Writing & Ideas
77 posts on startups, leadership, AI, and building a personal operating system. By Michael Batko - 2x founder, former Startmate CEO, executive coach.
Featured Articles
I Went From Talking About AI to Building With It in 5 Weeks. Here's What Changed.
I spent six months learning about AI. I went to conferences. I read the papers. I ran a five-city roadshow teaching founders how to think about artificial...
My AI Brain Has 4.1 Million Words. Here's How I Built It.
Every single time I wrote anything with AI, it was bland. Generic. Safe. Corporate. It read like every other LinkedIn post, every other blog article, every...
What Happens When You Build Software in Front of 90 People
Last Wednesday at 2pm, I did something terrifying. I opened 5 Claude Code windows and started building software live on LinkedIn. 90 people watched. Things...
I Asked My AI Chief of Staff What Else It Could Automate. It Found 12 Things.
I'd built my AI chief of staff two days earlier. It was already handling my inbox triage. Updating my to-do list. Tracking invoices. Sending me Monday morning...
My AI Agents Now Improve Themselves. Here's How I Built Self-Expanding Flywheels.
It clicked when Claude said three words: "close the loop." I was building my Chief of Staff agent. It could read my email. Update my to-do list. Send me a...
How to Use AI to Write SEO Content at Scale (Without Sounding Like a Robot)
I didn't have an SEO strategy. For years, I just wrote about whatever I found interesting. Medium articles, Substack posts, LinkedIn - I'd write when the mood...
How to Build a SaaS Product With Claude Code (Zero Coding Experience)
I started using Claude Code in the first week of February 2026. It is now March. In less than five weeks, I built an entire platform from scratch - batko.ai -...
AI Automation for Small Business - What Actually Works (And What's a Waste of Time)
Every business owner I talk to says the same thing: "I know I should be using AI, but I don't know where to start." Then they do one of two things. Either...
How to Create an AI-Powered Course (From Idea to 500+ Customers)
I built a productivity course called Puddle Pod as a side project while running Startmate as CEO. Over four years it grew to 500+ customers, expanded into AI,...
How to Use AI for Market Research (The Bottom-Up Method That Actually Convinces Investors)
Here's what happens in almost every pitch I see. A founder pulls up their market size slide. It says "TAM: $47 billion." They downloaded it from a Statista...
The Founder's Guide to Prompt Engineering (Talk More, Type Less)
The single biggest change in how I work with AI isn't a tool. It isn't a framework. It isn't a secret prompt template. I stopped typing and started talking....
How to Build Internal Tools With AI (No Dev Team Required)
Every business has that tool they wish existed. The dashboard that shows exactly what you need, not what some SaaS company thinks you need. The automation that...
Pre-Seed vs Seed vs Series A - What's the Difference? (An Honest Guide)
Founders love asking "what round should I raise?" as if there's a precise technical definition for each stage. There isn't. Here's the honest truth: it...
How to Raise a Pre-Seed Round in 2026 (The Australian Founder's Playbook)
Raising your first round of funding is one of the most confusing experiences in a founder's life. Nobody teaches you how to do it. The process is opaque. The...
How to Build an MVP in a Weekend Using AI
I built batko.ai in a weekend. A full coaching website. With all my data. Perfectly written for me. Live on the internet. No developer. No agency. No $50K...
SaaS Pricing Strategy for Founders (Stop Undercharging)
The most common pricing mistake I see founders make? Charging too little. Not charging nothing - that's a different problem. I'm talking about founders who...
Pitch Deck Template - The 12 Slides Investors Actually Want to See
In the last six years, I've done 30+ pitch coaching sessions for thousands of founders. I've reviewed hundreds of decks through Startmate. I've sat in on...
Startup Burn Rate Calculator - Are You Default Alive or Default Dead?
Paul Graham wrote one of the most important essays in startup history. The question was simple: are you default alive or default dead? Default alive means...
How to Validate Your Startup Idea (Before Wasting $50K)
Here's the most expensive sentence in startups: "Let's just build it and see what happens." I've worked with hundreds of founders through Startmate. The ones...
How to Find a Co-Founder (And Not Destroy Your Startup)
Co-founder breakups kill more startups than running out of money. I know that sounds dramatic, but I've watched it happen over and over through Startmate. Two...
