Opinion

Seeking advice from every type of business owner - if you have a moment & an opinion please chime in.

Hello everyone. I haven't started selling yet and wanted to get some insight from the community I'm trying to serve (that makes the most sense to me). So over the past couple months I've gotten into AI & Automation. I got a HighLevel account and went to town learning new things. I learned how to make automations and workflows that make running a business easier (my dad has been letting me use his concrete business as a guinea pig). I also learned how to build and train AI Chat Assistants. I want to start a service based business that uses AI & workflows to automate some of the customer service tasks & lead generation for business. What I'm seeking advice about are as follows: NICHE SELECTION: Part of me thinks I shouldn't niche down in the beginning and just take whoever comes and niche down once I find an industry I'm comfortable with. Another side thinks I should choose one. What is your opinion on niche selection in the beginning? PRICING: I know that pricing largely depends on the value I bring to the client, but I've seen people doing the same or similar things as I want to do and charging vastly different prices. From $300- $2,000. While I think these solutions could absolutely help companies get and retain new business and reduce some of the workload of their staff -- I'm not comfortable charging a high price until I've got enough experience and data to justify that. ​ THESE ARE THE SERVICES I'M THINKING OF OFFERING: Customer Service Chat Assistant. This will be on the website as a "Live Chat". It also connects to Facebook Messenger & Google Business Chat. I'd train the chat assistant on everything related to the company; pertinent info (NAP, company mission, industry background), contact info, services / products / pricing, FAQs, current specials &/or discount codes (this can be changed monthly), how to handle upset clients, etc. It can also connect to a calendar like Google or Calendly so customers can make an appointment or schedule a call directly from the conversation. Missed Call Follow Up. If you're familiar with the platform HighLevel it's commonly called "Missed Call Text Back". The idea is that when a call is missed a text message is automatically fired to the prospect's phone saying something along the lines of "Hey this is \\\\\\ from \\\\\\\_. How can I help you?" and the business owner is alerted to the missed call via text notification. People have said they see a lot of success for their clients with this alone due to the instant follow up. I see a lot of people charging $300 /m. for this. My issues with this are: 1). The text fires automatically when the call is missed, but if the business owner isn't available to actually follow up and keep texting after the customer texts back, they will look inconsistent and bothersome. 2). Without context a prospect may wonder why you didn't answer when they called, but texted them instead. So my answer to these problems are #3. SMS Answering Service. It is essentially taking 2 + 1 and combining them. The missed call text goes out to the prospect, but with context on why they're being texted (because no one is available to take the call at the moment) and IF the prospect responds, a Customer Service Chat Assistant will take over the conversation with the goal of answering their questions and either getting them on the phone with the company via a call back OR helping them schedule an appointment. This offers a more consistent solution than just a text to the business owner / team & the prospect is contacted and helped (hopefully) before they have a chance to start calling a competitor. Lead Nurture / Lead Qualifying Sales Funnel. This one is more than just AI & automation. It's a full funnel. It can be for either Facebook or Google. The process is AD -> Landing Page -> AI Text Message Convo -> Booking/Schedule Call/ Appointment. Typically the ad will offer a lead magnet which they will claim on the LP by giving their information. After the form is submitted, they get a text message and begin a conversation with the AI. It can be trained to just walk them through a booking process, nurture a sale by answering questions and handling objections or to qualify leads. Lead qualification via text works well if you want to weed out who is serious versus who is curious. To be clear; I'd be making the ad, landing page & training the AI -- all parts of the funnel. For whichever service a few things are universal: \- All conversations; no matter what platform they're had on, all go to one inbox which is pretty helpful to see them all in one place. \- When scheduling / booking these can also collect payment. \- Tags can be added to keep track of how they came into the business and where they are in a sales pipeline. There are a lot of fun things I can do with these automations and I'm excited about learning more everyday. I'd really like to know what you think these services could be worth to a business. If you do reply please tell me what type of business you're in so I have an idea of what industries I should be looking towards. Thank you for any response I get as I know this was a long read! SN: I currently do digital marketing & web design as a freelancer.

Seeking advice from every type of business owner - if you have a moment & an opinion please chime in.

Hello everyone. I haven't started selling yet and wanted to get some insight from the community I'm trying to serve (that makes the most sense to me). So over the past couple months I've gotten into AI & Automation. I got a HighLevel account and went to town learning new things. I learned how to make automations and workflows that make running a business easier (my dad has been letting me use his concrete business as a guinea pig). I also learned how to build and train AI Chat Assistants. I want to start a service based business that uses AI & workflows to automate some of the customer service tasks & lead generation for business. What I'm seeking advice about are as follows: NICHE SELECTION: Part of me thinks I shouldn't niche down in the beginning and just take whoever comes and niche down once I find an industry I'm comfortable with. Another side thinks I should choose one. What is your opinion on niche selection in the beginning? PRICING: I know that pricing largely depends on the value I bring to the client, but I've seen people doing the same or similar things as I want to do and charging vastly different prices. From $300- $2,000. While I think these solutions could absolutely help companies get and retain new business and reduce some of the workload of their staff -- I'm not comfortable charging a high price until I've got enough experience and data to justify that. ​ THESE ARE THE SERVICES I'M THINKING OF OFFERING: Customer Service Chat Assistant. This will be on the website as a "Live Chat". It also connects to Facebook Messenger & Google Business Chat. I'd train the chat assistant on everything related to the company; pertinent info (NAP, company mission, industry background), contact info, services / products / pricing, FAQs, current specials &/or discount codes (this can be changed monthly), how to handle upset clients, etc. It can also connect to a calendar like Google or Calendly so customers can make an appointment or schedule a call directly from the conversation. Missed Call Follow Up. If you're familiar with the platform HighLevel it's commonly called "Missed Call Text Back". The idea is that when a call is missed a text message is automatically fired to the prospect's phone saying something along the lines of "Hey this is \\\\\\ from \\\\\\\_. How can I help you?" and the business owner is alerted to the missed call via text notification. People have said they see a lot of success for their clients with this alone due to the instant follow up. I see a lot of people charging $300 /m. for this. My issues with this are: 1). The text fires automatically when the call is missed, but if the business owner isn't available to actually follow up and keep texting after the customer texts back, they will look inconsistent and bothersome. 2). Without context a prospect may wonder why you didn't answer when they called, but texted them instead. So my answer to these problems are #3. SMS Answering Service. It is essentially taking 2 + 1 and combining them. The missed call text goes out to the prospect, but with context on why they're being texted (because no one is available to take the call at the moment) and IF the prospect responds, a Customer Service Chat Assistant will take over the conversation with the goal of answering their questions and either getting them on the phone with the company via a call back OR helping them schedule an appointment. This offers a more consistent solution than just a text to the business owner / team & the prospect is contacted and helped (hopefully) before they have a chance to start calling a competitor. Lead Nurture / Lead Qualifying Sales Funnel. This one is more than just AI & automation. It's a full funnel. It can be for either Facebook or Google. The process is AD -> Landing Page -> AI Text Message Convo -> Booking/Schedule Call/ Appointment. Typically the ad will offer a lead magnet which they will claim on the LP by giving their information. After the form is submitted, they get a text message and begin a conversation with the AI. It can be trained to just walk them through a booking process, nurture a sale by answering questions and handling objections or to qualify leads. Lead qualification via text works well if you want to weed out who is serious versus who is curious. To be clear; I'd be making the ad, landing page & training the AI -- all parts of the funnel. For whichever service a few things are universal: \- All conversations; no matter what platform they're had on, all go to one inbox which is pretty helpful to see them all in one place. \- When scheduling / booking these can also collect payment. \- Tags can be added to keep track of how they came into the business and where they are in a sales pipeline. There are a lot of fun things I can do with these automations and I'm excited about learning more everyday. I'd really like to know what you think these services could be worth to a business. If you do reply please tell me what type of business you're in so I have an idea of what industries I should be looking towards. Thank you for any response I get as I know this was a long read! SN: I currently do digital marketing & web design as a freelancer.

Need your opinion... Which name is better?

I'm starting a new project aimed at helping solo creators, builders, and entrepreneurs find and master the tools and systems that make it possible for them to do more than ever before. I'll be focusing in large part on no-code tools, and ai-powered workflows. I'm considering 2 different names: New Solo Creator New Solo Builder It's all about the new way to succeed as a solopreneur, indy hacker, or modern content creator. Which of these resonates more with you?

[D] An Opinionated Introduction to AutoML and Neural Architecture Search - Rachel Thomas [fast.ai]

Unbiased opinion - Ideas

Hi, I’m currently looking to set up along site my full time job. I’m working away so have spare time mid week evenings to get cracking! If anyone has any other ideas which would link up with my interests please let me know. Note: I set up an airconditioning company which didn’t go to plan as I was just not passionate enough to chase sales/grow the company. Details Capital: I could invest upto 1k a month would prefer less Location: would prefer remote but the below ideas are all possible from my hotel room. Strengths: work well under pressure, technical minded, problem solving Weaknesses: can be lazy if not passionate, organisation, confidence Interests: Music, guitars, tech, coding, beer, motorbikes Experience: 12 years in railway electrical roles, coding bootcamp Ideas Idea: Guitar Electronics (pedals) Pros: cheap to start Enjoy building Creative Design work Cool field Cons: Time consuming Not much profit Scalability Competition is cheap Idea: Project management app/document selection Pros: Experienced in field Relatively quick if excel based Could charge subscription Contacts in industry Expensive if app based Make once sell multiple Remote Small overheads Cons: Not as fun as others learn new language? Limited market Other competition already good (apps) Idea: YouTube - mysteries, interesting topics Pros: Free to startup Enjoy researching Build community leading to other online projects Can voice over/AI No need to have cam Improve confidence Cons: Returns will take a while Get better at video editing Overcome speaking No overheads (have equipment) Time/money slow at start Idea: Railway Electrical Book/Course Pros: Throughly experienced Small market Niche - good money if can get sales Have to learn course software Contacts in field Create once Cons: Not as passionate as other ideas Amount of interest (possibly get other fields electricians involved?) Expensive to make?

