is central to how I approach product and technical leadership.

Where This Is Going

There’s still tuning to do:

• Improving answer consistency
• Tightening relevance in edge cases
• Refining tone and summaries
• Learning from real questions people ask

But that’s the point. The system is already useful, and it’s getting better with every interaction.

Final Thought

This AI-powered portfolio isn't a finished product. It's a signal.

It shows how I think about:

• Reducing friction
• Using AI pragmatically
• Shipping value early
• Iterating toward better outcomes

If you try it today, you'll see both its strengths and rough edges. I'm comfortable with that—because that's exactly how good products are made.

Categories: blog

Tags: product-management, technology, platforms