This morning, a message interrupted me

I had just sent a quote to freelance photographer Chen Yu in Hangzhou when I saw the news that Nvidia founder Jensen Huang was stepping down as CEO. My first reaction wasn’t that the industry was about to change overnight. It was: if our small team puts client files, automations, and quotes on one platform, what happens if it suddenly raises prices or changes the rules?

I’ve been stuck there too. Last year, I put every client deliverable into one platform for convenience. Then a redesign threw the schedules of two projects into chaos.

What does this news have to do with us?

First, some context: Huang helped found Nvidia in 1993 and led it into becoming a major supplier of AI chips and computing platforms. He is now leaving, with chief financial officer Colette Kress serving as interim CEO, while the new direction is still unclear.

By “computing platform,” I mean the hardware and software foundation used to train and run AI models. Most people running side projects won’t work with it directly, but they’ll feel its effects through tool pricing, speed, and service reliability.

Here’s a concrete example. I know Zhou Ning, a client consultant in Shenzhen who runs corporate training. She started using AI to organize interview transcripts in 2024 and stored her sample course materials in cloud storage. At an industry event in Beijing, her connection struggled during a live mobile demo, so she switched to a version she had exported beforehand.

She said: “What really puts my mind at ease isn’t that a tool stays free forever. It’s that I still have a way forward when the connection drops.” That line stayed with me longer than the news did.

Don’t start replicating this by replacing tools

I’d start with a dependency check instead of rushing to chase a new model. Money: ¥0. Time: 30 minutes. Technical barrier: knowing how to open a spreadsheet and file manager on your computer. First step: create a “business dependency inventory” spreadsheet, click “New Spreadsheet,” and make three columns: tools you use every day, client files stored there, and alternatives.

If more than five items share one platform, choose the two most important and find backups. What I’m replicating today is a 30-minute review, not rebuilding the whole system.

I’ve gotten this wrong before too. I once assumed “backup” meant clicking Export. Later, I discovered that the file format had changed and the files still wouldn’t open. Now I test one with an ordinary file, open it once, and note its monthly cost while I’m at it. If I’m not technical, I can ask a friend who knows computers to sit with me for 15 minutes. And if I’m not ready today, that’s fine too.

Pick one useful action for your stage

If I’m just starting and mainly serving one or two clients, I’d keep my current tools and save one offline copy of the contracts, quotes, and delivery samples. There’s no need to move repeatedly for something supposedly “more advanced.”

If I have one or two stable clients, I’d create a tool inventory showing each price, where the data lives, and the fallback workflow if a service goes down. I’d review it monthly.

If I’m scaling with a small team, I’d separate the critical workflows so quoting, communication, and delivery don’t all depend on one platform. I’d also leave the team a short usage guide.

What this news really reminds me of isn’t “replace my AI tool now.” It’s “don’t let one supplier become the only doorway into the business.” This may not be a tool everyone needs. If I’m using only free tools and have very few client files, keeping my current workflow stable may matter more than making an inventory. We don’t have to chase every industry headline. First, let’s make sure clients can still receive what they need tomorrow.