An honest opinion about start-up idea

You will be helpful to us especially if you have worked with a lot of data (whether in a corporation or somewhere else). We aim to develop a document library platform that aggregates data from various storage services such as Amazon S3 (AWS) and Google Cloud Storage (GCP). The platform serves as a centralized interface or "panel" where users within an organization can access and display documents stored across different sources. Key features include: Data aggregation without storage: The platform pulls data from multiple sources but does not store it locally. This approach minimizes data redundancy and storage costs. AI-powered semantic search: Utilizes artificial intelligence to perform semantic searches across files, enabling users to find documents based on context and meaning rather than just keywords. Tagging and versioning: Supports the addition of tags for better categorization and tracking of different versions of files. The solution targets companies handling large volumes of data and documents dispersed across various storage services. Strengths we found: Non-invasive integration: Eliminates the need for data migration, reducing setup time and complexity. Enhanced search capabilities: AI-driven semantic search outperforms basic keyword searches, saving time. Cross-platform functionality: Provides a level of interoperability that competitors lack. Cost efficiency: Avoids additional storage costs and reduces time spent searching for documents. Weaknesses that we see: Limited feature set compared to ECMs: May lack some advanced features like workflow automation, collaboration tools, and compliance auditing provided by ECMs. We're new: so no trust. Is this something that companies would want to integrate and pay for? Thanks a lot, it can save us a lot of time :)

Anyone finding that they just don't NEED to add more Employees anymore? (I will not promote)

A friend of mine who was looking for work asked me if we were hiring and I responded "You know, it's weird but all of our growth goals don't seem to map back to hiring people anymore." This isn't about the economy or growth goals. It's a really fascinating shift in focus and costs for startups. My gut reaction is that I HATE the idea of not creating more jobs. In my career I've hired thousands of people, and I've always prided myself on job creation. We just sold a company that employed 200 people last year, and I'm proud of the work we were able to create. What's interesting is that I simply don't feel like we NEED to like we used to. As we're looking at all of our growth goals, for the first time I'm not assigning FTEs to them. Nearly everything we're doing is actually reducing the need for more humans, not adding them - and we're not even trying to reduce the need. Obviously the timing of AI has had a major impact. Product - Our team is shipping more code than ever before, and even our designers who have never touched code are shipping final code. If we doubled the size of the team, it would make no difference (this is a big deal considering the historical cost here). Marketing - So many aspects of our marketing are getting automated and streamlined, to the point where even a single FTE can create a massive amount of reach across channels. Support - Our Success team is able to effectively respond to tickets in a fraction of the time, which essentially doubles their capacity without adding any more staff. Management - With less staff we need less managers, which are a big expense, but it also means reporting and decisions are more streamlined, which is a positive. But it also means those positions simply don't get created like they used to. I think this is a big deal for the younger startups because it translates into needing less capital (or none!) which provides for more ownership and agency. Clearly we still need some folks to build out the core team, but that's very different than a massive staffing line item. Anyone else here finding the same trend? Opposite? I don't have a strong opinion either way, but I'd love to hear how other Founders are processing this.

Zero To One [Book Review]

If you don't feel like reading - check out the video here ##Introduction The more I read into Peter Thiel's background, the more ridiculous it seems.. He’s been involved in controversies over: Racism, Sexism, and, [Radical Right wing libertarianism.] (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-21/the-strange-politics-of-peter-thiel-trump-s-most-unlikely-supporter) He’s built a tech company that helps the NSA spy on the world. He supported Donald Trumps presidential campaign. He’s funding research on immortality And to top it off, he helped bankrupt online media company and blog network Gawker by funding Hulk Hogan’s sex tape lawsuit - after a report of his rumoured Homosexuality rattled his chain… Zero to One clearly reflects his unique attitude and doesn't pull any punches with a genuinely interesting point of view, that has clearly worked in the past, to the tune of almost 3 billion USD. But at times, his infatuation with the All American attitude is a little much…and, quite frankly, he’s not the kind of guy I could sit and have a pint with…without grinding my teeth anyway. The content is adapted from Blake Masters' lecture notes from Thiel's 2012 Stanford Course. This definitely helped keep the book concise and fast paced, at least compared to other books I’ve reviewed. The type of content is also quite varied, with a good spread from completely abstract theories — like the Technology vs. Globalisation concept, where the book get's it's title — to practical examples such as the analysis of personalities in chapter 14, "The Founders Paradox" covering Elvis Presley, Sean Parker, Lady Gaga and Bill Gates to name a few. ###Pros Monopolies To most people a monopoly is a negative thing. But while perfect competition can drive down costs and benefit the consumer - competition is bad for business. In fact, in Thiel's opinion, every startup should aim to be a monopoly or, as he puts it: Monopoly is the condition of every successful business. I like his honesty about it. While I’m not sure about the morality of encouraging monopolies at a large scale, I can see the benefit of thinking that way when developing a startup. When you're small, you can’t afford to compete. The best way to avoid competition is to build something nobody can compete with. The concept is summed up nicely at the end of chapter 3: Tolstoy opens Anna Karenina by observing: ‘All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.’ Business is the opposite. All happy companies are different: each one earns a monopoly by solving a unique problem. All failed companies are the same: they failed to escape competition. Pareto The Pareto Law, which you might remember as the 80/20 rule in Tim Ferris’ The Four Hour Work Week, is often used synonymously with the power law of distribution, and shows up everywhere. Thiel refers to it in his section on The Power Law of Venture Capital. If Tim Ferris recommends identifying and removing the 20% of things that take 80% of your effort - Thiel recommends finding the 20% of investments that make 80% of your return. Anything else is a waste. Soberingly, he also suggests that the Pareto Law means: ...you should not necessarily start your own company, even if you are extraordinarily talented. But to me this seems more like a venture capitalists problem, than an entrepreneurs problem - Personally, I believe there’s far more benefit in starting up your own company that purely profit. ###Cons Man and machine? Content-wise, there is very little to dislike in this book. As long as you accept that the book is written specifically for startups - where anything short of exponential growth is considered a failure - it’s exceptionally on point. However, there are a couple sections dotted throughout the book where opinion and wild speculation began to creep in. Chapter 12 is a good example of this entitled: Man and Machine. It’s a short chapter, 12 pages in total, and Thiel essentially preaches and speculates about the impact of better technology and strong AI. I like to dog ear pages with interesting or useful content so I can come back later, but this entire chapter remains untouched. America, fuck yeah! It would be really difficult for a personality as pungent as Theil's to go entirely unnoticed in a book like this, and indeed it breaks through every now and then. I only had a feint idea of Thiel's personality before I read the book, but having read up on his background, I’m actually surprised the book achieves such a neutral, if pragmatic, tone. Pretty early on in the book however, we are introduced to Thiel's concept of Economic Optimism and quite frankly the whole of chapter 6 should have been printed on star spangled, red white and blue pages. I’m not necessarily against the egotistic American spirit but when Thiel writes, in relation to European Pessimism: the US treasury prints ‘in god we trust’ on the dollar; the ECB might as well print ‘kick the can down the road’ on the euro I can smell the bacon double cheese burgers, with those tiny little American flags from here. Ooh Rah! ###TL;DR (a.k.a: Conclusion) Overall, however, I really did enjoy this book and I can see myself coming back to it. Peter Thiel IS controversial, but he has also been undeniably successful with a career punctuated by bold business decisions. The ideas in the book reflect this mind set well. Yes, he backed Trump, be he also (sadly) backed the winner.

Behind the scene : fundraising pre-seed of an AI startup

A bit of feedback from our journey at our AI startup. We started prototyping stuff around agentic AI last winter with very cool underlying tech research based on some academic papers (I can send you links if you're interested in LLM orchestration). I'm a serial entrepreneur with 2x exits, nothing went fancy but enough to keep going into the next topic. This time, running an AI project has been a bit different and unique due to the huge interest around the topic. Here are a few insights. Jan \~ Mar: Research Nothing was serious, just a side project with a friend on weekends (the guy became our lead SWE). Market was promising and we had the convinction that our tech can be game changer in computer systems workflows. March \~ April: Market Waking Up Devin published their pre-seed $20m fundraising led by Founders Fund; they paved the market with legitimacy. I decided to launch some coffee meetings with a few angels in my network. Interest confirmed. Back to work on some more serious early prototyping; hard work started here. April \~ May: YC S24 (Fail) Pumped up by our prospective angels and the market waking up on the agentic topic, I applied to YC as a solo founder (was still looking for funds and co-founders). Eventually got rejected (no co-founder and not US-based). May \~ July: VC Dance (Momentum 1) Almost randomly at the same time we got rejected from YC, I got introduced to key members of the VC community by one of our prospective angels. Interest went crazy... tons of calls. Brace yourself here, we probably met 30\~40 funds (+ angels). Got strong interests from 4\~5 of them (3 to 5 meetings each), ultimately closed 1 and some interests which might convert later in the next stage. The legend of AI being hype is true. Majority of our calls went only by word of mouth, lots of inbounds, people even not having the deck would book us a call in the next 48h after saying hi. Also lots of "tourists," just looking because of AI but with no strong opinion on the subject to move further. The hearsay about 90% rejection is true. You'll have a lot of nos, ending some days exhausted and unmotivated. End July: Closing, the Hard Part The VC roadshow is kind of an art you need to master. You need to keep momentum high enough and looking over-subscribed. Good pre-seed VC deals are over-competitive, and good funds only focus on them; they will have opportunities to catch up on lost chances at the seed stage later. We succeeded (arduously) to close our 18\~24mo budget with 1 VC, a few angels, and some state-guaranteed debt. Cash in bank just on time for payday in August (don't under-estimate time of processing) Now: Launching and Prepping the Seed Round We're now in our first weeks of go-to-market with a lot of uncertainty but a very ambitious plan ahead. The good part of having met TONS of VCs during the pre-seed roadshow is that we met probably our future lead investors in these. What would look like a loss of time in the initial pre-seed VC meetings has been finally very prolific, helping us to refine our strategy, assessing more in-depth the market (investors have a lot of insights, they meet a lot of people... that's their full-time job). We now have clear milestones and are heading to raise our seed round by end of year/Q1 if stars stay aligned :) Don't give up, the show must go on.

