The next edition is about the two rooms we are in before the month ends, and about how one of them got full.

Hamptons Fashion Week on August 22 is at 329 registered. The VIP pairs are gone, the Manhattan bus is gone, and seven general admission tickets were left this morning. We did not buy that audience. Dee Rivera produces the event through DCG Media Group and already owned Southampton, so we co-hosted instead of renting, and brought the one thing she did not have.

The Shelter Island Conference is August 26 to 28 at the Rams Head Inn. One hundred guests, two days, one table, in the building where a circle of physicists spent three days in 1947 and came out having reorganised the field. Ron Paul opens by video, Russell Brand keynotes and leads Thursday's roundtable, Patrick Byrne speaks, Scott Page of Pink Floyd plays through dinner. Thursday day passes start at $250 and the VIP tiers let you name who you sit beside.

If you are coming to Shelter Island, say so here or reply to the email with the word island and tell me who you want to be next to. I will do what I can with the seating before the doors open.

I’m looking to meet a quant, quantitative researcher, trader, or investor who loves using data to form views about what happens next.

I host Betting the Future, a show where guests take a position on a real prediction market, explain the thesis behind it, and let the market ultimately settle the score.

The ideal person is intellectually curious, great at explaining how they think, and willing to make a prediction publicly rather than just analyze it after the fact.

If someone immediately comes to mind, drop their name below or make an intro. I appreciate your help 🙏

I’m looking to meet a political forecaster, analyst, researcher, or strategist with a strong view on an upcoming election or political event.

I host Betting the Future, a show where guests make a prediction, defend their thesis, and let a real prediction market settle the score.

The ideal person is deeply informed, has a view that differs from consensus or is backed by especially strong reasoning, and is comfortable putting that view on the record.

If someone comes to mind, please drop their name below or make an intro. I appreciate your help 🙏

I host Betting the Future, a show where great minds make predictions, defend their thesis, and let prediction markets settle the score.

Right now, I’m booking the first slate of investors, quants, political analysts, scientists, researchers, traders, founders, and other experts willing to put a prediction on the record.

The one person I want to meet this quarter is Michael Axman, founder of The Nucleus Network, because I’d love to have him come on the show and put one of his views on the future to the test.

Spent Thursday at The Wilson for Coworking 2.0, our second run of this one with Wayo Club. Ten to four, coffee, wifi, and a room of people actually building instead of standing around with a drink making small talk.

I will be straight with you, a coworking day does not make for a big story the way a dinner does. Nobody stood up and pitched anyone. That is sort of the point, a quiet room to get real work done next to people who are also building something.

Coworking 3.0 is already booked, Thursday the 13th, same room, same hours, coffee and lunch included. If a Thursday where you actually get things done sounds useful, come sit with us.

Started something new this week. The Showcase, five founders from the cohort, every Wednesday.

Leading it off: Aurora Winters, who we matched at Demo Day and closed a $100,000 check a month later, and Jackson Greene, who is closing in on 40,000 users. Three more below them, one from each sector.

If you want the same shot, the application for the next cohort is in there too.

Curious what is actually in your way right now. Hiring, funding, a warm intro you cannot find on your own, something else entirely.

Say it in the comments. If it is specific enough, post it as an ask on the marketplace so the room can actually work on it instead of just relating to it.

This morning's edition is in your inbox. The short version: last week 276 of you opened an ask and five answered one. Nine asks got nothing at all.

New rule this week. Do not leave your inbox. Hit reply on the email, or comment right here, and name the ask you can help with. One line. I make the introduction by hand, usually the same day.

Still open: Ana Karina needs one school contact for an education contract. Makayla is raising for Axion. My engineer intro bounty is unclaimed and I pay cash.

One more thing. We are opening the marketplace to testers this month. Use it, break it, tell me what was confusing and what was missing. Comment the word tester below and I will onboard you personally. Or start now: post an ask, make your profile, and list what you sell.

Opening this up to the room before it goes wide.

The Catalyst Fundraising Cohort is back on the calendar with a new start date: Monday, August 17. Five Mondays, one path from a first draft to a pitch that survives a real data room, ending in a live Showcase on September 14.

• Week 1, Aug 17 — Fundraising 101: The Taxonomy of Capital

• Week 2, Aug 24 — Lead Generation and Outreach: The Hunt and the Hook

• Week 3, Aug 31 — Investor-Ready Data Rooms: The Transparency Engine

• Week 4, Sep 7 — Financial Infrastructure and Equity: The Hard Stuff

• Showcase, Sep 14 — Pitch and Demo Day

Weekly over Google Meet, 12 to 1 Eastern. Registration is by approval — tell us what you're raising when you apply.

Apply for a seat

Best,
Stephen

I pulled the numbers on The Ask this morning and they are worth being honest about.

