Developer Advocate & Founder @ ML Data | Data Science & AI Content Creator

I didn't write my first line of code until I was 26. Now I get sponsored by companies like Anthropic, Amazon and IBM to create coding videos as a tech content creator.

My career path has been anything but linear - finance analyst to consultant to data scientist to full-time content creator. At each stop, I felt like I was starting over, but those diverse experiences became my superpower. My finance background taught me business fundamentals, consulting showed me how to solve complex problems, and data science gave me technical skills. 

When I combined all three and took the leap into content creation and developer advocacy, companies started paying attention.

Now I help others navigate their own career transitions by sharing what I've learned across industries and roles.

When I'm not creating content, you'll find me exploring running, playing pickleball or cuddling with my fur babies, Belle and Lola.

I'm always excited to connect with fellow career changers or anyone building something interesting. Feel free to reach out at megan@thedriveagency.co or send me a message here on LinkedIn 👋

Megan Lieu

90% of people are either wasting money on AI tools…

Or missing out on powerful tools that are literally FREE.

Including me — until I finally understood the real difference between Free vs Paid AI Tools.

Here’s what nobody tells you about AI tools:

Paid doesn’t mean better.
It just means better for a specific workflow.

So I’m finally sharing my full Free vs Paid AI Tools Framework (by category) 👇

✅ Writing & Content
↳ Paid: Jasper AI, Writesonic, Copy. ai, Frase, LongShot AI
↳ Free: ChatGPT, Google Gemini, QuillBot, Grammarly, Wordtune

✅ Image & Design
↳ Paid: Midjourney, Adobe Firefly, Leonardo AI, Seedream 4.0, Runway Images
↳ Free: Bing Image Creator, Canva, Stable Diffusion, DALL·E, Nano Banana

✅ Video & Multimedia
↳ Paid: Synthesia, Pika Labs, Runway Video, Descript, Veo 3 Fast
↳ Free: CapCut AI, InVideo, Runway, Synthesia, Pexels AI Video

✅ Coding & Dev
↳ Paid: GitHub Copilot, Cursor AI, Tabnine, Replit Ghostwriter, Codeium Pro
↳ Free: GitHub Copilot, Gemini Code Assist, Codeium, AWS CodeWhisperer, OpenAI Playground

✅ Productivity & Research
↳ Paid: Notion AI, Perplexity Pro, Coda AI, Otter. ai, Evernote AI
↳ Free: Perplexity, Notion, Microsoft Copilot, Obsidian AI Plugins, Google Gemini

✅ SEO & Marketing
↳ Paid: Surfer SEO, Clearscope, MarketMuse, SEMrush AI, Ahrefs AI
↳ Free: Ubersuggest, Google Trends, AnswerThePublic, SEO Minion, Mangools Tools

✅ Audio & Speech
↳ Paid: ElevenLabs, Murf AI, Play. ht, Resemble AI, Descript Audio
↳ Free: Google Text-to-Speech, Mozilla TTS, Audacity AI Plugins, Talkie AI

✅ New & Trending AI Tools
↳ Paid: Claude Pro, Gemini Advanced, Lovable AI, Flux Pro, Runway Advanced
↳ Free: Nano Banana, Lovable. ai , Flux, Captions. ai, Playground AI

I went from randomly subscribing to AI tools…

To building a stack that actually matches my work.

And that’s the truth about AI tools…

Free tools help you start.
Paid tools help you scale.

♻️ Reshare this if it helped and follow me for more AI tools + workflow breakdowns.

a16z just dropped their list of unicorn startup ideas for 2026. 

The Silicon Valley VC firm just released a list of the biggest ideas their investing teams believe builders need to tackle this year.

