He’s got 60 seconds to pitch 2 venture investors – and he wants to track the amount of coffee you drink every day to help you sleep!

It’s Episode 076 of The Feedback Loop, featuring founder Maxwell (Max) Luz building Stym AI. It's an AI-powered, camera-first “smart caffeine” app that wants to show you how each espresso or energy drink might impact your vibe now and your sleep later.

Caffeine is the world’s most popular stimulant, yet few know their ideal daily intake – or how that 4 p.m. latte could mean a restless night. Is tackling that problem with an easy-to-use app that leverages vision and object recognition an interesting path?

Or do our investors think there's a broader health tracking category and issues with other startups in the space (and the quantified self movement) that might hold things back?

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Today's guest investor was Mike MacCombie, General Partner at Generous Ventures. Mike has spent the past 8 years in venture capital – as an investor, operating + platform partner, community builder, and superconnector, supporting founders at the earliest stage. Find him on X at @MikeMacCombie.

As always, hosted by Sherveen Mashayekhi, Founder & CEO of Free Agency. Follow him on X at @Sherveen.

To attend The Feedback Loop in-person or apply to pitch as a founder, head to afterfeedback.com.

Because the thing that can hold even the best founders back from reaching their ambition? Their pitch. Whether a startup founder is raising money, recruiting a team, or selling their product, it's the pitch at the start of any given conversation that starts them on a journey to success.

Today, we dive into...

From Caffeine to Sleep – Does a “smart caffeine” app naturally expand into deeper wellness or stay hyper‑focused on one routine?

Retention & Value – Once users learn their caffeine cutoff, do they churn? Investors push Max to propose a bigger vision for Stym AI.

Vision Models & Accuracy – Stym AI uses image recognition to scan drinks and estimate caffeine content, but how much precision do customers really need?

Toward Venture Scale – Can an app for coffee lovers become a massive business, or does it need to evolve into broader health tracking?

Maxwell Luz, founder of Stym AI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxwell-luz

Thank you to all of the brave founders who participated in this episode. The Feedback Loop is dedicated to creating an engine of support for startup founders attempting to change the way the earth spins. We're on your side.

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