Mike
Mike is building RAVN, an Antler-backed robotics startup, and shares the lock-in sessions behind it.
I'm just a founder #1 user of SMA.et and nuzz.space 19 🇪🇹
Mike is a founder who, with their cofounder, has shipped 7 products and gotten into Founders Inc in San Francisco. Now they are building RAVN, which launched in May 2026 and was accepted into Antler in September with $400K in funding. RAVN describes itself as an autonomous runtime optimization engine that makes robots faster, and in October Mike announced a new pivot: making robots heal themselves. On the side, they built a loans site in September.
Mike plans the architecture and lets AI type the code, then reviews it; in October 2026 they moved from Cursor to Codex and now lean on Claude. Work happens in long, tracked lock-ins: 18 straight hours on Rize, a 10-hour session on Nuzz, and a day of 76 commits on one repo. Posting peaks at hour 21, and regular SMA rounds let followers ask anything.
- Lately the channel averages 111.8 posts a week.
- Mike has posted at least once a week for 30 weeks running, and the streak is still alive.
- So far, 80 posts mark a milestone.
The journey.
- May 2026
- Jun – Aug 2026
- Sep 2026
New year, new raise
Around Ethiopian New Year, RAVN was accepted into Antler with $400K in funding and went up on Hall of Fame. The team pitched RAVN to robotics and physical AI teams as a way to make robots lightning fast. Later that month Mike built a loans site and had it live by the end of September.
Sources#2015#2019#2021#2114 - Oct 2026
Founder mode, Singapore edition
October brought full founder mode: a 10-hour lock-in on Nuzz, coaching for people in tech and startups, and a new RAVN pivot toward robots that heal themselves. From Singapore, Mike started sharing founder lessons too, from validating ideas before building to planning deeply so the AI follows your architecture.
Sources#2521#2393#2501#2599
Building now.
- Reinstate
AI-powered appeals service for suspended Amazon sellers.
Launched as a testing tool in April 2026 while part of Founders Inc Canopy.
Launched6 postsApr 2026Visit - BlazeMail
A human-like AI cold email tool built with Laravel and React.
Launched in mid-2025 but was cut by May 2026.
Paused6 postsJun 2025 – May 2026Visit - FORMA
A JSON constraint layer for LLMs that prevents logically invalid data payloads.
Launched in April 2026 as part of Founders Inc Canopy.
Launched5 postsApr 2026Visit - Costrym
A B2B AI cost engineer and runsheet platform designed to reduce business expenses for SMEs.
Part of Founders Inc Canopy in April 2026; later referred to in the past tense as a favorite project.
Paused3 postsApr 2026 – Aug 2026Visit - Budera
An AI business partner and bank designed specifically for AI agents.
Accepted into Founders Inc Canopy in April 2024.
Launched2 postsApr 2026 – May 2026Visit - Waitlyst
A waitlist management system with owner dashboards and location tracking.
Building2 postsMay 2025– - ARIA
An AI system designed to automate parts of hotel operations.
Developed for the ALX Hospitality Hackathon in April 2026, reaching the final stage.
Launched2 postsApr 2026– - Poach.work
An AI-native headhunter platform.
Entered Founders Inc Canopy in April 2026.
Building1 postsApr 2026Visit - Volta
A software product developed in five hours for an unspecified purpose.
Launched1 postsMay 2026Visit - Bio Match USA
A web project launched in August 2025.
Launched1 postsAug 2025Visit - Razory
A modern productivity tool designed to help users focus and supercharge efficiency.
Rebranded from MindSweep in August 2025.
Building1 postsAug 2025– - ZeroKey
A quantum-secure password manager.
Secured $1,000 in funding in June 2025.
Building1 postsJun 2025– - Loans App
A contribution site for short-term, interest-free loans, where lenders add to a pool and sign documents on the site for approval.
Moved from mikaelen.site to loan.mikaelen.site in Oct 2026.
Launched7 postsSep 2026 – Oct 2026Visit
Start here.
- 01
The 40-minute countdown to RAVN's launch in May 2026.
I’m launching RAVN in 40 minutes. Stay tuned. You’re not ready for what’s coming. This is new, it’s something I’ve been building with real intent, real press...
May 3, 20261.8K views - 02
The big one: RAVN's acceptance into Antler with $400K in funding.
I almost lost everything this year. Not “stressed about deadlines” losing everything. My dad. My family. Everything I’ve been building. There were nights I g...
Sep 12, 202627.3K views - 03
Mike's quick note on RAVN's new pivot: robots that heal themselves.
We make robots heal themselves (useravn.com) this is a new pivot yeah we had LOI's
Oct 17, 2026478 views - 04
Mike's case for planning deeply and letting AI type the code.
Disagree with most of @dagmawi_babi's take on vibe-coding. I haven't written a line of code by hand in a long time. I ship more now than I ever did. Had a ses...
Oct 20, 20261.6K views - 05
Why dumb-looking ideas like Airbnb and Twitch deserve a second look.
a lot of ideas look dumb from the outside and turn out to be killers. Airbnb was “strangers sleeping on air mattresses.” Twitch was “watch a guy live his life o...
Oct 24, 2026843 views
In their own words.
I haven't written a line of code by hand in a long time. I ship more now than I ever did.
It’s crazy seeing something that started as an idea slowly turn into something real.
Fresh from the channel.
My connections be like 😁 larp
I swear, I’m tired of seeing slop websites in this community. Guys, at least put in some manual effort or get better at prompting. Don’t push the same slop UI: the monospace font, the purple gradients, the overdone hover shadows on buttons...
Does anyone here have their own VPS ?
Mind blowing if you ask me 🤯
Once again its monday Good morning y'all
ahh i miss the old fellas on this channel like samson, mishal, ekd, rahwan and all the other tmocians 😭 idk where y'all disappeared to but i hope you're all doing well fr