Founder Tech Stack: Stonny Liu

AI-First Development & Automation

Claude — Core AI layer, agents, and computer control

“Literally so much of our work is done through Claude now… we use tons of agents. We never, ever just like vibe code by the definition. We always try to box in what it does and what it doesn’t do.”

“Agents are best at building tools to help us go faster. So it’s like a tool to build tools, which is why it’s such a powerful tool.”

Claude powers nearly every layer of VenueHopper’s operation—from writing code to managing automated venue onboarding conversations to running headless computer control on their Mac Mini.

Note on Agent Guardrails — Where Stonny draws the line

“We don’t let agents push anything in production without checking, obviously. And then we also don’t let agents touch any sort of sensitive information. We handle a lot of client information data too.”

“We don’t let it touch any of the payment stuff, but it can make a really good tool that we can use to process the payment side for venues and make sure that it’s connected to POS.”

“Initially on our Mac Mini, we launched it, we gave it everything. And just watching it do everything is like, okay, I understand why we need an isolated space for it. Definitely not in the give it everything realm.”

“I’m still very skeptical of giving it free reign.”

Three hard limits have emerged from experience: no production pushes without review, no access to client data, no direct handling of payments. The Mac Mini incident early on (giving the agent full system access and watching it run) was enough to convince him that isolation isn’t optional.

Mac Mini — Automated background operations

“We have a Mac Mini too… Our Mac Minis are E1, but that’s the joke of like, it does so much now and it can run headlessly. So it’s pretty efficient.”

“Having Claude be able to control your computer… we’ll literally just tell it, ‘Hey, this is the buttons we click, this is the motions we go through, now you go through it.’”

A dedicated Mac Mini runs Claude-powered agents headlessly around the clock, keeping venue information current and handling repetitive operational tasks without human input.

Developer Workflow

Git Worktrees — Running multiple PRs in parallel

“Just discovered Worktrees a few months ago. Absolutely essential.”

“We use Worktrees to run multiple Claudes, and it’s great. We go through the checklist and we find things that won’t conflict with each other, and then we put them into Worktrees so that we can do multiple PRs at once.”

Worktrees allow the team to isolate branches and run separate Claude instances on non-conflicting tasks simultaneously, which dramatically speeds up development throughput.

Outreach & Onboarding Automation

Linq Blue — iMessage blue text automation for venues and clients

“Linq Blue has been essential for us. It lets us automate blue text to clients and venues. And the iMessage blue text is way more efficient [than green texts] if you are actually trying to build credibility through an automated text.”

“Even to this day in hospitality, the best way to reach someone is text or call. Even to this day.”

“I think it’s like a thousand dollars a year. And it’s great. We just pump out a lot of texts through there, and people will actually answer us.”

“I used to just have drafted texts ready and then copy and paste onto a phone just to get the blue text.”

Linq Blue routes outbound messages through Twilio but delivers them as iMessage blue texts, a critical distinction in hospitality where green SMS bubbles get ignored. At ~$1,000/year, it’s one of Stonny’s highest-conviction recommendations for any founder doing high-volume outreach.

Productivity & Task Management

Getting Things Done (GTD) — David Allen’s productivity framework, modified

“I use the GTD method… David Allen’s Getting Things Done. This is a guy I read when I was really young, and I reread because there’s just so much stuff to it.”

“I use a modified version of the getting things done method, where you either do something in your inbox, you defer it, or you put it into resources.”

Stonny’s operating philosophy is built on GTD’s core idea: get everything out of your head and into a trusted system. The goal isn’t just organization, but rather stress-free productivity. “If you have to remember the thing that’s also in your system, then your system isn’t acting like a good second brain.”

OmniFocus — Digital GTD system

“OmniFocus is an outdated software that I use for tracking all my stuff. It’s basically the digital version of the 43-folder. You defer things, you have an enormous inbox, you put everything into it, you defer things, you view things, or you put them into reference… I’ve been on it for nearly 10 years now and I have so much stuff on there that it’s really difficult to move out of it.”

A candid endorsement with caveats, and a situation many of us find ourselves in. Sometimes the system we use is simply the system we’ve always used.

CRM & Operations

Notion — Flexible CRM replacement

“We actually just got off of HubSpot… Notion is one that we’ve moved on to now.”

“I think we are at the very cusp of a world where you’re just making your own CRMs. CRMs, as the effort to build them goes down, oh man, everyone’s going to have their own custom CRM.”

VenueHopper tracks deal velocity, onboarding timelines, and venue performance data across the team. Notion’s flexibility makes it workable where rigid off-the-shelf CRMs have consistently failed them, though Stonny sees custom-built CRMs as the inevitable end state for most startups.

Stonny Liu is Co-founder and CEO of VenueHopper, a platform that connects event planners and individuals with unique venues across New York City. VenueHopper’s intelligent platform is transforming the events industry by handling the full venue booking experience, from discovery to onboarding to event execution, and works closely with hospitality operators to fill private dining rooms, rooftops, and event spaces.