You don't have to ask permission to make things
TLDR: I'll be building the agentic web from the trenches going forward
I’ve been covering the Agentic Web here on this blog, at conferences, and working with companies like Google. I’ve learned so much from the people I’ve worked with, from how agents can assemble components that designers manage at Builder, to how agents read the web at Tinyfish, to how agents use tools on MCP servers and how authorizing them works at Arcade, to how evals are the new Test Driven Development at Arize. Each of these teams commands deep technical knowledge of a specific key to building the new web, and I’m now in a place to bring those keys together and unlock something I’ve been mulling over for some time.
Not too long ago, I was updating my neglected comics archive, rachelthegreat.com, to make it “agent ready” with an MCP server and web MCP for a talk at AI Engineer Europe. While I was spinning up agents to handle the migration, I was archiving all the comments and conversations I had with my fans. I was reminded of all I did before I ever came to tech. I published two graphic novels. I had 400k fans worldwide. I was trying, in my clumsy, arrogant youth, to make the world more of a place I wanted to be. And I didn’t have half the reach, perspective, or ability I have today.
And I don’t have to ask permission to do it again.
I’ve been joining local hackathons and mentoring young founders, and I’m finally ready to make the plunge myself. I’m going all in on building the first thing that’s entirely my own.
I’ve learned something valuable from working with all my amazing clients at Dressed for Space since leaving AWS three years ago. For a long time I’ve felt a pull toward engineering, and recently, my love of building something for others has pulled ahead of my love of community building and education. The industry’s axis has tilted, and my passion has tilted with it. Every morning I wake up, eager to work on this project: Mima.
Mima is the app my younger self would build today. It’s local-first, lets you share, message, and read across all your networks, and it plugs right into any agent you might be running. Ever tried getting Claude to check your X and LinkedIn feeds for mentions from the people who actually matter to you? Mima makes that work through Claude, ChatGPT, or just the UI.
I have even found other people, like Dave Monk (a longtime fan of my old comics who became a 2x head of QA at FAANG!), who see my vision and have helped me along the way to make Mima even more fit for purpose.
I’ve spent years telling you what I see coming. This blog is changing from what I’d do to what I’m doing. Thank you for joining me on this wild ride. I have so many thoughts to share with you. They’re all hand-authored (with some AI grammar checks), so please be patient—I can promise there will be no AI Slam (Slop-Spam)!
If you’d like to get beta access to what I’m cooking, sign up at mima.social.