AI And Google's Algorithm Updates Push Us To Adopt New Customer Acquisition Strategies

Hello everyone, More and more founders seem to be struggling with SEO and organic traffic… Google has made tons of changes these last 2 years. Their zero-click policy, combined with their own generative AI model now answering questions in the search results, makes it more challenging than ever to attract new customers on Google. I made a post about that and I explore alternative solutions that still work well in 2024: https://kwatch.io/the-impact-of-ai-and-google-algorithm-updates-on-seo-pushes-us-to-adopt-new-strategies As a startup founder continuously exploring new customer acquisition strategies, I would love to hear your opinion/advice. Do you have success with SEO? Would you mind sharing your best customer acquisition strategies? Arthur

AI will obsolete most young vertical SAAS startups, I will not promote

This is an unpopular opinion, but living in New York City and working with a ton of vertical SaaS startups, meaning basically database wrapper startups that engineer workflows for specific industries and specific users, what they built was at one point in time kind of innovative, or their edge was the fact that they built these like very specific workflows. And so a lot of venture capital and seed funding has gone into these types of startups. But with AI, those database wrapper startups are basically obsolete. I personally feel like all of these companies are going to have to shift like quickly to AI or watch all of their edge and what value they bring to the table absolutely evaporate. It's something that I feel like it's not currently being priced in and no one really knows how to price, but it's going to be really interesting to watch as more software becomes generated and workflows get generated. I’m not saying these companies are worth nothing, but their products need to be completely redone EDIT: for people not understanding: The UX is completely different from traditional vertical saas. Also in real world scenarios, AI does not call the same APIs as the front end. The data handling and validation is different. It’s 50% rebuild. Then add in the technical debt, the fact that they might need a different tech stack to build agents correctly, different experience in their engineers. the power struggles that occur inside companies that need a huge change like this could tank the whole thing alone. It can be done, but these companies are vulnerable. The edge they have is working with existing customers to get it right. But they basically blew millions on a tech implementation that’s not as relevant going forwards. Investors maybe better served putting money into a fresh cap table

Marketing strategy for early-stage startup

Hi! I'm a first-time founder and now we with my co-founder are working on launching our solution. We are working on a b2c service that visualizes what people feel based on their notes. Our potential users are women 18-29 who are interested in feeling better. I'm non-technical so marketing is in my responsibilities. Now I am trying to create something like a marketing strategy for this early-stage launch, and I would like to know your opinions about it, maybe I missed something that could work for us. In my plan, we start by announcing in personal social networks, like LI, Ig and meeting new people on offline events. We also would try to have some paid or unpaid announcements in groups on Fb about health, well-being, new apps, AI (we use AI in our service), women entrepreneurs supportive communities. We were thinking about Tinder Ads, but I didn't have any reviews of it. We also plan to work with influencers on Ig and YT, maybe TikTok. And also would like to try Google Ads, IG ads, YT ads. ​ Have you tried something of it? How it was? Maybe I missed something that worked for you in similar cases?

Best AI tools for non-technical founder to demonstrate the vision (I will not promote)

Hey all, I have an MVP nearly ready but when I speak to potential co-founders, customers and investors, I want to be able to show the vision of what it will look like and do in the future. Wondering if people have an opinion on the best tool(s) out there to sell this sort of vision? The output doesn't need to be usable, but I need the people who look at it to understand what the product will be in the future. It could be a bunch of nicely designed screens (something like Uizard or Visily seems to do this) or even a video explaining what it will do (don't think any of the video tools are at this level yet) or it may be piecing together a few tools. Keen to hear what others have done in this case!

Behind the scene : fundraising pre-seed of an AI startup

A bit of feedback from our journey at our AI startup. We started prototyping stuff around agentic AI last winter with very cool underlying tech research based on some academic papers (I can send you links if you're interested in LLM orchestration). I'm a serial entrepreneur with 2x exits, nothing went fancy but enough to keep going into the next topic. This time, running an AI project has been a bit different and unique due to the huge interest around the topic. Here are a few insights. Jan \~ Mar: Research Nothing was serious, just a side project with a friend on weekends (the guy became our lead SWE). Market was promising and we had the convinction that our tech can be game changer in computer systems workflows. March \~ April: Market Waking Up Devin published their pre-seed $20m fundraising led by Founders Fund; they paved the market with legitimacy. I decided to launch some coffee meetings with a few angels in my network. Interest confirmed. Back to work on some more serious early prototyping; hard work started here. April \~ May: YC S24 (Fail) Pumped up by our prospective angels and the market waking up on the agentic topic, I applied to YC as a solo founder (was still looking for funds and co-founders). Eventually got rejected (no co-founder and not US-based). May \~ July: VC Dance (Momentum 1) Almost randomly at the same time we got rejected from YC, I got introduced to key members of the VC community by one of our prospective angels. Interest went crazy... tons of calls. Brace yourself here, we probably met 30\~40 funds (+ angels). Got strong interests from 4\~5 of them (3 to 5 meetings each), ultimately closed 1 and some interests which might convert later in the next stage. The legend of AI being hype is true. Majority of our calls went only by word of mouth, lots of inbounds, people even not having the deck would book us a call in the next 48h after saying hi. Also lots of "tourists," just looking because of AI but with no strong opinion on the subject to move further. The hearsay about 90% rejection is true. You'll have a lot of nos, ending some days exhausted and unmotivated. End July: Closing, the Hard Part The VC roadshow is kind of an art you need to master. You need to keep momentum high enough and looking over-subscribed. Good pre-seed VC deals are over-competitive, and good funds only focus on them; they will have opportunities to catch up on lost chances at the seed stage later. We succeeded (arduously) to close our 18\~24mo budget with 1 VC, a few angels, and some state-guaranteed debt. Cash in bank just on time for payday in August (don't under-estimate time of processing) Now: Launching and Prepping the Seed Round We're now in our first weeks of go-to-market with a lot of uncertainty but a very ambitious plan ahead. The good part of having met TONS of VCs during the pre-seed roadshow is that we met probably our future lead investors in these. What would look like a loss of time in the initial pre-seed VC meetings has been finally very prolific, helping us to refine our strategy, assessing more in-depth the market (investors have a lot of insights, they meet a lot of people... that's their full-time job). We now have clear milestones and are heading to raise our seed round by end of year/Q1 if stars stay aligned :) Don't give up, the show must go on.

10y of product development, 2 bankruptcies, and 1 Exit — what next? [Extended Story]

