Hey everyone, I'm Braden! 👋

I'm building Epicenter—open-source tools to capture, refine, and export your ideas (YC S25). I started as a humanities student at Yale studying Ethics, Politics, and Economics, but fell in love with coding in my first year.

Now, I work to bridge these disciplines through software that respects human creativity. Here's what I'm building:

• Whispering: A reliable transcription app to capture your raw ideas—voice recordings, meetings, spontaneous notes—anywhere, anytime
• A local-first "second brain": An integrated open-source Obsidian alternative to organize, refine, and connect your thoughts (coming soon)
• Multi-format publishing tools: Like Substack, but deeply integrated into your local files. Write once, export everywhere: text, video, or audio

Currently, I'm focused on automating boring steps—such as transcription, formatting, and cross-posting—so you can focus on thinking and writing. The eventual goal? Build in public with a community of intellectuals, experts, and thinkers who believe human reflection still matters.

Our moonshot: Create publishing infrastructure that empowers anyone to share ideas that stand out from AI-generated noise. The world needs more genuine voices, not more "slop."

If you:

• Love open source and believe in data ownership
• Have ever under-shared your best ideas
• Want to help build tools that reward reflection over reaction

You belong here. Contribute to the code, shape the community, and prove that human authenticity can thrive in the age of AI.

Your support through sponsorships is greatly appreciated, but please only contribute if you're financially secure. Your contributions enable projects like Whispering that help the entire community.\

That said, if you're feeling generous, consider supporting other open-source maintainers doing incredible work! The ecosystem thrives when we support each other.

Building in public with a community of writers, thinkers, and builders who believe human reflection still matters.