$0 – My Substack Tech Stack: How to Build a Media Company
When people see a polished Substack launch with neon graphics, structured columns, and a backlog of content, they assume there is a team behind it. Or at least expensive software.
There isn’t.
This entire magazine is run by one person, a 55/35 Protocol, and a surprisingly lean tech stack.
Read about the 55/35 Protocol Here
Fair warning: I’m writing this from Day 5. I don’t have a year of analytics to show you. I don’t have 10,000 subscribers or a book deal. What I have is a live experiment, and you’re watching it unfold in real time.
If you think the subscriber count looks suspiciously small, that’s because it is. We’re building the plane while flying it.
And by “we,” I mean me and a caffeinated AI named “Claude” and me, literally.
If you are waiting to start because you think you need “better tools,” stop waiting.
Here is the exact inventory of what I used to build VengaDragon this week.
1. The Visuals (Canva + Nano Banana)
You’ve seen the neon dragon, the “Cyberpunk Architect” thumbnails, and the headers.
I didn’t hire a designer. I didn’t open Photoshop. I can barely open Photoshop.
Generation: I used Gemini (Nano Banana). It’s fast, it’s weird, and it gets the “Neon/Dark Mode” aesthetic right without overthinking it. Sometimes it gives me a dragon. Sometimes it gives me a lizard having an existential crisis. I keep the dragons.
Composition: I dragged those raw images into Canva. That’s where I added the text overlays and resized them for the Substack headers. If you can drag a file and click “Download,” you’re 90% of the way there.
In later posts on this Substack I will show you how to give awesome prompts that get exactly what you’re looking for. Keep in mind, it took me a lot of trial and error.
The Lesson: You don’t need to be an artist. You just need to be a director. Tell the AI what you want, then use Canva to package it. If it looks terrible, tell the AI again. Iteration is free.
2. The Writing (The “Cyborg” Workflow)
My writing process is a relay race between humans and machines. Just keep running.
The Brain Dump (Human): I open a blank Google Doc and pour out the raw thoughts. It’s messy. It’s unorganized. But it’s mine. I even drop images and screenshots of my hand written notes into the doc.
The Structure (AI): I feed that mess into Claude or Gemini with a specific command: “Structure this into a logical argument. Do not rewrite the voice. Just fix the flow.” The AI pretends to understand what “flow” means. I pretend to trust it.
The Polish (Human): This is the most critical step. I take the structured text back and apply what I call “Poetic Perspective.” This is the time and effort that I don’t want AI to replace.
The Poetic Perspective
AI writes in blocks of text. Humans read in rhythm.
I manually space out the lines to control the pace of your reading. I break the paragraphs. I add the pauses. I make sure it has the “me flair” and it certainly does!
The AI builds the walls; I hang the pictures.
Will this technique scale? Will readers care? I don’t know yet. But I’m betting that rhythm matters more than perfection, and I’ll show you the data as it comes in. Or the lack of data. Transparency is the brand.
3. The “Secret” Tool (The Notepad)
In a digital world, this is my competitive advantage.
I wrote a lot of the initial concepts for this magazine on a physical Writing Pad.
I have said this before in The Forge: Being entirely digital stifles creativity. When you type, you can delete a bad thought before you even finish thinking it. There is no tension.
Ink creates tension. It forces you to think before you commit.
The architecture of VengaDragon wasn’t coded; it was scribbled. Half of it is illegible. That’s fine. The good ideas survive the handwriting.
4. The Command Center (Hardware)
I don’t run this off a phone. This is a workstation. A budget workstation, but a workstation.
PC + Dual Monitors: You cannot “Build in Public” on a 13-inch laptop screen. Prove me wrong! I’m open to it. One screen is for creation (Writing), the other is for reference (Data/Research). And by “Data/Research,” I mean “keeping TikTok or Instagram open so I remember what day it is.”
OBS: For the video and streaming elements. I haven’t used this yet for VengaDragon, but it’s installed. That counts.
Android: For capturing ideas on the go. Half of those ideas are just the word “dragon” or “Venga!” typed at 2am.
5. The Manager (Google Calendar)
I don’t use fancy project management software like Notion or Asana. I use Google Calendar and a good memory. I sometimes email myself on a delay. Haha! Yes, I do.
If a post is due Wednesday, it goes on the calendar. If I have an idea, I trust my brain to hold it until I get to the notepad.
This system works until it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, I panic-write at 11 p.m. and call it “deadline energy.” This happens more often than it should.
The Bottom Line
You don’t need a budget to build a media company in 2026. You need a process.
The Wisdom (55): Knowing that “Poetic Spacing” matters more than the words themselves.
The Speed (35): Using Gemini and Canva to execute the vision in minutes, not hours.
The tools are close to free. The hustle is up to you.
But here’s the deal: I’m not selling you a proven system. I’m inviting you to watch me build one.
The bravado? That’s the fuel.
The proof? That’s what we’re documenting together, week by week, post by post.
If this works, you’ll see it happen. If it crashes, you’ll see that too. Either way, it’ll make a good story.
🔧 Manage Your Subscription
Remember, VengaDragon is a magazine, not a newsletter. You are the editor of your own inbox.
I publish across five distinct columns. If you love the Tech Stack stuff but hate the AI stuff, you don’t have to unsubscribe. You can simply “mute” specific sections in your account settings.
🗣️ Join the Conversation
I showed you my messy, low-budget stack. Now I want to know yours.
In the comments: What is the one tool (digital or physical) you absolutely cannot run your life without? Is it a fancy app, or just a specific type of pen?
🚀 Help Build the Archive
I am building this from zero. The algorithm doesn’t know I exist yet, so I rely on you.
If you know a creator who is stuck in “Tool Paralysis”, waiting for the perfect software before they start, forward this issue to them. Tell them the tools are free and to just start flying the plane.
Venga!
Mark (VengaDragon)