Allan Branch

Former: LessAccounting && Now: Mayor of Panama City Florida + + own two brewpubs (History Class & El Weirdo)

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

I'm the Mayor of a city of 38,000 people and I don't have a way to help send out information to citizens about topics and issues they care about....

Newsletters don't get read. Text alerts are annoying and generic.

So I built this... google alerts for local govt.
https://t.co/2EgeBnmuEY

HOW DOES IT WORK? When a city meeting agenda comes out, we digest it and break it into different topics and send those pieces to citizens, so they can bring feedback to their elected representative.

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

me working in 2026…

“fix that”
“I don’t like that, come up with a better idea”
“Just take over my screen and do that for me”
“what’s taking so long?”
“do your recommendations”
“design this UI for idiots”
“order me Indian food for lunch”

[Codie Sanchez @Codie_Sanchez]

My richest mentor told me:

"By the time most people are done analyzing, I've already made 3 mistakes and found a better way."

Being slow costs more than being wrong.

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

Is it too early in the morning to start eating pickles?

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

Which parking spaces get used the least?

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

Interteam communication

Option 1:
Too many meetings, emails, & Slack messages.

Option 2:
Wait…what’s going on?

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

I’m either bored or overwhelmed. There’s nothing in between.

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

@mavenroger I really love my Apple shuffle. It was the simplest little music player. With no distractions. Just like 100 songs. Remember what it was like to be quiet and still?

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

Busted.

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

If my bots can only communicate my with bots when will my bots talk to your bots?

At what point will bots hire each other?

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

I used to think ChatGPT was trying to kill Google search.

With spaces, documents, plug-ins, browser… they’re trying to kill Google.

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

@Shpigford But only when you shake someone's hand... and you hold it too long...then you look at them and say... "hey daddy".

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

@Shpigford Also "my guy" or "my dude"... i call people "Cool Breeze" ... like "whats up cool breeze?"

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

@stefen love this. Those kids are going to be powerhouses when they're adults.

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

Parents of teenagers: what are you telling yours about careers right now?

Jimmy is 19 years old now, going to tech school for outboard motor repair. He flips golf carts on the side and works on generators, and in North Florida there's no shortage of those.

Nobody knows what jobs look like in 10 years with AI moving this fast. So I'm pushing him toward skills that are useful, hard to automate, and could turn into his own business someday.

College? Trades? Self-taught? Starting something? What's your plan?

I want the silly kid in this photo to be prepared for his future.

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

Who’s built an agent for defending/filing and winning (hopefully) disputed charges from customers?

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

I’m the Mayor of Panama City, Florida, and I’ve spent most of my career designing, building, and running software companies.

I want to meet more people building software and products for local government.

Cities. Counties. Small municipalities. Public agencies.

If that’s you, or you know someone doing interesting work in this space, tag them.

I want to meet the builders.

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

Call me "stupid" but don't call me a "dreamer", drives me nuts when people say that. Dreamer = someone who is in love with their ideas and planning but takes no action.

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

@ianjmalone Yes and no. This would highly likely be a cash buyer looking for a rare product. Plus we're in no hurry, 1-3 years away from anything. We could always rent it as a party house. https://t.co/2LpQTP8HQZ

[Allan Branch @allanbranch]

We’re considering selling our house downtown or renting it and moving to my parent’s guest house when Sarah goes to college next year. This is the backyard.