How to Write a One-Page Business Plan (Free Template)
Nobody reads a 40-page business plan. Investors don't. Customers don't. And honestly? Even you won't re-read it after you've written it. I've sat through...
How to Get Your First 10 Customers Before You Have a Product
Your first 10 customers matter more than your product. I know that sounds backwards. You've been heads-down building, refining features, tweaking the design....
The Free Startup Tech Stack - Every Tool You Need for $0
One of the most common questions I get from founders: "What tools should I use?" After helping hundreds of founders through Startmate, my answer is always the...
How to Sell a Startup That Nobody Wants to Buy (The Graceful Exit Playbook)
In the same week, I coached two founders through very different exits. One had a product with tens of thousands of users but was running out of time and...
Your Customers Are Your Best Investors: The Case for Raising Capital From the People Who Already Pay You
I was on a coaching call with a founder a few weeks ago. She runs a property styling business in Melbourne. Business is going well - demand is outstripping...
The One-Person Billion Dollar Company: What Happens When AI Replaces Your Team (Not Your Job)
Two months ago, I left Startmate after eight years. I didn't hire a single person. Not an assistant. Not a VA. Not a junior anything. I went from running a...
When to Take Investor Money vs Stay Bootstrapped
I've spent eight years helping founders raise money. I've sat in on investment committees, coached founders through pitch prep, and watched companies go from...
How to Calculate Your Startup's Valuation (Without Making It Up)
"What's your valuation?" It's the question that makes founders sweat. And here's the thing - most of the answers I've heard are either pulled from thin air or...
How to Create a Cap Table That Won't Blow Up in Your Face
I've seen cap table mistakes blow up at the worst possible moments. Picture this: a founder walks into a Series A negotiation feeling confident. The term...
Revenue-Based Financing vs Venture Capital: Which One is Right for Your Startup?
For most of the last decade, the startup funding conversation has been binary: bootstrap or raise VC. As if those were the only two options. But there's a...
How to Bootstrap to $1M ARR (And Why It's More Impressive Than Raising VC)
I spent eight years in the venture capital world. I helped deploy capital into 300+ startups. I sat in on investment committees, coached founders through...
Unit Economics 101: The Numbers That Tell You If Your Startup Actually Works
I watched a startup grow like wildfire for two years. Revenue was climbing. Customers were signing up. The team was expanding. Everything looked great on the...
How to Build a Financial Model for Your Startup (Without Overcomplicating It)
I once taught a financial modelling class to a room of about 100 people. I set myself the challenge because public speaking terrified me - and teaching people...
SAFE Notes Explained: The Founder's Guide to Raising Without the Headache
I've been on the investor side of SAFE notes across 300+ startup investments at Startmate. And here's the thing that surprises most people - SAFEs are...
From the Newsletter
How to build with AI
[My SXSW Preso] Practical lessons from 100+ founders
Read on Substack
AI for Dummies - my Top 5
Want to AI? You know you're behind? But you "just don't know where to start"? 👇 Here
Read on Substack
The Cost of Leadership
More leadership does not equal more happiness or joy.
Read on Substack🍭 Non-Cotton Candy Stories
Storytelling like a Pro.
Read on Substack
How to sell your business in 10 days
Final Puddle Pod story. First Raphael story.
Read on Substack
🐣 Newborn OS
New Life = New Operating System
Read on Substack
13 reasons startups fail.
Real-Life Startup Post-Mortems - final part.
Read on Substack![Real-Life Startup Post-Mortems [Part III]](https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/a6f3a1d5-2b2d-49b6-9f18-4548912817bb_2560x1908.png)
Real-Life Startup Post-Mortems [Part III]
We always hear about success stories, but can learn so much more from failure.
Read on SubstackReal-Life Startup Post-Mortems [Part II]
We always hear about success stories, but can learn so much more from failure.
Read on SubstackReal-Life Startup Post-Mortems [Part I]
We always hear about success stories, but can learn so much more from failure.
Read on SubstackThe Most Impactful Lesson from my Exec Coach
Final piece of the "How do you Exec Coach?" series
Read on Substack
Insights from 6x 'How do you Exec Coach?' interviews
Learning from Executive Coaches.
Read on Substack
