The Startup Ideas Podcast

I sit down with Ras Mic to see how he runs his work and his life through Grok Bot. He calls himself a Grok Bot maxi, and he uses it as a personal agent and as an orchestrator that hands engineering work to Claude Code. He walks me through five areas: engineering, design, content ideation, business and finance, and shopping. Along the way he shows his bots, his prompts, and the projects they shipped, including Pluto, Bezalel, a Rust trading app, and a Shopify store for his brother's clothing brand. If you ship ideas, this episode gives you a setup you can copy today. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro 01:55 – Engineering Bot 07:57 – Why use Grok Bot as an Orchestrator 14:01 – Grok Bot + Claude Code 19:43 – Security Checks 21:54 – Designer Bot 31:12 – Content Bot 37:19 – Business & Finance Bot 42:41 – Shopping Bot 44:53 – Closing Thoughts Key Points Give each serious project its own bot, keep one general engineering bot for random ideas, and delete bots once they stop being useful. Use Grok Bot to orchestrate and Claude Code with Opus 5.5 to write the code. Ras Mic says the $200-a-month Claude Code plan is worth $8,000 to $12,000 in API credits, so he leans on subscriptions. Lock the design in Paper before any code gets written, with a design system the agent can reference. A YouTube bot scans X at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and sends three video topics with tweets, title ideas, and resources. Finance bots connected through Plaid give Ras Mic's advisor bot enough context to talk him out of shiny objects. The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/ FIND ME ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/ FIND MIC ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://x.com/Rasmic Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@rasmic

In this solo episode, I share 12 prompts for Fable 5.2 across four areas: making money, productivity, video and content, and hardware. I run several of them live, including an audit of my design agency, a freelance job Fable 5.2 found on Upwork, a 100-niche research sweep with subagents, and a minimalist phone it designed from one prompt. I cover why Fable 5.2 can work 10 to 12 hours on its own, why it now admits when it lacks an answer, and how to sell results as a fixed-price service. If you want to make money, get more done, or build hardware with Fable 5.2, this episode gives you prompts you can copy today. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro 01:00 – Prompt 1: Audit Your Entire Business 02:05 – Prompt 2: A Freelance Job End to End 03:46 – Prompt 3: A Hundred Niches at Once 04:33 – Prompt 4: Rebuild the Ancient Software 05:25 – Prompt 5: Deal Checker for a Boring Business 06:54 – Results from Prompts 08:53 – Prompt 6: Grill Me 09:33 – Prompt 7: Operate Legacy Apps 10:07 – Prompt 8: Red Team My Plan 11:11 – Video and Marketing Engineering 12:39 – Prompt 9: Short-Form Editor 13:05 – Prompt 10: Niche Explainer Videos 13:24 – Prompt 11: One Episode, Every Format 13:56 – Prompt 12: One person Hardware Company 16:42 – A Minimalist Phone Idea 17:41 – Design and Mockups 18:31 – Closing Thoughts Key Points Fable 5.2 works 10 to 12 hours on its own, so I hand it jobs that take a high-end consultant a week. Freelance jobs and software rebuilds can now sell per output, where people used to bill by the hour. Stronger subagents let me research 100 niches in one prompt and get back one ranked table. Fable 5.2 now admits uncertainty, which opens up finance and legal work like checking a seller's P&L. Videos at $1 to $5 each let me build faceless channels and own distribution. One prompt gets me a parts list, circuit design, firmware, and a printable enclosure for a device. The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/ FIND ME ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

