Why I started Steeped Digital: a founder's note

I've spent the last seven years in digital marketing, and before that, more years than I care to admit in good old-fashioned brand building. The kind of career where you start with print ads and somehow end up two browser tabs away from whatever's new. Over time, that proximity to new tools turned into a proximity to AI, and then the proximity turned into a habit. I started building things.

Nothing grand. A scheduling calendar for a friend who runs a small team and couldn't justify the cost of the big-name tools. A clock-in, clock-out app for a family member's business. Small, useful things that solved one problem for one person. The kind of work nobody writes about because there's no funding round to announce.

Why did I build an AI resume reviewer for my kids?

Roast My Resume started at home. My kids were finishing university, polishing their resumes, and doing what everyone does: handing them to friends and getting 'looks great!' back. I knew from years of hiring that most of those resumes had the same problems. Vague buzzwords, outdated skills listed like achievements, and the kind of careful emptiness that makes a hiring manager's eyes slide right off the page.

So I built a tool that would say the things a parent wants to say but probably shouldn't. Bluntly, specifically, and with a sense of humor that takes the sting out. Not 'use more action verbs.' More like: 'You listed Microsoft Office as a skill in 2026. That's like putting can operate a doorknob on your LinkedIn.'

It worked. They actually fixed the things it flagged. The humor helped. When the feedback is funny, it's easier to hear.

What tool do founders wish they had before their first pitch?

Is My Idea Stupid? came from a different place. My own past. A long time ago, I spent my share of hours pitching to VCs. Some of those meetings went well. Some of them should never have happened, and I would have known that if anyone around me had been willing to say so directly.

Over the years, former colleagues started asking me to look at their pitch decks. I'd give them the unvarnished version: the competitors they hadn't Googled, the failure mode they couldn't see because they were too close, the pivot that was sitting right there if they'd tilt their head. And every time, I thought: this kind of brutal, structured candour would have been indispensable for a younger me.

So I built it. One sentence in, five-part verdict out. A dry run before the real room. Because embarrassing yourself in front of a bot at 1 a.m. is a lot cheaper than embarrassing yourself in front of an angel investor on a Tuesday morning.

Why does humor make tough feedback easier to hear?

You'll notice none of these apps take themselves too seriously. That's deliberate. I've avoided the adoption of a serious mien because I think the difficult things, the hard truths about your resume or your pitch, are easier to receive when the messenger isn't wearing a suit. By keeping the mood light, the hard things can actually be said. And heard.

A dry run prevents the embarrassment. Whether it's in front of an employer reviewing your resume or a VC hearing your pitch for the first time, the rehearsal matters more than most people admit. These tools are that rehearsal.

Why do meeting recording apps miss what matters most?

The third app, Notes to Actions, came from a different frustration. There are now a ton of meeting note-taking apps. They record what everyone says, transcribe it, and summarize the transcript. Fine. But they record the meeting, not you.

If you're in a meeting and you're thinking, really thinking, about the implications of what's being said, about a connection nobody else has made, about a risk you want to flag later. No recording app in the world is going to capture that. It will miss your thoughts and ideas by the proverbial country mile.

Notes to Actions is a personal note summarizer. The thoughts you jot down, whether on a digital device or on a notepad. You can photograph handwritten notes and our AI reads them. Type, scribble, or snap a photo. It reads what you actually captured, not what the room said, and turns it into clean action items with owners and deadlines. No matter what you feed it.

What's next for Steeped Digital?

All three apps are free to use right now. I built them partly to scratch my own itch, partly to prove to myself that a small team can ship real, useful AI apps in an evening, and partly because I wanted Steeped Digital to launch with work you can touch. Not a portfolio of mockups and promises.

I would keenly welcome feedback, as my small team and I work on larger projects. If something delighted you, tell us. If something broke, tell us louder. And if you have a small, stubborn problem in your business that you think AI could quietly fix, get in touch. We're just getting started, and the kettle is always on.