The Distill - Lead

Greeting Pioneers,

It’s time to lead.

Welcome to KYX 2026 - leading from the front, building in public. The good. The bad. The ugly.

First up: Loudega. And the return of VCN. Led by a fresh new face.

The Return of VCN

VCN aka Vibe Code Night was born from the idea that builders don’t always have time to network, meet other builders, share war stories, get feedback. Why? because they’re building.

Light bulb 💡

What if we started a fight build club, a night where you can meet, greet, and crush code without sacrificing some late night productivity. The sentiment remains, but fresh faces and new leaders bring change, a change for the better, a taste of their own vibe.

Meet Stef Hogan:

Stef is a top tier startup operator. Humana, SkuVault. Red e App. Skipify. She brings order to chaos. building systems for startups that help them scale smarter and farther. And she’s taking the reins of VCN - with a facelift. Welcome to VCN 2026.

​Whether you’re building a business, plotting your next big idea, or just curious what you can get AI to do for you—Vibe Code Night is a chance to hang out, get sh*t done, and meet great people while you’re at it.

Bring your own project and vibe alongside other founders, builders, and curious minds.

​​​New to AI? Starting at 6pm in the conference room, join a Build Your Own GPT session led by Stef Hogan. This beginner-friendly walkthrough is a great place to ask questions, learn the basics, and build your first custom GPT. No prior experience required.

First Wednesday of every month. Starting in February.

When: Wednesday, February 4
Where: Cinderblock, 1205 East Washington Street, Suite 111
RSVP here

Startup Series - Announcing Loudega

DRL is launching Loudega, because there’s an opportunity in Louisville to address the gap between consumer demand for convenience and consumer market availability for such amenity.

Simply put, whether at work or at home, if you want a snack like Louisville Vegan Jerky, or a drink like Elixir Kombucha, how convenient is it for you to get some?

Not very. If you’re a doctor or nurse working a 12 hours shift in the medical district of Louisville, your nearest spot is 3-4 “Louisville blocks” away (Louisville has very large block sizes).

Loudega’s are unattended retail locations within the same building where customers will have 50-200 SKUs to choose from; whether a Pomegranate Phocus, Blueberry Elixir or just some Advil.

The Loudega Built for Louisville - Let’s help the next Alani Nu

Louisville has a great history of CPG; from Long John Silver, Texas Roadhouse, Papa Johns, Yum and most recently Alani Nu. In addition to that, we have many fantastic new brands emerging. Louisville should lean into its heritage and strength and help promote these brands.

Challenges for emerging brands are getting distribution points and maintaining margin while scaling. Right now scaling founders have to compromise between volume vs. margin with thinking about distribution. Between buybacks, returns, promotions, slippage and wholesaler discounts, the leap from prototype to distribution kill margins for a CPG founder.

Loudega operates as a combined distributor and retailer. With our many distribution sites and our smaller sizing at each distribution site, we can easily help brands test and iterate on their product while delivering superior margins compared to wholesalers.

Build your brand with Loudega.

Build Louisville’s Innovation Economy with Loudega.

Know a property manager or HR of a large employer? Have them contact us or better yet schedule a meeting.

Know a great location? Tell me where!

Note’s on The Distill’s co-EICs: Jack Crowdis & Rachel Edenfield

Jack runs the newsletter, helps run KYX. He’s a career startup kid, past founder, and current operator. Weekly contributor. Always editor.

Rachel’s the Founder/CEO of venture-backed Swell, and a driver of KYX. Routinely delivers the city’s sharpest long-form startup advice. Always re-edits Jack’s edits (including this bio).

Know someone who should read this? Forward it, or send them this link.

That’s a wrap 🎬
Keep showing up 👊 
Keep shipping 🚢 
Peace, Pioneers ✌️