Investor Update
January 2026
Dear Noodle Investors,
In December, I shared with you that we were still searching for product-market fit. We are still early, still learning, and still iterating. While risks and uncertainties remain, I am far more confident today in the direction we have chosen than I was in December.
On Monday, January 19th, we launched on Product Hunt and became the #1 product of the day.
Being #1 on Product Hunt doesn't mean we've found some unicorn formula, but it is a directional indicator. We've hit a nerve.
This launch was a small experiment for us. We thought we would launch what we have built on this platform to a small group of early adopters, get their initial feedback, and improve from there. However, the response we got far exceeded even our optimistic expectations.
Our Product Launch
In the first week, hundreds of users signed up, the vast majority onboarded and actually used our product. More importantly, there were far more sessions than users, indicating they came back more than once.
There is still much work to do. We need to fine-tune our user experience, our features, and our capabilities to make absolutely certain that we provide the solution users came looking for: not just a product they can try, but one they can rely on. However, what we have seen so far validates that there is a market looking for a solution to the problem we are building for. That is a foundation we can build on.
The businesses that signed up span all verticals (law firms, restaurants, e-commerce, marketing, software & technology, creative agencies), confirming this is a horizontal problem, not a niche. Interest came from across the globe.
Users are not just signing up and leaving. They are returning day after day: building, refining, and improving what they have created. We have users who have come back on multiple different days, and a small group of power users who are deeply engaged with nearly every feature we have built. This is not casual curiosity. These are people building something real.
Perhaps the most encouraging signal of all: we have seen organic team adoption. Multiple team members from the same companies have signed up independently, without any prompting from us. Nobody told them to invite their colleagues. They just did. This kind of organic spread cannot be manufactured. It happens when a product creates enough value that people want to share it with the people they work with.
My calendar is now full with user calls. The early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. People love the user experience. We have received suggestions for improvements, but the core response validates that we are building something people want.
Launching on Product Hunt was a go-to-market experiment. We have not gone big with GTM yet. This has been an excellent exercise for us to figure out our customer operations and build the automated systems that will help customers through the value creation journey.
Our New Mission
When we formally started operating in late 2024, our direction was primarily around using AI for automating tasks and creating software. At the time, we decided on a mission statement: "Automate the Ordinary, Create the Extraordinary." We believed very strongly, and we still do, that the combination of AI and automation tooling will create tremendous amounts of value in many different verticals. We have moved on from the AI automation platforms space.
Now with the new direction we have chosen and the early traction signals that we have received, I am confident in revealing to you our mission statement going forward.
Our mission:
"Connect every business to every conversation."
The entire technology industry, from OpenAI to Apple, is focused on building better language models and capturing end-user conversations. This is excellent for consumers. The Google blue link economy will shrink. People will simply ask their AI agents to deliver groceries, call an Uber, or book an appointment. As users shift from search to AI agents, asking them not just for information but to take actions in the real world, how do businesses capture those conversations as customers? Noodle Seed is the answer.
We shall provide the connectivity infrastructure for businesses to interact with customers through AI agents, starting with ChatGPT, but extending across all platforms. OpenAI and Google will build their own simple tools, but we shall provide a single pane of glass for businesses to configure, deploy, and operate their entire AI customer operations in one place.
The Team
Faraz Siddiqui has joined to lead our GTM and scale initiatives, bringing 15+ years of experience at companies like Reckitt, along with relationships across major consumer brands and angel investors who share our vision. He joins at co-founder level alongside myself and Asad Iqbal.
I must also acknowledge Asad's role in taking an idea and converting it into a working product, then launching it to #1 on Product Hunt in just a couple of months. Everything from the website to the product is a reflection of Asad's mind. He continues to be critical to everything we do.
Saad Zafar and Hasan Iftikhar have worked day and night alongside Asad to bring the product to life. Rehan Ali works tirelessly with Faraz on GTM and building applications. Naveed Rafi creates tutorials and content while figuring out how to scale what we have been doing manually. Jeff Haas has reached out to more businesses than the rest of us personally knew, while keeping everything running behind the scenes.
