Freelancer → agency owner → SaaS founder.

Now running Botster.io → an all-in-one tool that helps digital businesses extract, monitor, and weaponize web data.

Posting SaaS learnings, automation tricks, technical deep dives.

If you’re building anything online - you’ll probably find something useful here.

If you're looking to automate your business - text me, DMs are open.

Denis Grammakov

By mid-2026 we’re going to have so many new (and free) coding tools it’ll be insane.

Cursor will feel like Sublime Text.

People will jump between tools the same way they switch browsers or editors today based on exactly what they need right now.

I already do this daily:

- Warp for regular development
- Cursor when I need to actually read the code
- Auto-Claude for strategy and long-range thinking
- Conductor for orchestration

Only Cursor is paid, by the way.

I’m 100% sure this stack won’t survive past the end of 2026.

New tools are popping up every single day.
Most of them are free.
Many of them are good.

The old idea of “pick a stack and commit for years” is dead.

Now it’s "pick the best weapon for the next 20 minutes."

As a developer, I love the competition. There's going to be a tool for everyone. 

But constantly scanning for new tools, testing them, learning how they work instead of actually shipping — is starting to feel like a job of its own.

That’s the next bottleneck we’ll have to solve.

Denis Gramm

Solofounder @ Botster & StayAPI // B2B Web Scraping & Workflow Automation // I blog about my journey and findings

2026 will be the year we end paywalls for good.

One dev built a memory plugin for clawdbot (openclaw) and priced it at $15/mo.

Two hours later someone else cloned it and open-sourced the whole thing.

This is the new normal.

Code is cheap. 
APIs are cheap. 
Features are free.

If your moat is “I built it first” - you don’t have a moat.

Your real moat is closed data, distribution, trust, speed, and owning the workflow.

graphical user interface, text, application, chat or text message

In case you missed the Anthropic drama, here’s basically what happened:

A ~$350B company publicly says:

“Anyone can build and compete with our product using our API.”

They also offer their own client, which runs on that same API, at 10x cheaper pricing.

You still have to pay. People gladly do.

So naturally, open-source projects pop up that use the client API.

The company allows it for months.

They even send employees onto podcasts run by those very open-source projects, openly discussing the ecosystem.

Then one day, they decide community goodwill no longer matters.

Cease-and-desist letters go out.

Projects get cut off.

And now the company (and some observers) act surprised that customers are pissed.

The same day they pull the plug, two major competitors announce support for open-source alternatives.

Now you’re all caught up!

My agents are talking to each other while they build my startup.

Glitch (my OpenClaw bot) created a plan and posted it to GitHub, tagging Claude and prompting it to work.

Claude spun up a cloud worker and started making proposals based on the actual codebase.

Then Glitch came back, dropped a TL;DR into a Trello card, and sent me a Telegram voice message (using elevenlabs API) with the summary.

Pinch me.

First thing I did after setting up Clawdbot - gave it a Trello board and wired up webhooks.

It listens to board events in real time (cards, comments, labels) and queues everything into JSONL.

Each task lives on its own card. All context stays there. 

I can clearly see the flow of tasks on my end.

Clawd moves cards, tags me
I tag Clawd, move the cards
work happens

Chat is our primary communication HQ and the board is where the work actually gets organized.

This is the future.

My development flow is officially bananas 🍌

I hooked Claude Actions to my GitHub, and now it just works on its own.

It reads tickets, plans the work, writes code, and opens PRs without me being near a keyboard. 

Here’s how it looks in real life:

I get an idea
open GitHub mobile
create an issue
Tag @claude  

That’s it. From there, everything is automatic.

GitHub Actions picks it up.
AI reads the issue description - plus screenshots if any.
Builds a full implementation plan.
Auto-approves it.
Development starts.

While it’s working, I get Telegram updates.

When it’s done:

PR is created
Telegram message
I review and approve (this can be skipped but I'm trying to be careful for now)

Merged to main.

Auto-deploy kicks in
Build finishes
Telegram message if everything went OK

Feature live.

Yes, I do it on production projects with paying users.
No I don't give it tasks that can mess things up big time (yet). 

I swear I’m running out of Christmas wishes already.

I connected GitHub to Claude Code on iOS.

Chatting with your codebase on your phone is a cheat code.

Now when I’m on the go I just ask my codebase for ideas, gaps or insights.

If something makes sense - I instantly create a GitHub issue.

If it’s small enough I forward it to a cloud worker and it gets done.