10 years of obsessive pursuit from the bottom to impressive product-market fit and exit. Bootstrapping tech products as Software Developer and 3x Startup Founder (2 bankruptcies and 1 exit). Hi everyone, your motivation has inspired me to delve deeper into my story. So, as promised to some of you, I've expanded on it a bit more, along with my brief reflections. There are many founders, product creators, and proactive individuals, I’ve read many of your crazy stories and lessons so I decided to share mine and the lessons I learned from the bottom to impressive product-market fit and exit. I've spent almost the past 10 years building tech products as a Corporate Team Leader, Senior Software Developer, Online Course Creator, Programming Tutor, Head of Development/CTO, and 3x Startup Founder (2 bankruptcies, and 1 exit). And what next? good question... A brief summary of my journey: Chapter 1: Software Developer / Team Leader / Senior Software Developer I’ve always wanted to create products that win over users’ hearts, carry value, and influence users. Ever since my school days, I’ve loved the tech part of building digital products. At the beginning of school, I started hosting servers for games, blogs and internet forums, and other things that did not require much programming knowledge. My classmates and later even over 100 people played on servers that I hosted on my home PC. Later, as the only person in school, I passed the final exam in computer science. During my computer science studies, I started my first job as a software developer. It was crazy, I was spending 200–300 hours a month in the office attending also to daily classes. Yes, I didn’t have a life, but it truly was the fulfillment of my dreams. I was able to earn good money doing what I love, and I devoted fully myself to it. My key to effectively studying IT and growing my knowledge at rocket speed was learning day by day reading guides, building products to the portfolio, watching youtube channels and attending conferences, and even watching them online, even if I didn’t understand everything at the beginning. In one year we’ve been to every possible event within 400km. We were building healthcare products that were actually used in hospitals and medical facilities. It was a beautiful adventure and tons of knowledge I took from this place. That time I built my first product teams, hired many great people, and over the years became a senior developer and team leader. Even I convinced my study mates to apply to this company and we studied together and worked as well. Finally, there were 4 of us, when I left a friend of mine took over my position and still works there. If you’re reading this, I’m sending you a flood of love and appreciation. I joined as the 8th person, and after around 4 years, when I left hungry for change, there were already over 30 of us, now around 100. It was a good time, greetings to everyone. I finished my Master’s and Engineering degrees in Computer Science, and it was time for changes. Chapter 2: 1st time as a Co-founder — Marketplace In the meantime, there was also my first startup (a marketplace) with four of my friends. We all worked on the product, each of us spent thousands of hours, after hours, entire weekends… and I think finally over a year of work. As you might guess, we lacked the most important things: sales, marketing, and product-market fit. We thought users think like us. We all also worked commercially, so the work went very smoothly, but we didn’t know what we should do next with it… Finally, we didn’t have any customers, but you know what, I don’t regret it, a lot of learning things which I used many times later. The first attempts at validating the idea with the market and business activities. In the end, the product was Airbnb-sized. Landing pages, listings, user panels, customer panels, admin site, notifications, caches, queues, load balancing, and much more. We wanted to publish the fully ready product to the market. It was a marketplace, so if you can guess, we had to attract both sides to be valuable. “Marketplace” — You can imagine something like Uber, if you don’t have passengers it was difficult to convince taxi drivers, if you don’t have a large number of taxi drivers you cannot attract passengers. After a year of development, we were overloaded, and without business, marketing, sales knowledge, and budget. Chapter 3: Corp Team Lead / Programming Tutor / Programming Architecture Workshop Leader Working in a corporation, a totally different environment, an international fintech, another learning experience, large products, and workmates who were waiting for 5 pm to finish — it wasn’t for me. Very slow product development, huge hierarchy, being an ant at the bottom, and low impact on the final product. At that time I understood that being a software developer is not anything special and I compared my work to factory worker. Sorry for that. High rates have been pumped only by high demand. Friends of mine from another industry do more difficult things and have a bigger responsibility for lower rates. That’s how the market works. This lower responsibility time allowed for building the first online course after hours, my own course platform, individual teaching newbies programming, and my first huge success — my first B2C customers, and B2B clients for workshops. I pivoted to full focus on sales, marketing, funnels, advertisements, demand, understanding the market, etc. It was 10x easier than startups but allowed me to learn and validate my conceptions and ideas on an easier market and showed me that it’s much easier to locate their problem/need/want and create a service/product that responds to it than to convince people of your innovative ideas. It’s just supply and demand, such a simple and basic statement, in reality, is very deep and difficult to understand without personal experience. If you’re inexperienced and you think you understand, you don’t. To this day, I love to analyze this catchword in relation to various industries / services / products and rediscover it again and again... While writing this sentence, I’m wondering if I’m not obsessed. Chapter 4: Next try — 2nd time as a founder — Edtech Drawing upon my experiences in selling services, offering trainings, and teaching programming, I wanted to broaden my horizons, delve into various fields of knowledge, involve more teachers, and so on. We started with simple services in different fields of knowledge, mainly relying on teaching in the local area (without online lessons). As I had already gathered some knowledge and experience in marketing and sales, things were going well and were moving in the right direction. The number of teachers in various fields was growing, as was the number of students. I don’t remember the exact statistics anymore, but it was another significant achievement that brought me a lot of satisfaction and new experiences. As you know, I’m a technology lover and couldn’t bear to look at manual processes — I wanted to automate everything: lessons, payments, invoices, customer service, etc. That’s when I hired our first developers (if you’re reading this, I’m sending you a flood of love — we spent a lot of time together and I remember it as a very fruitful and great year) and we began the process of tool and automation development. After a year we had really extended tools for students, teachers, franchise owners, etc. We had really big goals, we wanted to climb higher and higher. Maybe I wouldn’t even fully call it Startup, as the client was paying for the lessons, not for the software. But it gave us positive income, bootstrap financing, and tool development for services provided. Scaling this model was not as costless as SaaS because customer satisfaction was mainly on the side of the teacher, not the quality of the product (software). Finally, we grew to nearly 10 people and dozens of teachers, with zero external funding, and almost $50k monthly revenue. We worked very hard, day and night, and by November 2019, we were packed with clients to the brim. And as you know, that’s when the pandemic hit. It turned everything upside down by 180 degrees. Probably no one was ready for it. With a drastic drop in revenues, society started to save. Tired from the previous months, we had to work even harder. We had to reduce the team, change the model, and save what we had built. We stopped the tool’s development and sales, and with the developers, we started supporting other product teams to not fire them in difficult times. The tool worked passively for the next two years, reducing incomes month by month. With a smaller team providing programming services, we had full stability and earned more than relying only on educational services. At the peak of the pandemic, I promised myself that it was the last digital product I built… Never say never… Chapter 5: Time for fintech — Senior Software Developer / Team Lead / Head of Development I worked for small startups and companies. Building products from scratch, having a significant impact on the product, and complete fulfillment. Thousands of hours and sacrifices. This article mainly talks about startups that I built, so I don’t want to list all the companies, products, and applications that I supported as a technology consultant. These were mainly start-ups with a couple of people up to around 100 people on board. Some of the products were just a rescue mission, others were building an entire tech team. I was fully involved in all of them with the hope that we would work together for a long time, but I wasn’t the only one who made mistakes when looking for a product-market fit. One thing I fully understood: You can’t spend 8–15 hours a day writing code, managing a tech team, and still be able to help build an audience. In marketing and sales, you need to be rested and very creative to bring results and achieve further results and goals. If you have too many responsibilities related to technology, it becomes ineffective. I noticed that when I have more free time, more time to think, and more time to bounce the ball against the wall, I come up with really working marketing/sales strategies and solutions. It’s impossible when you are focused on code all day. You must know that this chapter of my life was long and has continued until now. Chapter 6: 3rd time as a founder — sold Never say never… right?\\ It was a time when the crypto market was really high and it was really trending topic. You know that I love technology right? So I cannot miss the blockchain world. I had experience in blockchain topics by learning on my own and from startups where I worked before. I was involved in crypto communities and I noticed a “starving crowd”. People who did things manually and earned money(crypto) on it.I found potential for building a small product that solves a technological problem. I said a few years before that I don’t want to start from scratch. I decided to share my observations and possibilities with my good friend. He said, “If you gonna built it, I’m in”. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I had thought and planned every aspect of marketing and sales. And you know what. On this huge mindmap “product” was only one block. 90% of the mindmap was focused on marketing and sales. Now, writing this article, I understood what path I went from my first startup to this one. In the first (described earlier) 90% was the product, but in the last one 90% was sales and marketing. Many years later, I did this approach automatically. What has changed in my head over the years and so many mistakes? At that time, the company for which I provided services was acquired. The next day I got a thank you for my hard work and all my accounts were blocked. Life… I was shocked. We were simply replaced by their trusted technology managers. They wanted to get full control. They acted a bit unkindly, but I knew that they had all my knowledge about the product in the documentation, because I’m used to drawing everything so that in the moment of my weakness (illness, whatever) the team could handle it. That’s what solid leaders do, right? After a time, I know that these are normal procedures in financial companies, the point is that under the influence of emotions, do not do anything inappropriate. I quickly forgot about it, that I was brutally fired. All that mattered was to bring my plan to life. And it has been started, 15–20 hours a day every day. You have to believe me, getting back into the game was incredibly satisfying for me. I didn’t even know that I would be so excited. Then we also noticed that someone was starting to think about the same product as me. So the race began a game against time and the market. I assume that if you have reached this point, you are interested in product-market fit, marketing, and sales, so let me explain my assumptions to you: Product: A very very small tool that allowed you to automate proper tracking and creation of on-chain transactions. Literally, the whole app for the user was located on only three subpages. Starving Crowd: We tapped into an underserved market. The crypto market primarily operates via communities on platforms like Discord, Reddit, Twitter, Telegram, and so on. Therefore, our main strategy was directly communicating