How Pixel Pushers LLC achieved ↑ 1,200%
in forbes mentions.
Ana-Marie Kowalski · Managing Partner · Chicago, IL
"We were profitable, debt-free, and had 19 happy regulars. Then we adopted NotAPOS. Now we're losing $40K a month and on the cover of Forbes. Worth it."
— Ana-Marie Kowalski
Pixel Pushers was founded in 2014 as a sustainable, profitable, three-employee repair operation. By 2024, founder Ana-Marie Kowalski had been convinced — over two glasses of natural wine and one Twitter Space — that profitability was a 'pre-disruption mindset.' She signed the NotAPOS contract that night.
Within 90 days, Pixel Pushers had: rebranded twice, hired four 'Vibes Engineers,' deprecated all customer-facing prices, launched a token (PIXL), de-listed the token, raised $2M in a SAFE, lost $2M to a 'compute incident' our team is not allowed to discuss, and been profiled in Forbes Under 30.
Ana-Marie's three original employees have all left. They were replaced by a single contractor who 'manages the AI workflows,' which is to say he watches the NotAPOS dashboard pulse and occasionally clicks 'Acknowledge.' His billable rate is $340/hour.
When asked if she would do it again, Ana-Marie paused for 47 seconds before saying: 'I think the question itself is reductive. We're not running a business. We're building a movement. Movements lose money. That's how you know they're real.' She then asked our writer to leave so she could record a podcast.
Pixel Pushers is currently in negotiations to be acquired by a SPAC. The SPAC has not made an offer. Negotiations are ongoing on Ana-Marie's side only. She has named the future combined entity 'PixelChain.' We have not asked her what that means.