Date: 2026-10-03 Source: Email thread “Re: Houck / Jesse (Synapse)” (michael@ryevalley.co, Oct 3) Contact: Jesse Linson (jesse@synapsesocial.com), CTO
Signal
Jesse Linson reached out to Michael directly about a mini-launch for Synapse Social (synapsesocial.com) - a social platform for cardiologists to share and drive consensus on research. Cofounders include Jeff Bezos’s son and Javier Ferreira’s daughter (Monopoly Go).
Jesse asked about Megaphone and JOLT for a LinkedIn/X viral launch campaign.
Michael forwarded to Ben Ornstein. Ben replied Oct 3 with the Megaphone pitch (amplification via 500+ creators, 60M+ followers; and sponsored content / campaigns option). Ben included a Calendly link.
Michael also flagged JOLT in his forward note, citing the 0-to-82k TikTok + IG case study in 2.5 months.
Status
2026-10-05 UPDATE: Jesse actively onboarded today. He signed up and hit three bugs during onboarding flow (account removal locked, password rules rejecting strong generated passwords, Safari show-password not working). Michael intervened personally and had all three fixed and deployed live within hours. Jesse confirmed he could continue and is launching tomorrow (2026-10-06). Hot prospect - conversion imminent.
Original status (2026-10-03): Warm inbound. Ben has pitched; awaiting Jesse’s response. No deal terms yet.
Business Facts
- Synapse Social is a new prospect in the Megaphone/JOLT pipeline
- High-profile cofounders (Bezos son, Ferreira daughter) may make this a referenceable case study if converted
- Ben Ornstein is primary point of contact; Michael stepped in directly on Oct 5 to unblock onboarding bugs
- Jesse’s Synapse Social launch is Oct 6, 2026 - Megaphone will be active for it
- Three onboarding bugs fixed Oct 5: (1) account removal on plan-builder page, (2) password validation now accepts hyphens as special chars, (3) password requirement issue attributed to Safari behavior