with users and demonstrating our tool. This was essentially “free marketing” (excluding the time we invested), as we did not need to invest in ads, promotional materials, or convince people about the efficacy of our tool. The community could directly observe on-chain transactions executed by our algorithms, which were processed at an exceptionally fast rate. This was something they couldn’t accomplish manually, so whenever someone conducted transactions using our algorithm, it was immediately noticeable and stirred a curiosity within the community (how did they do that!). Tests: I conducted the initial tests of the application on myself — we had already invested significantly in developing the product, but I preferred risking my own resources over that of the users. I provided the tool access to my wallet, containing 0.3ETH, and went to sleep. Upon waking up, I discovered that the transactions were successful and my wallet had grown to 0.99ETH. My excitement knew no bounds, it felt like a windfall. But, of course, there was a fair chance I could have lost it too. It worked. As we progressed, some users achieved higher results, but it largely hinged on the parameters set by them. As you can surmise, the strategy was simple — buy low, sell high. There was considerable risk involved. Churn: For those versed in marketing, the significance of repeat visitors cannot be overstated. Access to our tool was granted only after email verification and a special technique that I’d prefer to keep confidential. And this was all provided for free. While we had zero followers on social media, we saw an explosion in our email subscriber base and amassed a substantial number of users and advocates. Revenue Generation: Our product quickly gained popularity as we were effectively helping users earn — an undeniable value proposition. Now, it was time to capitalize on our efforts. We introduced a subscription model charging $300 per week or $1,000 per month — seemingly high rates, but the demand was so intense that it wasn’t an issue. Being a subscriber meant you were prioritized in the queue, ensuring you were among the first to reap benefits — thus adding more “value”. Marketing: The quality of our product and its ability to continually engage users contributed to it achieving what can best be described as viral. It was both a source of pride and astonishment to witness users sharing charts and analyses derived from our tool in forum discussions. They weren’t actively promoting our product but rather using screenshots from our application to illustrate certain aspects of the crypto world. By that stage, we had already assembled a team to assist with marketing, and programming, and to provide round-the-clock helpdesk support. Unforgettable Time: Despite the hype, my focus remained steadfast on monitoring our servers, their capacity, and speed. Considering we had only been on the market for a few weeks, we were yet to implement alerts, server scaling, etc. Our active user base spanned from Japan to the West Coast of the United States. Primarily, our application was used daily during the evenings, but considering the variety of time zones, the only time I could afford to sleep was during the evening hours in Far Eastern Europe, where we had the least users. However, someone always needed to be on guard, and as such, my phone was constantly by my side. After all, we couldn’t afford to let our users down. We found ourselves working 20 hours a day, catering to thousands of users, enduring physical fatigue, engaging in talks with VCs, and participating in conferences. Sudden Downturn: Our pinnacle was abruptly interrupted by the war in Ukraine (next macroeconomic shot straight in the face, lucky guy), a precipitous drop in cryptocurrency value, and swiftly emerging competition. By this time, there were 5–8 comparable tools had infiltrated the market. It was a challenging period as we continually stumbled upon new rivals. They immediately embarked on swift fundraising endeavors — a strategy we overlooked, which in retrospect was a mistake. Although our product was superior, the competitors’ rapid advancement and our insufficient funds for expeditious scaling posed significant challenges. Nonetheless, we made a good decision. We sold the product (exit) to competitors. The revenue from “exit” compensated for all the losses, leaving us with enough rest. We were a small team without substantial budgets for rapid development, and the risk of forming new teams without money to survive for more than 1–2 months was irresponsible. You have to believe me that this decision consumed us sleepless nights. Finally, we sold it. They turned off our app but took algorithms and users. Whether you believe it or not, after several months of toiling day and night, experiencing burnout, growing weary of the topic, and gaining an extra 15 kg in weight, we finally found our freedom… The exit wasn’t incredibly profitable, but we knew they had outdone us. The exit covered all our expenses and granted us a well-deserved rest for the subsequent quarter. It was an insane ride. Despite the uncertainty, stress, struggles, and sleepless nights, the story and experience will remain etched in my memory for the rest of my life. Swift Takeaways: Comprehending User Needs: Do you fully understand the product-market fit? Is your offering just an accessory or does it truly satisfy the user’s needs? The Power of Viral Marketing: Take inspiration from giants like Snapchat, ChatGPT, and Clubhouse. While your product might not attain the same scale (but remember, never say never…), the closer your concept is to theirs, the easier your journey will be. If your user is motivated to text a friend saying, “Hey, check out how cool this is” (like sharing ChatGPT), then you’re on the best track. Really. Even if it doesn’t seem immediately evident, there could be a way to incorporate this into your product. Keep looking until you find it. Niche targeting — the more specific and tailored your product is to a certain audience, the easier your journey will be People love buying from people — establishing a personal brand and associating yourself with the product can make things easier. Value: Seek to understand why users engage with your product and keep returning. The more specific and critical the issue you’re aiming to solve, the easier your path will be. Consider your offerings in terms of products and services and focus on sales and marketing, regardless of personal sentiments. These are just a few points, I plan to elaborate on all of them in a separate article. Many products undergo years of development in search of market fit, refining the user experience, and more. And guess what? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Each product and market follows its own rules. Many startups have extensive histories before they finally make their mark (for instance, OpenAI). This entire journey spanned maybe 6–8 months. I grasped and capitalized on the opportunity, but we understood from the start that establishing a startup carried a significant risk, and our crypto product was 10 times riskier. Was it worth it? Given my passion for product development — absolutely. Was it profitable? — No, considering the hours spent — we lose. Did it provide a stable, problem-free life — nope. Did this entire adventure offer a wealth of happiness, joy, and unforgettable experiences — definitely yes. One thing is certain — we’ve amassed substantial experience and it’s not over yet :) So, what lies ahead? Chapter 7: Reverting to the contractor, developing a product for a crypto StartupReturning to the past, we continue our journey… I had invested substantial time and passion into the tech rescue mission product. I came on board as the technical Team Leader of a startup that had garnered over $20M in seed round funding, affiliated with the realm of cryptocurrencies. The investors were individuals with extensive backgrounds in the crypto world. My role was primarily technical, and there was an abundance of work to tackle. I was fully immersed, and genuinely devoted to the role. I was striving for excellence, knowing that if we secured another round of financing, the startup would accelerate rapidly. As for the product and marketing, I was more of an observer. After all, there were marketing professionals with decades of experience on board. These were individuals recruited from large crypto-related firms. I had faith in them, kept an eye on their actions, and focused on my own responsibilities. However, the reality was far from satisfactory. On the last day, the principal investor for the Series A round withdrew. The board made the tough decision to shut down. It was a period of intense observation and gaining experience in product management. This was a very brief summary of the last 10 years. And what next? (Last) Chapter 8: To be announced — Product Owner / Product Consultant / Strategist / CTO After spending countless hours and days deliberating my next steps, one thing is clear: My aspiration is to continue traversing the path of software product development, with the hopeful anticipation that one day, I might ride the crest of the next big wave and ascend to the prestigious status of a unicorn company. I find myself drawn to the process of building products, exploring product-market fit, strategizing, engaging in software development, seeking out new opportunities, networking, attending conferences, and continuously challenging myself by understanding the market and its competitive landscape. Product Owner / Product Consultant / CTO / COO: I’m not entirely sure how to categorize this role, as I anticipate that it will largely depend on the product to which I will commit myself fully. My idea is to find one startup/company that wants to build a product / or already has a product, want to speed up, or simply doesn’t know what’s next. Alternatively, I could be a part of an established company with a rich business history, which intends to invest in digitization and technological advancements. The goal would be to enrich their customer experience by offering complementary digital products Rather than initiating a new venture from ground zero with the same team, I am receptive to new challenges. I am confident that my past experiences will prove highly beneficial for the founders of promising, burgeoning startups that already possess a product, or are in the initial phases of development. ‘Consultant’ — I reckon we interpret this term differently. My aim is to be completely absorbed in a single product, crafting funnels, niches, strategies, and all that is necessary to repeatedly achieve the ‘product-market fit’ and significant revenue. To me, ‘consultant’ resonates more akin to freelancing than being an employee. My current goal is to kickstart as a consultant and aide, dealing with facilitating startups in their journey from point A to B. Here are two theoretical scenarios to illustrate my approach: Scenario 1: (Starting from point A) You have a product but struggle with marketing, adoption, software, strategy, sales, fundraising, or something else. I conduct an analysis and develop a strategy to reach point B. I take on the “dirty work” and implement necessary changes, including potential pivots or shifts (going all-in) to guide the product to point B. The goal is to reach point B, which could involve achieving a higher valuation, expanding the user base, increasing sales, or generating monthly revenue, among other metrics. Scenario 2: (Starting from point A) You have a plan or idea but face challenges with marketing, adoption, strategy, software, sales, fundraising, or something else. I analyze the situation and devise a strategy to reach point B. I tackle the necessary tasks, build the team, and overcome obstacles to propel the product to point B. I have come across the view that finding the elusive product-market fit is the job of the founder, and it’s hard for me to disagree. However, I believe that my support and experiences can help save money, many failures, and most importantly, time. I have spent a great deal of time learning from my mistakes, enduring failure after failure, and even had no one to ask for support or opinion, which is why I offer my help. Saving even a couple of years, realistically speaking, seems like a value I’m eager to provide… I invite you to share your thoughts and insights on these scenarios :) Closing Remarks: I appreciate your time and effort in reaching this point. This has been my journey, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I had an extraordinary adventure, and now I’m ready for the next exciting battle with the market and new software products. While my entire narrative is centered around startups, especially the ones I personally built, I’m planning to share more insights drawn from all of my experiences, not just those as a co-founder. If you’re currently developing your product or even just considering the idea, I urge you to reach out to me. Perhaps together, we can create something monumental :) Thank you for your time and insights. I eagerly look forward to engaging in discussions and hearing your viewpoints. Please remember to like and subscribe. Nothing motivates to write more than positive feedback :) Matt.

