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Startup Stories - Mixergy

Andrew Warnermixergy.com
Business tips for startups by proven entrepreneurs
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Episodes

#2305 I earned $500k when AI replaced my managers

Chandler Bolt realized that much of what his sales managers did at Selfpublishing.com can be done better by good AI. Within a month, he built a first version with spiked sales. Now he’s replacing all his managers. This is his guide to doing it well. Chandler Bolt is the founder and CEO of SelfPublishing.com, an education company that helps entrepreneurs and experts write, publish, and market books. Over the past decade, the company has helped publish more than 7,000 books and grown into an eight...

May 14, 2026

#2304 “I make $4.5 million implementing AI”

I first heard about this guy on the Joe Rogan show. He built a hot business on a simple concept: Companies hire him to embed AI usage and thinking in their businesses. Now he’s creating his own agent software (a customized version of NeoClaw) that he’s installing in companies. Best of all: Jon Cheney says what he built at GenAIPI can be built by people listening to this episode. We break down how. Jon Cheney is the founder of GenAIPI (General AI Proficiency Institute), an AI consulting and enabl...

Apr 23, 2026

#2303 Convos: Instant OpenClaw on your phone

On X, Shane Mac showed how he created an OpenClaw agent and asked it to copy an app. In this interview, he showed how his app Convos, does it. This interview is more visual than our usual ones, so you should head over to our YouTube channel for builders to see it. Shane Mac is the founder of XMTP , the protocol behind Convos, a chat app that allows users to launch and interact with AI agents like OpenClaw and Hermes on their phones. He is building tools that make agents more personal, more mobil...

Apr 20, 2026

#2302 Superpowering Claude with 10,000 apps

Zapier just announced a new way for founders to integrate all their favorite apps with their favorite AI model. Wade Foster, their co-founder, came on to show what we can build with it. Wade Foster is the co-founder and CEO of Zapier , the automation platform that connects thousands of business apps and workflows. In this interview, he shares how he is using Zapier’s SDK and coding agents to automate parts of his own CEO role, from customer outreach and meeting prep to hiring review and daily pl...

Apr 07, 2026

#2301 How Nat Eliason’s OpenClaw earned $177,417

When OpenClaw was released, I watched Nat Eliason create an agent, give it an X account and tell it to earn money. This is the story of how it worked and how you can build an AI agent as your co-founder or employee. Nat Eliason is the operator behind Felix , an autonomous OpenClaw agent business that has generated nearly $200,000 in about two months through products, services, and agent-focused software. He is also building tools like Claw Mart, Sodex, and Agent Letters to support the growing ec...

Mar 27, 2026

#2300 Revenue jumped when he sold to AI agents

There are loads of apps that post to social media. So how did Nevo David get Postiz to take off? He started selling it to AI agents Nevo David is the founder of Postiz , an open-source social media scheduling platform designed for automation and AI-driven workflows. By leaning into open source, building tools for agents like OpenClaw, and simplifying integrations through a CLI interface, Nevo turned a crowded product category into a fast-growing bootstrapped SaaS. Today Postiz generates over $45...

Mar 11, 2026

#2299 Zapier is using AI to sell to AI

In private conversations, I’m hearing a lot of founders describe how they’re starting to sell to AI agents, like OpenClaw’s. Zapier has more traction doing that than anyone else I met. So, in my monthly podcast with Zapier’s founder, Wade Foster, I asked him to show me how they’re doing it. Wade Foster is the co-founder and CEO of Zapier, the automation platform used by hundreds of thousands of businesses to connect over 8,000 apps. Since launching in 2011, Zapier has grown into a remote-first c...

Mar 09, 2026

#2298 This AI generates $689K

Ben Cera used AI coding agents to build a company that generates $689K. The agent creates ads using AI-generated people, handles customer support, and even builds the product. This is the story of how he built Polsia and the future of business. Ben Cera is the founder of Polsia , an AI platform that autonomously builds and operates online businesses. A serial entrepreneur and former operator at CloudKitchens, Ben is now focused on creating AI-native companies where agents handle engineering, mar...

Mar 02, 2026

#2297 Elad Gil backed 40 unicorns. This is next

Elad Gil was an early investor in 40 unicorns, including major AI companies like Perplexity. I asked him what’s next for software companies now that AI can code better than humans, and what he’d invest in after AI. Elad Gil is the Founder & Investor at Gil Capital, his private investment firm. He has backed some of the most iconic technology companies of the past two decades, including Airbnb, Stripe, Coinbase, Instacart, OpenAI, and SpaceX. A former executive at Twitter and Google, Elad is ...

Feb 24, 2026

#2296 The $7 Million Vibe Coded App

Josh Mohrer is the model of the kind of company that can be built with AI. He’s not a developer, but he vibe coded Wave AI into a $7 million / year note taking company. This is how he did it. Josh Mohrer is the founder of Wave AI , an AI-powered audio note-taking app that records, transcribes, and summarizes conversations across meetings, phone calls, and real-world settings. Before Wave AI , Josh was an early leader at Uber, where he served as New York General Manager during the company’s rapid...

