Featured story
From Immigrant to Entrepreneur
A journey from Cuba to Canada to the United States—and the experiences that shaped the entrepreneurial path that followed.
Read the featured story →AJ Venture Journal
Stories, notes, and the public record.
One editorial home for founder stories, company updates, Ledger notes, and media. Existing URLs stay in place. Nothing unpublished is presented as live coverage.
Recent stories
From the newsroom
Upick: The Company They Didn't See Coming
Before the world sees the growth, there are years of building when almost nobody is watching. The story behind Upick and the vision being built for what comes next.
Founder notes
From the Ledger
Building takes patience.
Every screen, feature, conversation, and late night adds up. Upick Network is still early, but every step is part of building something that lasts.
Infrastructure is the vision.
The goal is not only to create a service. The goal is to create infrastructure that connects customers, operators, fleets, and business partners through technology.
Company updates
Selected announcements
Building Upick from the road
Rodriguez published a LinkedIn note on the difference between the usual startup setting and his own: the idea for Upick took shape while he was still working as a truck driver. The full personal essay he pointed to lives on Substack; this update keeps the public announcement on AJ Venture.
Infrastructure, not just a service
In this announcement, Rodriguez framed Upick as a network-building problem rather than a single roadside job. Towing is the visible starting point. The longer argument he linked from LinkedIn is the Substack essay on infrastructure.
Roadside assistance as infrastructure
Rodriguez used a LinkedIn update to describe the gap Upick is trying to close: roadside work that still depends on phone calls, manual dispatch, and disconnected operators. The post is an announcement of intent, not a claim of finished national coverage.
Press
News & Media
AJ Venture lists media only when it exists. There is no press-coverage archive yet. Planned Ledger titles remain unpublished.
- From Havana to EntrepreneurshipPlanned — not published
- 52 Lawns and Starting OverPlanned — not published
- What Trucking Taught Me About BusinessPlanned — not published
- The Dream Behind UpickPlanned — not published