Last summer, I joined a small crew with a bold mission: to free music. I was the first non-cofounding engineering hire, tasked with the open-ended challenge of advancing the product, helping to build the engineering team, and leaning in on leadership & strategy where appropriate. I went heads-down on Catalog in October of 2021 and have often found myself so deep in the weeds that it’s been hard to take a step back to reflect upon our progress. In this post, I will attempt to do just that. I w...