Ben's 1x1x1 - Founder mode, MCPs, and transparency - October 23, 2026 🚀
For those of you that are new here, every week I send what I call a 1x1x1.
One thought from my week. One interesting find/tool from my week. One image from my life.
Let’s dive in 👇
3 quick thought(s) from the week
Founder mode
Founder mode has a lot of definitions, but to me, it means being borderline obsessed with every little detail of the business and pouring an unreasonable amount of energy into making it work.
There’s nothing quite like founder energy.
It can completely change a company’s momentum, culture, and growth.
Andy and I are fully in founder mode with one of our businesses right now, and I can feel the difference.
It’s a level of obsession that genuinely moves the needle.
Is it always healthy? Probably not.
Is it effective? Absolutely.
MCPs
My prediction is that most digital work will eventually happen through your AI agent of choice.
Claude will become my new desktop, connected to everything, and I’ll just work out of Claude.
I know this isn’t exactly a groundbreaking take. I’m just catching up. 😂
Lately, I’ve been working on MCPs (Model Context Protocols), which is a fancy way of saying connecting AI to external tools and data.
The idea is that AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT can securely connect to things like files, databases, search engines, and code repositories.
This means people can access my platform’s data and features directly on my website or through their AI assistant of choice.
Less clicking around, more getting things done.
We’re still early, but I think this is going to fundamentally change how we interact with software.
Founder transparency
I find founders who are radically transparent incredibly inspiring.
I try to be pretty transparent in this newsletter, but I rarely take that same level of transparency to one of my brands.
Every once in a while, I come across a founder who pulls back the curtain and shares the messy details, the numbers, the mistakes, and the things most companies would rather keep behind closed doors.
It makes me want to support the brand as a customer.
Funny how being more honest about your business can be one of the best ways to sell it.
Find from my week
Like many of you, we hit a pumpkin farm last weekend.
Think overpriced pumpkins, petting zoos, pumpkin cannons.
The works.
Naturally, the nerd in me immediately started trying to estimate how much revenue this place brings in during October.
Because apparently, I can’t just enjoy a family outing without turning it into a business case.
And then, as if YouTube was reading my mind, this video showed up in my feed:
My Pumpkin Farm Brings In $2 Million In Only 7 Weeks
Image from my life
My beautiful wife finished maternity leave and is back to work.
She might be bummed but I’m pretty stoked to have the best co-worker ever ;)