The Next New Thing

 🎧 Highlights:
[00:00:00] From Makerpad to Factory — Ben Tossell’s journey
[00:01:33] Life after acquisition and redefining work
[00:05:06] Why AI might make things harder, not easier
[00:07:30] No-code lessons and the illusion of simplicity
[00:10:42] From teaching no-code to debugging workflows
[00:12:00] Learning to code with AI as your translator
[00:15:09] Curiosity as the new technical skill
[00:16:21] Building a “source of truth” AI system inside Factory
[00:23:42] How Ben uses AI to search across code, docs, and tickets
[00:27:36] Teaching AI to follow his workflow
[00:30:27] Getting comfortable with the command line
[00:33:45] The first time AI made him feel like a real builder
[00:35:42] Makerpad’s growth, Slack community, and hiring from within
[00:41:24] Newsletter growth hacks and lessons from Ben’s Bites
[00:46:03] Selling Makerpad and rediscovering purpose
[00:49:39] Investing through Ben’s Bites Fund
[00:50:33] Returning to his roots: teaching, learning, and building again
[00:53:18] The one-person billion-dollar company — myth or movement? 

In this episode, Andrew Warner talks with Ben Tossell, creator of Makerpad — the #1 community for no-code builders, which he later sold to Zapier. Now at Factory, Ben is helping developers build with AI instead of code — and rethinking what “technical” even means.

Ben opens up about the post-acquisition burnout that came after his sale, why he avoided starting another company, and how AI has reignited his creativity. Together, they explore what it means to go from no-code to “AI-native,” and why the dream of one-person billion-dollar companies might be closer than it sounds.

👉 Join us: https://thenextnewthing.ai/

🎧 Highlights:
[00:00:00] From freelance writer to $10M ARR founder
[00:03:36] How Pepper scaled from a marketplace to an AI-powered content engine
[00:05:06] The hybrid model: humans and AI creating together
[00:07:12] Building “Nimbus” — Pepper’s internal AI platform
[00:08:24] Re-optimizing thousands of old pages automatically
[00:13:03] Why FAQs and freshness signals help you rank in AI results
[00:15:00] GEO: Generative Engine Optimization explained
[00:16:12] Tracking brand mentions across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity
[00:18:00] Using AI to generate videos, voices, and creative assets
[00:25:12] Scaling creative testing with 30,000+ AI-made ad banners
[00:27:18] How smaller creators can apply these lessons today
[00:30:27] Reddit, LinkedIn, and UGC as new AI search signals
[00:33:00] Cold-emailing OpenAI’s Greg Brockman and getting access to GPT-3
[00:34:21] Building PepperType.ai and learning from early AI adoption
[00:35:30] Using AI personally to optimize meetings and calendar time

In this episode, Andrew Warner interviews Anirudh Singla, founder and CEO of Pepper, a company that uses AI and human expertise to produce hundreds of thousands of pieces of content for enterprise brands.

Anirudh shares how he went from writing on Upwork to building a platform now doing over $10M ARR, powered by a blend of automation, creativity, and data. He reveals how Pepper uses AI agents to write, edit, and even refresh old content — and why the next big wave isn’t SEO, it’s GEO: Generative Engine Optimization.

Andrew shares the AI tools that real startup founders are using every day — not hype, but the ones that actually help them work smarter.
 From AI note-takers that surface your blind spots to automations that coach your team after meetings, these are the tools that top entrepreneurs rely on.

🔗 Tools mentioned:

• Granola App: https://www.granola.ai/

• Claude Console: https://console.anthropic.com/

• TextBlaze: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/text-blaze-templates-and/idgadaccgipmpannjkmfddolnnhmeklj?hl=en-US

• Wade’s Zap: https://agents.zapier.com/copy/f17868bc-cc23-433a-b211-af402f47e1b4

• Garry’s Script Prompt: https://l.thenextnewthing.ai/r/OD14YA

• Alex Lieberman's EOS GPT: https://l.thenextnewthing.ai/r/5BB4do

Which of these are you already using — or planning to try next?

