❦ STACK GUIDE · No. 002 · By founder stage
Solo + AI
One founder. AI doing the work of the team you can't afford yet.
You're past the prototype. Real users, early revenue, still solo. The job now is to extend your reach without hiring — which means letting AI do the writing, the support drafts, the social posts, the sales follow-ups. The stack here is the directory tools with AI features that genuinely save founder hours, not just marketing copy.
❦ The stack, at a glance
$100–300
7
14
$100–300/mo
Who this is for
- ●Solo founder with paying customers ($0–20k MRR)
- ●Comfortable using ChatGPT or Claude as your daily foundation
- ●Want AI inside specific workflows, not just one chat tab
Who it isn't for
- ●Pre-product founders — start with First-time founder
- ●Founders who already have a teammate — see Team of 2
❦ Hosting & deployment
❦ Database & backend
❦ Sales / CRM
Track the conversations that turn into customers. AI handles the drafts.
❦ Marketing & email
Newsletter is the highest-ROI distribution channel for a solo founder.
❦ Social & content
❦ Customer support
Even one customer email a day is worth handling well.
❦ Banking & accounting
❦ A note from the editors
This stack assumes you're already using ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro as your daily foundation ($20/mo, not in directory). The tools above are the ones with AI baked into specific founder workflows — voice cloning, follow-up drafts, intake automation. Budget target: $100–300/mo on top of your AI subscriptions.
❦ Your stage
See another stage.
The Founder's Stack
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