Get your creative juices flowing with The Startup Ideas Podcast. Published twice a week, we bring you free startup ideas to inspire your next venture. Hosted by Greg Isenberg, CEO of Late Checkout and former advisor to Reddit and TikTok. Subscribe so you don't miss out.
For more startup ideas, we created a database of 30+ startup ideas you can take at https://gregisenberg.com/30startupideas
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In this solo episode I lay out why I believe building agents is the new SaaS: software is shifting from helping you do the work to doing the work with you. I walk through a full playbook — find a niche, pick a workflow with a paycheck attached, shadow the human, spec the agent, build the minimum useful version, sell a pilot like labor, then productize the repeatable parts. I share live market examples like Slang AI for restaurants and Same Day for home services, plus pricing models and a distrib...
In this solo episode, I lay out the six skills I believe stay valuable as AI grows more capable. I chose these six because each one is open to anyone, each one starts this weekend, and each one rises in value as AI improves. I walk through agents and local models, distribution, robotics, curation, the builder distributor, and IRL community building, with one concrete first rep for every skill. My goal is to hand you one simple, clear map of where the world is heading and exactly how to begin. Ti...
In this episode I sit down with Amir to get tactical about running local AI models as part of a daily workflow. We center on GLM 5.2 from ZAI, how it stacks up against frontier models like Opus 4.8, and how a fusion approach lets you sequence a heavy thinking model with a lighter execution model for the best output at the lowest cost. Amir walks through setup in Cursor and Codex via OpenRouter, shares real token-cost math, and demos GLM 5.2 refining a live app. By the end you will know how to st...
In this episode I sit down with George Lampropoulos, a 19-year-old founder who turns AI-built mobile apps into real revenue. George walks through his framework for reaching $10K a month—roughly $333 a day—starting with a simple, sellable idea you actually care about and ending with a distribution plan anyone can run. He shares the numbers behind WrestleAI (100K-plus downloads and close to $200K in revenue) and explains why a sharp "gotcha feature" and a clean Instagram funnel do most of the heav...
In this solo episode, I walk through the implications of the ban of Claude Fable 5 — the most powerful model on the planet and the one I planned to build with — after the US government sent Anthropic a letter. I make the case for local AI by walking through the benefits: intelligence that lives on your own hardware, stays private, runs free after the hardware cost, and keeps working through bans, outages, and price hikes. I lay out the exact order I'd learn it in — runtimes, model-to-hardware ma...
Get my Fable 5 prompt pack: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/fable5-prompt-pack In this episode I break down how to get the most out of Fable 5, the most powerful model I've ever used. I move past the benchmarks and go straight into tactical use cases, copy-and-paste prompts, and startup ideas you can build today. I walk through tournaments for copy and landing pages, an interview-before-build workflow that hunts for product-market fit, and ways to point Fable at contracts, churn data, and years o...
S/o Coderabbit for sponsoring today’s vid: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/code-rabbit On this episode I sit down with Professor Ras Mic to break down agentic loops. We define what a loop is, explain why well-known builders like Boris and Peter swear by them, and stay honest about who they truly serve. Mic argues that human-in-the-loop remains the strongest setup today, and he walks through the one loop he runs every day for code review using Cursor, GitHub, and Greptile. By the end you will know...
Become an AI Native Organization: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/ai-native-org In this episode I sit down with Theo to unpack what becoming AI native truly means. We define an AI native org as people managing agents, agents reading and writing to the company, and the company growing smarter over time. Theo opens his actual workflows, walking through a working prototype, an auto-generated client proposal microsite, and a live usability test that synthesizes feedback into a V2 in one session. We c...
In this episode, I sit down with Alex Finn for a full, screen-shared walkthrough of Hermes Desktop, the new desktop home for the Hermes AI agent. I open with a clear challenge: by the end, sell me on installing Hermes Desktop, show me real ways to make money and stay productive, and explain his move from OpenClaw. Alex tours every major surface — sessions, profiles, artifacts, skills, cron jobs, and sub-agents — and shares money-saving tactics at each step. We close on the idea that matters most...
In this solo episode I walk through Codex Sites end to end, building a real internal tool live so you can copy the exact workflow. I open by comparing Codex Sites with one-prompt tools like Replit and Lovable, then construct a Startup Ideas OS board in six prompts. Along the way I cover memory and persistent storage, safe actions, Codex skills, save-gates, and proving the loop so the app updates autonomously. The core promise: by the end you know how to ship a Codex Site that an agent keeps oper...
