Bob Weichler.
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Life, Tacos, and AI: my 2025 Recap

There’s been a lot going on lately, but it’s time to pick things up! The original plan was to launch “The Startup Commute”, a series about building a product during my daily train rides (1h30/day)… but life had other ideas this year.

Between then and now, a few things happened:

The Reality Check

To give you a proper recap: we lost two employees last year, a developer and a designer. Beyond the talent gap, this came with a significant financial hit, forcing the three of us to run the entire operation ourselves for a while.

On top of that, I opened the restaurant in February. Having zero hospitality experience, this was an energy-draining adventure. But we survived our first year in business with the restaurant, being able to pay back all external investors!

On the technical side, we’ve launched an intensive AI-supported agent for the Belgian police department.

2025 was pretty chaotic, but when I look back at it right now, this year was actually pretty damn amazing! (I am writing this on December 31, right before leaving for the end-of-the-year party with friends)

Los Tontos – A Mexican Restaurant

After four years of renovations, our budget was stretched to the limit. We were essentially forced to open the doors of Los Tontos this February, diving headfirst into the chaos alongside my two business partners and a brand-new team.

We learned a lot of lessons the hard way, but I am very grateful for all the customers who gave our restaurant a try and enjoyed our concept.

Seeing people actually sitting in the space we spent years building made every struggle worth it. The absolute highlight was our first sold-out event during Dia de Los Muertos; it was a high-energy night that we’ve already decided will be an annual tradition for years to come.

A West Coast roadtrip in the USA

Despite the Weichie.com digital agency and our restaurant, 2025 wasn’t entirely about 24/7 work (luckily). In April, my girlfriend and I took a three-week road trip to the US West Coast, exploring the best of the West.

We started in Los Angeles and mapped out a route that balanced big-city energy with the quiet of the National Parks and wildlife. We ended up visiting 15 national parks, including the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Death Valley, and Sequoia. Mixing the streets of San Francisco, LA, and the spectacular Las Vegas, where we treated ourselves to a stay at the iconic Bellagio.

I’ll be honest: switching off for three weeks straight was a massive challenge. After the stress of the restaurant launch and the heavy workload at the agency, I can’t thank my partners enough for keeping everything running smoothly while I was out vacationing.

And of course, I couldn’t help but do some “market research” along the way. We sampled tacos and nachos at every roadside truck or dive bar we could find. While California definitely has some incredible flavors, I’m happy to report that Los Tontos still holds its own classics!

Aidan – The AI agent for the Police Corps in Belgium

We did some more crazy stuff this year, like a unique, one-of-a-kind 3D configurator for AluShop, or a Web3 NFT-linked online clothing store. But the price for the biggest project in the history of Weichie.com would be Aidan.

We’ve been working on this high-stakes AI support agency for the Belgian police, and it has been quite the technical rollercoaster. Building for a police department means there is zero room for error. We had to battle some of the most complex AI challenges out there (hallucinations, tunnel vision, style pops, state markers, priority hierarchy, …). It was a massive undertaking with a tight deadline, but we made it happen.

The system is now running smoothly for the Mechelen police department, and we are already preparing to roll it out to Brugge, Oostende, and Boom in 2026.

The most exciting part? To manage this project, we built a custom internal tool that is now ready to spin off as its own product. We’re detaching it from the police infrastructure to make it available for other industries. It’s designed to allow businesses to implement powerful AI management without a massive up-front investment.

2025 was the year of building; 2026 will be the year of scaling!

So, my “Startup Commute” didn’t launch exactly as I planned. 2025 taught me that even when things feel chaotic, take the time to look back at what you’ve accomplished. You’ll be surprised!

Let’s see if my dreams for 2026 will come through, or if it will take a different spin as well…

Thanks for being part of the journey so far. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an end-of-year party to get to.

Happy New Year y’all!

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