aesthetic.computer / core
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README.md
README.md

a16z Speedrun — Application Prefill#

Pre-filled answers for speedrun.a16z.com/apply/form.

Fields marked [FILL] need a human answer. Word counts noted next to each answer (form's caps in parens).

TEAM#

Work Status — Full-time

Full-Time Founders Count — 1

Total FTE Employees — 1 (or update if contractors should be counted proportionally)

CEO

Relevant Experience (100 words max — current: ~97)

Solo founder, 6+ years on this lineage. Predecessor No Paint (2020) hit the Hacker News front page. Whistlegraph — a drawing form I invented in 2019 where every mark is a sung syllable, designed so a child can learn it from one viewing — reached 2.6M TikTok followers organically with no paid promotion. Whistlegraph editions sold via Feral File; commissioned by Rhizome / New Museum. Notepat (2024) hit HN. I built and maintain the entire stack: web runtime, KidLisp (an original child-readable Lisp), session backend, federated identity (AT Protocol), bare-metal OS. ORCID-listed.

Founder Info

  • Country: [FILL — United States?]
  • City: [FILL — Los Angeles?]
  • Citizenship: [FILL]
  • College / University: [FILL]
  • Highest education level: [FILL]
  • Years professional experience: [FILL — ~15?]
  • Technical enough to build end-to-end? Yes

Links

Team Description (100 words max — current: ~95)

Solo authored. The platform's coherence — language, runtime, social layer, OS — comes from one person making every architectural decision, the same way Logo had Papert and HyperCard had Atkinson. Strategic collaborators: the Tangled team (decentralized git over AT Protocol) and Jamsocket (per-session backends). 359 built-in pieces and a community of 2,812 handles have evolved together over six years; user-published pieces (265) and the practice of authoring KidLisp share the same publishing surface kids use to chat. Looking to bring on a co-founder with education or community-product experience post-Speedrun. Key advisors: [FILL — any names you want listed?].

STARTUP DETAILS#

Startup Name — Aesthetic Computer

One-Sentence Pitch (10 words max)

Pick one (all ≤10 words):

  • A. A pocket-sized creative computer where every URL teaches itself. (10)
  • B. Children's creative-computing platform where every URL is a learnable program. (10)
  • C. A computer for kids — type a word, run a program. (10)

(Recommend A — echoes the "score that teaches itself" thesis without locking the audience to kids only.)

Startup Description (100 words max — current: ~98)

Aesthetic Computer is a creative computer for kids and curious beginners — type a word at a prompt and a "piece" runs: a synth, a drawing tool, a tiny game, a generative composition. Every piece is a single file, URL-addressable, and writable in KidLisp, an original child-readable Lisp dialect ((wipe "blue") (ink "lime") (line)). We close the gap between playing software and making software: the same prompt that runs a piece also opens its source. Heir to Logo, Scratch, and HyperCard, designed mobile-first. Today: 2,812 handles, ~21,000 user-made programs and paintings — all organic.

Primary Category — Other → write in "Educational / Children's Computing" (No fitting category in the form. Closest fallback: Consumer Applications.)

Secondary Category — Consumer Applications

Location

  • Country: [FILL — United States?]
  • City: [FILL — Los Angeles?]

Founding Date

  • Year: [FILL — 2022 (repo init) or earlier if counting No Paint lineage]
  • Month: [FILL — December if 2022]

Company Website — https://aesthetic.computer

Additional Notes (100 words max — current: ~99)

Computing literacy for kids has been frozen since Scratch (2007). Tablets shipped, touch shipped, the social layer shipped — and the canonical way a child writes their first program still looks like a 2007 desktop UI. Aesthetic Computer is the post-touchscreen, post-social retake: every program is a URL, every URL is shareable, every shareable thing is editable. KidLisp is small enough that a 9-year-old fits a working program in one tweet. Reference points: Logo, Scratch, HyperCard, Smalltalk's Etoys, Bret Victor. Traction so far is organic creative output: 16,779 KidLisp programs, 4,429 paintings, 18,107 chat messages. No growth tactics.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION#

Pitch Deck — [FILL — upload PDF if ready, otherwise skip]

Traction — Suggested attachment: a one-pager with the live stats from SCORE.md plus the HN/TikTok/Feral File proof points. (Or paste link to https://aesthetic.computer / live counter.)

Funding History — [FILL — bootstrapped + Liberapay/sponsors? attach if you want to mention give.aesthetic.computer / bills.aesthetic.computer transparency]

Active Fundraising Round — [FILL — none / pre-seed?]

Referral — [FILL — anyone in the a16z network referring? if so, name + relationship]

Discovery Source — [FILL — X / event / friend / etc.]

  • Additional info: [FILL — handle, post, or event name]

STATS TO QUOTE (from SCORE.md, refresh before submitting)#

  • 359 built-in pieces (341 JS + 18 KidLisp)
  • ~90 API endpoints
  • 2,812 registered handles
  • 265 user-published pieces
  • 4,429 paintings
  • 16,779 KidLisp programs
  • 18,107 chat messages
  • 20 prints ordered

Last refresh in repo: Mar 16, 2026 — re-run the stats job before sending if it's been a while.