This episode explores the transformative shift from a human-first internet to an agent-first one, where AI agents become primary customers. It details the agent buying journey, identifying their unique needs like identity, tools, wallets, and inboxes, and provides concrete examples of agent-native infrastructure. The discussion also covers how startups must adapt their websites and strategies, offering rapid-fire ideas for the emerging agentic economy.
Live from Google I/O, I sit down with Logan Kilpatrick from the Google DeepMind team to unpack everything Google just announced and what it means for founders, developers, and anyone trying to build with AI right now. We dig into Gemini 3.5 Flash, the new Gemini Omni world model, the expanded Antigravity ecosystem, managed agents in the Gemini API, and the native Android app builder inside AI Studio. Logan breaks down how distillation is pushing Pro-level intelligence into Flash, where the bigge...
I sit down with my friend Jonathan Courtney, a.k.a. Jicecream, to dig into the 9 biggest startup opportunities I see right now across B2C, AI, mobile, and IRL. We each pick ideas, trade reactions, and pressure-test them live. The conversation ranges from agent-first "action apps" to elder tech, third spaces, hobby retreats, pet health, AI-native media, and the case for selling AI "junior employees" to small businesses. Listeners walk away with a concrete map of where to build in 2026, plus the f...
If you want more workflows and tactics to build a business with AI, check out this free workshop: https://www.ideabrowser.com/workshop I sit down with Andrew Wilkinson and we go deep on how he's restructured his work, his health, and his family office around AI agents. Andrew walks me through Deep Personality (an app he vibe-coded after running psychological screens on himself and his girlfriend), the autonomous SaaS business he runs through agent harnesses like Harbor, and the vector-database s...
Nick agreed to personally set up your Orgo in a 15 min call: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/orgo_ai I sit down with Nick from Orgo to break down exactly how to run a one-person AI agent business that can realistically clear a few million dollars a year. Nick walks through the offer, the verticals worth chasing, the full software stack, and the live setup of an agent that manages other agents. We focus on tactics over theory, with specific tools, pricing, and the playbook for landing customers as...
Get started building your tiny AI Agent business with Genspark Claw: https://www.genspark.ai/?utm_source=po&utm_campaign=GregIsenberg In this solo episode, I share seven tiny, cash-flowing startup ideas you can build with AI in just a few prompts. I walk through how to use Genspark Claw, Genspark's new in-the-cloud agent product running Sonnet 4.6, and demonstrate two ideas I have already built (a dead domain flipper and a local restaurant liquidation broker), build a third idea live on came...
I sit down with Meng To for his second appearance on the pod to dig into design md, Google's newly open-sourced format for capturing the soul of a design and porting it across every medium and tool. Meng walks me through a live demo of how he uses design md alongside skills, HTML references, and tools like Aura, New Form, Codex, and OpenClaw to ship landing pages, motion design, slides, and mobile mocks that actually feel custom. We get into the design drift problem with one-shot prompts, why ta...
I'm joined again by Imran Muthuvappa to walk through how to build your own AI Chief of Staff using a tool called Nebula. Imran shows me how to spin up specialized agents that handle the work a real chief of staff would do — surfacing team blockers, tracking project status, holding people accountable to offsite vision goals, running daily agenda briefings, and prospecting ICP leads. We also get into mini apps, model selection for cost efficiency, and why personal software is becoming a real categ...
Limited BONUS: First 1,000 builders get $1,000. Claim yours while supplies lasts.: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/hyperagent I sit down with Howie Liu, co-founder and CEO of Airtable, to talk about the agent economy and the launch of HyperAgent. We walk through Sequoia's charts on AI agent deployment, the economics of token-based work versus human labor, and why frontier agents have crossed a threshold that changes how companies get built. Howie then does a live show-and-tell of HyperAgent, incl...
I sit down with Riley Brown to get a hands-on tour of OpenAI's Codex, which he argues is the most powerful single interface for using AI agents today. Riley walks me through how Codex unifies vibe coding, knowledge work, browser use, computer use, and automations into one app, all running on GPT 5.5. I come in as a complete Codex skeptic who has spent most of my time in Claude Code, and Riley shows me skills, plugins, projects, Remotion, Chronicle, and the in-app browser to make his case. By the...
