An inside look at our $1.25M Pre-Seed
What we are building, why now, and where the money goes.
An inside look at our $1.25M Pre-Seed
What we are building, why now, and where the money goes.
Founded in
Founded in
2026
Located in
Located in
SF & SAC
Target raise
Target raise
$1.25M
Current status
Current status
MVP
Executive summary
Executive summary
Layout is the agentic ordering layer for restaurants. A user signs up once, saves a card once, and orders from any restaurant through any AI, hands-free. Under the hood it's a REST API for ordering and payments wrapped in an MCP server, so ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini, and every assistant after them can call it directly.
Layout is the agentic ordering layer for restaurants. A user signs up once, saves a card once, and orders from any restaurant through any AI, hands-free. Under the hood it's a REST API for ordering and payments wrapped in an MCP server, so ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, Gemini, and every assistant after them can call it directly.
Consumer ordering is moving from apps to AI agents. Every major assistant now supports MCP as the standard for tool use. Agents can browse and recommend today, but they can't transact. Layout is the infrastructure that lets them, and the window to define this layer is open right now.
Consumer ordering is moving from apps to AI agents. Every major assistant now supports MCP as the standard for tool use. Agents can browse and recommend today, but they can't transact. Layout is the infrastructure that lets them, and the window to define this layer is open right now.
We are infrastructure, not a closed app. DoorDash, Uber Eats, and the POS providers hoard their API to own the customer. We expose ours so any surface, AI assistants, maps, search, can build agentic ordering on top of Layout. That makes us a layer across many surfaces rather than one app competing for attention.
We are infrastructure, not a closed app. DoorDash, Uber Eats, and the POS providers hoard their API to own the customer. We expose ours so any surface, AI assistants, maps, search, can build agentic ordering on top of Layout. That makes us a layer across many surfaces rather than one app competing for attention.
We sit in a neutral position nobody else can take. Square, Toast, and Clover are each locked to their own merchants and can't build a multi-POS layer without channel conflict. Delivery platforms take 15 to 30 percent per order. Layout sits in the middle, multi-POS, takes no cut from merchants, and can order from any restaurant whether it's connected to us or not.
We sit in a neutral position nobody else can take. Square, Toast, and Clover are each locked to their own merchants and can't build a multi-POS layer without channel conflict. Delivery platforms take 15 to 30 percent per order. Layout sits in the middle, multi-POS, takes no cut from merchants, and can order from any restaurant whether it's connected to us or not.
The product works today and we're scaling from real proof. Our MVP places real orders end-to-end through Claude against a live Square merchant. Connected merchants are live across NY and CA. Our largest competitor in branded restaurant apps approached us about an acquihire and we passed to go all-in on the agentic layer.
The product works today and we're scaling from real proof. Our MVP places real orders end-to-end through Claude against a live Square merchant. Connected merchants are live across NY and CA. Our largest competitor in branded restaurant apps approached us about an acquihire and we passed to go all-in on the agentic layer.
Why now
Why now
AI assistants are becoming the front door for local commerce. The moment the conversation ends, customers fall back into the same broken ordering flow or default to DoorDash, and the merchant loses both the customer and the margin. Layout closes that gap by turning a recommendation into a real order, automatically, inside the AI app the customer is already using.
AI assistants are becoming the front door for local commerce. The moment the conversation ends, customers fall back into the same broken ordering flow or default to DoorDash, and the merchant loses both the customer and the margin. Layout closes that gap by turning a recommendation into a real order, automatically, inside the AI app the customer is already using.
How it works
How it works
Open ChatGPT, Claude, or similar. Sign up once. Save your card a single time. It's tokenized through a third party and never exposed to merchants. Connect any AI. Layout works inside any assistant that supports MCP. Just order. Tell your AI what you want and Layout places the real order and handles payment behind the scenes.
Open ChatGPT, Claude, or similar. Sign up once. Save your card a single time. It's tokenized through a third party and never exposed to merchants. Connect any AI. Layout works inside any assistant that supports MCP. Just order. Tell your AI what you want and Layout places the real order and handles payment behind the scenes.
