I'm a 3x founder, YC alum, and early-stage investor. I was lucky to back Zapier, Clever, Omaze, and a few others at the seed stage.

This summer I'm spending time helping early-stage founders and learning from them. If you're raising or planning to raise, I'm happy to review your deck and offer honest feedback to help you sharpen the story from an investor's perspective.

In return, I'd love to ask you a few quick questions about your fundraising experience. What's working, what's frustrating, and how you're thinking about it. It helps me better understand how founders are raising today and where the process breaks down.

If you're up for it, feel free to reply here or message me privately. You can email me directly if you like mike.stachowiak@gmail.com
No catch. Just hoping it's helpful for both of us.

Starting something completely new, iterating on an existing project, or just brainstorming? Drop your plans here and get some feedback!

What I'd love to hear:

• What are you tackling this weekend?

• Any interesting challenges you're working through?

• Looking for feedback on an idea or feature?

OP-ED?
Recently I've been finding myself actually buying and downloading apps more than before. The common thread? They're all silly things that almost do nothing.
I say almost because what they do offer is a bit of joy during my work day. Some of the recent apps I've purchased or downloaded are @Klack, Googly Eyes, @Docko, @Ball,@TabTab, and @NotchNook.
Some of these do have productivity or quality of life improvements (looking at the last two) but others are simply about making the computer fun again.
For example @Klack has genuinely made me more focused when I type and I've been able to zone in on work. It's like each clickity-clack is driving me closer to where I want to go and idk, the feedback just feels GOOD. The audio is also really nice, not sure how I can explain it, but feels very high-def for something that is mimicking a tactical feeling.
All these apps remind me of a time where shareware and P2P ( @Limewire ) was more popular. Where you might be okay buying a CD or floppy and installing something fun on your computer, then telling (sharing) your buddy about it. And with the rise of vibe coding, I think we're going to see vibeware become a thing. Where users will create something fun, quickly, using AI tools like @Cursor, @Replit, or @bolt.new/@Lovable and then put it at a super low cost or have a free-trial (shareware).
Those that don't want to pay, will create their own iteration of it and choose their own distribution method (P2P) but it won't eat at the original.
It's my genuine feeling that the internet is about to become fun again (it's already started) and I'm curious if I'm the only one feeling this way and/or embracing it?
What do you think? Is the era of vibeware a good thing? And if not why should we refute it?
This piece was written with FKJ - Just Piano in the background.

OP-ED?
Recently I've been finding myself actually buying and downloading apps more than before. The common thread? They're all silly things that almost do nothing.
I say almost because what they do offer is a bit of joy during my work day. Some of the recent apps I've purchased or downloaded are @Klack, Googly Eyes, @Docko, @Ball,@TabTab, and @NotchNook.
Some of these do have productivity or quality of life improvements (looking at the last two) but others are simply about making the computer fun again.
For example @Klack has genuinely made me more focused when I type and I've been able to zone in on work. It's like each clickity-clack is driving me closer to where I want to go and idk, the feedback just feels GOOD. The audio is also really nice, not sure how I can explain it, but feels very high-def for something that is mimicking a tactical feeling.
All these apps remind me of a time where shareware and P2P ( @Limewire ) was more popular. Where you might be okay buying a CD or floppy and installing something fun on your computer, then telling (sharing) your buddy about it. And with the rise of vibe coding, I think we're going to see vibeware become a thing. Where users will create something fun, quickly, using AI tools like @Cursor, @Replit, or @bolt.new/@Lovable and then put it at a super low cost or have a free-trial (shareware).
Those that don't want to pay, will create their own iteration of it and choose their own distribution method (P2P) but it won't eat at the original.
It's my genuine feeling that the internet is about to become fun again (it's already started) and I'm curious if I'm the only one feeling this way and/or embracing it?
What do you think? Is the era of vibeware a good thing? And if not why should we refute it?
This piece was written with FKJ - Just Piano in the background.