Hello from rainy Oakland, California. Whenever the weather is suboptimal, they really should lower my rent. My caffeine levels remain irresponsible, and Mother Tongue Café has basically adopted me at this point. If you’re new here, WELCOME. To the regulars, great to see you. Pull up a longbox. I’ve got some rad stuff to show you. And if you’re curious about my holiday ritual with my son, stay to the end. Anyhoo, UPDATES:

TL;DR

First full VIP Lounge user flow is live and already sharpening the product vision. Reader flow and storefront upgrades are next on deck.
Surveys are ready, engagement tests are running, and early data is giving us actual signal instead of vibes.
Fundraising convos are active, community experiments are teaching us fast, and we’re gearing up for our first accelerated comic-creation sprint.

Product and Design

We just dropped our first full user flow for our VIP Lounge (delicious secrets!) folks to see. Didn’t get the link and want to? HMU. It’s the earliest glimpse of how readers will move through this. George Ramirez is cooking on art direction and Andy Gonzales is in the design system lab like a mad scientist with impeccable taste.

Research and Audience Insights

Reader and creator surveys are basically ready to launch. Comics data in the wild is shockingly thin, so we’re building our own signal tower. In the meantime, we’re running engagement tests to see who’s showing up, what they tap, what they ignore, and what makes them lean closer to the screen. Early signs are exactly what we hoped for: clear patterns, no guesswork.

Fundraising and Network

Conversations are active with angels, operators, and people who understand that “comics plus modern tech” is a profound opportunity to make a lot of money by owning a channel. Targets remain $100K by Thanksgiving and $500K by February. Meetings are happening, introductions are flowing, and the pitch gets sharper every round. If you know someone who loves IP, design, and big swings, send them my way and I will charm them like a silver-fox Ryan Gosling.

Community and Creative

We’re dialing up our presence across platforms, experimenting with formats, and gathering intel on what actually moves people. Some things hit, some things faceplant, all of it teaches us. Next on deck is a comic-creation sprint where we stress-test our speed advantage. The mission stays the same: make comics faster and better than the monthly grind ever could.

Next Up

Product: Reader flow explorations and sharper storefront passes
Research: Reader and creator surveys ready to field
Fundraising: MANIFESTING
Creative: First accelerated comic book creation sprint

Holiday Chaos Corner

So. The holidays. I do not like Thanksgiving for very emo, very legit reasons. Two years ago I started making my own traditions to fix that. I pitched “movie day.” My son countered with the deranged idea of watching all the Star Wars movies in a row. We started at 6pm one day and finished at 10pm the next. Blackout curtains. Candy. Popcorn. Burritos. It was like a psy-op. My son was in hog heaven (psycho behavior tbh). I’ve talked him down to one trilogy this year. Any guesses which?

How you can help

Intros! Media, product, or angel operators who like IP + platforms. Comic book fan angels to the front of the line.
Engineering lead recommendations for a technical founder profile.

If there is something specific you want in these updates (metrics, visuals, pipeline, intros), reply and I will get it to you.

Appreciate you being here. Whether this is your first update or you’re a Day 1 peep.

Next up:

Fundraising: momentum and committed capital.
Product: First User Flow.
Recruiting: across engineering, design, and editorial.

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November: VIP Flows & Holiday Chaos