 🎧 Highlights:
[00:00:00] Intro – “Don’t start with SEO. Start with AEO.”
[00:00:36] Why this is the right time to focus on answer engine optimization
[00:01:30] Case study: Webflow drives 8% of signups from LLMs
[00:03:00] Onsite vs. offsite optimization — Reddit and YouTube matter most
[00:06:18] Why Help Center content outperforms traditional SEO pages
[00:13:30] Why AEO is ideal for small startups without big budgets
[00:16:39] “SEO is not dead” — and why Google’s share of search stays stable
[00:19:39] Myths: LLM.txt, robots.txt, and how misinformation spreads
[00:23:06] The scientific method for testing what actually works
[00:25:57] Affiliates and citations — how paid mentions impact LLM rankings
[00:27:27] How to find high-value questions to target
[00:31:12] 60+ AEO tools — and the new “content scoring” era
[00:35:06] How to build an AEO agency (and what services to offer)
[00:39:36] Marketing Graphite — why thought leadership still wins
[00:43:00] The AEO roadmap: what to do first, step by step
[00:47:00] The MasterClass SEO story
[00:48:18] Fires, gardens, and creative thinking in constraint 

SEO is changing—and the next frontier is AEO: Answer Engine Optimization.

In this episode, Andrew Warner sits down with Ethan Smith, founder of Graphite, to break down how brands are already winning visibility on ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude — before their competitors even realize what’s happening.

Ethan explains why SEO isn’t dead, but answer engines are the next big channel — and how to optimize your site, videos, and community presence so AI models actually cite your brand in their answers.

🎧 Highlights:

[00:00:00] Intro
[00:02:06] Alex & Arman’s founding story — from pivot to partnership
[00:03:09] Why engineers experience AI’s biggest leverage
[00:05:15] “Think of it as a high-quality AI-powered dev shop”
[00:06:36] The big vision: Building the McKinsey of AI
[00:09:09] Crossing the chasm: From pre-AI to post-AI
[00:13:03] Intelligence arbitrage vs. labor arbitrage
[00:15:00] Using AI to double productivity in dev work
[00:19:12] Why services with recurring revenue outperform “one-off” AI projects
[00:23:06] Real client examples: healthcare, billboards, SaaS
[00:26:06] Debate: Will AI transformation companies run out of work?
[00:29:15] Becoming the CEO’s “growth partner” in the AI era
[00:31:00] The trillion-dollar dev industry opportunity
[00:33:00] Live demos: Claude Code, multi-agent coding, and real-time automation
[00:50:00] Human-in-the-loop AI and the ethics of automation
[00:55:00] How Tenex thinks about pricing, margins, and scaling
[01:00:45] Building “Morning Brew for AI leaders”

In this episode, Andrew Warner, along with Jesse Pujji sits down with Alex Lieberman (Morning Brew) and Arman Hezarkhani, co-founders of Tenex, to unpack how their company is reshaping software development and consulting with AI.

They reveal how engineers are “living in the future,” how AI is collapsing the cost of production, and why most companies won’t have the resources to cross the chasm from pre-AI to post-AI. From building mobile apps in days instead of months to using AI agents that code and run business tasks autonomously, Tenex shows what AI transformation really looks like inside modern organizations.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS

00:00 – Intro Montage
00:52 – Every’s portfolio: Monologue, Spiral, Cora, and Sparkle
01:48 – How many people use their tools today?
02:15 – Mostly bootstrapped, with a small raise from Reid Hoffman
04:00 – Building based on internal needs and workflows
06:45 – Monologue’s origin story: weekend build, instant love
09:00 – Why Monologue works for “hybrid language” thinkers
10:30 – Writing → Building → Sharing: the creative flywheel
12:00 – Dan’s AI rituals: Journaling, reading, and thinking
15:00 – Using GPT for self-reflection and lightweight therapy
17:30 – Getting through dense philosophy (e.g., Kierkegaard) with AI
19:00 – Spiral’s evolution from summarizer to ghostwriter
21:00 – Cora: an AI assistant that preps your inbox
23:00 – Sparkle: automatic file organization, context-aware
25:00 – How Dan uses AI to create team handbooks and meetings
27:00 – The “interviewer agent” and writing in your voice
30:00 – Why Spiral isn’t just a wrapper—it’s a writing copilot
33:00 – “Software is the new content”: product = publishing
35:00 – AI is the new Excel, and apps are the new templates
37:00 – How Every maintains creativity while growing beyond 10 people
40:00 – “Smuggled Intelligence” and why AI benchmarks need humans
43:00 – Launching without distribution: the value of momentum
46:00 – Dan’s personal life as product inspiration (love, thoughts, therapy)

Dan Shipper Every, Spiral AI, Monologue app, Cora email assistant, Sparkle file organizer, AI startup tools, bootstrapped SaaS, AI writing tools, AI for journaling, AI productivity apps, GPT for thinking, AI therapy use, AI benchmarks, smuggled intelligence, building with LLMs, Andrew Warner podcast, product-led AI