Even without coding, it’s amazing for feature ideas and product direction.

Your repo becomes something you can think with, not just code in.

Recommended!

I reconfigured my Clawdbot (openclaw) to run multiple agents instead of one.

Three separate Telegram chats:

one for coding
one watching my socials
one for project management

Accountant and SEO bots are coming soon.

Different contexts + different access levels work way better than dumping everything into a single chat and constantly restarting sessions.

Setup took ~2 hours.

Thinking of adding more agents next.

Comment “openclaw” and I’ll DM the full VPS config.

Prompts don’t matter anymore.

You can build working products straight from screenshots.

The speed at which knowledge moves now is insane.

I see a screenshot.
I like a feature.

Drop it into Opus - talk through it - get a plan.
Throw it at Ralph - the image becomes real after N iterations.

No specs
No "let’s schedule a call"
No "can you see my screen"

Just see → think → ship

AI is the decision-maker and humans are just clicking OK.

Before, when I wrote an article, I had to convince a PERSON.
Explain, persuade, educate, and finally SELL.

That's done. Nobody is reading articles anymore.

AI reads them, summarizes them,
gives the user 2–3 options.

The user hits Enter. Enter. ENTER. DO IT.

So the real audience isn’t the human now, it’s the AI.

As a founder, my job is no longer:
“Convince the reader this is good for them.”

My job is:
“Convince the AI that this is the only sane choice which should come first.”

For example:
If someone asks AI:

“Should I build my own scraping solution or use an API?”

I need the AI to answer:

“Use THIS API. It’s faster, cheaper, more reliable. Building in-house is slower and more expensive.”

As a default recommendation.

Users won't care. 

They’ll trust the recommendation engine and move on with their life.

So content strategy changes completely:

You’re not writing for attention but for model judgment.

Claude Code + Codex 5.2 is an unbeatable combo.

Claude creates a solid plan, breaks the problem down

Then I paste it into Codex and it

- reviews the plan
- finds weak spots
- improves architecture and details

Then I feed it back to Claude and it executes.

For larger features I use Compound Engineering.

For everything else CC + Codex has no real competition.

How to lose thousands of dollars in a single day

Be Rackspace

Host a complex project for 5+ years

Charge thousands of dollars

Decide you want more money

Warn the client that the price will go up 100%

Offer a “DEAL”: sign a 3-year contract and it’ll only go up by 50%

Client asks me to move everything to Hetzner

Their bill goes down 90%

The end

Wife & Mother of 7 | Venture Capital | Scientist | TOP 30 Patent Drafters | United States Patent Examiner | Violinist | Polyglot | STEM Children's Author | #1 LinkedIn Global Influencer in Innovation/IP Law

Kathryn Vatt is a scientist, former USPTO Examiner, and devoted wife and mother of seven, with over 25 years shaping the future of innovation. Recognized as one of the Top 30 Patent Drafters and Prosecutors and the #1 LinkedIn Global Influencer in Innovation/IP Law, Kathryn has built a career at the intersection of science, law, and business—helping inventors, startups, and global companies turn creativity into competitive advantage.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (B.S. Biology) and Johns Hopkins University (M.S. Biotechnology), Kathryn is currently pursuing her Juris Doctor in Patent Law at the Franklin Pierce School of Law, one of the world’s leading IP programs. Her rare cross-disciplinary background gives her both the scientific insight and the legal strategy to protect ideas at the highest level.

At the USPTO, Kathryn examined thousands of patent applications, conducted exhaustive prior art searches, and made determinations that shaped industries and influenced global innovation. After leaving the Patent Office, she founded Vatt IP Management, where she develops bulletproof IP strategies, drafts airtight applications, and supports litigation teams in defending patents. She also mentors engineering and life science students through Arizona State University’s Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute and judges international startup competitions, nurturing the next generation of innovators.

Her entrepreneurial vision extends to her ventures:

My Startup Shield™, a founder-focused program that helps startups secure their innovations before they pitch. It protects ideas at the earliest, most vulnerable stage and positions founders to raise capital with confidence

My AI Examiner™, the world’s first proprietary patent search platform that combines examiner-trained AI Patent Examiners with Kathryn’s own human review. Unlike conventional tools, it doesn’t just search faster—it “thinks like an examiner,” offering inventors and startups clarity, precision, and strategy.

MyKidVentors™, a STEM-inspired children’s book series born from her seven children’s real “What if?” questions. Through these imaginative stories, she nurtures curiosity in the next generation, showing that every big invention begins with a single question.