Feb 03, 2026

#2295 Ryan Carson: How AI does my marketing for me

When a new user signs up, most companies add them to a standard drip campaign. Ryan Carson found a better alternative: his AI agent sends customized drip messages to every new registrant. It helps his company close more business. It’s just one way he uses AI to act as his VP of marketing. In this interview, he breaks down how he automated his marketing. Ryan Carson is a three-time founder and longtime SaaS entrepreneur. He’s currently the founder of Untangle , an AI-powered platform designed to ...

Jan 26, 2026

#2294 He Claude Code: Build Me a YouTube Replacement

When YouTube kicked Pat Walls’ Starter Story channel off the platform, he spent a weekend getting Claude Code to build him a replacement. I wanted to see how it was done, so he walked me through it step-by-step. Turns out it was a mistake and he’s back on YouTube, but the site he made was so good that it’s his company’s new homebase. Pat Walls is the founder of Starter Story , a media and education company that helps entrepreneurs learn how real businesses get built. Starter Story generates over...

Jan 23, 2026

#2293 $2 million / year AI engineering firm

My friend created an AI engineering firm and every time I see him, he tells me how much his business is growing. So I asked him to tell me all about it in this interview. This is the story of how Tarun Thummala created PressW, the Austin-based AI dev shop. Tarun Thummala is the founder and CEO of PressW , an AI engineering firm that builds custom automation systems for real businesses in regulated, document-heavy industries. Instead of selling generic “AI transformation,” Tarun focuses on delive...

Jan 12, 2026

#2292 AI Automation that makes cold calls

Yevgeniy Matsay was a real estate broker who hated making cold calls. So he built an AI automation to do it for him. It worked so well that he created an agency that created cold calling automations for other brokers. Today he’s turning his automation service into Rozera, a cold calling SaaS for real estate brokers. Yevgeniy Matsay and Aidan Richards are the co-founders of Rezora , an AI-powered outbound calling platform built for real estate brokers. Yevgeniy is a former real estate agent with ...

Jan 08, 2026

#2291 He keeps launching AI businesses

Over a decade ago, Joe Apfelbaum was on the podcast, telling me how focusing on SEO helped him grow his agency. That was hard for the idea-a-minute founder. Now he’s back. And AI is enabling him to create more businesses. He broke down the 5 types of companies anyone could make Joe Apfelbaum is the founder of Ajax Union , a digital marketing agency, and EvyAI , an AI-powered sales and social media assistant used by thousands of businesses worldwide. A longtime Mixergy guest, Joe previously grew ...

Dec 30, 2025

#2290 He’s building an AI media empire

On the surface, it looks like Ricardo Vice Santos is selling AI-created books for your kids. But he’s aiming for something much bigger: a world where TV, movies, and every other media will be customized to you, using AI. He’s starting with children’s books because that’s what people will buy and what AI can do well today. This is the story of how he’s building DreamStories and how you can build a similar company. Ricardo is the founder of DreamStories , a company creating AI-powered, personalize...

Dec 29, 2025

#2289 Building companies using Zapier’s AI automations

Zapier used to be the software that connected all your other software. But it’s AI has become so powerful that people are using it to build software companies. Founder Wade Foster joined me to talk about and show how they’re building on it. Wade Foster is the co-founder and CEO of Zapier , the automation platform used by over 350,000 customers to connect more than 8,000 apps. He started Zapier in 2011 with just $1.2M in seed funding and grew it into a profitable company generating hundreds of mi...

Dec 19, 2025

#2288 She had people do AI’s work

Helen Hastings wanted to create better accounting software. To figure out what to build, she had humans do the work. This is the story of how she created Quanta, the accounting software that’s taking on QuickBooks with a more modern human+software approach. Helen Hastings is the founder and CEO of Quanta , an AI-powered accounting platform built for modern software and services companies. Before Quanta , she was a software engineer at Affirm, where she specialized in building financial ledgers a...

Dec 17, 2025

#2287 AI made a “no code” founder into a coder

Ben Tossell used to listen to Mixergy interviews as he hunted for a big idea to launch. Then he nailed it. MakerPad, an educational company for people who wanted to build using no code. It did so well that he sold it for life-changing money. Then he started coding. Because of AI. This is his story. Ben Tossell is the founder of Makerpad, the no-code education platform he sold to Zapier. Today he’s the Head of Developer Relations at Factory , where he helps shape the AI coding agent used by devel...

Dec 08, 2025

#2286 Pepper: AI + people = > $10 million

Pepper is creating content for clients like Shopify, Adobe and Instacart. We’re talking hundreds of thousands of posts & videos. And this is content that leads to sales. In this interview, founder Anirudh Singla tell us how they do it by using AI and humans. Anirudh Singla is the founder and CEO of Pepper , a global content marketing platform that blends AI and human creativity to produce content at scale. What began as his side hustle on Upwork has grown into a company serving Fortune 500s ...