No one at Noodle Seed is working for Fahd Rafi, or for a faceless company. Everyone is working for themselves. The passion they bring is about being able to say they made a difference, that they created something that did not exist before. From the initial idea to the last choice of color, API, and social media post. No one has a formal job description. Everyone found their role naturally. No job description could capture the breadth of contribution and flexibility that each member of the team exhibits.
Every single person on the team has experienced the ups and downs of this rollercoaster. We have changed direction twice, learning each time. The bet you are making is on this team. A team with battle scars, that can put something out in the world, take feedback, change it, let it go if necessary, and start afresh. Within a couple of months, we took an idea to the #1 product on Product Hunt.
Updated Risk Assessment
In my last update, I laid out a few major risks we were taking.
Timing Risk: Reduced. The ChatGPT app store launched in late December and is now accepting submissions. We believe OpenAI will stabilize quickly. Competitive pressure will compel them to build as large an ecosystem as possible.
Platform Risk: Unchanged. OpenAI and Google will release their own simple business tools. But we remain convinced that a significant portion of the market will want a unified view across all AI agents.
Competition Risk: Unchanged. Companies large and small will pursue this opportunity, but we intend to stay ahead. Our job is to move faster to become the category leader.
Other Risks That Have Decreased: Directional risk has lowered significantly, as has the risk around our team's ability to execute and go to market.
I believe we are going in the right direction, but we will have to continuously listen to our users and evolve to meet their specific needs.
Fundraising & Use of Funds
Today, I feel confident in our direction and our team's ability to execute. Now is the time to grab this opportunity.
We are opening a small follow-on SAFE round to accelerate GTM, run more experiments, and build out product capabilities based on user feedback. This is not about survival. We have more than a year of runway. This is about the opportunity ahead. The window is open now but won't stay open. We are the only working platform that provides AI applications to customers with zero coding (not even vibe coding!) and zero involvement from our team.
I shall prioritize existing investors if you would like to participate. However, as I have previously articulated, we would not advise Noodle Seed to be a larger position in your portfolio than you are willing to lose. We still remain a very early stage, very high risk investment. That said, I believe the risk today is lower and the team stronger than it was a few months ago.
My personal commitment remains the same: I shall not draw a salary until we close a meaningful institutional round. Our entire team is making similar sacrifices. We are betting our careers, our livelihoods, and our children's future on this.
How You Can Help
Customer Introductions: We are looking for businesses, particularly in hospitality, professional services, and e-commerce, who want to be early in establishing their presence on AI platforms. If you know business owners who are forward-thinking about how their customers will find and interact with them in the future, we would love an introduction.
Talent: As we scale, we shall need people with experience in product-led growth and customer operations who can help us build the organizational capability to match the size of the opportunity. If you know someone who thrives in early-stage environments and wants to be part of something meaningful, please send them our way.
Partnerships: Any introductions to distribution partners who can either resell or provide implementation services to end customers, like digital agencies, would be mutually beneficial. We can help digital agencies increase their top and bottom lines.
Looking Ahead
We have validated our direction and improved our ability to execute, but we are still a long way from capturing the entire opportunity. We will continue to evolve as we go along, listening to our users and improving the product based on their feedback.
The industry is highly dynamic. We cannot control what is unpredictable, but we shall make bets on what is predictable: whenever there is a paradigm shift, businesses need new tooling to capture changed consumer behavior. Now is the time to build that infrastructure.
You are placing in us the world's most rare commodity: trust. We shall make bold bets and always be honest about the risks we are taking and the mistakes we make. Now is the time, and we will make some bold bets.
To those of you who believed in us when we had nothing: no product, no traction, not even a clear direction. Thank you. You trusted us with something far more valuable than capital: you trusted us with your belief. We do not take this lightly, and we shall work every day to deserve it.
As always, I remain available to you. If you have questions, concerns, or simply want to talk, please reach out.
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