Using AI to Launch Thousands of Startups a Year | Henrik Werdelin (Founder of BARK, prehype, Audos)

Henrik Werdelin is on an AI-fueled mission to launch thousands of startups a year. 

He is the founder of BARK, which went public, and prehype, a studio that has incubated several unicorns. With Audos, Henrik is building AI agents that can coach founders how he would — if he had infinite time to do so. 

And Audos is not just for the cliche founder looking to launch a unicorn… It’s for entrepreneurs of all stripes. With AI making things easier, Henrik expects to see lots more “DonkeyCorns,” i.e. highly profitable businesses operated by just one or two people. 

“DonkeyCorns party like unicorns, but they grind like mules.”

Check out this episode for lots of practical tips for how you can get more out of AI. Plus, we’ll peer into the weird future we’re building. 

Takeaways from this episode: 

• AI enables new businesses to be created, launched, and tested very quickly. Henrik shares how Audos uses AI to help founders focus on their customers, launch, and get customers
• Henrik talks to his AI agents like they’re people: He gives them names and backstories. By doing so, he finds he has a better partner than a bot or Google search would be. 
• The more creative you are with prompts, the better the AI will be. e.g., Ask for “ten ideas that will definitely get me fired”
• “Customer-founder fit” is the most important ingredient to Henrik 
• Use “signal mining” to prove there is real demand for your product
• “The swipe” proves there is real intent for your product, i.e. get people to pay for it, even if you haven’t built it yet.
• BARK succeeded (it’s gone public) by following its mission (be “Disney for dogs”) not by following its utility (boxes of stuff for pets)
• “Relationship capital” and “humanity” will be more important, as AI continues to excel at technical jobs. 
• Take AI seriously right now. And Henrik says senior leaders need to be using it themselves
• It’s weird out there: We discuss the uncanny valley of talking to AI agents (including those that impersonate your dead spouse) 
• Rock and roll – Henrik tells the story of his career break: As an intern, he pulled an on-air stunt at MTV that he was sure would get him fired, but instead got him a huge promotion.

Henrik is the author of The Acorn Method: How Companies Get Growing Again. And he’s writing a new book, Me, My Customer, and AI. He also co-hosts the podcast Beyond the Prompt, which features the interesting, weird, and uncanny-valley ways people are using AI in their day-to-day lives, as well as practical tips for how you can go beyond “beginner mode” in your own use of AI. 

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Key Moments 

• (00:00) - Intro
• (02:56) - Henrik’s method for launching startups
• (04:08) - Why “customer-founder fit” is the first thing he looks for and how it manifested at BARK
• (06:43) - How to use “signal mining” to prove there is real demand for your product
• (08:42) - Launching BARK Air, “a totally real airline for dogs”
• (12:28) - Launching Audos and using AI to launch thousands of startups a year
• (17:05) - “DonkeyCorns!” Why we will see more highly profitable companies run by just one or two people
• (21:30) - How Henrik uses AI, why he personifies his agents, and the creative prompts he uses
• (27:50) - The stunt that nearly got Henrik fired at MTV, but instead was his career break
• (31:00) - Why big companies need to take AI seriously right now
• (34:27) - How Henrik advises entrepreneurs looking for their next play
• (37:12) - “Pursue interestingness”
• (38:24) - The uncanny valley of AI embodying people
• (39:50) - Outro