She had no CS degree. She used AI to teach herself to build.
Anastasiia Shumilo had no computer science background when she decided to build software. She taught herself Flutter and Xcode using AI, founded Shumi Technologies, and is now developing Draw Flow — an AI-powered construction technology platform that automates drawing analysis, quantity takeoffs, and cost estimation for construction professionals.
This week
The most important act of a founder this decade will not be building. It will be deciding what not to build. Restraint is the unwritten chapter of every great company — and the next four years will reward it more than any cycle in memory.
The feed
Nvidia-Backed AI Startups Rush to Public Markets & Mega Rounds _A New Phase of AI Funding_
Nvidia-backed AI companies are pursuing multi-billion dollar IPOs and funding rounds, signaling market maturation and intense capital allocation in the AI sector.
a16z AI Academy Redefines Startup Talent & Education A New Path for AI Talent
a16z's AI Academy offers high school graduates a free, intensive program, redefining tech education and creating a novel talent pipeline for the future of AI startups.
Topicals Founder Olamide Olowe: From Gates' Refusal to Fraud
Melinda French Gates' refusal to invest in Topicals sparked fraud allegations against founder Olamide Olowe, highlighting severe consequences of financial misrepresentation.
Vantora Raises $100M, Pivots to Physical AI Ventures The Future of Industrial AI
Vantora, formerly UP.Labs, secured $100 million to exclusively focus on "physical AI" ventures, accelerating deep tech innovation for industrial corporations through its unique venture studio model.
Anthropic IP Siphon: What Claude Leak Reveals for AI Founders Unverified Incident
A potential incident of intelligence siphoning from Anthropic's Claude highlights the critical IP and data security threats AI founders face in a fiercely competitive global landscape.
Founders desk
Plate 01Anastasiia Shumilo
Anastasiia Shumilo is a Ukrainian-born technology founder who started over in Canada and built her career in technology from the ground up. She founded Shumi Technologies, an international B2B softwar
Plate 02Cover · Issue 47Tony Loeb
The man who decided hospitality needed just ten minutes — co-founder of 10minutes.news, the quiet media engine now read by 220,000 hoteliers across Europe and North America.
Plate 03Kateryna Eisen
Founded Momploy to solve a problem she lived on both sides — as a small business owner who struggled to hire part-time, and as a mother who needed flexible work. Now building Toronto GTA's local trust layer for skilled parents and the businesses that need them.
Plate 04Dylan Field
Dropped out of UPenn on a Thiel Fellowship, spent six years building a design tool that ran in the browser, said no to Adobe's $20B all-cash offer when the regulators killed it, and IPO'd anyway.
By desk
Read with the people who build the next decade.
Wednesdays at 7am Pacific. One letter, four minutes, and the five stories that actually mattered — chosen by the desk, not by an algorithm.
- ✓ The week's five most important reads, briefly
- ✓ One short interview, often unpublished elsewhere
- ✓ A memo from the editor — three minutes, one idea
- ✓ No ads, no roundups, no growth tactics