The moat
The moat
Open API. Built for any surface to plug into, not a walled garden. Neutral middleware. Multi-POS, no merchant cut, works with any restaurant. Card layer. Every order runs through a scoped, one-time virtual card. Issuing, verifying, and reconciling that card is infrastructure nobody else in this space is building.
Open API. Built for any surface to plug into, not a walled garden. Neutral middleware. Multi-POS, no merchant cut, works with any restaurant. Card layer. Every order runs through a scoped, one-time virtual card. Issuing, verifying, and reconciling that card is infrastructure nobody else in this space is building.
Unit economics
Unit economics
Layout runs on three revenue streams. Agentic sessions on unconnected restaurants carry a small per-order fee of $0.60 to $0.70. A monthly subscription comps unlimited ordering for the month, turning power users into predictable revenue. Connected merchants can promote items inside the ordering flow through a built-in ad manager, giving them one more reason to integrate directly.
Layout runs on three revenue streams. Agentic sessions on unconnected restaurants carry a small per-order fee of $0.60 to $0.70. A monthly subscription comps unlimited ordering for the month, turning power users into predictable revenue. Connected merchants can promote items inside the ordering flow through a built-in ad manager, giving them one more reason to integrate directly.
How we reach consumers
How we reach consumers
When someone asks Claude or ChatGPT to order food, the AI automatically surfaces Layout as an available connector; no ads, no app store, no separate signup. Distribution is native to the assistant itself, and word of mouth does the rest when people start telling their friends that AI just ordered their coffee. We grow as AI assistants grow.
When someone asks Claude or ChatGPT to order food, the AI automatically surfaces Layout as an available connector; no ads, no app store, no separate signup. Distribution is native to the assistant itself, and word of mouth does the rest when people start telling their friends that AI just ordered their coffee. We grow as AI assistants grow.
How we win merchants
How we win merchants
We start by ordering through the channels merchants already use. When a user asks an AI to order from a restaurant, Layout places that order through their existing online flow, so the merchant gets a real sale with no integration required. Once we can show a merchant the orders we already sent them, connecting directly to skip third-party fees becomes an easy conversation. Proven demand wins direct connections, and direct connections raise margins for both sides.
We start by ordering through the channels merchants already use. When a user asks an AI to order from a restaurant, Layout places that order through their existing online flow, so the merchant gets a real sale with no integration required. Once we can show a merchant the orders we already sent them, connecting directly to skip third-party fees becomes an easy conversation. Proven demand wins direct connections, and direct connections raise margins for both sides.
The ask
The ask
We're raising $1.25M on a SAFE for roughly 24 months of runway. GTM by Sep 1, 2026, expand POS coverage to Toast and Clover, and reach 100+ merchant relationships by end of 2026.
We're raising $1.25M on a SAFE for roughly 24 months of runway. GTM by Sep 1, 2026, expand POS coverage to Toast and Clover, and reach 100+ merchant relationships by end of 2026.
Want the full picture?
Read the deck or reach out directly.
Read the deck or reach out directly.
Why me?
Why me?
I've been building software since I was 14. I started with a Minecraft server hosting company, then moved through a long list of apps and products before landing on Layout. For the nine months before pivoting to agentic commerce, I built and scaled a branded mobile ordering platform for Square merchants. We were about to raise when I made the call to step back and ask whether it was the right long-term bet. I didn't think it was so I took the merchant base, the architecture, and the Square integration I had already built and used them as the foundation for something with a bigger ceiling. I've been full-time on this since leaving Chapman University, and I wrote every line of Layout myself, the iOS app, the Square integration, the dashboard, and the MCP server.
I've been building software since I was 14. I started with a Minecraft server hosting company, then moved through a long list of apps and products before landing on Layout. For the nine months before pivoting to agentic commerce, I built and scaled a branded mobile ordering platform for Square merchants. We were about to raise when I made the call to step back and ask whether it was the right long-term bet. I didn't think it was so I took the merchant base, the architecture, and the Square integration I had already built and used them as the foundation for something with a bigger ceiling. I've been full-time on this since leaving Chapman University, and I wrote every line of Layout myself, the iOS app, the Square integration, the dashboard, and the MCP server.
Founder & CEO, Layout