
The Lobster Talks Podcast by Lobster Capital $50K Focus Groups Are About to Be Replaced by AI
Focus groups used to take 6–8 weeks and cost around $30–50k.
Motives is a YC Summer ’25 company that does it in a day, and is doing it the hard way: with real humans, not synthetic personas.
In this episode of Lobster Talks, we sit down with Sean (Motives, YC S25) to unpack how AI-native companies are replacing legacy services, why YC is doubling down on agents, and the real tradeoffs of building outside San Francisco.
You’ll learn:
- Why Motives can run focus-group-grade research in 1–2 days vs 6–8 weeks
- The truth about synthetic users vs real humans (and where each wins)
- YC’s real “secret” (spoiler: it’s not a secret) and why it maps perfectly to agents
- The underrated founder problem: sales vs customer success once you have traction
- Why “unlimited research” pricing can create addiction-level usage
- London vs SF: customer density, talent economics, and survivability as a founder
📌 Watch now and subscribe for more smart, fast, founder-first interviews.
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction to Motives: Revolutionizing Consumer Research with AI
00:31 Welcome to Lobster Talks: Meet Sean from Motives
01:01 Deep Dive into Motives: How It Works and Its Advantages
01:49 The Evolution of Market Research: From Traditional to AI-Powered
03:52 Comparing Human and AI-Driven Consumer Research
09:58 The YC Experience: Building AI-Native Businesses
14:57 Challenges and Strategies for AI Startups
24:07 Sales and Customer Success in AI Agent Businesses
28:10 Reflecting on Client Payments and Capital
28:35 Testing the Unlimited Plan
28:57 Challenges and Learnings from AI Research
32:14 Quality Control and Automation
34:36 The Importance of Customer Feedback
36:20 Choosing London Over San Francisco
38:16 Advantages of Being in London
44:02 Balancing Work and Personal Life
47:38 Cultural Differences in Tech
52:40 Final Thoughts and Reflections
🎧 Listen on the go:
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1u1JyRKH8JYFjhBkvTUOAP
Apple: https://apple.co/4cZ8RMm
My other YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@lobstercap