So make sure you save this if you’ve been looking for the next unicorn startup idea:
 
 1. AI-native banking & insurance infrastructure
 2. Enterprise multi-agent orchestration platforms
 3. Physical observability platform
 4. Compliance-first AI development tools
 5. ChatGPT-native apps (via OpenAI apps SDK)
 6. Autonomous scientific discovery labs
 7. Multi-modal voice agent platforms
 8. Prompt-free, proactive AI applications
 9. AI-native industrial base companies
10. Reasoning/multimodal/computer-use-enabled companies
11. Industrial data collection & annotation platform
12. Forward-deployed AI consulting
13. AI startup tooling for greenfield companies
14. Voice-first AI operating system
15. AI-powered contingency business models
16. "See Me" consumer AI products
17. Synthetic biology design studio
18. AI-native insurance products
19. AI-powered sales qualification platform
20. Electro-industrial stack components

Which of these ideas are you betting on?
 
Check out the full article from a16z linked in my comments below 👇

Tech Startups by A16z

SkyBell

Providing the most trusted networked Doorbell Video Security and Smart Home solutions for protecting precious people, places and things.  SkyBell holds intellectual property, over 300 patents, for systems and features that improve situational awareness, security and safety, and emergency response.

Account Manager

GigaSpaces Technologies

Driving business value by driving data to transform and improve the data supply chain.  Capture requirments for the design, development and delivery of data-driven digital services that include advanced analytics, AI, ML, Deep Learning... at speed and scale, on premise and/or in the Clouds... using GigaSpaces' Digital Integration Hub (DIH/Data Fabric) that is built on a complex, comprehensive in-memory data grid technology.

Technical Account Manager

Symbolic IO

Symbolic IO was a pioneer in designing and developing Computationally Defined Storage with all the storage residing in persistent main memory.

Build a leading market position by locating, developing, defining, and closing business relationships.

Develop implementation and client service process methods for creating repeatable scalable and measurable customer delivery infrastructure.  Lead in the creation of implementation guidelines, support documentation, and customer training materials.  Manage and communicate with customers and cross-functional internal teams, managing delivery timelines.

Client Services Director

McRoberts Technologies

Marketing, selling and designing Custom Personal Emergency Response solutions (PERS) to extend and enhance existing security technology infrastructure and asset management, primarily in hospitals.

Account Representative

Metro Marketing

Sold revenue generating services to healthcare providers.

Account Executive

Arise Virtual Solutions Inc.

Trained call center and inside sales professionals to use web-based systems in real-time while solving customer issues and answering any and all questions about products and services in an effective, efficient and cordial manner.

Instructor

Sarnoff Corporation

Designed and executed marketing & sales plans for selling video exploitation technology systems; communications and situational awareness technologies, and Iris on the Move identification technology.  Authored requirements for technology solutions to solve Homeland Security, law enforcement and emergency response challenges.

Executive Director of Business Development

AirVisual

Designed and executed marketing, business development and sales plans for start-up AirVisual wireless command and control that enabled emergency responders to share real-time access to location-based live and archived CCTV video, status from integrated sensor networks and information from public safety and security software systems using mobile data terminals, cell phones, iPhones, and Blackberrys.

Roxiticus Ventures

Identify and vette technology products and services companies as candidates for the portfolio; authored business plans; managed marketing and sales services to portfolio companies.

Inter Tel Technologies

Quota carrying, Enterprise Account Executive responsible for new sales of telecommunications and video conference equipment, and services to satisfy enterprise-sized clients' communications requirements.

People call on me for protecting precious people, places, and things with a location-based video doorbell security platform!

•	More than 25 years in technology leadership roles in corporate, entrepreneurial, and R&D setting
•	Contributing pioneer to innovative, comprehensive, far-reaching and culturally transforming software 
           applications in communications, security and public safety.  
•	Versed in national and corporate strategic interests in computing and communications technologies.  
•	Depth of experienced in both product development and client delivery engagements.  
•	Excellent interpreter of client needs and market requirements. 
•	Dynamic and engaging communication skills.

taplio

The Battle

Megan Lieu

Fred Lardaro

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreMegan Lieu's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Megan Lieu

Fred Lardaro

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Megan Lieu's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreMegan Lieu's LinkedIn Performance