🧭 Demolition Night, Scrape away and Visual To-Do (Founder's Compass)

Hello there and welcome to Founder's Compass, a good way to get oriented around the labyrinthian world of startups.

Tool(s) of the week: Scraper

Ever since I was a young boy, I wanted to scrape. Scrape, scrape, scrape away the entire web.

But those pesky terms and conditions (and something called “The Law”) stopped me.

Not anymore! Now there’s apify, a tool made specifically for people like me who want to scrape the web away.

Video of the week: Stocks = Gambling?

Are stocks the real deal? There’s people investing in index funds, there’s day traders, minute traders, second traders etc.

But why are we so obsessed with Stocks? Americans started this trend, so let’s take a look at how it started:

Top 5 stories of the week

• Ads on Linkedin - the best way to do them

“In my opinion, there’s no better ad than one that doesn’t look like an ad. These types of ads cut through the noise and feel native to a user’s feed. That’s why Meta’s whitelisted ads performed so well when they first launched, and why influencer posts continue to crush it for DTC brands.

People buy from people, and it’s no secret that newer generations (a la Gen Z) crave authentic voices and opinions when deciding what products or services to buy.”

• Can Good Design Be Mathematically Calculated?

“Mathematics is the language of the universe. It describes patterns, relationships, and structures. But how can math be applied to design? Mathematical principles offer designers a framework for creating balanced, harmonious, and visually appealing compositions. One of the most famous examples is the Golden Ratio.”

• Top 5 Sustainable Product Design Trends

“As we approach 2025, it’s time to reflect on our progress. With climate change at a critical point affecting different parts of the globe, sustainability is no longer a choice but a necessity. As a result, this shift shall focus on trends prioritising eco-friendly products, emphasising resource conservation, waste reduction, and sustainability. Additionally, it is time to reduce the use of fuel-based materials that disrupt the Earth’s natural cycle and opt for natural and bio-based materials that are in harmony with it. These top 5 sustainable design trends are guaranteed to lead the way in adopting more sustainable practices in product design and encourage industries to design products that protect the environment and conserve resources for future generations.”

• Vibe coding, some thoughts and predictions

“We’ve all been surprised by LLMs being good at writing/brainstorming/generating text, but along the way, we also discovered it was surprisingly good at writing code. This was first harnessed by coding co-pilot features in IDEs like Cursor, but as many of you have followed, “vibe coding” is the new thing, coined by the great Andrej Karpathy:”

• Choosing Languages

“It is true that sometimes, there are hard requirements that means that choosing a particular technology is inappropriate. But I’ve found that often, these sorts of requirements are often more contextually requirements than ones that would be the case in the abstract. For example, you can write an OS in Lisp if you want. But in practice, you’re probably not working with this hardware, or willing to port the environment to bare metal.”

Updates from Creative Motion & ReaktorX:

Batch #13 of ReaktorX just started! Want to meet them and DESTROY them?

Great. Let’s meet at Demolition Night :D

The Five selected startups of Batch 13 will take the stage, pitch their hearts out, and face your toughest questions and roasts. This isn’t your typical pitch night—it’s demolition night, so be as harsh and honest as possible with our startups.

Register here: https://lu.ma/snctvw2s

P.S: We’re building a prototype for a wine-tasting bar: https://tasting.corks.ro/ If you have a minute, we’d really appreciate your feedback on the User Experience :D

Startup idea of the week:

Problem:

Traditional to-do lists can be tedious to maintain. Many people take photos or screenshots of things they need to remember—whether it's a grocery item, a home repair task, or a movie recommendation—only to lose track of them later. Existing task management apps require manual input, making them less intuitive for quick, everyday reminders.

Solution:

AI-powered app that transforms photos and screenshots into actionable to-do lists. By using AI (OCR and NLP), the app detects tasks from images and automatically categorizes them into relevant lists, saving users time and effort.

How It Works:

• Snap a photo or screenshot – Capture anything you need to remember, from a grocery item to a broken appliance.

• AI analyzes the image – The app detects the task and assigns it to the appropriate list (e.g., shopping, repairs, watchlist).

• Smart organization – Tasks are formatted, prioritized, and can be synced with calendars.

• Voice input – Quickly add tasks by recording a short voice note.

• Collaboration – Share lists with others for better coordination.

Benefits:

✔️ Multi-Platform Syncing – Integrates with calendars and productivity tools.
✔️ Collaboration Features – Easily share lists with family, friends, or coworkers.
✔️ Frictionless UX – A faster, more natural way to create and manage to-do lists.

Go-to-market:

🎯 Viral social media content – Engaging demo videos (TikTok, Instagram) showcasing the app’s magic.
🎯 Productivity influencer partnerships – Collaborate with creators in the self-improvement and organization space.
🎯 Freemium model – Free version with limited tasks; premium subscription for unlimited access.

Challenges:

⚠️ AI Accuracy – Ensuring OCR/NLP correctly identifies tasks across various images.
⚠️ User Habit Formation – Convincing users to switch from traditional to-do lists.
⚠️ Competition – Differentiating from existing task managers and productivity tools.

Stick close for the next one.