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Tool stack comparison 2025 vs 2023
Last week, I shared what my productivity tool stack looked like in summer 2023.
Today, I’ll share what has changed since, and which tools I’m using in 2025.
Spoiler alert: A lot has changed ;)
Let’s dive in!
The tools I do NOT use anymore
Here’s why I’m not using them anymore:
Adobe: Replaced with image & video gen/editing in Black Forest Labs
Asana: Moved all to Jira and Notion
AuthoredUp: Replaced with ChatGPT
Fathom: Replaced with Granola
Medium: Replaced with Substack
Pitch: Back to pptx
Signal: Not enough people used it, so back to WhatsApp
TextBlaze: Replaced with ChatGPT
TweetDeck: Thank you, Elon. You killed it..
UiPath: All automation done via Zapier and n8n
Zoom: Replaced with Google Meet
In a nutshell, ChatGPT replaced many tools like AuthoredUP or TextBlaze, and I’ve consolidated a lot into G-Suite, e.g. Teams and Zoom.
The VC Tool Stack 2025
First and foremost, my stack has simplified. A lot.
Within 2 years, I went down from a bit more than 100 tools to roughly 60. So almost halved the number of tools in my stack.
Not only does it save me costs in number of subscriptions, but it also reduces the fragmentation of information and data siloes. Platformization & consolidation is for real and the incentives for using as many products as possible from as few vendors as necessary continue to increase.
MCP as the connective tissue
Last episode, I highlighted that automation tools like Zapier have been the glue connecting my fragmented stack. Fast forward to today, this is still true but I recently started shifting more and more automation flows to MCP and n8n.
💡What Is an MCP Server?
An MCP Server is a modular software backend that integrates:
Memory — Persistent structured and unstructured data on startups, people, theses, markets, etc.
Context — Dynamic linking of entities (e.g., who introduced this founder, when you met them, how they compare to others).
Persona — A tailored overlay that understands your investment lens, sector preferences, writing style, and workflows.
Put simply, the MCP server allows you to feed in noisy real-world data (emails, PDFs, scraped bios, decks, call notes etc.), and ask high-quality, highly personalized questions like:
“Remind me who introduced me to the founder of Company X and when we last spoke?”
“Which companies in our CRM are similar to this one?”
“Summarize our investment thesis in bio-based carbon capture in less than 200 words.”
It acts like an always-on chief-of-staff, analyst, and memory extension—available 24/7, and only getting smarter over time. Tell me you don’t want this too? ;)
📈Use Cases for VC Investors
Here are some exemplary VC workflows where an MCP Server shines:
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