The Return of a North County Builder

This week on Tacos & Tech, Neal sits down with Drew Wilson, longtime North County founder, designer, engineer, and community builder. From launching products solo to landing a GoDaddy acquisition, Drew’s track record speaks for itself. Now he’s back with a new company, Opacity, and relaunching his beloved creative conference, ValioCon, right in the heart of Oceanside.In this episode, Drew shares his journey from early design days and Flash websites to building Plasso, navigating acquisition, and diving headfirst into GenAI-powered product development. He also gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what’s coming with Opacity, why he’s bullish on version control for designers, and how tools like Midjourney and Claude are shaping his build stack.Key Points* Building Plasso as a solo founder and selling to GoDaddy* Going through YC while still working at GoDaddy* Launching (and shutting down) a modern digital bank* The origins of ValioCon and why it’s back after 9 years* The inspiration behind Opacity and the future of visual coding* Building products in the GenAI era — what’s actually different* His go-to North County burrito and tales from Cave WeekLinks & ResourcesLearn more about OpacityGrab your ticket to ValioConConnect with Drew & NealFollow Drew on Linkedin & XFollow Neal: LinkedIn & X This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit risingtidepartners.substack.com/subscribe