Date: 2026-09-30 4:00 PM EDT Attendees: Michael Houck (Rye Valley), Grig Richters (XWECAN, grig@xwecan.com), Tatem (Candid Network / Rye Valley) Granola: https://notes.granola.ai/d/089e8160-a04d-4867-b28e-37409fa9f852
Summary
Internal team sync on Emil’s personal brand campaign. No Rye Valley client decisions made; this is client-engagement territory. Team morale acknowledged as low across all three - feeling handcuffed on the “big strategic initiative” until after an upcoming election, and momentum has stalled. Grig flagged the need to “hit a reset button.”
Key threads discussed:
Wikipedia Battle: Deadline ~6 hours out at time of call. Vote count had turned 7-6 in favor (was 6-4 against). ~$4K spent on editors. Coordinated fake accounts voting against were being reported. Washington Post op-ed and New York Post piece both submitted awaiting pickup. PR pipeline otherwise healthy with 6 things in progress.
Civic Chain Secondaries: $250K remaining to close, Emil’s top priority. Michael getting a lot of nos - crypto + govtech combination is a tough sell with crypto narrative currently weak. Michael’s angle: pitch Emil as a founder worth meeting. More prospects remain but closing slower than hoped.
Speaking Sponsorships: OpenAI has expressed interest but kept stalling; Michael has been passed to 3 different people there. Nothing committed yet; slow month overall for sponsor conversations.
San Francisco Initiative: No clear action plan yet. Team unsure if the opportunity is big enough to pursue. Grig will brainstorm the political sphere angle and think about a “second thing” to create momentum ripple effects.
Decisions
None of Rye Valley scope. All items are client-engagement (Emil’s business) per the decision template scope rules.
Action Items
- Grig: send San Francisco initiative plan to team by Friday Oct 2 for review and discussion the following week
- Michael: continue pitching Civic Chain secondaries ($250K still to close)
- Michael: follow up on OpenAI sponsorship to get a concrete next step and unstick the conversation
Notable Excerpts
Grig: “I feel like we all need to find our mojo again…I feel like we’ve all kind of lost our mojo a little bit on it. And we’ve got to like hit the reset button or something and start over.”
Michael: “I think it’s tough until after the election, but we want to get this done in the lead-up to tandem with it. So that’s challenging.”
Michael: “A lot of nos, a lot of nos. People either they’re like crypto and govtech are like not a combo they like, or…I’m just trying to pitch Emil like as a founder worth meeting. That’s my angle for the most part with it.”
Grig: “Before it was GovTech, now it’s crypto and GovTech, and especially right now when crypto isn’t really like the sexy thing at the moment, the sexy narrative.”