AI “agents” have been hyped to death—but very few are truly delivering real-world impact. In this episode, we cut through the vaporware with Christian Wiens, co-founder of Loman, an AI voice agent platform transforming how restaurants handle customer calls, orders, and reservations. Christian shares how Loman went from a two-person idea to serving hundreds of restaurants and hitting $1.5M ARR in record time. We dive into why voice is the most natural, context-rich way for humans to communicate—and how AI agents that do real work (not just answer questions) will change how we interact with businesses forever. You’ll hear how Loman’s restaurant agents integrate directly with POS systems to take orders end-to-end, the surprising reasons Gen Z prefers talking to AI over humans, and why the future of a brand’s “front door” may be an AI personality instead of a website. Christian also breaks down Loman’s explosive growth playbook—from ditching cold email for native social ads, to filming on-location customer stories that convert like crazy. We cover the realities of AI-generated ads, programmatic SEO, and why outcome-driven automation is the only AI worth paying for.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- What really defines an AI agent—and why most products don’t qualify
- How voice-based AI can capture richer customer context than any app or form
- The operational pain restaurants face with missed calls and how AI solves it
- Why customers don’t care if it’s AI or human—only that it gets the job done
- Gen Z’s surprising comfort with AI calls (and discomfort with human ones)
- The two make-or-break factors every AI agent needs to succeed
- How to create “native feel” ad creatives that crush on social
- Why hyper-specific vertical integration beats horizontal AI every time
- The massive untapped potential for outbound AI voice (and the legal gray areas)
- Christian’s vision for a future where AI agents replace websites as the primary customer touchpoint
Chapters
00:00 – Intro & The AI Agent Hype vs. Reality
04:18 – What an AI Agent Really Is
09:02 – Why Voice Is the Ultimate Interface
13:47 – The Restaurant Industry’s Missed Call Problem
18:25 – Gen Z’s Comfort with AI Calls
22:58 – Vertical vs. Horizontal AI Strategies
27:41 – Loman’s Explosive Growth Playbook
32:16 – Ads That Feel Native & Convert
37:08 – Outbound AI Voice & Legal Considerations
42:55 – The Future: AI Agents as the New Websites
47:20 – Closing Thoughts & How to Connect with Christian
Connect with Christian Wiens:
