Steal my 2026 founder stack. No gatekeeping here

The right stack buys you back hours every week. Hours I'd rather spend thinking, building, or having real conversations.

So here's everything I actually use for all my work.

Thinking, Building, Doing

Claude Code (Anthropic) is my operating system. A complete game changer. Coding, documentation, writing, strategy, data analysis, project management, design. I run almost everything through it now.

Wispr Flow for dictation across PC and phone. Going from 40 words per minute typing to 200 words per minute speaking changes how you think, not just how you write.

Gemini (Google) is my go-to for quick search and thinking. I'm deeply tied into the Google ecosystem now, and having context from my personal accounts makes it sharper than anything else I've tried. This is what replaced ChatGPT and Perplexity for me.

Reading and Reflection

Kindle (Amazon). Always a Kindle stan. Easy for traveling, reading at night, and juggling 3-4 books at once.

Readwise Reader. Best read-it-later app, period.

Rosebud. An AI journal that talks back to me and helps me navigate your thoughts. My go-to support between therapy sessions.

Apple Notes for quick dumps. Simple, fast, no friction.

Communication

Superhuman Mail. After 5 years with Hey Email, I finally switched. Gmail handles my work and personal accounts, Superhuman is the management layer on top. Should have done this sooner.

beehiiv for my newsletter. Haven't been as active lately (guilty), but the platform is solid.

Getting Things Done

Gamma for presentations. I haven't opened PowerPoint or Google Slides in months. That says everything.

Todoist for task management. Been using it for 5 years, though it's starting to feel like it needs a rethink.

Arc (The Browser Company) as my browser, despite it being in maintenance mode. But Chrome with Claude's integration has caught my eye.

Meetings

NeoSapien for in-person meeting transcription. Shoutout to Dhananjay Yadav and Aryan Yadav for what they're building. A personal notetaker in your palm.

Granola for online meetings. Non-intrusive and just works.

My one wish: either Granola ships a mobile app or NeoSapien ships a desktop client, so all my notes can live in one place.

Product and Engineering

Magic Patterns for prototyping and UI/UX. Bridges the gap between ideas and code. What our tech team uses daily.

Linear for project management. Recently adopted, still experimenting. It's maybe a bit too powerful for our use case right now.

Claude Code + Cursor + Vercel + Supabase + GitHub for (VIBE) coding. Lot's to explore here this year.

Nano Banana Pro for image generation, Canva when I need more control.

FYI: the best note-taking tool is still pen and paper. And the best brainstorming tool is a real whiteboard. Some things don't need an upgrade. 😇