While the AI fundraising machine keeps breaking its own records, a small group of founders is rowing the other way. According to TechCrunch AI, the most interesting startups right now aren’t trying to keep you glued to a screen. They’re trying to pull you off it. Mirror founder Brynn Putnam just raised money for Board, a startup built around in-person games and real social experiences. Meanwhile, cyberdeck creators are going viral building whimsical DIY computers that, as TechCrunch AI puts it, literally encourage people to touch grass.
What stands out here is the framing. This isn’t the AI-free browser crowd waving a protest sign. TechCrunch AI describes it as people genuinely gravitating toward things that feel more human. That’s a different signal than backlash. Backlash fades. A preference shift sticks.
The ‘together tech’ wave
Call it together tech. The thesis is simple: as software gets better at simulating connection, the real thing gets more valuable. When every app can generate a friend, a coach, or a conversation on demand, the scarce good becomes other people in the same room.
The TechCrunch AI Equity podcast, with hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane, dug into this alongside a much bigger story. Anthropic filed confidentially for an IPO. Alphabet is raising $80 billion for AI. The contrast is the whole point. On one side, capital pours into the largest models and the companies that run them. On the other, founders are quietly betting that the next opening is in the spaces AI can’t fill.
Why this matters now
Two things are happening at once, and they’re connected.
- The money keeps flowing to the big guys. The Equity crew raised the obvious question: with raises like Alphabet’s $80 billion, is the capital all cycling back to a handful of incumbents anyway? For most founders, competing head-on in foundation models is a closed door.
- The whitespace is human. When the core technology consolidates, differentiation moves to the edges. Hardware you can touch. Experiences you show up for. Products that AI makes more desirable by contrast, not less.
That’s the strategic logic behind Board and the cyberdeck movement. They’re not anti-AI. They’re positioned in the lane the AI boom is creating by accident.
The track record question
Putnam is worth watching specifically. She built Mirror, the interactive home fitness startup, and sold it to Lululemon for a reported $500 million in 2020. She’s done the at-home, screen-based version of wellness. Now she’s building the opposite. When a founder who won the last cycle bets against her own playbook, that’s a data point, not just a vibe.
What practitioners and businesses should take away
A few practical reads:
- Watch the contrarian capital, not just the records. The headline numbers go to AI infrastructure. The interesting returns often come from where attention is thin. Together tech is thin right now.
- If you’re building AI products, design for the offline payoff. The winning consumer pitch may not be more screen time. It may be tools that give people their time and attention back. That’s a feature, not a compromise.
- Differentiate on what models can’t do. Presence, physical objects, shared experiences. As generation gets commoditized, these get scarcer and more defensible.
- Don’t confuse this with Luddism. TechCrunch AI is careful to separate genuine preference from reactionary backlash. Build for the people choosing this, not the people angry at technology.
My take: the AI build-out and the touch-grass build-out aren’t rivals. They’re two sides of the same shift. The more capable the software gets, the more valuable the things it can’t replicate become. Over the next year or two, expect more founders, and more capital, to test that edge. The smart move is to figure out which side of the screen your product wins on, and lean all the way in.
More details on the together tech wave and the Anthropic IPO filing are in the original TechCrunch AI report and the Equity podcast.