The Startup Ideas Podcast

In this solo episode I explain a role that I call the marketing engineer. I believe this person becomes one of the most valuable hires in tech in the next 18 to 24 months. I define the job, I show the four eras of marketing that lead to it, and I give the tool stack that makes it work. I use a commercial HVAC software company as a worked example, and I list six systems that a marketing engineer builds. I close with four ways to earn money from this skill and a 30-day plan to learn it.
Timestamps:
00:00 – Intro
01:46 – The Evolution of Marketing
04:29 – What is a marketing engineer
07:19 – Build the Growth OS
10:18 – Marketing Engineer Tool stack
13:23 – Live Data Workflow
14:32 – Agent Job Description
16:56 – Example: vertical SaaS for HVAC contractors
18:27 – System 1: Customer Truth
20:20 – System 2 - 4: Founder content, Outbound signal and Creative Testing
23:31 – System 5: AI search visibility and the growth cockpit
24:19 – System 6: Eval Loop
25:06 – Ways to Monetize
29:41 – The 30-day plan
32:24 – Closing Thoughts
Key Points
I expect the marketing engineer to command salaries from 250K to more than 1 million dollars.
I build the growth repo first, because it holds the marketing memory of the whole company.
I write a job spec for each agent, in the same way that I write a job description for a person.
I measure qualified replies and pipeline, because business results show the true signal.
I treat taste and judgment as the moat, because agents become a commodity.
I recommend one working system over five half-built ones.
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/

Vinny is back on the pod, and he explains WebMCP. WebMCP puts MCP tools inside the browser UI, so any agent that you bring can read a page and act on it. Vinny demos an espresso gear store where his agent compares two machines, checks the counter width, matches accessories, adds an item to the cart, and applies a coupon. Together we map the agent-native options, from headless APIs to in-app agents, and we place WebMCP in the middle of that map. I close the episode with two cash-flowing business ideas that a semi-technical founder can start today.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

02:28 – WebMCP Clearly Explained

07:22 – Demo: Conditional Tools And Browser Session Login

09:11 – The Agent-Native Paradigm

12:12 – How Agents Interact with Apps

16:05 – Demo: Accessories, Cart, And Coupons

18:42 – Where WebMCP fits

21:03 – Startup Idea 1: WebMCP Conversion Agency

24:27 – Startup Idea 2: Agent Mystery Shopper

26:11 – Closing Thoughts

Key Points

WebMCP makes a website agent-readable and agent-actionable through a short, clear list of tools.

The browser session carries the login, so tools stay conditional and the setup stays simple.

The live store demo compares machines, matches accessories, adds to the cart, and applies a coupon.

WebMCP sits between headless APIs and in-app agents, and it keeps the visual UI that most people prefer.

Vince says WebMCP launched in February as a joint Microsoft and Google experiment in Chrome.

The first markets: complex commerce, SaaS admin consoles, read-only flows in regulated industries, and internal tools.

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/

The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/

FIND ME ON SOCIAL

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg

Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

FIND VINNY ON SOCIAL:

X/Twitter: https://x.com/hot_town

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHP5Hdx0X-sM0uv2bl_OOqg

On this week’s SIP Live we dive deep on the X timeline to give each post a sip or a skip, and we answer questions from the chat. This episode covers AI-native operations, a baby food app that earns a million dollars a month, iMessage agents, human customer support as a brand advantage, small teams, reading habits, and sales advice for builders. Listeners get concrete first steps, business ideas they can copy today, and two clear opinions on each take.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

00:59 – Where an AI-Native Company Starts

04:48 – The $1M-a-Month Baby Food App

10:31 – An App Store for iMessage Agents

16:32 – Customer Support Is Eating Engineering

23:38 – RIP to the 2-Pizza Team

26:36 – Paul Graham on Reading as an Advantage

33:31 – The Worst Moves for 2026

37:01 – From Designer to Salesperson

Key Points

Make the company legible first: keep meeting notes and SOPs in files that an LLM can read.

Let the team explore AI tools freely, then ask one department, such as admin, to lead.

A million-dollar-a-month app leaves room for niche copies that earn 10K to 30K a month.

