Jack Yen · Operator

Left corporate.
Built the
way out.

13 years in tech. October 2024 I planned my way to a layoff and walked out with severance. 18 months later: 7 donut shops, 11 short-term rentals, custom software I built solo.

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7 shops
Golden Glaze Donuts
11 units
Hawaii · DFW · Tampa
21 days
To build the ops stack
18 months
Out of corporate
// the story

Six figures, stock vesting, slow death.

I spent 13 years in corporate tech. Six different companies. Six-figure salary, stock vesting, full golden handcuffs. Every Sunday night I dreaded Monday and told myself it was just a season. I told myself for five years.

Then I made a decision. I didn't quit. I planned my way to a layoff and walked out with severance. By that point I already had 5 short-term rentals cashflowing and 12 months of savings stacked. I read the room — tech was deep in layoff cycles in 2024 — and let the timing work for me.

Eighteen months later: 11 STR/MTR units across Hawaii, DFW, and Tampa — more than doubled. 7 donut shops running on software I built solo in three weeks with AI. This site documents the playbook. Real numbers. Real timeline. Free.

// what i'm building

Four operations. All cashflowing.

Acquired and operated, not invested in. Each one teaches a different lesson about ownership.

01 / DONUTS

Golden Glaze 🍩

PE-style rollup. Reg D 506(b).

Acquiring and operating donut shops across DFW. Currently 7 locations, targeting 10 by year-end. Built the ops stack myself — Discord, custom dashboard, automated investor reports.

7 shops · 50+ employees · GP/LP fund structure
02 / HOUSING

FlexStay Housing

Own portfolio + managing others'.

Managing my own STR/MTR portfolio across Hawaii, DFW, and Tampa — displaced families, traveling employees, insurance housing. Also providing property management for other owners. Started with 1 unit while W2. Scaled to 11.

11 units · STR + MTR · Own + managed properties
03 / REAL ESTATE

Hawaii · DFW · Tampa

11 units. Three markets.

The 11 units powering FlexStay span three markets. Hawaii for the connection to the islands (and the surf). DFW as the home base. Tampa as the newest expansion. These are the physical assets that replaced the W2.

11 units · Hawaii · North Richland Hills TX · Tampa FL
04 / SOFTWARE

Golden Ops

Comprehensive QSR ops tooling.

Built to run Golden Glaze. Discord-driven daily checkins, staff scheduling, inventory management, cash control reconciliation, investor dashboards, and performance alerts — 7 modules across 7 locations. Built solo with AI in 3 weeks.

7 modules · 7 locations · Replaced $168K/yr in SaaS
// free playbooks

12 free playbooks. No fluff.

Real-world frameworks I used to build software solo and engineer my way out of corporate. Get the bundle by email or comment the keyword on Instagram.

The build series
6 playbooks · For solo operators
STACK

The 4-Tool AI Build Stack

Cursor, Claude, ChatGPT, n8n. The exact tools and how they work together. Total cost under $80/month.

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PROMPTS

The 5 Power Prompts

"Act as a [role]" prompt templates that 10x the quality of AI-generated code. Architecture, build, debug, refactor, ship.

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ARCHITECTURE

Solo Architecture Blueprint

Frontend, backend, Discord, automation, deployment. The complete stack mapped, plus why this scales solo.

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MODULES

7 Modules That Replaced $14K/mo SaaS

Daily checkin, scheduling, inventory, cash control. Each module with build time and dollars saved.

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ROADMAP

The 21-Day Build Roadmap

Day-by-day what to build, in what order. The exact sequence that lets you ship production software solo.

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BUILDFAILS

5 Solo Build Mistakes

The mistakes I made building solo so you don't have to. Each one cost me about a week.

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The escape series
6 playbooks · For corporate prisoners
MATH

The Honest Math of Leaving

Hidden costs of self-employment, runway calculation, the real number you need before quitting.

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TIMELINE

The 12-Month Exit Timeline

Backwards from your exit date. Every milestone from T-12 to T-1, the non-negotiables for leaving with leverage.

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LAYOFF

The Layoff Play

How I planned my way to severance instead of quitting. The 5-step playbook nobody talks about.

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QUIT

The Clean Quit Conversation

When the layoff play isn't viable. The 4-rule script for resigning without burning bridges.

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DAYS30

Your First 30 Days Post-W2

Identity collapse is real. Week-by-week plan: recover, structure, execute, build the moat.

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CASHFLOW

Cashflow Vehicles Ranked

What works, what doesn't, why I'd never recommend long-term rentals for cashflow. 7 vehicles ranked.

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Following the
journey out.

I document everything publicly. Real numbers. Real wins. Real losses. The stuff most operators won't tell you.