Nov 17, 2025

#2285 AEO: How to make ChatGPT promote you

Ethan Smith runs Graphite, the SEO & AEO company that helps brands like Webflow show up on Google’s page one and ChatGPT’s first answer. This is how he does it Ethan Smith is the founder and CEO of Graphite , a growth and SEO firm that’s now pioneering Answer Engine Optimization—helping brands rank inside AI-generated responses. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint...

Nov 11, 2025

#2284 Why is Morning Brew’s founder selling “AI Transformation”?

Coming into this interview I wasn’t even sure what “AI Transformation” was, let alone why so many companies pay for it. Here’s the deal: Tenex, the company founded by Alex Lieberman & Arman Hezarkhani, goes into companies hunting for ways to save or making them money using AI. Once they find that, it becomes a no brainer for companies to hire them to build it. But Tenex does more than AI Transformation. They also run a dev shop where their developers use AI to build super fast for clients. A...

Nov 05, 2025

#2283 How Dan Shipper uses AI to build artisanal AI apps

“Why did you launch yet another voice dictation app?” I asked Dan Shipper, founder of Every. I thought he’d tell me that there was some kind of research that showed people needed another one. Nah. It came down to his team’s taste and personal preference. They just wanted something different. So a single creator on the team built it. AI makes it easier for more people to create apps. So what’s the differentiator? From what I got in this interview — over and over — it’s the creator’s taste. Dan Sh...

Oct 30, 2025

#2282 Neil Patel’s insanely powerful AI sales machine

I’ve been talking with founders who used AI to build companies, but aren’t getting enough customers. I found the perfect person to show them how to grow. Neil Patel has been on the cutting edge of AI marketing. He’s going to show us what’s working for his customers and his company. At the end of the conversation, you’ll see the exact process his company, NP Digital, is using AI to scrape yellow pages, create custom offers, and get clients. Neil Patel is the co-founder of NP Digital , a global ma...

Oct 24, 2025

#2281 Garry Tan: Y Combinator Startups Growing 5X Faster – Here’s What Changed

AI changed everything. During their time at Y Combinator, startups typically grew revenue weekly by 2-4%. Now? 10-20%! PER WEEK. YC President Garry Tan told me the reason is simple: AI transformed software from a “nice to have” into an urgent necessity. “Before it was like, ‘Yeah, I know I need to replace my software.’…Today it’s becoming, ‘Oh. I see a demo. It’s really impressive… I need it right now. When can you start?'” Garry Tan is President and CEO of Y Combinator , the world’s most succes...

Oct 17, 2025

#2280 Read.ai is adding 50k users per day

How can Read.ai keep growing when 1) there are loads of meeting note taking apps, and 2) platforms like Zoom keep adding note-taking features? That’s what I asked its founder David Shim David Shim is the founder and CEO of Read.ai , the fastest-growing AI meeting assistant with millions of users worldwide. Previously, he was CEO of Foursquare following its acquisition of his location analytics company, Placed, which had earlier been acquired by Snap. Today, David is building R ead into the centr...

Sep 15, 2025

#2279 How are there so many AI agencies?

I keep seeing AI agencies pop up everywhere, offering to AI-ify businesses. But what are they AI’ing? How are they doing it? Seems too general and unfocused to work. Still, they do. I wanted to understand how, so I interviewed Rob Howard, who teaches agency owners how to sell and deliver AI services. Rob Howard is the founder of Howard Development & Consulting (HDC.net) and the creator of Innovating with AI , a program that has helped over 1,000 people start and grow AI consulting businesses...

Sep 10, 2025

#2278 How to build a $15M/year AI company.

Pavel Doležal built Keboola to $15 million per year. How he did it: 1. Start with consulting, so clients tell you what they need 2. Build software that makes companies’ chaotic data accessible. NO agents yet. 3. Create agents that take action. That’s the hardest part. At the end of this interview, Pavel tells you how YOU should start an AI company and about the three successful companies that followed his advice. Pavel Doležal is the co-founder and CEO of Keboola , a cloud-based data platform us...

Sep 03, 2025

#2277 My Body Tutor: Remote Coaching as a Service

Ever wish someone would text you every day to make sure you stuck to your goals? That’s exactly what Adam Gilbert built — first for fitness, now for business. He’s the founder of My Body Tutor and DoneDaily, two remote coaching services powered by daily accountability. I invited him to share how he turned simple check-ins into a multi-million dollar company. Adam Gilbert was a personal trainer who was frustrated by seeing clients not follow through on the diet and exercise programs they committe...

Jul 09, 2025

#2276 Close: The $50 Million / Year CRM

How is Close doing so well in the CRM space against such big competitors? The answer: focus. Instead of chasing enterprise clients or trying to build a CRM that does everything from web hosting to calendaring, Steli Efti focused on sales teams at small and mid-sized businesses. And he built a product with a tight set of features focused on more client conversations and less data entry. Steli Efti is the co-founder and CEO of Close , a CRM platform designed to eliminate manual data entry and make...

Jun 18, 2025
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