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Jesse Stein – Scaling Startups, Building AI Agents, and Solving Hospitality’s Hardest Problems
In this episode of The Restaurant AI Podcast, Matt Wampler sits down with Jesse Stein—serial entrepreneur and CEO of Hermetic AI—to unpack how AI agents are transforming the private event sales process in hospitality. From building SportsMemorabilia.com and selling it to Fanatics, to scaling a skincare brand to $48 million in two years, Jesse’s entrepreneurial resume is nothing short of legendary.
Now, he’s turned his attention to hospitality, creating AI agents like “Mia” that respond to leads in under 12 seconds, personalize communication with guests, and handle everything from scheduling to reactivation of past customers. The result? Increased revenue, lower operating costs, and happier teams. Jesse breaks down what makes AI agents truly effective, the importance of going niche, and why focusing on execution—not just ideas—is the real differentiator in today’s tech landscape.
If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to build an AI company that’s actually solving real problems for restaurants, this is the episode you don’t want to miss.
Relevant links:
ClearCOGS: https://www.clearcogs.com/
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjwampler/
Connect with Jesse on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessejstein/
Follow Jesse on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesse.steinn/
00:00 Intro
01:26 Jesse's background as a serial tech entrepreneur
02:45 How he decides to pursue certain business ventures
07:40 SportsMemorabilia.com and buying raw domains
09:15 Being opportunistic vs filling a need
14:52 The story behind Hermetic AI
16:50 Turning an idea into a business and scaling it
18:01 How Hermetic AI solves pain points for the hospitality industry
20:04 The difference in 'Mia' vs other AI agents
23:01 Building vertically and not horizontally
24:44 The state of AI agents
30:06 How AI agents are trained to mirror you
35:14 "Businesses with AI will replace businesses without AI."
37:25 How MIA synchronizes with every aspect of the business
42:30 Realizing value
43:34 Why outbound lead generation is so tough
44:45 The best use cases for LLM's
46:20 Machine learning in order to improve conversions
47:50 Interesting learnings so far
50:15 The ethics of informing customers that Mia is an AI agent
52:57 "It's disruptive in a good way."
55:08 How focus can be a superpower
56:38 What else to look for when evaluating AI companies
59:30 The future of agentic AI
1:03:54 Outro
View all episodes
By Matt WamplerIn this episode of The Restaurant AI Podcast, Matt Wampler sits down with Jesse Stein—serial entrepreneur and CEO of Hermetic AI—to unpack how AI agents are transforming the private event sales process in hospitality. From building SportsMemorabilia.com and selling it to Fanatics, to scaling a skincare brand to $48 million in two years, Jesse’s entrepreneurial resume is nothing short of legendary.
Now, he’s turned his attention to hospitality, creating AI agents like “Mia” that respond to leads in under 12 seconds, personalize communication with guests, and handle everything from scheduling to reactivation of past customers. The result? Increased revenue, lower operating costs, and happier teams. Jesse breaks down what makes AI agents truly effective, the importance of going niche, and why focusing on execution—not just ideas—is the real differentiator in today’s tech landscape.
If you’ve ever wondered what it takes to build an AI company that’s actually solving real problems for restaurants, this is the episode you don’t want to miss.
Relevant links:
ClearCOGS: https://www.clearcogs.com/
Connect with Matt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewjwampler/
Connect with Jesse on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessejstein/
Follow Jesse on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesse.steinn/
00:00 Intro
01:26 Jesse's background as a serial tech entrepreneur
02:45 How he decides to pursue certain business ventures
07:40 SportsMemorabilia.com and buying raw domains
09:15 Being opportunistic vs filling a need
14:52 The story behind Hermetic AI
16:50 Turning an idea into a business and scaling it
18:01 How Hermetic AI solves pain points for the hospitality industry
20:04 The difference in 'Mia' vs other AI agents
23:01 Building vertically and not horizontally
24:44 The state of AI agents
30:06 How AI agents are trained to mirror you
35:14 "Businesses with AI will replace businesses without AI."
37:25 How MIA synchronizes with every aspect of the business
42:30 Realizing value
43:34 Why outbound lead generation is so tough
44:45 The best use cases for LLM's
46:20 Machine learning in order to improve conversions
47:50 Interesting learnings so far
50:15 The ethics of informing customers that Mia is an AI agent
52:57 "It's disruptive in a good way."
55:08 How focus can be a superpower
56:38 What else to look for when evaluating AI companies
59:30 The future of agentic AI
1:03:54 Outro