Intently

Misha Mikalian has been building companies since his teenage years. By 37, he had launched eight startups across tech, real estate, brick-and-mortar franchises (tanning salons, day spas), and most recently, a $5 million revenue internet marketing agency that he exited in the past year. But after a decade of "sell, sell, sell" in the agency world—where he made "a lot of other people a lot of money"—he was ready for something bigger. The spark came from observing a fundamental shift in how people interact with the internet: ad blockers were skyrocketing. Google's Larry Page had publicly acknowledged that the industry was serving "annoying ads," and ad blockers were costing Google alone $6.7 billion in the trailing 12 months. Misha saw an opportunity to invert the problem. Instead of trying to stop ad blocking, what if you built a better monetization layer on top of it?

Intently launched as a simple browser plugin—setup takes just 10 seconds. Rather than removing all ads (like traditional ad blockers), it replaces them with content users actually want: inspirational quotes, images, or anything else they choose. The core insight is psychological: when you're intentional about what you see online, it rewires your subconscious. Instead of being targeted by advertisers, users essentially advertise to themselves—the person they want to become, the values they want to embody. Misha funded the initial development himself with "the first couple hundred thousand," then began raising capital via SAFE notes (convertible equity instruments) to scale faster.

Misha did almost no deliberate user acquisition. He made one Facebook post about six months before the interview, announcing a beta launch to a small group. That group invited friends. Organic growth took over from there. By interview time (pre-September launch), Intently had accumulated less than 10,000 beta users—all without a polished UI, without paid ads, without a traditional marketing push. "All our users have come to our product organically," Misha noted. The plugin's simplicity and the appeal of reclaiming ad space resonated enough that word-of-mouth drove steady, un-optimized growth.

What worked: virality through genuine product-market fit in a small segment. Users loved the concept so much they invited friends. The problem Misha was solving—ad fatigue—was real and widespread. Over 25% of internet users already block ads; Intently offered a better alternative.

What hadn't been tested yet: scaled user acquisition and monetization. Misha had raised $500k in seed capital and was planning to raise another $1 million in the next quarter, with eyes on a $10 million Series A early next year. The plan for launch was to send "several million emails to potential users" to activate a larger initial user base. Revenue wasn't yet a priority; distribution and user count were.

As of mid-2024, Intently was in final prep for September launch, with less than 10,000 beta users but a clear vision to hit 100,000+ by year-end. Misha had already secured $500k from investors on SAFE notes (no interest, capped equity conversion), positioning himself to raise substantially more without the legal overhead of traditional convertible notes. His long-term vision extended beyond ad replacement to a full "ad filter network" where users could control what ad categories, brands, or values they wanted to see—turning ad blockers into a marketplace tool rather than a kill switch. The $150 billion online advertising industry was watching.