276 people opened an ask on the marketplace. Five people answered one. Nine of the eleven have had nothing at all. Ana Karina's has been viewed fifty times and has never once been answered.

That is on me, not you. To respond you had to leave the email, find the page, work out where the button was, and write into a box. Four steps too many.

So here is the easier version. Comment on this post with the name and one line. "I know someone for Ana Karina." That is enough. I read every one and I make the introduction by hand, usually same day.

Still open, ordered by how many people looked without answering:

• Ana Karina Da Silva — connections to schools for an education contract. 50 views, zero replies.

• Makayla Williams — funding and growth for Axion, $25,000 to $100,000. 39 views, zero replies.

• Stephen Michael — Series A companies hiring software engineers. $500 to $2,000 cash for an intro that becomes a hire. 38 views, zero replies.

• Ritesh Doijode — robotics internship, $35 to $50 an hour.

• Ayvan Krishan — an introduction to the NY DEC.

• Zsombor Koman — civic AI funders, and founders wrestling with what their AI encodes.

• Makayla Williams — app development mentorship.

The two that did work were Michael Jordan Pilgreen's. Three replies on the storyteller ask, two on diamonds and luxury real estate. Both had a budget attached and a specific person in mind. That is the entire lesson. Put a number on it and name who you want.

New Thursday room at noon if you would rather say it out loud: meet.google.com/zhs-yjfs-jpp

Newsletter just went out to the full list.

On Saturday 22 August we are co-hosting Hamptons Fashion Week 2026 with DCG Media Group at the Southampton Inn. Doors at noon. Runway, red carpet, Fashion Art Experience, after party.

Headlined by Jeffrey Banks — Coty winner, CFDA winner, trained under Ralph Lauren then Calvin Klein. Live book signing, and every ticket includes a personal photo with him.

The part I actually care about: there is a round trip coach from Manhattan for $125. Five hours in a bus with founders and investors is a better conversation than any two hour mixer we have ever run. The runway is the excuse.

Tickets from $150, fifty spots at general admission. luma.com/hamptonsfashionweek

If you are coming, say so here so I know who to seat near who.

I am starting something small and I want the people in here first.

Propel Rooms. Every Thursday, 12 PM ET, online. First one is this Thursday, 6 August.

Here is the whole format. Everyone gets two minutes to say what they are working on and what they need. I make introductions live in the room, and I follow up by email the same day with the ones that need a warm handoff.

No panel. No slides. No recording. Nobody is selling you anything.

Bring one specific ask. "I need an intro to a Series A CTO who has hired offshore" beats "I would love to connect" every single time. The specific ones get closed. I have the data on this now and it is not close.

Link: meet.google.com/zhs-yjfs-jpp

It recurs weekly on the same link, so save it. If you cannot make Thursday, post your ask in the Asks channel and I will work it anyway.

See you at noon.

Posted a few hours ago, so this one is completely fresh.

Michael Jordan Pilgreen wants introductions to diamonds market experts and luxury real estate professionals. Anyone dealing in rare art, luxury goods or high-end property. Budget up to $10,000.

His words: "Those dealing in rare art, luxury, and more reach out with your opportunities."

This is his second live ask. The first one, up to $10,000 for a storyteller and video editor, already has two people on it. He moves when someone shows up.

Respond to Michael

If you know one person in that world, that is the whole job. Send the name.

Live on jobs.propel.earth right now.

• Senior Software Engineer · Arya Health · New York · $160k to $200k · Python and Node, on-site, H1B transfer possible. We have already placed someone here.

• Founding Full-Stack Engineer · Envire · San Francisco · hybrid, full-time

• Software Engineer · Arkzphere · New York · hybrid, part-time

• Growth Marketing Co-Founder · Catalyst Intro · New York · equity, part-time

• Full Stack Developer · Student Box AI · New York · hybrid, full-time

• Growth Marketing Intern · Propel Earth · New York · TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn

The $500

Propel places senior engineers. If you introduce me to a founder, HR lead or hiring manager and it turns into a company listing a role on our board, I pay you $500. Flat, no conditions beyond the listing going live. Series A and up is where this works best.

We have done it before — a senior engineer at Arya Health came through exactly this process, fee paid out, everyone happy. Claim it here.

Looking rather than hiring?

Post what you do, what you want next, and one link. People in here hire from here.

Hiring and want it on the board? Free to post, and it runs in The Ask on Sunday.

Every room we run this month. Say in the comments that you are coming and what you are working on, and we seat you near someone useful. That is not a figure of speech, it is literally how the seating gets decided.

Innovation in Public Mixer 2.0 — Wednesday 19 August, 6 PM

The Wilson, 132 W 27th St. Capped at fifty. Last month had two dozen people in it and that turned out to be the entire point — nobody worked the room, the conversations went deep instead of wide, and we all sat down to dinner together afterwards.

