Hey folks, it’s Chris!

This one’s a bit bigger. 10 founder stories today, and stories from nearly 90 more coming over the next few weeks!

They’re in the thick of it. Building. Launching and figuring things out as they go.

No polish. No pretense. Honest stories from people trying to make things work.

The awkward bits. The stuff you don’t usually hear about.

Let’s get into it. 👇

SecureVibing – Giving Vibe Coders a Second Chance at Security

Lorik Morina, Kosovo

In a nutshell: Helping hobby coders fix dangerous gaps before it’s too late.

The Story: Lorik noticed a wave of apps made by hobbyists and “vibe coders”, the ones chasing quick builds with no backend experience. Many had real traction but were wide open to security risks.

So he built SecureVibing, a lightweight tool to scan for common issues like exposed APIs or misconfigured databases.

• Recently got his first paying customer
• Supported by a growing community of builders
• Still early, but he's committed to improving it constantly

Why it matters: Plenty of devs build in public, but few talk about securing what they build. Lorik wants to change that.

Find out more: securevibing.com

NIFF – Real-Time Sales Help for Non-Sales Founders

Geo, London

In a nutshell: Your sales pitch sucks. NIFF helps fix it live.

The Story: Geo’s closed over a billion dollars in sales, but he's seen the same problem across companies: Smart founders, great products… awful sales execution.

NIFF was born from this pain. It's a tool that gives you:

• Real-time objection handling
• AI-powered scripts and flows
• Confidence to sell without freezing or overtalking

Traction so far:

• 90% reduction in onboarding time
• 80% improvement in early sales conversions
• Focused now on polishing voice-to-text and industry-specific flows

Why it matters: Most tools give you post-mortems. NIFF helps while you're live on the call.

Find out more: niff.ai

Flowglad – Billing for React, Without the Stripe Pain

Harrison, NYC

In a nutshell: Billing should feel native to React. Flowglad makes it so.

The Story: Harrison’s background is deep—mortgage fintech, YC-backed startups, $2M ARR with two people. But billing always felt broken.

So he built Flowglad, a billing system made specifically for React devs:

• Drop-in component
• Supports metered billing and subscriptions
• Zero backend needed

Breakthrough moment: They stopped copying Stripe and instead asked: What if billing felt like React? That shift shaped the product and the way they marketed it.

Progress:

• Launched in January
• Now processing live production payments

Find out more: flowglad.com

Saga – AI Storytelling Built by a Parent, for Kids

Pieyre, Singapore

In a nutshell: Built for my daughter. Loved by thousands of kids.

The Story: Saga lets kids create animated stories using voice, drawing, or imagination. From one sentence or sketch, it renders entire 3D scenes.

Pieyre wasn’t an engineer. But when a friend needed design help, he tried vibe coding—and it stuck.

• Designed and built the platform solo
• 0 coding experience, just AI tools, and drive
• Reached 5,000 users in beta, 800 on peak day

Pivotal moment: An investor asked for an MVP. He built it alone. His daughter's joy keeps him going.

Find out more: sagaplayground.co

Pop Up Tents – A Directory Built After 10 Failed Launches

Chris, UK

In a nutshell: "Ten failures later, I stopped engineering and started marketing."

The Story: Chris wanted to start a digital business for 20 years. He’s tried 10 times—mostly SaaS—and failed. Every time, it came down to one thing: marketing.

This time, he’s doing things differently.

• Studied keyword-first directory strategies
• Followed a course by John Rush
• Launched Pop Up Tents, a comparison site for outdoor gear

Lesson learned: You don’t need to build big first. Start lean, research demand, and treat marketing like part of the product.

Find out more: popuptents.com

Holodocs – Writing Reports Sucks, So He Built a Fix

David Gaylard, London

In a nutshell: Hates Word docs. Built Holodocs to automate the pain.

The Story: David was once a founding ML engineer building GenAI tools. But he hit a wall: every job still involved writing long, clunky Word reports.

So he went solo and built Holodocs, a report-writing workflow that helps you structure, draft, and finish docs in 10% of the time.

• Bootstrapped, 6 months in
• 40-person waitlist
• Focused on launching solo, without outside funding

Turning point: He turned down early funding offers to focus on product-first. A clean beta launch meant more to him than pitching VCs.

Find out more: holodocs.ai

MRGN – Helping Restaurants Spend Less and Grow Smarter

Rebecca, United States

In a nutshell: AI-powered insights to boost restaurant profitability.  

The Story: We believe restaurants deserve tools as good as the food they serve. That’s why we built MRGN to cut through the noise and turn scattered data into clear, actionable insights. Our Machine Learning Insights engine uncovers hidden waste, boosts profits, and delivers smart recommendations—fast and with confidence.

The MRGN platform helps identify:

• Over Spending
• Under Performance
• Growth Opportunities

Key shift: They originally served all small businesses. But a pivot to focus only on the restaurant industry sharpened the vision and the product.

Find out more: mrgn.ai

Schedo – Scheduling That Doesn’t Feel Like an Afterthought

Chetan, USA

In a nutshell: Polished too long. Launched ugly. Got paid the next day.

The Story: Chetan built Schedo for people like himself—coaches, freelancers, and consultants who live on booked calls but hate messy calendars and unpaid sessions.

Schedo brings:

• Branded booking pages
• Google Calendar sync
• Payment via Stripe
• Simple analytics

Launch lesson: After months of polishing, he finally shared a rough MVP. In 24 hours, he had 10 paying users and $65 MRR. Talking to users changed everything.

Find out more: schedo.app

Sortio – Built to Stop Digging Through Your Downloads Folder

Marcus, California

In a nutshell: Lost in folders. Built Sortio to clean things up.

The Story: Marcus built Sortio after spending too much time digging through duplicate files in chaotic folders.

• A clean file organizer for everyday users
• Keeps your digital life tidy
• Makes finding docs fast and painless

The moment: He went quiet on the project until a user reached out with questions. That email reminded him: people want this. He picked it back up and started iterating.

Find out more: getsortio.com

WeCofounder – AI Expert Panels for Solo Founders

Sylvester, Denmark

In a nutshell: Failed startups taught me what cofounders give you.

The Story: Sylvester built WeCofounder for founders like himself—technically strong, but lacking expertise in marketing, UX, or legal.

WeCofounder uses AI to simulate expert discussions across:

• Product
• Marketing
• Legal
• Design

Each session produces a summary, roadmap, and key insights.

His first startups failed because of knowledge gaps. He couldn’t hire a full team, so now he’s building a tool to help others avoid the same fate.

• Launched recently
• ~25 steady users
• Learning to go deeper, not wider

Find out more: wecofounder.com

That's all!

Have an amazing Monday, and a productive week ahead! 

— Chris

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