Date: 2026-10-06, 1:30 PM EDT Source: Granola Captured by: Michael Houck
Summary
Regular sync between Michael and Rafael. Two main threads: Rafael’s independent SaaS project (meal plan generator for nutritionists, currently in testing), and a significant Rye Valley pivot toward selling an AI agent installation service (“company brain”) to other companies. Michael and Rafael independently converged on the same idea. Near-term: collaborate on Adam Gilman client build this week before site goes live Monday Oct 12. Longer-term: Rafael owns builds and management as Rye Valley brings in new clients.
Attendees
- Michael Houck - Rye Valley
- Rafael (rafael@ryevalley.co) - Hockey Stick / Rye Valley contractor
Decisions Made
- Company brain installation as a new Rye Valley service offering. Sell Hermes + skills + system architecture + tool integrations + founder interaction model as an install for other companies. Framed as “AI native” solution for investor-pressured founders. Rafael’s independent agent-implementation service can be subcontracted through Rye Valley client projects. See linked decision record.
- Rafael to collaborate on Adam Gilman build. Michael shares TLDR doc via Hermes; Rafael reviews and identifies where to jump in. Split remaining build Thursday/Friday; site goes live Monday Oct 12.
- Longer-term model: onboard new clients together, Rafael owns the build and ongoing management. Michael keeps bringing in founders through the Hard Calls audience.
Action Items
| Owner | Item |
|---|---|
| Michael / Hermes | Send Rafael TLDR doc on Adam Gilman project (goals, current build, remaining items) |
| Rafael | Reply with thoughts on next steps and how to split the Adam build; respond by tomorrow (Oct 7) |
| Both | Split remaining Adam build Thursday/Friday; target go-live Monday Oct 12 |
Rafael’s SaaS Update
Building a meal plan generator for nutritionists. Pain: nutritionists spend 30-60 min per personalized plan. Validated beyond initial contact. Backend + frontend complete, now in testing. Initial nutritionist contact could be an early customer and referral pipeline.
Notable Excerpts
“We think there’s an opportunity to sell basically what we’ve built with Hermes at Rye Valley to other companies. We’re framing it like a company brain that we go and install.” - Michael Houck
“I thought like, how can I make something that reduce my income help me instead of like be bad for me? I used part of this time to grow up in terms of technical stuff… and I started to develop some ideas.” - Rafael (on using reduced hours to build independently; antifragility framing)
“I’m trying to take what you did in Rye Valley and try to sell to other companies, like implanting agents… using my knowledge to architect stuff both in the infrastructure and cloud level… to guarantee that people will build something good instead of like spaghetti code.” - Rafael
“The biggest thing I think where your time would be spent more than anything else is literally just understanding the businesses and the goals of these clients… It’s almost more like a product manager type scenario than like an engineer scenario.” - Michael (on Rafael’s role)
“We have a big audience of founders. It’ll just be on me to sort of keep bringing in more founders who want this stuff.” - Michael