36 startup ideas found by analyzing podcasts (problem, solution & source episode)

Hey, I've been a bit of a podcast nerd for a long time. Around a year ago I began experimenting with transcription of podcasts for a SaaS I was running. I realized pretty quickly that there's a lot of knowledge and value in podcast discussions that is for all intents and purposes entirely unsearchable or discoverable to most people. I ended up stopping work on that SaaS product (party for lack of product/market fit, and partly because podcasting was far more interesting), and focusing on the podcast technology full-time instead. I'm a long-time lurker and poster of r/startups and thought this would make for some interesting content and inspiration for folks. Given I'm in this space, have millions of transcripts, and transcribe thousands daily... I've been exploring fun ways to expose some of the interesting knowledge and conversations taking place that utilize our own data/API. I'm a big fan of the usual startup podcasts (My First Million, Greg Isenberg, etc. etc.) and so I built an automation that turns all of the startup ideas discussed into a weekly email digest. I always struggle to listen to as many episodes as I'd actually like to, so I thought I'd summarise the stuff I care about instead (startup opportunities being discussed). I thought it would be interesting to post some of the ideas extracted so far. They range from being completely whacky and blue sky, to pretty boring but realistic. A word of warning before anyone complains – this is a big mixture of tech, ai, non-tech, local services, etc. ideas: Some of the ideas are completely mundane, but realistic (e.g. local window cleaning service) Some of the ideas are completely insane, blue sky, but sound super interesting Here's the latest 36 ideas: |Idea Name|Problem|Solution|Source| |:-|:-|:-|:-| |SalesForce-as-a-Service - White Label Enterprise Sales Teams|White-label enterprise sales teams for B2B SaaS. Companies need sales but can't hire/train. Recruit retail sellers, train for tech, charge 30% of deals closed.|Create a white-label enterprise sales team by recruiting natural salespeople from retail and direct sales backgrounds (e.g. mall kiosks, cutco knives). Train them specifically in B2B SaaS sales techniques and processes. Offer this trained sales force to tech companies on a contract basis.|My First Million - "Life Hacks From The King of Introverts + 7 Business Ideas| |TechButler - Mobile Device Maintenance Service|Mobile tech maintenance service. Clean/optimize devices, improve WiFi, basic support. $100/visit to homes. Target affluent neighborhoods.|Mobile tech support service providing in-home device cleaning, optimization, and setup. Focus on common issues like WiFi improvement, device maintenance, and basic tech support.|My First Million - "Life Hacks From The King of Introverts + 7 Business Ideas| |MemoryBox - At-Home Video Digitization Service|Door-to-door VHS conversion service. Parents have boxes of old tapes. Pick up, digitize, deliver. $30/tape with minimum order. Going extinct.|Door-to-door VHS to digital conversion service that handles everything from pickup to digital delivery. Make it extremely convenient for customers to preserve their memories.|My First Million - "Life Hacks From The King of Introverts + 7 Business Ideas| |Elite Match Ventures - Success-Based Luxury Matchmaking|High-end matchmaking for 50M+ net worth individuals. Only charge $1M+ when they get married. No upfront fees. Extensive vetting process.|Premium matchmaking service exclusively for ultra-high net worth individuals with a pure contingency fee model - only get paid ($1M+) upon successful marriage. Focus on quality over quantity with extensive vetting and personalized matching.|My First Million - "Life Hacks From The King of Introverts + 7 Business Ideas| |LocalHost - Simple Small Business Websites|Simple WordPress sites for local businesses. $50/month includes hosting, updates, security. Target restaurants and shops. Recurring revenue play.|Simplified web hosting and WordPress management service targeting local small businesses. Focus on basic sites with standard templates, ongoing maintenance, and reliable support for a fixed monthly fee.|My First Million - "Life Hacks From The King of Introverts + 7 Business Ideas| |VoiceJournal AI - Voice-First Smart Journaling|Voice-to-text journaling app with AI insights. 8,100 monthly searches. $15/month subscription. Partners with journaling YouTubers.|AI-powered journaling app that combines voice recording, transcription, and intelligent insights. Users can speak their thoughts, which are automatically transcribed and analyzed for patterns, emotions, and actionable insights.|Where It Happens - "7 $1M+ AI startup ideas you can launch tomorrow with $0"| |AIGenAds - AI-Generated UGC Content Platform|AI platform turning product briefs into UGC-style video ads. Brands spending $500/video for human creators. Generate 100 variations for $99/month.|AI platform that generates UGC-style video ads using AI avatars and scripting. System would allow rapid generation of multiple ad variations at a fraction of the cost. Platform would use existing AI avatar technology combined with script generation to create authentic-looking testimonial-style content.|Where It Happens - "7 $1M+ AI startup ideas you can launch tomorrow with $0"| |InfographAI - Automated Infographic Generation Platform|AI turning blog posts into branded infographics. Marketers spending hours on design. $99/month unlimited generation.|AI-powered platform that automatically converts blog posts and articles into visually appealing infographics. System would analyze content, extract key points, and generate professional designs using predefined templates and brand colors.|Where It Happens - "7 $1M+ AI startup ideas you can launch tomorrow with $0"| |KidFinance - Children's Financial Education Entertainment|Children's media franchise teaching financial literacy. Former preschool teacher creating 'Dora for money'. Books, videos, merchandise potential.|Character-driven financial education content for kids, including books, videos, and potentially TV show. Focus on making money concepts fun and memorable.|The Side Hustle Show - "How a Free Challenge Turned Into a $500,000 a Year Business (Greatest Hits)"| |FinanceTasker - Daily Financial Task Challenge|Free 30-day financial challenge with daily action items. People overwhelmed by money management. Makes $500k/year through books, speaking, and premium membership.|A free 30-day financial challenge delivering one simple, actionable task per day via email. Each task includes detailed scripts and instructions. Participants join a Facebook community for support and accountability. The program focuses on quick wins to build momentum. Automated delivery allows scaling.|The Side Hustle Show - "How a Free Challenge Turned Into a $500,000 a Year Business (Greatest Hits)"| |FinanceAcademy - Expert Financial Training Platform|Premium financial education platform. $13/month for expert-led courses and live Q&As. 4000+ members generating $40k+/month.|Premium membership site with expert-led courses, live Q&As, and community support. Focus on specific topics like real estate investing, business creation, and advanced money management.|The Side Hustle Show - "How a Free Challenge Turned Into a $500,000 a Year Business (Greatest Hits)"| |SecurityFirst Compliance - Real Security + Compliance Platform|Security-first compliance platform built by hackers. Companies spending $50k+ on fake security. Making $7M/year showing why current solutions don't work.|A compliance platform built by security experts that combines mandatory compliance requirements with real security measures. The solution includes hands-on security testing, expert guidance, and a focus on actual threat prevention rather than just documentation. It merges traditional compliance workflows with practical security implementations.|In the Pit with Cody Schneider| |LinkedInbound - Automated Professional Visibility Engine|LinkedIn automation for inbound job offers. Professionals spending hours on manual outreach. $99/month per job seeker.|Automated system for creating visibility and generating inbound interest on LinkedIn through coordinated profile viewing and engagement. Uses multiple accounts to create visibility patterns that trigger curiosity and inbound messages.|In the Pit with Cody Schneider| |ConvoTracker - Community Discussion Monitoring Platform|Community discussion monitoring across Reddit, Twitter, HN. Companies missing sales opportunities. $499/month per brand tracked.|Comprehensive monitoring system that tracks competitor mentions and industry discussions across multiple platforms (Reddit, Twitter, Hacker News, etc.) with automated alerts and engagement suggestions.|In the Pit with Cody Schneider| |ContentAds Pro - Smart Display Ad Implementation|Display ad implementation service for content creators. Bloggers losing thousands in ad revenue monthly. Makes $3-5k per site setup plus ongoing optimization fees.|Implementation of professional display advertising through networks like Mediavine that specialize in optimizing ad placement and revenue while maintaining user experience. Include features like turning off ads for email subscribers and careful placement to minimize impact on core metrics.|The Side Hustle Show - "636: Is Business Coaching Worth It? A Look Inside the last 12 months of Side Hustle Nation"| |MoneyAppReviews - Professional Side Hustle App Testing|Professional testing service for money-making apps. People wasting time on low-paying apps. Makes $20k/month from affiliate commissions and ads.|Professional app testing service that systematically reviews money-making apps and creates detailed, honest reviews including actual earnings data, time investment, and practical tips.|The Side Hustle Show - "636: Is Business Coaching Worth It? A Look Inside the last 12 months of Side Hustle Nation"| |LightPro - Holiday Light Installation Service|Professional Christmas light installation service. Homeowners afraid of ladders. $500-2000 per house plus storage.|Professional Christmas light installation service targeting residential and commercial properties. Full-service offering including design, installation, maintenance, removal and storage. Focus on safety and premium aesthetic results.|The Side Hustle Show - "639: 30 Ways to Make Extra Money for the Holidays"| |FocusMatch - Research Participant Marketplace|Marketplace connecting companies to paid research participants. Companies spending weeks finding people. $50-150/hour per study.|Online platform connecting companies directly with paid research participants. Participants create detailed profiles and get matched to relevant studies. Companies get faster access to their target demographic while participants earn money sharing opinions.|The Side Hustle Show - "639: 30 Ways to Make Extra Money for the Holidays"| |SolarShine Pro - Specialized Solar Panel Cleaning Service|Solar panel cleaning service using specialized equipment. Panels lose 50% efficiency when dirty. $650 per job, automated scheduling generates $18k/month from repeat customers.|Professional solar panel cleaning service using specialized deionized water system and European cleaning equipment. Includes automated 6-month scheduling, professional liability coverage, and warranty-safe cleaning processes. Service is bundled with inspection and performance monitoring.|The UpFlip Podcast - "156. $18K/Month with This ONE Service — Niche Business Idea"| |ExteriorCare Complete - One-Stop Exterior Maintenance Service|One-stop exterior home cleaning service (solar, windows, gutters, bird proofing). Automated scheduling. $650 average ticket. 60% repeat customers on 6-month contracts.|All-in-one exterior cleaning service offering comprehensive maintenance packages including solar, windows, gutters, roof cleaning and bird proofing. Single point of contact, consistent quality, and automated scheduling for all services.|The UpFlip Podcast - "156. $18K/Month with This ONE Service — Niche Business Idea"| |ContentMorph - Automated Cross-Platform Content Adaptation|AI platform converting blog posts into platform-optimized social content. Marketing teams spending 5hrs/post on manual adaptation. $199/mo per brand with 50% margins.|An AI-powered platform that automatically transforms long-form content (blog posts, podcasts, videos) into platform-specific formats (Instagram reels, TikToks, tweets). The system would preserve brand voice while optimizing for each platform's unique requirements and best practices.|Entrepreneurs on Fire - "Digital Threads: The Entrepreneur Playbook for Digital-First Marketing with Neal Schaffer"| |MarketerMatch - Verified Digital Marketing Talent Marketplace|Marketplace for pre-vetted digital marketing specialists. Entrepreneurs spending 15hrs/week on marketing tasks. Platform takes 15% commission averaging $900/month per active client.|A specialized marketplace exclusively for digital marketing professionals, pre-vetted for specific skills (video editing, social media, SEO, etc.). Platform includes skill verification, portfolio review, and specialization matching.|Entrepreneurs on Fire - "Digital Threads: The Entrepreneur Playbook for Digital-First Marketing with Neal Schaffer"| |Tiger Window Cleaning - Premium Local Window Service|Local window cleaning service targeting homeowners. Traditional companies charging 2x market rate. Making $10k/month from $200 initial investment.|Local window cleaning service combining competitive pricing ($5/pane), excellent customer service, and quality guarantees. Uses modern tools like water-fed poles for efficiency. Implements systematic approach to customer communication and follow-up.|The Side Hustle Show - "630: How this College Student’s Side Hustle Brings in $10k a Month"| |RealViz3D - Real Estate Visualization Platform|3D visualization service turning architectural plans into photorealistic renderings for real estate agents. Agents struggling with unbuilt property sales. Making $30-40k/year per operator.|Professional 3D modeling and rendering service that creates photorealistic visualizations of properties before they're built or renovated. The service transforms architectural plans into immersive 3D representations that show lighting, textures, and realistic details. This helps potential buyers fully understand and connect with the space before it physically exists.|Side Hustle School - "#2861 - TBT: An Architect’s Side Hustle in 3D Real Estate Modeling"| |Somewhere - Global Talent Marketplace|Platform connecting US companies with vetted overseas talent. Tech roles costing $150k locally filled for 50% less. Grew from $15M to $52M valuation in 9 months.|Platform connecting US companies with pre-vetted overseas talent at significantly lower rates while maintaining high quality. Handles payments, contracts, and quality assurance to remove friction from global hiring.|My First Million - "I Lost Everything Twice… Then Made $26M In 18 Months| |GymLaunch - Rapid Gym Turnaround Service|Consultants flying to struggling gyms to implement proven member acquisition systems. Gym owners lacking sales expertise. Made $100k in first 21 days.|Expert consultants fly in to implement proven member acquisition systems, train staff, and rapidly fill gyms with new members. The service combines sales training, marketing automation, and proven conversion tactics to transform struggling gyms into profitable businesses within weeks.|My First Million - "I Lost Everything Twice… Then Made $26M In 18 Months| |PublishPlus - Publishing Backend Monetization|Backend monetization system for publishing companies. One-time customers becoming recurring revenue. Grew business from $2M to $110M revenue.|Add complementary backend products and services to increase customer lifetime value. Develop software tools and additional services that natural extend from initial publishing product. Focus on high-margin recurring revenue streams.|My First Million - "I Lost Everything Twice… Then Made $26M In 18 Months| |WelcomeBot - Automated Employee Onboarding Platform|Automated employee welcome platform. HR teams struggling with consistent onboarding. $99/month per 100 employees.|An automated onboarding platform that creates personalized welcome experiences through pre-recorded video messages, scheduled check-ins, and automated swag delivery. The platform would ensure consistent high-quality onboarding regardless of timing or location.|Entrepreneurs on Fire - "Free Training on Building Systems and Processes to Scale Your Business with Chris Ronzio: An EOFire Classic from 2021"| |ProcessBrain - Business Knowledge Documentation Platform|SaaS platform turning tribal knowledge into documented processes. Business owners spending hours training new hires. $199/month per company.|A software platform that makes it easy to document and delegate business processes and procedures. The platform would include templates, guided documentation flows, and tools to easily share and update procedures. It would help businesses create a comprehensive playbook of their operations.|Entrepreneurs on Fire - "Free Training on Building Systems and Processes to Scale Your Business with Chris Ronzio: An EOFire Classic from 2021"| |TradeMatch - Modern Manufacturing Job Marketplace|Modern job board making manufacturing sexy again. Factory jobs paying $40/hr but can't recruit. $500 per successful referral.|A specialized job marketplace and recruitment platform focused exclusively on modern manufacturing and trade jobs. The platform would combine TikTok-style content marketing, referral programs, and modern UX to make manufacturing jobs appealing to Gen Z and young workers. Would leverage existing $500 referral fees and industry demand.|My First Million - "He Sold His Company For $15M, Then Got A Job At McDonald’s"| |GroundLevel - Executive Immersion Program|Structured program putting CEOs in front-line jobs. Executives disconnected from workers. $25k per placement.|A structured program that places executives and founders in front-line jobs (retail, warehouse, service) for 2-4 weeks with documentation and learning framework. Similar to Scott Heiferman's McDonald's experience but productized.|My First Million - "He Sold His Company For $15M, Then Got A Job At McDonald’s"| |OneStepAhead - Micro-Mentorship Marketplace|Marketplace for 30-min mentorship calls with people one step ahead. Professionals seeking specific guidance. Takes 15% of session fees.|MicroMentor Marketplace - Platform connecting people with mentors who are just one step ahead in their journey for focused, affordable micro-mentorship sessions.|Entrepreneurs on Fire - "How to Create an Unbroken Business with Michael Unbroken: An EOFire Classic from 2021"| |VulnerableLeader - Leadership Authenticity Training Platform|Leadership vulnerability training platform. Leaders struggling with authentic communication. $2k/month per company subscription.|Leadership Vulnerability Platform - A digital training platform combining assessment tools, guided exercises, and peer support to help leaders develop authentic communication skills. The platform would include real-world scenarios, video coaching, and measurable metrics for tracking leadership growth through vulnerability.|Entrepreneurs on Fire - "How to Create an Unbroken Business with Michael Unbroken: An EOFire Classic from 2021"| |NetworkAI - Smart Network Intelligence Platform|AI analyzing your network to find hidden valuable connections. Professionals missing opportunities in existing contacts. $49/month per user.|AI Network Navigator - Smart tool that analyzes your professional network across platforms, identifies valuable hidden connections, and suggests specific actionable ways to leverage relationships for mutual benefit.|Entrepreneurs on Fire - "How to Create an Unbroken Business with Michael Unbroken: An EOFire Classic from 2021"| |Porch Pumpkins - Seasonal Decoration Service|Full-service porch pumpkin decoration. Homeowners spend $300-1350 per season. One operator making $1M in 8 weeks seasonal revenue.|Full-service seasonal porch decoration service focused on autumn/Halloween, including design, installation, maintenance, and removal. Offering premium curated pumpkin arrangements with various package tiers.|My First Million - "The guy who gets paid $80K/yr to do nothing"| |Silent Companion - Professional Presence Service|Professional silent companions for lonely people. Huge problem in Japan/globally. $68/session, $80k/year per companion. Non-sexual, just presence.|A professional companion service where individuals can rent a non-judgmental, quiet presence for various activities. The companion provides silent company without the pressure of conversation or social performance. They accompany clients to events, meals, or just sit quietly together.|My First Million - "The guy who gets paid $80K/yr to do nothing"| Hope this is useful. If anyone would like to ensure I include any particular podcasts or episodes etc. in future posts, very happy to do so. I'll generally send \~5 ideas per week in a short weekly digest format (you can see the format I'd usually use in here: podcastmarketwatch.beehiiv.com). I find it mindblowing that the latest models with large context windows make it even possible to analyze full transcripts at such scale. It's a very exciting time we're living through! Would love some feedback on this stuff, happy to iterate and improve the analysis/ideas... or create a new newsletter on a different topic if anyone would like. Cheers!

