Centaur Rising: Supercharging Shadstone Ninjas with AI

September 7, 2025

Dear Shadstone Ninjas (and curious internet explorers),

August 2025 was a wild ride—a “firehose” of learning that rewired my brain. I dove headfirst into AI development, vibe coding, and tools like RegardingWork, spending 200+ hours building apps like Cryptolegacybond and a Handshake browser. It wasn’t just tech—it was a mindset shift. I realized we’re not just using AI; we’re becoming Centaurs—humans and AI working as one, stronger than either alone, as explained in our Centaur model. Today, I’m sharing where we’re at, where we’re going, and why I believe our Shadstone ninjas, the new and improved ninjas, are the key to this revolution.

Centaur Rising Vision

2025: The Year AI Got Real

I’ve dabbled in AI since 2022—JasperAI for blog posts, ChatGPT for quick prompts. But it felt external, like visiting a website to copy-paste results. In 2025, AI became part of our work. At the Cross Border Summit last November, Jonathan Foltz introduced me to “AI agents” and community-driven value. By July, Luciano Drehmer pushed me into “vibe coding” in Shenzhen and Chiang Mai—building apps, not just prompting. My “aha” moment? I could explain ideas (text, screenshots, arrows) to AI like a patient 24/7 mentor, bypassing the frustration of my 1999 college coding days (endless C# bugs drove me to switch majors!). Now, I think and build with AI, limited only by imagination. As Luciano said, “You’re not just a user—you’re a creator.”

This shift isn’t just for me. It’s for our ninjas, who live our SLOT values (self-learning, online work, teamwork) and embody the spirit of our Shadstone Temple. We’re not replacing you with AI—you are the human half of the Centaur, riding alongside AI to scale our impact.

RegardingWork: Our Productivity Game-Changer

My first creation was the RegardingWork Game, a productivity timer born from my decade-long Pomodoro habit (goodbye, paper notebooks!). It’s now a team tool, feeding into our Shadstone Slack team. Christian says it’s “sent his productivity through the roof” with focus music and real-time stats. Manly, Anne, Snook, Sally, and Stephenie are climbing the leaderboard, motivated by transparency.

Shadstone Team Leaderboard

The Game evolved into a modular ecosystem:

Why modular? Unlike bloated SaaS, smaller codebases let AI agents specialize, improving faster. Yes, API integration’s been a headache (I crashed a few apps building monoliths!), but decentralization is the future. Soon, our secret Focus Agent will coach you in real-time, suggesting tools based on your screen and tasks, boosting your Proof of Focus (POF) score. Expect it by early 2026.

The Centaur Model: Ninjas + AI

My coach Alex Avanth called this the Centaur model, inspired by chess: the best player isn’t human or AI alone, but both together. At Easy Pro Design, a Strategic Business Unit (SBU), this looks like our podcast workflow. Before, we relied on outdated CRMs and manual SOPs. Now, I submit a podcast request via the client portal, it hits the Tasks Engine, and AI drafts assets (e.g., show notes, graphics) using updated SOPs. Humans like Stephenie then curate, adding taste and quality—our unique value, as this article, this one, and this one note. This slashes time and boosts output. Humans don’t prompt AI manually; AI starts the draft, and you refine.

This is why we’re spinning off Easy Pro Design into its own SBU. It’s not just a business—it’s a Centaur-powered unit, with Stephenie leading (pending her acceptance). Other SBUs like Para Living (Christian’s domain) and Global From Asia will follow, each led by a ninja riding a Centaur, using tools like our upcoming Ecommerce Gladiator and AMZ Assistant.

Restructuring Shadstone: The Temple and SBUs

Shadstone isn’t a monolith—it’s a Temple (training.shadstone.com/ninja and mikesblogdesign.com/ninja), a network of ninjas running SBUs. We’re decentralizing to empower you. The Temple core handles:

  • IT, CTO: Servers, logins, tools.
  • Finance, CFO: P&L for SBUs and core.
  • HR/Culture (evolving): Training, retreats, ninja vibe.

Each ninja can lead or join an SBU, acting like a “single-operated business” with entrepreneurial spirit. You’re not freelancers—you’re partners, earning salaries plus profit shares/equity (like Stephenie’s profit share and equity pending at EPD). Compensation rewards value, not hours. POF replaces time clocks, incentivizing fast, high-quality work with AI.

This disruption lets us, nimble ninjas, “be pirates” (as Steve Jobs said: “It’s more fun to be a pirate than to join the navy.”) and take market share from legacy conglomerates. Our Venture Seed incubator can spawn more SBUs, each a ninja-Centaur duo scaling fast.

Community Ecosystem: Our Future

Shadstone is a Community Ecosystem, not just a company. It’s my life’s work (maybe a book!), blending content, community, and consulting (3C). Ninjas get access to tools, training, and retreats (like our Baguio retreat, which Alex called a “real team culture”). It’s like a country—a login unlocks a network of SBUs and support.

AI’s changed my life too. I’ve moved my morning routine to RegardingWork Game, write in Innovemind Project, and built FamilyOS to engage my kids, Miles and Maggie, with points for family tasks. Today, I’m drafting this on Innovemind while on the Game timer, prepping for a family meeting. This is Centaur Rising—productivity and connection, amplified.

Join the Ride

Some fear AI will replace us. Not at Shadstone. Our ninjas, the new and improved ninjas, are the human half of the Centaur, leading SBUs with creativity and taste. If you’re not ready to evolve, the days of “normal” tasks are numbered. But I believe every ninja can rise—find an SBU, master the Centaur, and lead. We’re building ninja03 as a comic book to visualize this journey, with ninjas and Centaurs in the Temple.

Reply in Slack with your thoughts—let’s shape this together. For internet folks, tweet me at x.com/michelini or explore joining us at jobs.shadstone.com or ventureseed.com/incubator. Let’s ride the Centaur and disrupt the future!

Be Ready - New Training, New Softwares, New Way of Working

So you ready? Get ready to upgrade a lot of your software, your knowledge. We will be discussing with HR department on a series of training and sessions for you.

Mike Michelini
Founder, Shadstone Limited

(Visual idea: A blog header with a ninja riding a Centaur in a futuristic Temple, holding a laptop with AI glowing—Phenie to sketch for ninja03.)