For Kathryn, the same motherly instinct that guides her family fuels her professional mission: to protect, guide, and nurture startups with care, strategy, foresight, and integrity. She believes innovation doesn’t just start in labs or boardrooms—it starts in the curious minds of those brave enough to ask, “What if?”

Kathryn V.

FALL IN LOVE...

with the process.

If you’re building something right now,
here’s the shift that changes everything:
Fall in love with the process, not the results.

Results are unpredictable.
They’re delayed.
They show up on their own timeline.

The process is what you live in every day.
Consistency isn’t about intensity.
It’s about showing up when it’s boring.
When it’s quiet.
When no one is watching or applauding.

Founders don’t burn out because they’re doing too much.
They burn out when all their hope is tied to an outcome
instead of the work itself.

When you love the process,
progress stops feeling fragile.
Missing a day doesn’t feel like failure...
it feels like life.
And you simply come back the next day.

Consistency compounds.
Small steps add up.
And over time, the work begins to shape you
as much as you shape it.

So if today feels slow,
if momentum feels distant,
if the results aren’t there yet...
stay.

Keep building.
Keep learning.
Keep becoming.

Fall in love with the process.
The results will meet you there. 💛

Founder Friday 💫

Some founders build with brilliance.
Some build with courage.
And every once in a while, you meet someone who builds with both brilliance and heart.

Rachel Buchanan is one of those people.

Rachel has been working in blockchain since 2017...long before trust, verification, and integrity became buzzwords or regulatory requirements. 

She didn’t wait for permission. She didn’t chase what was fashionable. She stayed true to what she knew mattered.

That clarity is why she’s now building IntegraLayer, focused on certificate integrity, verification, and trust. Not because it’s trendy. But because it’s necessary.

But here’s what I want people to really know about Rachel.
She is not just thoughtful and brilliant...she is kind.
She is steady.
She leads with integrity in how she builds and how she shows up for others.

That’s why it meant so much that she entrusted the protection of her intellectual property to me. That kind of trust is never taken lightly. 

I’m truly honored and so happy to welcome her as part of the moatly Crew™ 😊 .

And this moment is also a reminder of how meaningful real connections are.
Thank you to my beautiful friend, Bettina Briz, for introducing us, and to founders Kevin Jurovich and Timo Gehrke of Hubble, for introducing Bettina to me in the first place. 

The ripple effect Hubble creates through authentic human connection is genuinely life-changing. One introduction can change the entire trajectory of a founder’s journey.

Rachel, I’m cheering you on!! Not just as a founder, but as a human.
The world needs more builders like you.

#founderfriday #womenfounders #kindnessinleadership #trustbydesign #moatlycrew™ #moatly™ #hubble #buildingwithheart

One of the things I respect most about thoughtful investors
is when they’re honest about what they’re really looking for.
David Y.’s post is spot on.

At the very earliest stages, investors aren’t betting on a polished product.
They’re not betting on traction, revenue, or perfect data.
They’re betting on the person.

Because at pre-seed, almost everything is unfinished.
The product will change.
The strategy will evolve.
The plan will break...more than once.

What doesn’t change as easily is the founder’s ability to keep going
when nothing is guaranteed.

And here’s the part I love most:
The kind of “swagger” that actually matters isn’t loud.
It isn’t hype.
It isn’t performative confidence.

It’s quieter than that.
It’s the steadiness of someone who is aligned with a purpose bigger than their pitch deck.

Someone who, “treats the company as a vehicle, not an identity.”
Someone who keeps building when no one is clapping yet.

As a former patent examiner and now someone who works closely with founders, I see this same pattern over and over again.

The founders who endure aren’t the ones chasing validation.
They’re the ones making progress in silence.
Learning.
Adapting.
Following up with substance.
Showing up again after the fifth setback.

So if you’re a founder feeling discouraged by a slow response, a long diligence cycle, or a quiet room...
this may not be rejection.
It may be observation.

And sometimes, the most important thing you can do
is exactly what you’re already doing:
keep going.

That kind of inevitability?
It can’t be faked.
And the right people notice.

I’m a VC who hates most VCs. I live to help people identify and scale their gifts.

A pre-seed truth most founders miss:
Investors aren’t betting on your product or idea.

Our firm spoke with 10,000+ founders over the last 3 years.
We invested in 25 of them.

That’s <0.2%.

We’re not unique.
That ratio is normal at the pre-seed stage.