Build loops that turn daily support transcripts into prototypes and measurable goals.

Human support works as a marketing advantage, and premium buyers pay for it.

Sales stays part of the owner's job, so learn the frameworks and start cold calling.

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/

The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/

FIND ME ON SOCIAL

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg

Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

FIND JONATHAN ON SOCIAL

Unscheduled CEO Podcast: https://www.unscheduledceo.com/

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jicecream

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-courtney-4510644b/

I sit down with Billy Howell for an inside look at a real business that runs on Grok Bot agent teams. Billy tests hundreds of tools for The Rundown, and he uses Grok Bot to run his local newsletter, The Arlington Bagel, which goes to 6,000 readers every Thursday. He walks me through his chief of staff bot, his research and sales agents, and the routines that move work forward while he sleeps. We cover the token math, the four-week plan he follows, and the business models that fit this tool best: newsletters, directories, and Shopify stores. You leave with a setup you can copy for one project this month.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

02:22 – Grok Bot Overview

03:12 – What makes GrokBot special

06:09 – Pick one project

08:09 – Creating your initial agent team

11:19 – First week sprint with Grok Bot

13:06 – Automated Routines within Grok Bot

15:51 – Agent Org Structure

17:35 – Best Practices for building Agents

19:45 – Newsletter playbook

21:12 – Plugins

22:24 – Newsletter playbook pt 2

25:43 – Sales agent

29:06 – Iterating and Improving Agents

33:34 – Grok Bot business ideas

36:45 – Site stack builder

38:36 – Directories and landing pages

41:42 – One project for a month

42:50 – Closing Thoughts

Key Points

Keep one project per Grok Bot account, so context stays clean and tokens stay available.

Start with a chief of staff bot, and let it audit your business and name the first three agents.

Follow the four weeks: build the team, execute, hire and fire, then automate.

Ask each agent for a five-line brief: what shipped, what is stuck, what needs you.

Move repeatable steps into scripts or make com, and keep agent tokens for high value work.

Newsletters and directories give the easiest entry, and the two models feed each other.

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/

The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/

FIND ME ON SOCIAL

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg

Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

FIND BILLY ON SOCIAL:

X/Twitter: https://x.com/billyjhowell

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/billyjhowell

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@saasfatigue

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@billyjhowell

Get Your Complete Financial OS at https://startup-ideas-pod.link/brex_SIP

I talk with Remy, known online as AI with Remy, about agent skills and how to share them across a whole team. Remy explains that a skill is an SOP for AI: a markdown file that teaches Claude your exact way to do a task. He then shows his system. He keeps his team skills in one GitHub repository, and he installs that repository as a plugin in Claude Code and Codex. The result is one source of truth, automatic updates for everyone, version control, and company ownership of the work. Listen to this episode if you run daily tasks with agents and you want your whole team to get the same quality of output.

Remy’s prompt + skill setup: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/Remy-skills

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

02:33 – Skills as SOPs for AI

04:27 – How the agent uses skills

05:13 – AI is single player

06:21 – Example Skills: Notion, Brand Voice, Email

08:07 – How to share skills

11:40 – What is a Plugin?

14:58 – Anatomy of a Plugin

15:30 – Version Control and Rollback

16:58 – A Second Repo for Personal Skills

18:29 – The Day Claude Deleted 150 Skills

20:02 – Skills as Company Assets

21:00 – A Web App on Top of the Repo

24:46 – How Many Skills to Build

27:00 – The Self-Improvement Loop

28:15 – Skill Maxxing

30:40 – Closing Thoughts

Key Points

A skill is a markdown SOP that teaches an agent your exact way to do a task.

Most skills sit on one laptop, so a great process stays with one person.

A GitHub repo plus a plugin gives the team one source of truth for every skill.

Auto-update sends each skill edit to every teammate in Claude Code and Codex.

A company-owned repo keeps the skills when a teammate moves on.

Remy builds thin agents and thick skills, so any harness can run the same process.

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/

The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/

FIND ME ON SOCIAL

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg

Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

FIND REMY ON SOCIAL

X: https://x.com/remy_gaskell

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@aiwithremy

AI with Remy: https://www.aiwithremy.com/