💻 The Real Startup Tech Stack: Notion, Google Docs, and Panic

by 16VC | The Truth About What Startups Actually Use to Build the Future™

Aug 10, 2025

“We’re building the next-gen AI-first vertical SaaS for distributed teams.”

Translation:
“We have a Notion doc, a Google Sheet, and a Slack channel where someone cried last night.”

🔧 The Myth of the Modern Tech Stack

Every founder loves to talk about their stack like it’s a Michelin-starred kitchen:
Kubernetes, GraphQL, Next.js, Snowflake, ChatGPT integrations…
Very impressive. Sounds futuristic.

Then we ask to see the product.

You screen-share…
And open Notion.

Again.

Here’s what your stack really looks like:

Notion — Where startup dreams go to be beautifully formatted, over-organized, and then abandoned forever.
Google Docs — Where “product strategy” boils down to five bullet points, a meme, and maybe a poorly embedded YouTube link.
Figma — The land of pretend. Where your non-existent product looks real enough to raise money.
Slack — A digital jungle of cat GIFs, unread threads, and that one person typing “just checking in!” every two hours.
Airtable — Because Excel is too ugly and Google Sheets isn’t aesthetic enough for your investor updates.
VS Code — Only used by your one technical co-founder, who hasn’t seen sunlight since the MVP launched.
Panic — Your actual operating system. Runs in the background 24/7. Especially before demo day.

☕ Startups Run on Copium and Copy-Paste

Let’s be honest:
In the early days, you’re not “building a platform.”
You’re building a prototype duct-taped together by plugins, YouTube tutorials, and divine will.

And that’s okay!

Every billion-dollar company starts like this.
Google was just a janky search bar. Airbnb was three air mattresses.
And your startup? It’s currently 47 Notion pages with zero users. But hey — it’s organized.

😱 When Panic Becomes the Stack

Panic is underrated.

Panic is why you finally fixed the broken login flow at 3AM.
Panic is why you responded to 14 investor emails in 9 minutes.
Panic is why your product now “does AI,” even though it’s just a fancy autocomplete.

Your whole startup is built on the energy of “oh god, the demo is tomorrow.”

We respect that.

🧘 Embrace It — Just Don’t Fake It

Here’s what we actually look for:

✅ Honest MVPs
✅ Clear understanding of what’s duct-taped
✅ Founders who know the difference between “tech debt” and “no tech”

What we don’t need is 19 logos in a deck to look cool.
Just show us what you’ve got. (Even if it’s Notion. We won’t judge. Much.)

🔚 Final Thoughts

Your tech stack doesn’t need to be fancy.
It needs to work. Or at least look like it might work soon.
And if it doesn’t?
There’s always panic.

Panic gets things shipped.

📬 Subscribe to 16VC’s Substack — because we see you, Notion warriors.
Up next: “Demo Day or Judgment Day? Tales from the VC Trenches.”
(Spoiler: the strongest pitch was actually delivered by accident.)

16VC