One day in San Francisco changed the conversation.

I'm a solo founder. I spent a day in San Francisco showing two things I build: AwaCut, a desktop app that removes photo backgrounds in bulk on your own computer, and awa.games, free puzzle games. That one day brought more interest from investors and potential acquirers than the months before it. This journal is about what I showed and the thinking behind it.

The AwaCut window: a grid of product photos with their backgrounds removed, the export options on the rightAn animal sudoku from awa.games, a 9 by 9 picture sudoku with animals in place of numbers
What I had open on the table

What got attention that day

I showed two things in San Francisco. Some people wanted to talk about the tool, some about the games, and a few about both. Which drew more interest from the business side is the part I keep for the conversation.

A product photo on its original backgroundBefore
The same product with the background removed, shown on a transparent checkerboardAfter, from AwaCut

AwaCut

A bulk background remover for Mac, Windows and Linux that runs on your own computer.

  • Local-first. The AI model runs on your machine. No uploads, no account, works offline.
  • Batches, not single photos. Hundreds at once, saved as transparent PNG, on white, or on a colour you pick.
  • Mac, Windows and Linux. The first 10 photos are free, no card needed.
Explore AwaCut
An animal sudoku from awa.games: a 9 by 9 picture sudoku with animals in place of numbers

awa.games

Free puzzle games in the browser: sudoku, minesweeper, nonogram, killer sudoku, and twenty kinds of picture sudoku.

  • The classics. Sudoku, killer sudoku, nonogram, minesweeper, Tower of Hanoi and the sliding puzzle, each with hints and a solver.
  • Twenty picture sudokus. Animals, dinosaurs, fruit, robots, the zodiac and more, from an easy 4×4 to a hard 9×9.
  • Free, in the browser. Millions of people search for these games every month; this is where I want them to land.
Play on awa.games

Curious about AwaCut or awa.games? Let's talk.

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