Writing, building,
thinking out loud.
I'm Aaron Rigby. Fifteen years running commercial teams across Asia-Pacific — I've written the book on it, built the system behind it, and now help other operators do the same.
A book, a brain, and a few
other things.
The second brain behind the book. A personal knowledge graph that captures every conversation, decision, and half-formed idea — then surfaces it back when it's useful. It's the subject of Unfinished Business, and the thing I now help teams build.
An active-wellness guide to Thailand — where to train, sweat, recover, and feel human again across Bangkok and beyond. Built on the same capture-and-surface architecture as everything else I make.
A poetry channel built on fluid-dynamic visuals — each poem paired with a generative piece that reads as artwork. Two pieces are out; the rest is on the shelf for now.
A science-fiction novel — identity, memory, and what happens when synthetic people start refusing the jobs they were built for.
The work
in progress.
A running list of what I'm building, writing, and publishing. Some are finished. Most aren't. That's the point.
Unfinished Business
A playbook and a guide for what it actually takes to lead commercial teams in the AI era. Not a manifesto, not a textbook — the method I used to get out of the way of my own work, and how to build your own.
Cortex
A personal knowledge graph for operators. Every conversation, meeting, and idea gets captured, linked, and surfaced when it matters — a second brain that remembers better than I do. The subject of the book, now a system you can buy and a thing I help teams stand up.
VitaliThai
An active-wellness guide to Thailand — where to train, recover, and feel human again in Bangkok and beyond. A content venture built on the same capture-and-surface architecture as Cortex.
UMBRA
A poetry channel built on fluid-dynamic visuals — each poem paired with a generative piece that reads as artwork. Here are the first two pieces; the rest is on the shelf for now.
8 Hours
A science-fiction novel — identity, memory, and what happens when synthetic people start refusing the jobs they were built for.
Unfinished Business.
A playbook and a guide for what it actually takes to lead commercial teams in the AI era.
Not a manifesto.
A method.
Every senior operator has the same problem: the things you need to remember, decide on, and follow up on outnumber the hours in the week. Most people treat this as a willpower problem. It isn't. It's an architecture problem.
This book is the method I used to get out of the way of my own work — a knowledge system built on three primitives and one simple loop. It's what I wish someone had handed me fifteen years ago.
If you've ever lost a commitment, forgotten a context, or felt like your calendar was running you instead of the other way around — this is for you.
Buy the book, build the system.
The book is the why. The Cortex Complete System is the how — and it's a self-build, not a ready-made program. You get every prompt, setup blueprint, and runbook I use to run my own second brain, and you stand yours up with your own hands, on your own machine, over a weekend.
- The engine. The core prompts — entity, thread, commitment, connection, and the nightly inference pass — that power the whole graph.
- The setup blueprint. One paste into Claude Code builds the body for your brain: structure, files, and wiring.
- The owner-profile builder. A guided interview that tunes the system to how you actually think and work.
- Worked examples + a weekend runbook. From an empty folder to a running system, step by step.
Keynotes &
conversations.
On the architecture of knowledge in the AI era, what commercial leadership is becoming, and how to stop drowning in your own work.
I speak at conferences, leadership offsites, company all-hands, and founder gatherings across Asia-Pacific. The through-line is always the same: the real work of leadership in the AI era is architectural, not motivational. You don't need another framework. You need a system.
Talks are built around live, practical examples from my own work — what works, what breaks, and what to do about it on Monday morning.
Keynote
The Second Brain for Commercial Leaders
Why the inbox-and-calendar model of leadership has broken, and what replaces it. A live walkthrough of Cortex — the system I built for myself — and the three primitives that make it work.
Keynote
Leading Through the Transition
What changes when every senior person on your team has an AI teammate that never sleeps — the organisational, emotional, and commercial implications, drawn from fifteen years running APAC teams.
Workshop
Building Your Own Cortex
A hands-on session where participants leave with the architecture sketched for their own second brain. Three primitives, one loop, a concrete first build. For groups of 8–30.
Keynote or breakout. Remote or in-person, with a strong preference for in-person in APAC. Decks custom-built for the audience — no off-the-shelf reruns.
A ninety-minute intensive for founding teams, C-suites, or senior leadership groups. Interactive, tuned to the group's actual operating context.
Internal talks for teams navigating their own AI transition. The focus is on what the commercial function actually has to change — not abstractions.
Book a conversation.
Tell me the audience and the moment. I'll tell you honestly whether I'm the right person for it.
Get in touchWhat people
actually use me for.
The book describes one system. But the work people bring me is broader than that — and once you've seen the shapes it falls into, it's clear what I'm actually for.
I've spent fifteen years running commercial teams across Asia-Pacific, and the last eighteen months building my own operating system from scratch. It runs every day. It's the engine behind the book. Some people want that system. Some want the network behind it. Some want a partner who's built the thing before. Here's how that usually starts.
The Architect
You operate, I architect. Bring me an idea, a venture, or a product that needs shape. I pressure-test it end to end — the model, build-vs-buy, the unit economics, staffing, the honest timeline — and hand you a plan that survives contact with reality. You run it. I make sure it's built right.
- Weeks, not months
- One founder, or a small founding team
- Delivered as a written spec, not a slide deck
The Build
Stand up the system. I work with you to build the operating backbone your business is missing — a Cortex tuned to how you actually run: the capture pipelines, the entity and relationship model, the surfacing layer. A knowledge graph, a deal engine, a client backbone. You end with something that runs, not a plan that doesn't.
- Eight to twelve weeks
- Built alongside your team, not in a black box
- Handover includes the prompts, the schema, and the runbook
The Network
Open the doors. Fifteen years of commercial leadership across Southeast Asia and India, and the relationships that come with it. When you need markets opened, deals originated, or the right partners and capital found across APAC, I put that network to work — as an originator, not an introducer.
- Retainer or per-deal
- Southeast Asia + India focus
- Origination, not just introductions
The Partner
For teams and single operators looking for an edge. I embed as a deep partner and build the systems that create it — not just optimising how you already work, but synthesising what you know into something that compounds — then help it scale and grow with you. The highest-touch way I work.
- Six months minimum
- Deep integration / partnership
- High engagement, fully embedded
- Built to scale and grow with you
Start with a conversation.
Tell me what you're actually trying to solve. If I can help, I'll say so — and if I can't, I'll say that too, and probably know someone who can.
Email me