I sit down with Cody Schneider, to break down how to become a top 0.1% marketer with GrokBot, Claude Code, and the tools around them. Cody shows the environment an agent needs to do marketing work: data in a warehouse, write access to ad platforms, and API tools for images, video, and leads. We build static ads live for Idea Browser, Late Checkout, Cursor, and more, then make a UGC avatar video ad with motion graphics for about $5. I add two pieces of my own: a swipe warehouse of creative references and a creative director agent that scores every ad. If you build products and hear crickets, this episode gives you workflows you can set up today. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro 04:29 – Agents are now Marketers 09:56 – Data Pipelines & Warehouses 13:56 – Getting your agent access to data 16:15 – The tools for your agent 18:08 – Agents become .1% marketers 20:43 – Swipe Warehouse and Context 22:35 – Creating Static Ads 29:08 – Static Ads Results 30:03 – Creating UGC Avatar Ads 36:28 – Running the Workflow 37:58 – UGC Ad Results 39:51 – Human Creators Through Tribe and Sideshift 41:42 – Reviewing the Static Ads 43:29 – The role of Creative Director 50:49 – Closing Thoughts Key Points Agents do marketing's middle work once they have data, platform access, and tools. A data pipeline into a warehouse gives agents full-funnel data and keeps them off rate-limited APIs. Agents write to Facebook and Google Ads through their APIs and read data only from the warehouse. One skill turns a brand URL into five researched, on-brand static ads. A UGC avatar ad with motion graphics costs about $5, compared with $300 to $500 from humans. Creative velocity wins, since Facebook's algorithm matches good creative to the right buyer. The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/ FIND ME ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/ FIND CODY ON SOCIAL: Cody’s startup: https://www.graphed.com/ X/Twitter: https://x.com/codyschneiderxx Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@codyschneiderx

In this solo episode, I lay out how I think about building an AI-proof business now that anyone can press a few buttons and spin up a company in seconds. Layoffs keep coming, people copy products pixel for pixel, and I still see more opportunity than ever. I walk through eight categories: atoms, permission, attention, timing, belonging, liquidity, unique data, and outcomes. I share examples like Hampton, final.com, and Cars & Bids, say how I'd rank the categories, and show how to mix them. If you're an employee looking at a startup or a founder worried about getting copied, this episode gives you a map for building something with value when AI makes software, content, and answers almost free. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro 01:17 – Atoms: Physical Businesses 02:26 – Permission: Licenses, Regulation, and Partnerships 04:10 – Attention: Building a Media Machine 06:28 – Timing: Spotting Trends Early 08:24 – Belonging: Paid Communities and IRL Events 10:59 – Liquidity: Marketplaces 14:38 – Unique Data: Data Brokers and Curated Directories 18:31 – Outcomes: Customers Paying for Results 20:44 – Closing Thoughts Key Points Physical businesses hold up against overnight clones, and I expect their valuations to rise as tech money moves in. Licenses, regulation, and preferred-vendor deals are permission that a copycat has a hard time getting on day one. Media is underrated, and AI lets you run a content machine around a micro niche. A first mover's product may be easy to copy, while the data, brand, and trust it collects stay AI-proof. Marketplaces rank among the stickiest businesses of all time, and agents let a team of one to five run one. I rank physical and licensed businesses near the top and outcomes at the bottom, and you can mix categories. The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/ FIND ME ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

I sit down with Nick, co-founder of Orgo, to break down how to build a custom Grok Bot for a business and sell it for $25,000 up front with a $3,000-a-month retainer. Nick demos Bops, the agent platform he built in a 36-hour weekend, where each bot has its own phone number, email, and computer with four screens. He walks me through his research, design, and build process, the stack behind each bot, and the offer he takes to business owners. We also cover how to pick a niche by calling 50 people you know and how to turn one free case study into warm referrals. If you want to sell AI employees to businesses, this episode gives you the stack, the offer, and an open source repo you can fork today. Links Mentioned Nick’s Bops: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/bops Timestamps 00:00 – Intro 03:09 – Bops, Custom Grok Bot Team 05:07 – Dumb SaaS vs. Custom Apps 07:02 – Selling AI Agent Teams 09:49 – Demoing Bop 13:57 – One Agent per Platform 15:07 – Step 1: Research 17:49 – Step 2: Design 22:12 – Step 3: Picking The Stack 26:43 – Step 4 and 5: Hosting and Shipping Fast 27:21 – The Offer and Business Model 38:02 – Why start this now 40:21 – Finding your first client 47:27 – Closing Thoughts Key Points Busy owners want their problems solved, so a GrokBot built for their industry wins over a platform they have to set up. Nick builds in three steps: research the category, design in Paper, then pick a stack and read the docs. Each bot gets its own email, phone number, computer, and connectors through Agent Mail, Agent Phone, Orgo, and Composio. The SMB offer is $25,000 up front for a system the owner keeps, plus an optional $3,000-a-month retainer. A free website redesign, a money-back guarantee, and free lead magnets make the offer easy to accept. Call 50 people you know, do the first build free, and trade the case study for warm intros. The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/ FIND ME ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/ FIND NICK ON SOCIAL Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nickvasiles Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickvasilescu/ Personal Website: https://www.nickvasilescu.com/