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The Startup Ideas Podcast

The Startup Ideas Podcast

By: Greg Isenberg
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Get your creative juices flowing with The Startup Ideas Podcast. Published twice a week, we bring you free startup ideas to inspire your next venture. Hosted by Greg Isenberg, CEO of Late Checkout and former advisor to Reddit and TikTok. Subscribe so you don't miss out. For more startup ideas, we created a database of 30+ startup ideas you can take at https://gregisenberg.com/30startupideas© The Startup Ideas Podcast Economics Leadership Management & Leadership
Episodes
  • Hermes Agent App Clearly Explained (and how to use it)

    Hermes Agent App Clearly Explained (and how to use it)
    Jun 6 2026
    In this episode, I sit down with Alex Finn for a full, screen-shared walkthrough of Hermes Desktop, the new desktop home for the Hermes AI agent. I open with a clear challenge: by the end, sell me on installing Hermes Desktop, show me real ways to make money and stay productive, and explain his move from OpenClaw. Alex tours every major surface — sessions, profiles, artifacts, skills, cron jobs, and sub-agents — and shares money-saving tactics at each step. We close on the idea that matters most to me: aiming these agents at other people's challenges as the clearest path to real value. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro 04:04 – Sessions and Context Management 06:10 – Profiles Explained 08:49 – Model-Based vs Role-Based Profiles 12:58 – Artifacts as a Second Brain 14:32 – Why Alex Switched From OpenClaw 17:32 – Skills, Tools, and Tool Sets 19:19 – Messaging and Cron Setup 21:44 – Reverse Prompting and the Brain Dump 28:09 – Sub-Agents vs Profiles 32:12 – Putting It Together: Solving Challenges 32:38 – The Daily Business Opportunity Scan 37:05 – Local Models: Mac Studio vs DGX Spark 39:03 – Reframing Cost as Investment 41:59 – The Real Way to Make Money With Hermes 42:51 – Closing Thoughts Key Points Hermes Desktop pulls sessions, profiles, artifacts, skills, and cron jobs into one polished, Apple-style interface. Smart session and context management keeps each message slim and keeps monthly costs low. Profiles map to different models — Opus 4.8 for strategy, ChatGPT 5.5 for coding, a local Qwen model for free research — so each task runs on its best fit. Reverse prompting plus a personal brain dump produces far stronger prompts, cron jobs, and outputs. Sub-agents handle one skill across many parallel tasks; profiles handle work where each step needs a distinct skill set. The biggest opportunity: aim your agent at Reddit and X to surface real problems you are positioned to solve. The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/ The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/ FIND ME ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/ FIND ALEX ON SOCIAL Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlexFinnOfficial/videos X/Twitter: https://x.com/AlexFinnX Creator Buddy: https://www.creatorbuddy.io/
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    44 mins
  • Codex Sites Clearly Explained (and how to use it)

    Codex Sites Clearly Explained (and how to use it)
    Jun 4 2026
    In this solo episode I walk through Codex Sites end to end, building a real internal tool live so you can copy the exact workflow. I open by comparing Codex Sites with one-prompt tools like Replit and Lovable, then construct a Startup Ideas OS board in six prompts. Along the way I cover memory and persistent storage, safe actions, Codex skills, save-gates, and proving the loop so the app updates autonomously. The core promise: by the end you know how to ship a Codex Site that an agent keeps operating for you. This one suits builders who already live in Codex and want self-updating products. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro and Episode Agenda 01:17 – Codex Sites vs Replit and Lovable 04:33 – The Build Plan: Startup Ideas OS 05:08 – Prompt 1: Build the Shell with Sites 07:02 – Plugins Worth Using and Game Studio 08:54 – First Board Review 09:21 – Prompt 2: Add Memory and Show the Data Model 10:56 – Prompt 3: Create Safe Actions 13:25 – Prompt 4: Create the Startup Ideas Admin Skill 14:51 – Prompt 5: Save-Gate and Checkpoints 16:29 – Prompt 6: Prove the Loop from a New Chat 18:10 – Publish, Auth, and Live Updates 20:28 – TLDR: Memory, Safe Actions, Skills 22:40 – The Real Unlock and Closing Thoughts Key Points Codex Sites rewards builders who already live in Codex by updating apps autonomously after launch. Replit, Lovable, and Bolt stay the simpler one-prompt choice; Codex Sites trades that for autonomy and self-updating products. Out of the box you prompt in auth, databases, payments, email, analytics, and a secrets vault yourself. I build a Startup Ideas OS board in six prompts: shell, memory, safe actions, a skill, a save-gate, and a proof loop. Safe actions let an agent call approved buttons and named mutations, so edits flow from any chat. The real payoff is autonomous products that Codex keeps operating and improving on a live URL. The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/ The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/ FIND ME ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/
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    25 mins
  • The Next $100B Market: Selling To AI Agents

    The Next $100B Market: Selling To AI Agents
    Jun 2 2026
    In this solo episode, I break down the shift from a human-first internet to an agent-first one, where AI agents become the customers that discover, evaluate, pay, and recommend. I map the agent buying journey and the new infrastructure agents need: identity, tools, an inbox, memory, a wallet, and receipts. I ground it with concrete examples like AgentMail and Stripe's agent wallet, then show how to make your website agent-readable through structured docs, schemas, MCP tools, and executable actions. I close with rapid-fire startup ideas and my big prediction for the next ten years: build startups for agents. Timestamps: 00:00 – Intro 00:49 – The tweet: build startups for agents 01:47 – Old web vs. agent web 02:24 – The agent buying journey 04:38 – What agents need: identity, tools, inbox, memory, wallet, receipts 05:30 – Examples: AgentMail, Stripe agent wallet, support, procurement, MCP, travel agent 08:24 – Building an agent-readable website 09:31 – What does this change for Startups 11:55 – Rapid-fire startup ideas for agents 13:07 – Closing Thoughts Key Points I explain that AI agents are becoming the primary customers online, with agent traffic set to outnumber human traffic. I lay out the agent buying journey: finding, evaluating, transacting, using tools, and recommending to other agents. I list what agents need beyond what humans need: identity, tools, an inbox, memory, a wallet, and receipts. I walk through real examples like AgentMail, Stripe's agent wallet, support, procurement, MCP servers, and a travel agent. I show how to make a site agent-readable with structured docs, schemas, MCP tools, SDKs, OAuth, checkout, sandboxes, and receipts. I share rapid-fire startup ideas for the agentic era and frame my big prediction: build startups for agents. The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/ The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/ FIND ME ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/
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    14 mins
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