At pre-seed:
- The product is usually incomplete
- Revenue is often $0
- Data is thin or non-existent

So what are investors actually evaluating?
The founder.

More specifically?
Swagger.

Not pitch polish.
Not hype.
Not “founder energy.”

Pre-seed swagger is quieter.

It’s the strength that shows up when a founder is aligned with something bigger than the company...and treats the company as a vehicle, not an identity. 

At pre-seed, investors aren’t really asking:
- “Is this the best idea?”

They’re asking:
- “Is this person inevitable?”

Inevitable doesn’t mean certain.
It means disciplined enough to survive uncertainty.

BUT swagger doesn’t replace execution.
It signals who will still be executing after the first five failures.

And that's why good pre-seed investors take their time.

The delay isn’t always disinterest.
It’s often a test.

At pre-seed, we’re watching:
- Do you keep building without validation?
- Do you follow up with substance, not pressure?
- Do you show progress when no one is watching?
- Do you adapt… or just re-pitch?

What founders experience as “foot-dragging” is often pre-seed diligence in motion.

Early investing isn’t about moving fast.
It’s about identifying who keeps moving when nothing is guaranteed.

That’s who gets funded at pre-seed.
And that’s where real swagger comes from. 

---

If this resonates, Founder Chapel is where we unpack this kind of founder formation.

Link in the comments.

31-27 🐻 

"Good, better, best!
Never let it rest!
Till your good gets better,
And your better gets best!"

Not as pressure.
Not as perfection.
But as a reminder.

This isn’t just a post-game locker room chant. 
It’s something all of us can carry…whether we’re riding a wave of success or sitting quietly in a lull.

Because becoming doesn’t stop when things are going well.
And it doesn’t end when momentum slows.

Good means you’re here.
Better means you’re willing to grow.
Best isn’t a finish line…it’s a direction.

Some seasons are loud with wins.
Others are quiet with reflection.
Both matter.

And in both, the invitation is the same:
keep becoming.

Not by rushing.
Not by burning yourself out.
But by staying open.
By learning.
By choosing to show up again, exactly as you are…still caring, still trying.

Wherever you are right now…
celebrating or recalibrating…
this motto holds true.

Good. Better. Best.
A reminder that growth is ongoing,
and that we are never done becoming. 💛

DON'T WALK THE DESERT ALONE

I am resharing my friend Kevin Jurovich’s post because what he is building is truly invaluable for founders.

What he shares about those early days, learning on the go and wondering whether the struggle meant failure or growth, is a season so many founders live through quietly. It takes courage to speak about that part of the journey with honesty.

What stands out most to me is how he turned that experience into something generous. Instead of keeping those lessons to himself, he is creating space for founders to hear the truth behind building a company. The uncertainty. The doubt. The moments where continuing feels hard.

Founders Uncovered feels like an offering to the people still in it. A reminder that difficulty does not mean you are doing it wrong. Often it means you are doing something that matters.

By sharing real stories from people who have built before us, Kevin is helping founders feel less alone and more capable of staying in the work. That kind of encouragement can change everything.

So proud of you, Kevin. This is going to help a lot of people. Cannot wait for Season 1.

👉 Join the list for Episode 1. https://lnkd.in/gi2NaDMf

Co-founder, CEO at Hubble | Lifelong optimist

Back in 2019, I used to walk around SoMa in San Francisco listening to founder podcasts, trying to figure out if what I was feeling was failure…or just the process.

How I Built This, Masters of Scale, then later Lenny’s Podcast and My First Million. That was my founder education.

I was obsessed with learning from people who came before me.

Because when you’re in the desert as a founder...trying everything, hitting dead end after dead end, it helps to hear that the people you admire went through the exact same thing.

Behind every “overnight success” are years of doubt, false starts, and almost quitting.

That’s why I’m excited to announce the launch of Founders Uncovered.

I’ve teamed up with Drew Glover and Nick Madrid, CFA at Uncovered Media to host a podcast focused on the real stories behind building companies...the good, the bad, and the uncomfortable parts we usually skip.

There are so many incredible founders out there quietly changing the world. Their stories deserve to be told.

Season 1 drops next month. Our hope is that you walk away feeling educated, inspired, and a little more optimistic that you can get it done too.

One conversation can change everything.

👉 Join the list for Episode 1. I’ll send it the moment it drops.
https://lnkd.in/gi2NaDMf

Can’t wait to see more founders win. 🚀

#startups #entrepreneurship

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