What am I actually trying to build for my boys?

"And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise." (Deuteronomy 6:6–7, ESV)

I'm building a lot of things right now, and AI is helping me build faster than I ever could have alone. William is seven. Wes is five. Wyatt is three. None of them care about any of it yet, and someday they will notice everything. So I keep asking myself a question that AI cannot answer for me: what am I actually trying to build for them?

It isn't the businesses

I have to be honest with myself here. AODA Health, VoidOS, Ascent AI, none of that is the inheritance. Those are just the current shape of what I'm doing with my hands. If one of them succeeds wildly and the boys grow up barely knowing their dad, I haven't built anything I actually wanted.

Grounding Scripture: "Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward." (Psalm 127:3, ESV)

The heritage runs the other direction from the one hustle culture usually assumes. William, Wes, and Wyatt aren't the reward I get for building something successful. They already are the reward. Everything else I'm building is supposed to serve that fact, not compete with it.

What I actually want them to inherit

Not the apps. Not the businesses. Not even the blog. I want them to inherit a father who was present, who told the truth about his mistakes instead of only his wins, and who showed them what it looks like to work "as for the Lord" instead of for applause.

I was raised in a way that rewarded low effort and got uneasy when I excelled. I don't want to overcorrect and raise boys who think love is conditional on achievement either. I've built out a values hierarchy for my own life that puts Love at the very top, with family, adventure, fun, belonging, and compassion underneath it, and I've written identity statements for who I want to be as a follower of Christ, a husband, and a father. On paper, that's clean. In practice, it means choosing William's request to build something with him over a business idea that feels urgent but isn't, more often than I naturally would.

I've built and sold two companies already. If I'm honest, part of what I want them to inherit is proof that a thing can end, even end well, without it meaning the person who built it failed. I'd rather they learn that from watching me than have to learn it the hard way themselves.

Where AI actually helps here

AI genuinely helps me recover hours I can spend with them instead of on repetitive work. That's real, and I don't want to undersell it. But AI cannot decide what to do with a Tuesday evening once the hour is free. It can't tell me whether reading with William matters more than finishing a feature. It can't sit on the floor with Wyatt. The tool can clear space. It cannot fill it with the right thing. That's still entirely on me.

The honest, unfinished part

I don't have this solved. Some weeks I get the order right. Some weeks a deadline wins that shouldn't have. I'm not writing this as the father who figured it out. I'm writing it because I think the question is worth asking out loud, especially for anyone else using AI to build faster than they can reflect.

Frequently asked questions

How do you balance building a business with raising kids?

There's no formula that removes the tension entirely. What helps is naming your actual priorities in advance, protecting specific windows of time for your kids as a non-negotiable rather than a hope, and periodically asking honestly whether your work is serving your family or quietly competing with it.

What matters more, financial inheritance or presence, for Christian fathers?

Scripture consistently frames children as a heritage from God rather than a project to complete, which suggests presence and character matter more than what gets left behind financially, even though provision still matters.

Can AI help fathers be more present with their kids?

AI can help by removing repetitive work and freeing real time. It cannot decide how that time gets used. That decision still belongs entirely to the parent.

Start here: the free F.A.I.T.H. AI Stewardship Audit is twenty questions about your week, not about technology. About five minutes, no cost, and your answers stay on your device.

I'm Dave, a husband to Elizabeth and father to William, Wes, and Wyatt, building several ventures with AI's help while trying to stay honest about what actually matters.