Michael Flannery

Co-Founder

Sioux Falls, South Dakota, United States18 yrs 9 mos experience

Highly StableAI Enabled

Key Highlights

Co-inventor on 7 provisional patents
Built top-rated restaurant recognized with awards
Pioneered story-based software development approach

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS entrepreneur with expertise in product management and innovative retail strategies.

Contact

Skills

Core Skills

Product ManagementEntrepreneurshipProduct InnovationOperations ManagementTeam LeadershipRetail OperationsClient Relations

Other Skills

AI DevelopmentStartupsCreative ProductionVendor CoordinationWorkflow OptimizationFinancial ManagementNew Business DevelopmentCustomer Relationship Management (CRM)Community Building

About

I've built three businesses from scratch. I am not an engineer. So when Fernando showed me what he was building, the first thing I said was "I don't understand it." That became my job. If I can't understand what our system does without reading code, we haven't solved the problem. I'm the test case. The canary in the coal mine. The person who proves that understanding software shouldn't require a computer science degree. Met Fernando at SF Tech Week in October. Committed within 48 hours. Flew to Austin, then NYC, iterating before we had a legal entity. He's been camping at my house in South Dakota for weeks at a time to maximize build velocity. Three people. Full-time. Self-funded. I drive product direction through aggressive dogfooding and direct user feedback. I'm co-inventor on 7 provisional patents — not because I wrote the code, but because I helped design how the system should work for humans. Story-based software development means you understand your system as a story, not a stack trace. If it works for me, it works for your team. That's the point. principal-ade.com

Experience

Principal ai

Co-Founder Principal AI

Oct 2025 – Present · 6 mos

Building story-based monitoring for the agent era.
AI agents write code faster than humans can review it. Tests pass. Deploys go through. Nobody knows if it actually does what you intended. It's called comprehension debt, and it compounds with every agent-written commit.
Principal AI starts from intent, not data. Root cause in minutes, not hours.
Building with Julie Allen (Strategy) and Fernando Ramirez (Engineering) to scale story-based software from dev to production.
7 provisional patents filed. Working product. Bootstrapped since October 2025.

Product ManagementProduct InnovationEntrepreneurship

Pirl prove irl

Co-Founder PIRL

Jul 2025 – Present · 9 mos

Co-founded PIRL, a platform that turns real-world progress into digital achievements — think Nike Training Camp × Fortnite.
Currently incubating; primary focus is on Principal-ADE, while PIRL remains part of the studio’s long-term portfolio.

StartupsProduct InnovationEntrepreneurship

Ode to food & drinks

Co-Founder/GM

Apr 2015 – Jun 2025 · 10 yrs 2 mos

. Built Sioux Falls’ top-rated restaurant and gathering space from the ground up
Recognized with multiple community awards and top reviews
Scaled team, operations, and brand before successful exit

Operations ManagementTeam Leadership

Zing, inc.

Co-Founder/GM

Apr 2009 – May 2015 · 6 yrs 1 mo

Transformed 12,700 sq ft abandoned Firestone garage into nationally-recognized retail destination
Pioneered "sip & shop" experiential retail in 2013, creating community hub with workshops, yoga, and events
Scaled 6x annual revenue with zero traditional advertising through story-driven growth
Named Top 25 Gifted Retailers nationally (2014), Retail Excellence Award (2013)
Built and successfully exited both Zing and Simple Floors franchise

Retail Operations

Splashlight

Account Manager

Feb 2007 – Mar 2009 · 2 yrs 1 mo · New York, United States

. Orchestrated end-to-end image production workflow for elite brands including Porsche and Marc Jacobs
Coordinated product sourcing, talent acquisition, and final delivery in state-of-the-art 60,000 sq ft studio
. Managed cross-functional teams to deliver high-volume commercial photography and content creation
. Built strong client relationships resulting in repeat business and expanded project scope

Client RelationsCreative Production