Every’s style guide + prompt
https://l.thenextnewthing.ai/r/rjyLzl

⏱️ Timestamps / Episode Guide
00:00 – Intro
01:12 – Why most companies fail to get ROI from AI
02:06 – The #1 mistake: Using AI for content without strategy
03:00 – Fragmented data = wasted AI potential
04:00 – How Neil’s team fixes that: Find what drives revenue first
05:24 – Real case study: Med spas using AI to win back Google traffic
07:00 – How to get your pages in Google's AI Overview box
09:00 – When AI writing is valuable—and when it’s not
11:06 – ChatGPT rankings: Why HubSpot wins (and how you can too)
13:00 – LLM SEO strategy: Tables, reviews, comparisons, citations
15:00 – How top companies (and AI startups) get actual user growth
17:00 – The influencer growth playbook—without needing followers
18:36 – Cursor: AI that saves $20K+/engineer per year
20:00 – The two AI use cases that never fail: saving or making money
22:00 – AI dashboard startup critique: “More data” ≠ better business
24:00 – Messaging that works: From “data hub” to “cost savings”
26:00 – Case study: SaaS site messaging that drives conversion
28:00 – Should you build an “AI agency”? Neil breaks it down
30:00 – Why verticalized AI services outperform generalists
31:00 – NP Digital’s full automation demo with AI scraping + voice + outreach
34:00 – Saulo walks through the end-to-end Make.com automation
36:00 – Scraping Yellow Pages → Personalized voice memos → Clients
39:00 – Using Perplexity, ChatGPT, DALL·E, and Gmail for outreach
41:00 – Tips for scaling this system legally and effectively
44:00 – Tool stack: Appify, Invent.ai, Perplexity, ChatGPT, HubSpot
45:00 – Using AI to fuel growth until your sales team can't keep up

✍️ About This Episode
Neil Patel is one of the most respected names in digital marketing. In this episode, he brings hard-won lessons from AI consulting, automation experiments, and agency growth. With examples from HubSpot, med spas, SaaS tools, and beyond, this conversation cuts through the noise to show how AI really creates business value. Whether you're a founder, marketer, or agency builder, you'll walk away with practical frameworks to deploy immediately.

✅ JOIN US: https://thenextnewthing.ai/
Neil Patel’s AI sales automation:
https://l.thenextnewthing.ai/r/nrxLBo

⏱️ Timestamps / Episode Guide
00:00 – Intro
00:46 – Garry Tan on CaseText, early LLMs, and hallucination risk
04:00 – The first AI breakthroughs in legal tech
08:00 – How vertical SaaS outperforms general AI platforms
11:00 – Avoca & HVAC: beating ServiceTitan with niche AI
13:00 – YC startup growth rates: 10%–20% revenue weekly
17:00 – The “startup energy” coming back in 2025
20:00 – Garry’s vision: CRMs for every niche, not just Salesforce
22:00 – Not everyone needs to build a unicorn—small exits still transform lives
24:00 – Lost generation of big-tech employees vs. hungry 22-year-olds
26:00 – Jasper.ai, Read.ai, and the “demo effect” on enterprise adoption
29:00 – How YC partners support founders post-demo day
31:00 – Garry’s AI video creation workflow: prompts, feedback loops, and 10-min scripts
35:00 – The rise of the 200x engineer: prompts as leverage
37:00 – Revamping YC: back to “Google,” not Alphabet
40:00 – Why YC stopped competing with later-stage VCs
42:00 – The role of trust in founder support and mentorship
43:00 – AI-powered consumer apps: Rosebud.ai and personalized therapy
45:00 – What today’s wrappers & MVPs need to become real businesses
47:00 – Codegen, Claude, and the birth of the 200x solo dev
48:30 – Earthquake analogy: AI already hit—most people haven’t noticed
49:15 – Closing thoughts: This is the best time to build

✍️ About This Episode
Garry Tan doesn’t just lead Y Combinator—he’s reshaping how startups are built in the AI age. In this in-depth conversation, he and Andrew Warner explore the rise of solo devs, the true impact of LLMs, and how startups are re-emerging as the cultural engine of innovation. Whether you're building with AI, launching a niche SaaS, or trying to 10x your founder journey, this episode is packed with practical wisdom and future-facing insights.

✅ JOIN US: https://thenextnewthing.ai/
Garry Tan's video creation prompt
https://l.thenextnewthing.ai/r/OD14YA