Roadmap 2026: what's still reasonable for me, and what's coming?

After this week's Friday rundown, and with the first version of the native Mac app for TWO almost done, I sat down today to figure out what's still reasonable for me to achieve before the year ends. In content planning, in software, and in recording.

I left the $168M challenge and the Idea Bench out of this on purpose. Those are variables that switch on and off for me. Right now, they're not as important as carving out a solid path to finish 2026.

Looking back at May

When I got heavily into vibe coding in May 2026, I was a toddler. Somehow I went from that to delivering an MVP with a first organically acquired paying customer. I had no clue where I'd land, or where I'd stand by the end of the year.

Read also: I build software like a toddler learning to walk

Admittedly, I was a bit overly ambitious between June and August. But after the honeymoon period with vibe coding wore off, I came to my senses and found some equilibrium between recording podcasts, building SaaS, and blogging.

So I did what everyone does these days. I asked Claude to help me declutter.

The goal was simple: a roadmap of what I'm still supposed to achieve in 2026, without being heroic about it.

Safe and boring

I want to keep it safe and boring. Boring is always good, no matter what the internet says about how people like me should be building or creating.

The internet loves a sprint. Ship ten apps in ten weeks, post every day, go all in. I tried my own version of that over the summer, and what I got out of it was a pile of half-builds I had to cut loose a few weeks ago. Boring means I can still look at this list in December and recognize it.

Read also: Pivot, persevere and cut loose: making decisions

So I listed what matters most to me right now and sorted it into three brackets: builds, blog posts, and podcast recordings.

Builds

Based on where I am now, the Mac app beta should go live in the first week of November. After that, I'll work toward parity with the web MVP. I should be finalizing the native build next week, but I always leave some room for variance.

A soak period for the Mac app

Once the Mac app is delivered, I'll let it soak in. Battle test it, use it, see what breaks.

In the meantime, I'll do a new, more refined audit of Study Brew. I'm about 80% sure of what I've built so far in that language app.

But it's only 80%, and I need a better, more structured plan for it, so I can work in blocks as I did with the TWO MVP.

Realistically, that means the Mac app sits in its soak period while I build the Study Brew app, intending to get the beta fully functional before the end of the year.

That way, I can start 2027 cleanly with the iPad app, and reassess at the end of this year how far I got with Study Brew.

What waits until 2027

I'm aware the Mac app only covers single users, not shared workspaces. That's for 2027 too. But if the app survives the initial battle test, I'm going to assume adding them will be far easier, because the foundation will already be proven.

Blogs

I have four blogs to maintain. It's not as bad as it sounds once I write down where each one stands.

This one, pieterborremans.com, is ongoing and I'm not tracking it here. It's my journal, and it runs on its own rhythm.

Indie Hacker Blog is done for the year. Both remaining posts are written, edited, and ready to publish.

The TWO blog

For two.so, I'm locking in until the end of the year: one post in October, two in November, and two in December. Five in total.

The October one goes out next week, and it's a low-effort one. After that, two a month is a reasonable pace. The blog is a large part of my slow-growth marketing, and I want to keep the "corporate blog" alive with the right content.

Luckily, one of the November posts writes itself: the beta announcement, once the Mac app is out.

Life in Taiwan

My biggest bottleneck is pieter.tw, my blog about life in Taiwan. For some reason, I have a harder time finding inspiration there.

But I only need two more pieces, one in November and one in December, and I'm done for the year. I'll put it in my next Monday prep and drag myself over the finish line.

So that's seven blog posts across two sites. Not that difficult.

The English learning channels

The ones that excite me the most, and also the ones that take the most effort, are my three English learning channels, covering A1 to B2. Seeing them grow is a big part of why.

I did some digging into what I need to ride out the year.

Story Brew publishes one episode every three days. Episode 39 goes out on October 27, which means I need 21 more to finish 2026. Not bad, to be honest.

Story Valley has the highest frequency, but I'm ahead until November 16. Only 45 episodes to go and I'm good for 2026. It's the biggest number of the three, but the episodes are short, around four minutes each.

Read also: Story Valley went live on Spotify: what's my plan here?

Study Brew is the newest, but its numbers on Apple Podcasts are encouraging, so it's totally worth pursuing. I need 33 more episodes, at one every two days from October 26.

That adds up to 99 recordings in about nine weeks. Written like that, it looks like a lot. But the buffers are what got me through last week, when four days went to personal matters, and two of the three shows kept publishing anyway. Every batch I record now buys me room later.

Final note

I don't think any of this is unreasonable for me. I can probably do more. But I have to stay disciplined and focus on what's in front of me, before I do stupid shit or drift too far from my goals.

Besides, the more I invest in the podcast channels, the more I want to build and finalize the MVP for the language learning app. Every listener on those shows is someone the app could eventually serve. The channels make the app feel less like a side project and more like the obvious next step.

One Mac app, one language app beta, seven blog posts, 99 recordings. Written down like that, it fits on a napkin.

2026 was undecided in May. Now it looks solid as fuck.