Honest thoughts on our startup

Hey y'all, we've recently started a marking push, overhauled the website, and our machine learning team has done drastic work to improve the reviews & auto pr descriptions. That being said, would love some candid feedback if you or your team members would consider using a tool like ours and if not, why not. Our company is Korbit AI and we do context based, AI code reviews and automated PR descriptions. While we have been getting more traction since some of the updates and larger companies are starting to sign up, I would really appreciate some honest opinions on why you \wouldn't\ try a tool like this in hopes we can use that info to alter marketing etc. This is not meant to be a promotion post, and legitimately looking to learn from other people rocking startups trying to build up a larger customer base etc. Any feedback is very much appreciated Thank you in advanced, Riley

What’s expected of an AI-powered SMM tool?

As someone working on an AI platform that helps small businesses with marketing, I’ve been wondering: What's your expectations for an AI social media manager tool? To give you more details, here are some questions I’d love to hear opinions on: What should an AI agent in SMM know to create effective posts? What kinds of posts should it write? How much of social media posting can or should be automated by AI? What’s currently trending on platforms like LinkedIn and X? Can AI effectively replicate or predict such trends? Should AI focus more on addressing the audience’s pain points, or is there more value in leveraging trends and viral formats?

Idea Validation Post: Seeking Feedback on My AI-Driven Quick Launch Application! 🚀

Hey Members! I’m excited to share an idea for a new application I’m planning to build: Quick Launch . This AI-driven platform is designed to assist solopreneurs or anyone with an idea in launching their Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) by taking on the roles of the entire team needed for the process. Goal: Assistance in quickly moving from Idea to MVP Before I dive into the details, I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Key Features: Product Creation: From Idea to Product Detailing AI-Generated Q&A: Real-time questions generation one-at-a-time to define the product requirements based on their knowledge levels to convert an Idea into a Product. Market Research Reports: In-depth analysis that identifies product-market fit, competitive landscape, and potential marketing strategies. Sentiment Analysis: Evaluation of user feedback and reactions across multiple subreddits to gauge public opinion on ideas. Product Development: Product Detailing to Actual Product User Story Generation: Identification and creation of comprehensive user stories, tasks, and sub-tasks to facilitate development. AI Project Management: AI agents assume roles of project managers and UI/UX designers to streamline product detailing and development. Integration Capabilities: Seamless integration with popular project management tools like Jira, Asana, and Trello for better workflow management. Target Audience: Solopreneurs: Individuals looking to bring their business ideas to life without extensive resources. Indie Hackers: Entrepreneurs focused on building small projects or startups with minimal overhead. Idea Validators: Anyone with a concept seeking initial validation and market feedback before committing significant resources. If you’re interested in learning more, check out our teaser website: Quick Launch Discussion Question: What features would you find most valuable in an application like this? Are there specific pain points you face when launching an MVP? Your insights would be incredibly helpful as I refine this idea! Looking forward to your thoughts! 🙌

AI Implementation

Hey guys. I am an entrepreneur. I started a service-based business in the Telecom construction industry. I have had my ups and downs. There are a lot of factors in that kind of business and I wanted to venture out to an industry that is more in demand now. The tech industry has been booming for the last two decades and the new AI revolution will help it keep the momentum. I am researching ideas about how and where AI could be useful and how to make it more accessible to those people who need them. In my service field, AI has helped me manage my projects and cut down on work time by half. A lot of organizational tasks and tracking can be done much faster with the help of AI. I'm looking for ideas on where else can someone use AI's help and what would make you want to use it. Also, what would be something that might attract your attention towards that? Looking for any and all opinions.

Idea Validation Post: Seeking Feedback on My AI-Driven Quick Launch Application! 🚀

Hey Members! I’m excited to share an idea for a new application I’m planning to build: Quick Launch . This AI-driven platform is designed to assist solopreneurs or anyone with an idea in launching their Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) by taking on the roles of the entire team needed for the process. Goal: Assistance in quickly moving from Idea to MVP Before I dive into the details, I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Key Features: Product Creation: From Idea to Product Detailing AI-Generated Q&A: Real-time questions generation one-at-a-time to define the product requirements based on their knowledge levels to convert an Idea into a Product. Market Research Reports: In-depth analysis that identifies product-market fit, competitive landscape, and potential marketing strategies. Sentiment Analysis: Evaluation of user feedback and reactions across multiple subreddits to gauge public opinion on ideas. Product Development: Product Detailing to Actual Product User Story Generation: Identification and creation of comprehensive user stories, tasks, and sub-tasks to facilitate development. AI Project Management: AI agents assume roles of project managers and UI/UX designers to streamline product detailing and development. Integration Capabilities: Seamless integration with popular project management tools like Jira, Asana, and Trello for better workflow management. Target Audience: Solopreneurs: Individuals looking to bring their business ideas to life without extensive resources. Indie Hackers: Entrepreneurs focused on building small projects or startups with minimal overhead. Idea Validators: Anyone with a concept seeking initial validation and market feedback before committing significant resources. If you’re interested in learning more, check out our teaser website: Quick Launch Discussion Question: What features would you find most valuable in an application like this? Are there specific pain points you face when launching an MVP? Your insights would be incredibly helpful as I refine this idea! Looking forward to your thoughts! 🙌

Game-Changer or Overkill? Seeking Feedback on a SaaS Idea for Marketing Agencies

Hello, I’m working on a SaaS platform idea tailored for digital marketing agencies, and I’d love your input. The Concept: We’re developing a platform that combines automation tools with AI-powered chatbots. Here’s how it works: Automation Tools:Our platform offers tools (automation tools similar to zapier)to help agencies manage tasks like scheduling social media posts, running ad campaigns, and handling customer inquiries. AI Chatbot #1:This chatbot is trained on the agency’s data, helping them manage clients more efficiently by automating responses and streamlining internal processes. AI Chatbot #2: Agencies can offer this chatbot to their clients (businesses). It’s trained on the specific needs of the client’s business, enhancing their customer interactions. The key idea is that the agency can brand this chatbot as their own. My questions are:- Validation: In your opinion,Does this idea address real pain points in digital marketing? Opportunities:How could we make this platform even more valuable? Thanks for your feedback!

AI Consulting for Small Businesses: Your Thoughts? Looking for feedback from small businesses.

I'm an AI consultant helping small businesses like yours leverage AI to boost efficiency and save money. I offer tailored solutions to address your unique needs, whether it's automating tasks, improving customer service, or optimizing sales. This is information will be used to help us improve our message and products. We are not looking to sell anyone. We just need honest opinions like a focus group. Thank you. I'm curious: *What are your biggest pain points in your business? *What solutions would you like technology to solve for you? What AI challenges are you facing? (e.g., automation, data analysis, customer support) Would you consider an AI consultation? Why or why not? What outcomes are most important to you? (e.g., increased revenue, cost savings, improved customer satisfaction) What concerns you about AI adoption? (e.g., cost, implementation, data privacy) How do you see AI impacting your business's future? Thank you for your feedback.

AI Consulting for Small Businesses: Your Thoughts? Looking for feedback from small businesses.