In this solo episode, I walk through ChatGPT Images 2.0 and show exactly how to use it to build creative assets that move a business forward, from brand visual directions to UI mockups to apparel mockups and editorial illustrations. I share the AI tool that surprised me this week (Noscroll), hand over a startup idea I want someone to steal (a learn-to-draw app with AI feedback on every sketch), and give you a five-step framework for finding and building a vertical AI business. I end with a Ralph...
I sit down with Imran Muthuvappa to get a hands-on walkthrough of Hermes Agent, a personal AI agent that ships with built-in memory, 40+ tools, and pre-installed skills out of the box. Imran walks me through why he migrated from OpenClaw, how to install Hermes on a Mac or even an Android phone via Termux, and how he cut his token spend by roughly 90% using OpenRouter. We get into agent design (one agent vs. multiple), connecting Hermes to Telegram and Obsidian, and the kinds of prompts that turn...
I go live and get my hands dirty with Claude Design, Anthropic's new design tool in research preview. Across roughly an hour, I run a real workflow end-to-end: pulling a product idea from Idea Browser, generating wireframes, iterating into visual designs, building a pitch deck, and attempting a 30-second video ad. I share my first reactions in real time and take feedback from the chat. By the end, I land on a clear verdict — best-in-class for wireframes and visuals, weaker for video — and give y...
In this episode I sit down with my friend Sirio, one of the most creative AI minds I know, to break down Seedance V2. Sirio walks us through the exact use cases, prompts, and tactics he's using to build on top of this model inside his platform Enhancor, covering multi-input generation, virtual try-ons, ad translation, AI influencers with lip sync, video extension, and 3D product template replacement. I wanted this to go beyond the "look how cool this is" tutorials and focus on how creators and f...
I sit down with Amir, who's back on the pod, and we walk through the full stack of taking a business idea from zero to a validated, A/B-tested landing page in a single session. I use Idea Browser's new MCP integration with Claude Code to pull project context, generate a lead magnet concept, design a landing page in Paper, and then wire up analytics and live experiments through HumbleLytics — all without writing a single line of front-end code manually. We cover the tools, the workflow, and why t...
I sit down with Ras Mic to break down how AI agents actually work and why most people are using them wrong. Ras Mic explains the mechanics of context windows, makes the case that agent md files are largely unnecessary, and shares his step-by-step methodology for building custom skills that make agents dramatically more productive. Whether you're coding with Claude Code or automating workflows with OpenClaw, this episode gives you the foundational knowledge to stop wasting tokens and start gettin...
I sit down with Flo, founder of Lindy, to get a live demo of their new product, Lindy Assistant, an AI executive assistant that lives in iMessage and works proactively across email, calendar, Slack, Notion, and 100-plus other tools. Flo walks me through a real day of his own Lindy usage, showing how it drafts email replies, prepares meeting briefs, updates CRMs, and handles calendar changes without being asked. We compare Lindy to OpenClaw and Claude's ecosystem, talk pricing, edge-case power us...
I go solo on this episode to walk through the full list of AI trends and opportunities keeping me up at night — literally. From the one-hour company stack to ambient businesses, vertical AI, the agent economy, and the real security threats I see coming, I cover what I believe is the most asymmetric window in startup history. I share the frameworks I use to think about what to build, what to avoid, and why acting now matters more than waiting for things to settle down. Timestamps 00:10 – Intro 01...
This episode argues that while AI commoditizes code, distribution is the new essential moat for startups. It outlines seven actionable strategies for builders to acquire customers, including using MCP servers for sales, programmatic SEO, and free tools as marketing. The discussion also covers optimizing for AI answer engines, creating viral shareable outputs, acquiring niche newsletters, and leveraging AI for content repurposing, empowering founders to scale their businesses effectively.
I sit down with Dotta, the pseudonymous co-founder of Paperclip, the open-source agent orchestrator that exploded to 30,000 GitHub stars in under three weeks. We walk through a live demo where I pick a startup idea from my idea browser and we spin up a full AI-agent company in real time — hiring a CEO, founding engineer, QA agent, video editor, and content strategist inside Paperclip. Dotta shares practical tips on agent configuration, memory systems, skill installation, and the "Memento Man" me...
