• Launched two AI products

• Acquired tens of thousands of users

• Released a new incubation in private alpha

The weird thing is: We’re a media company with < 10 full-time employees, and we’re mostly bootstrapped.

That’s not how things are supposed to work in startups.

When we started our product incubation arm six months ago, many people told us it wouldn’t work: divided focus, not enough money, and the biggest one—it would be too hard to find talented people to run the products we build.

Yesterday, we proved out one of the biggest risks to our strategy: We launched a brand-new version of our AI product Spiral (https://spiral.computer) with Danny Aziz as GM—who left a $200K salary to join us. 

The question is: Why? Why did he join us, and why is the model working when it “shouldn’t” be?

That’s why I invited Danny and Brandon Gell, Every’s head of Studio, on the show. We get into the details of Every’s business model, what makes our flywheel turn, where each of us sees ourselves one year from now, and what happens when you mix media, software, and AI under one roof.

This is a must-watch for anyone who wants to build a business on their own terms, and have a lot of fun while doing it. 

If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! 

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Timestamps:

1. Introduction: 00:01:08

2. All about Spiral, the tool we recently launched: 00:02:15

3. Why Danny left a $200,000 salary to work at a bootstrapped media company: 00:04:06

4. How we do a lot of things well at Every: 00:10:33

5. What makes Every’s flywheel turn: 00:14:44

6. The kind of people who fit right in at Every: 00:17:11

7. How Every is differentiated from a standard VC-backed startup: 00:23:25

8. How Danny found his way into the world of startups: 00:36:11

9. The tech industry’s affinity for potential over experience: 00:46:43 

10. Where each of us sees ourselves in the next one year: 00:52:38

Links to resources mentioned in the episode: 

• Danny Aziz: @DannyAziz97

• Brandon Gell: @bran_don_gell

• Try Spiral here: https://spiral.computer/  

• More about Every’s product incubation arm: https://every.to/p/introducing-every-studio