About Easel
Meet the founder
Hi, I'm Evan. I built Easel because I got tired of seeing small businesses trapped by platforms that extract value instead of creating it.
Over the past decade, I co-founded two tech companies, raised $15M in venture capital, scaled teams to 40+ people, and went through an acquisition. I learned firsthand how outside funding inevitably corrupts a company's mission—VCs push for quarter-over-quarter growth at all costs, leading to feature bloat, nickel-and-diming customers, and products that serve investors instead of users.
I'm financially stable now and never need to do that again. With Easel, I can focus on what actually matters: building software that helps your business succeed, not extracting maximum value from you.
The path forward
Right now, Easel is just me working part-time. But I have a clear vision for how this grows.
Staying intentionally small
As revenue grows, I'll work on Easel full-time, then hire a few people. But we'll always stay small enough that everyone knows each other, small enough to make decisions quickly, small enough to care deeply about every customer.
Worker cooperative structure
I will operate Easel as a worker cooperative: democratic decision-making, profit sharing with members, and one member = one vote. There will be no CEO; instead we will use sortition for day-to-day governance to prevent power concentration, while big decisions like layoffs require a vote from all members.
Fully open source
Easel is completely open source under AGPLv3. You can read the code, verify there are no backdoors or tracking, fork it, self-host it, or modify it for your needs. Even if I get hit by a bus tomorrow, Easel continues. Your business doesn't depend on my personal success. View the source code →
The personal guarantee
When you choose Easel, you're betting on me personally. I don't take that lightly.
You have my personal email (evan@easel.engineering), you can message me directly on Signal, and every support request comes to me. If something breaks, I fix it. If you need a feature, I'll tell you if I can build it.
This is my life's work—building software that helps independent businesses thrive without compromising their values or data. Your success is literally my business model.
Ready to work together?
No sales calls, no demos, no pressure. Try Easel for 30 days and see if we're a good fit.