$40 general admission. Free if you are a Private Network member. Tickets

Coworking at The Wilson — every Thursday, 10 to 4

Coffee and lunch included. Tell us what you are working on when you register and we put you at the right table. The next one is Thursday 13 August. Grab a desk

Also on the calendar

• Tuesday 11 August — Startup tax and finance with Moshe Cohen, CPA. Free, recorded. The questions founders usually only ask once they are expensive: can we afford to hire, when does cash get tight, which customers are actually profitable.

• Provider showcases through the month, plus a talent show and pitch night we are building for the second Wednesday.

Full calendar: luma.com/propelearth

If you want a room built for you — your guest list, your topic, we run it end to end — that is a $2,500 event partnership on the marketplace.

The first one on the board, so the rest of you know what to post.

Aurora registered for our Demo Day. On the form there is a question asking what she needed. She answered it honestly instead of writing something safe. We read it, matched her to an investor in the room, and made the introduction before the doors opened.

A month later the round closed at $100,000.

She did not work the room. She did not send a hundred cold emails. She said what she needed, once, in writing, to people who were paying attention.

Post yours

Anything that landed because of somebody here. A hire, a customer, a cheque, an introduction that turned into a contract. Two things make it useful:

• The number, if there is one.

• The name of whoever helped. They should get the credit publicly, and the next person should know who to go to.

Every one of these gets written up in The Ask. That story is the whole product — it is the reason someone reads the next edition and actually replies.

An ask is not a wish. It is a specific thing a specific person can hand you.

The format: what you need, who can give it to you, what you pay if anything. Two sentences.

Live on the marketplace today, so you can see what good looks like:

• $25,000 to $100,000 — Makayla Williams is raising for Axion, an AI productivity and wellness platform, built and ready to launch. Eleven people have opened this ask and none of them closed it. Read it

• Up to $10,000 — Michael Jordan Pilgreen wants a storyteller and video editor for a series on starting a business. Two people already responded. Read it

• $500 cash — mine. Introduce me to a company hiring engineers and I pay $500 when it becomes a listing. We placed a senior engineer at Arya Health this way. Read it

• No budget, still closeable — Ayvan Krishan needs anyone inside NYS government near the Bigger Better Bottle bill. Ana Karina Da Silva needs a school that will sign for a neurodivergent curriculum. Ritesh Doijode wants a robotics internship where AI touches control systems.

What happens after you post

Post it here, and put it on the marketplace so it has a permanent link. Every Sunday the strongest ones go out in The Ask to the full list with your name and face on them. When it closes, you post it in Closed and we write it up.

Bad ask: "would love to connect with investors."
Good ask: "raising $250k pre-seed for consumer health, need someone who writes first cheques, I have 14 paying users and a demo."

Go.

Post yours as a comment or a new post. Three lines is enough.

1. What you build and where you are.

2. What is true right now — raising, hiring, first customers, quiet quarter, whatever it actually is.

3. The one person you want to meet this quarter. Be uncomfortably specific.

Mine, so nobody has to go first:

Stephen Michael, New York. I run Propel Earth — rooms, a jobs board, a marketplace and a newsletter that reaches about 20,000 founders, investors and operators. Right now I am selling the Private Network, three handpicked introductions a month, and I am looking for the first twenty-five members. The person I want to meet this quarter is whoever runs partnerships at a fund or accelerator with a New York footprint, because every one of those turns into a room.

Line three is the one that gets you matched. "Investors" is not a person. "A pre-seed fund that writes $250k first cheques into consumer health" is.

Most of what makes a company work is who you happen to be standing next to. Propel exists to stop leaving that to chance.

We have been doing it in rooms — mixers, coworking days, demo nights, roughly 20,000 people on the list. This is the same thing without the calendar. You post what you need, somebody who can close it reads it, and the loop shuts.

How to use it

• Introduce yourself — what you build, where you are, and the one person you want to meet this quarter. That last part is the one that matters.

• Asks — say what you need out loud. An intro, a hire, a first customer, a cheque. One or two lines. The strongest ones run in The Ask on Sunday to the full list.

• Closed — when something lands, post it and name who helped. This is the channel that makes the rest work.

• Rooms — every event we run. Say you are coming and we seat you near someone useful.

• Hiring — roles open and people looking. Free. We pay $500 for an intro that becomes a listing.

The one rule

Be specific. "Looking to connect with investors" gets nothing. "Raising $250k for an AI wellness app, pre-launch, need someone who writes first cheques in consumer health" gets three replies. The specific ask is the whole product.

Proof it works

Aurora Winters told us what she needed when she registered for Demo Day. We matched her before the doors opened. She closed $100,000 a month later. She did not work the room. She answered one question honestly.

Your storefront is on the marketplace, roles are on jobs.propel.earth, and rooms are on Luma.

Post your intro. I read everything in here.

— Stephen