Recognize Problems to Innovate Solutions

4min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Identifying problems is a critical skill for innovation, and it often requires a certain mindset to differentiate between challenges and regular experiences in daily life. Early exposure to technology or unique interests, such as programming or software development, can spark a deep obsession that ultimately leads to innovative solutions. The journey of creating software often begins with personal pain points; in this case, the need to locate a lost device inspired the development of an app. Recognizing emerging trends, like the rise of smartphones before mainstream awareness, can present golden opportunities to build relevant software solutions. Business models can evolve over time, shifting from one-time purchases to subscription services, highlighting the importance of adapting to changes in the market and technology landscape. Overall, cultivating the ability to notice and address real problems is vital for anyone aspiring to create impactful solutions.

The journey to a calm, profitable business in the AI age

We’re building a mini-AI media and software empire at Every.

Today on AI & I, Brandon Gell joins the show to turn the tables on me and act as podcast host to explore what we’re doing as a company, how we got here, and where we’re going.

Brandon is Every’s first entrepreneur in residence, and he was the perfect person to host, because he’s one of the key reasons for our recent acceleration.

Before joining Every, Brandon was the cofounder and CEO of Clyde, a startup that helped brands launch their own insurance and warranty programs, where he raised $50 million and led a team of 100 before selling it to global insurance tech company Cover Genius in early 2023.

In this episode, he interviews me about how I learned to code in middle school, how I built and sold my first startup coming out of college, and how it all led to Every.

We also talk about Brandon’s story. He joined Every just four months ago—and it feels like we’ve done the work of years since. We’ve launched two new AI products, an incredible amount of great writing, a new course, and more.

We get into:

My candid thoughts on entrepreneurship in the AI age—including why you should ship fast, and how not to be misled by metrics like TAM
How AI startups can find valuable niches—and live demos of our apps Spiral and Sparkle
Brandon’s hard-earned lessons from running a insuretech business for seven years
The confusing realities of being an exited founder, and how we navigated through those times
What brought Brandon to Every—including the email he sent me before joining
Every’s master plan and what we hope to build over the next few months and years

This is a must-watch for anyone interested in building a calm, profitable business empire in the age of AI.

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

Want even more?

Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT here: https://every.ck.page/ultimate-guide-to-prompting-chatgpt. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.

To hear more from Dan Shipper:

Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe
Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper

Timestamps:

Introduction: 00:00:56
Dan’s childhood dream—to build a Microsoft competitor: 00:03:36
The first app Dan built in middle school: 00:07:07
The story of Dan’s first company that he sold in college: 00:18:52
How Every came to be: 00:33:56
The start of Brandon’s journey as a builder: 00:49:15
Brandon’s first software app—and why you should launch first, and iterate later: 00:57:05
Everything Brandon learned from running a B2B business for seven years: 01:08:49
What brought Brandon to Every—and the email he sent Dan before joining: 01:18:00
Every’s master plan to be a successful creator-run business: 01:29:15
Live demo of Spiral, the app that automates 80 percent of repetitive creative work: 01:38:11
Brandon and Dan’s take on how AI startups can find a valuable niche: 01:44:00
Live demo of Sparkle, the app that organizes your files for you: 01:50:52

Links to resources mentioned in the episode:

Brandon Gell: https://twitter.com/bran_don_gell
The piece Dan recently published about Every’s master plan: https://every.to/chain-of-thought/every-s-master-plan
Dan’s piece about the unbundling of Excel, and why it serves as an important story in the age of AI: https://every.to/chain-of-thought/the-great-ai-unbundling
Tomasz Tunguz, the VC who has also written about Excel: https://tomtunguz.com/
Every cofounder Nathan’s word processor, Lex: https://lex.page/
Spiral, the app that automates 80 percent of repetitive creative work: https://spiral.computer/
Sparkle, the app that automatically organizes your files: https://makeitsparkle.co/