GM. This is Needs to Exist (aka NTE), delivering you a startup idea that’ll make tool discovery way more fun: a “show-and-tell” platform for software stacks.

Why dig one well when you can tap an entire aquifer?
NTE Pro = 5,000+ startup sparks, $99/year.

Coming up with a startup is doodling on a napkin. Fun, quick, and half-formed. Turning it into something real? That’s the blueprint.
NTE Zero to One hands you the pen.

Check out all the past newsletters here

Here’s what we’ve got for you today.

• Daily Idea - Tools of Titans

• The Ancient Oracle

The MTV Cribs of SaaS

Everyone’s nosy about what tools winners use.
Curiosity sells, but scaling it into a real platform is the hard part.
NTE Zero To One an help you turn that stack voyeurism into a business.

The One Liner

The “MTV Cribs” for software stacks, see what tools million-dollar startups actually run on.

The 140 character tweet (or X) version

Ever wonder what SaaS tools a $5M e-com brand or hotshot VC uses daily? This platform lets you peek inside their stack.

The Longer Story Version

The Problem
Picking tools sucks. You Google “best email platform” and drown in SEO sludge written by some intern who’s never actually sent a campaign. G2? A graveyard of corporate jargon and fake reviews. Indie Hackers threads? Buried under a thousand comments. What you really want is to peek into the kitchen of the people actually cooking.

• What stack is MrBeast’s team using to pump out content?

• What CRM did that e-com brand use to scale to $20M ARR?

• How is that two-person AI startup running a global business without losing their minds?

There’s no central place for this. It’s all scattered, anecdotal, or hidden. Which means if you want answers, you’re piecing it together like Sherlock Holmes with a migraine.

The Solution
Think G2 meets Kit.co but for operator porn.

• Stacks, not stars: Instead of 10,000 5-star reviews, you see the exact 12-tool setup a DTC brand used to scale.

• Context, not clutter: Notes like “We swapped from Asana to ClickUp after our 3rd project manager had a meltdown.”

• Show & tell: Founders love flexing their stack — “Here’s how we hit $1M ARR with Notion + Airtable + a Zapier duct tape monster.”

• Built-in monetization: Affiliate deals everywhere. SaaS referral money is fat. Every click is LTV gold.

It’s voyeurism for nerds: the LinkedIn of software stacks, but way more fun to scroll.

How We’d Build It

• Step 1: Whip up a clean front end in Bubble or Webflow. Make it look like a stack museum.

• Step 2: Seed with bangers — “The exact stack Morning Brew used in year 2” or “How a one-person AI agency runs with 9 tools.”

• Step 3: Plug in affiliate links for everything from HubSpot to Figma.

• Step 4: Add profiles, upvotes, and tags (“E-com over $10M,” “B2B SaaS pre-Series A,” “Bootstrapped weirdos”).

• Step 5: Growth hack it. Convince agencies, creators, and founders to drop their stacks for clout.

Why It Needs to Exist
Because founders are nosy. We love seeing behind the curtain. What’s in your stack says more about your company than your About page. Done right, this becomes:

• A discovery engine: “Oh wow, every $10M e-com brand seems to run Klaviyo, maybe I should too.”

• A marketing flex: “We hit $5M ARR with these 8 apps and no engineers.”

• A money machine: Affiliate-rich, curiosity-driven, and network-effect powered.

Somebody is going to build the “MTV Cribs of software stacks” and print money. Might as well be you.

You don’t need another brainstorm

You need an accomplice.

Because left alone, your “next big thing” ends up like:

• A group chat with 87 unread messages.

• A gym membership that peaked in January.

• A sourdough starter from 2020 (RIP).

NTE Zero to One is the friend who says: “Cool idea. Now here’s the plan. Let’s go.”

We cut through the chaos, turn your sparks into experiments, and get you to launch before you can talk yourself out of it.

👉 $49. Less than dinner. Way more useful.

The Ancient Oracle

The Oracle sat in her chamber, scrolls stacked high, speaking in riddles about… SaaS.

“I see founders unveiling their sacred stacks,” she declared. “Notion for notes, Figma for designs, Slack for chaos, Airtable for duct tape. These are the arsenals that built empires.”

The crowd leaned in. Because deep down, every operator is nosy. We don’t just want to know what tools someone uses, we want the whole kit, the why behind it, and the receipts that prove it worked. G2 and Capterra feel like graveyards of fake stars. What we crave is voyeurism with context: Here’s the 12-tool setup that scaled us to $5M ARR.

A skeptic stepped forward. “But isn’t this just review fatigue with a toga on? Indie Hackers threads, Product Hunt launches, Twitter debates haven’t we seen this movie before? Why would anyone bother sharing their stack when they’re busy, you know… running companies?”

The Oracle smiled. “Because founders love flexing. A stack isn’t just a list of apps, it’s a badge of honor. Posting your setup is marketing. It’s storytelling. It’s clout. And affiliate gold shall rain for whoever builds the platform that captures it.”

The chorus (aka the peanut gallery of operators in sandals) chimed in:

• “Affiliate deals on SaaS are fat. One click on a CRM link and you’re banking LTV.”

• “Benchmark value is real. If every $10M DTC brand is using Klaviyo, I need to know that yesterday.”

• “This isn’t reviews, it’s recipes. And recipes don’t get old.”

The skeptic tried one last jab: “Network effects though. Without tons of people posting, this is just a ghost town of half-baked stacks.”

The Oracle’s staff cracked against the marble floor. “Then seed it. Start with the loudest, proudest founders. Agencies. Influencers. Operators who can’t resist saying, Here’s how we did it. That’s enough to light the fire.”

Silence. Then nods. Because everyone knew the Oracle was right. There’s whitespace here. G2 is bloat, Kit.co is for gadgets, Twitter threads vanish, Product Hunt is fleeting. No one has claimed the “LinkedIn of software stacks.”

The prophecy ended simply: “Build it, and the nosy shall come.”

Draft Tweets That Never Posted

There’s a secret drawer in NTE. It’s full of sparks we almost dropped on the free feed but didn’t. Why? Too good, too weird, or too valuable to toss out for free.

Here are 3 drafts that got left in the chamber:

Draft 1:
“A kids-only resale app that turns closets into cash machines 👀”
Because Vinted dominates Europe, but U.S. parents are still stuck with garage sales and Poshmark.

Draft 2:
“Campus super-apps that handle food, rides, payments, and tickets in one tap”
Gojek owns Indonesia, Rappi owns LatAm. College students here are still juggling 12 apps like clowns.

Draft 3:
“Digital reputation wallets that let your Airbnb trust score follow you onto Slack🤯”
Your StackOverflow clout means nothing on Discord. This fixes the reset button across platforms.

Those are just three of the drafts that never saw daylight. Multiply that by 5,000 and you’ve got Pro.

👉 Click in, scratch the drawer open, and see what else we never tweet for free.

One More Meme