I'm an AI consultant helping small businesses like yours leverage AI to boost efficiency and save money. I offer tailored solutions to address your unique needs, whether it's automating tasks, improving customer service, or optimizing sales. This is information will be used to help us improve our message and products. We are not looking to sell anyone. We just need honest opinions like a focus group. Thank you. I'm curious: *What are your biggest pain points in your business? *What solutions would you like technology to solve for you? What AI challenges are you facing? (e.g., automation, data analysis, customer support) Would you consider an AI consultation? Why or why not? What outcomes are most important to you? (e.g., increased revenue, cost savings, improved customer satisfaction) What concerns you about AI adoption? (e.g., cost, implementation, data privacy) How do you see AI impacting your business's future? Thank you for your feedback.

Neural Networks you can try to implement from scratch (for beginners)

I was reading a tweet talking about how useful it is to implement neural networks from scratch. How it allowed for a greater understanding of the topic. The author said he found it more useful than other people explaining the concept to him. While I disagree with the author’s opinion that it stops the need for explanations. It certainly does help the understanding of one’s model. I recommend giving it a go. In the blog post, I will suggest which models you should try to implement from scratch using NumPy or your favourite library. Also, I will link to some accompanying resources. Simple Feedforward Network This is the most famous example because it’s so simple. But allows you to learn so much. I heard about this idea from Andrew Trask. It also helped me think about implementing networks from scratch in general. In the Feedforward network, you will be using NumPy. As you won't need Pytorch or TensorFlow. To do the heavy-lifting for complex calculations. You can simply create a Numpy Array for training and testing data. You can also create a nonlinear function using Numpy. Then work out the error rate between the layer’s guess and real data. Resource for this task: https://iamtrask.github.io/2015/07/12/basic-python-network/ Follow this tutorial. It does a much better job of explaining how to do this in NumPy. With code examples to follow. Feedforward Network with Gradient Descent This is an extension of the network above. In this network, we allow the model to optimise its weights. This can also be done in NumPy. Resource for this task: https://iamtrask.github.io/2015/07/27/python-network-part2/ A follow-on from the previous article. Pytorch version of Perceptrons and Multi-layered Perceptrons. Here will go up a level by using a library. Examples I'm using will be done in Pytorch. But you can use whatever library you prefer. When implementing these networks, you learn how much a library does the work for you. Recourses for the task: https://medium.com/@tomgrek/building-your-first-neural-net-from-scratch-with-pytorch-56b0e9c84d54 https://becominghuman.ai/pytorch-from-first-principles-part-ii-d37529c57a62 K Means Clustering Yes, this does not count as a neural network. But a traditional machine learning algorithm is still very useful. As this is non deep learning algorithm it should be easier to understand. This can be done just using NumPy or Pandas depending on the implementation. Recourse for this task: https://www.machinelearningplus.com/predictive-modeling/k-means-clustering/ http://madhugnadig.com/articles/machine-learning/2017/03/04/implementing-k-means-clustering-from-scratch-in-python.html https://gdcoder.com/implementation-of-k-means-from-scratch-in-python-9-lines/ There are quite a few choices to choose from. So pick whatever implementation helps you understand the concepts better. These networks or models should be simple enough that you won't get lost trying to implement them. But still, help learn a few stuff along the way. \- If you found this post useful, then check out my mailing list where I write more stuff like this.

GPT Weekly - 19the June Edition - OpenAI's function calling, Meta's free LLM, EU Regulation and more.

This is a recap covering the major news from last week. 🔥Top 3 news - OpenAI’s updates, Meta’s upcoming free LLM and EU Regulation 🗞️Interesting reads include PSA about protecting your keys, The GPT ouroboros, Reddit - OpenAI’s moat, and more.. 🧑‍🎓Learning includes a Step-by-step guide from a non-technical founder who launched his MVP, Chatbot for your Gdrive and more 🔥Top 3 AI news in the past week OpenAI: New Pricing, Models, & Functions OpenAI has been on a roll. Last week we saw the release of OpenAI best practice on using GPT. This week we saw some amazing updates. Three major buckets were: First, the price decreases for both embeddings and GPT-3.5 tokens. Second, new models for gpt-4 and gpt-3.5. A new longer context model for gpt-3.5. Third, a new function calling capability. Why is it important? Previously, the output from OpenAI was all text. So, calling an external API from GPT was quite difficult. You had to parse the text data and things were often incorrect. Langchain created the Agents and Tools feature to tackle this problem. It was still unreliable and prone to issues. Now you get native support to generate a fixed format output. You can use the output to generate functional calls and also pass functions which need to be called. For example, if your app has multiple API endpoints then you can use GPT to generate the API calls with parameters. You can also pass the endpoints as function calls to ensure the correct function is executed. This functionality can further be used to generate structured data (JSON) out of GPT. So, you can generate data from GPT and load it into your backend. What’s next? This functionality allows turning natural language responses into structured data. This can be used to create “intelligent” backends using LLMs. We might see implementations in no-code tools to allow more robust and natural-language tools for non-technical folks. The structured data process goes both ways. You can also feed structured data into GPT for better responses. This feature also has its share of issues. Function calling suffers from the same prompt injection issues. Malicious actors can pass malicious code in function or the responses. For example, creation of queries using functions might contain malicious code to delete data. Without proper user validation this code will be executed automatically and delete data. So, using LLM as the back-end layer needs proper security implementation. Meta's LLM: Commercial Use Ahead Llama has been a boon for the open source community. Many of the open source models rely on Llama. The issue is that Llama is research-only and cannot be used commercially. So, no one can use it to build any product. Meta is now working on the next version of the model. This model will be available for commercial use. This is in stark contrast to both OpenAI and Google. Both safe-guarde their models and make it available through API. Why is it important? Certain industries cannot use LLM APIs because of strict restrictions on data privacy. These companies would want to run their own instance of a foundational model. A commercially available foundational model is also going to help people who want to keep their “API call” costs next to 0. A commercially available free-for-all model will also help push the open source community further. Just like Llama. What’s next? Sam Altman has said OpenAI didn’t release GPT-3 as open-source because they didn’t think people would be able to run it. Now OpenAI is working on an open-source model. This is going to be weaker than GPT-4. Let the battle of LLMs begin. EU's Proposed Legislation and Its Impact on AI Usage The EU parliament voted to move ahead with the E.U. AI Act. This act aims to ensure consumer protection against the dangers of AI. Why is it important? OpenAI and Sam Altman want regulations for models. They have proposed a IAEA-type of agency to stop the proliferation of LLM models. As per OpenAI, all models should be regulated and monitored. The suggestion of a license based regulation has led to significant backlash. Many people have called it “regulatory capture” - with the aim of shutting down competing LLMs. Licensing based regulations might not really be effective. The EU is approaching regulation from a different angle. It doesn’t focus on how models are developed. Rather focuses on how AI will/can be used. They have broken down use cases into 4 categories - unacceptable (prohibited), high, medium and low risk. For example, Building a Pre-Crime software,on%20crimes%20not%20yet%20committed.) to predict crimes? Building a Social credit system? Unacceptable. Using tools to influence elections or recommendation algorithms? High (Highly regulated). Using generative AI tools to create text or images on news sites? Medium (Add label that the content is AI generated) AI providers also need to disclose their training source. To me this sounds like good legislation. What do you guys think? But, OpenAI has warned that EU regulations might force them to pull out completely. What’s next? The disclosure requirements might help various publishing companies. AI and media companies are in talks to pay for training data. Google has been leading the charge. Additionally, OpenAI and Deepmind will open their models for safety and research purposes to the UK government. 🗞️10 AI news highlights and interesting reads PSA: If you are using Repl to write code, you might want to check your OpenAI API keys. If you have left them embedded then people can pirate and steal the keys. LLMs rely on human annotation or human feedback to learn. And one way to generate human annotation is crowdsourcing. But what if the crowdsource human annotators use LLMs? Research shows 33-46% workers used LLMs. So, basically we go from Human -> AI -> Human -> AI. The AI ouroboros. Researchers also say generated data to train models might cause serious issue. All the talks about moats \- Reddit might be OpenAI’s \future\ moat. Given the amount of complaints about how Google search experience has deteriorated during the blackout, this might be true? Doctors are using ChatGPT but not to diagnose.Rather to be more empathetic. We discussed this just a month ago. And guess where the data for this study came from? Reddit AskDocs. Moat FTW?! Beatles to make a comeback…using Generative AI. SnapFusion - Text to Image diffusion on mobile phones. Large context lengths are important for better GPT experience. The secret sauce for 100k context length. There is a lot of bad AI research out there. Some border on snake oil. Most AI “research” should be double checked and challenged. A new research on huggingface said that GPT-4 can ace MIT curriculum. Now someone is replicating the results and say that GPT-4 can’t beat MIT. Are we seeing peak AI? Especially when people from Deepmind and Meta are involved? Mistral AI raised $113 million in seed round with no product. Some might say this funding is for the team and the team is really solid. The issue though is whether the valuation is justified when OpenAI and Google already have a head start. The AI Hype Wall of Shame. \- Collection of articles which mislead people about AI in various aspects. 🧑‍🎓3 Learning Resources Building and Launching a company using GPT-4 with prompts. (The author didn’t know how to code but created and launched the MVP in a month). Chatbot for your Gdrive - https://www.haihai.ai/gpt-gdrive/ Building ChatGPT plugin using Supabase - https://supabase.com/blog/building-chatgpt-plugins-template That’s it folks. Thank you for reading and have a great week ahead. If you are interested in a focused weekly recap delivered to your inbox on Mondays you can subscribe here. It is FREE!

I made a website to generate craft ideas from existing materials

Idea: When browsing crafts groups, I noticed that members searched for craft ideas, either randomly, using available materials, or recycling existing things: First attempt: This attempt was a failure. After studying the idea well, I started trying to implement it with the help of Gpt. Because I am a beginner in programming, I only have a little experience in. html and css. I used gpt for php and js. The goal of the site was for the user to enter the materials he owns and the degree of difficulty of implementation to get a title for the idea. And how to implement it. This was all writing generated through the open ai api. After a few struggles, it became clear to me that writing could not describe the idea as it is. I changed the idea. Ideas are generated using images. The results were amazing. Here I faced a budget problem, as the subscriptions to the API for images were very high in my opinion. Because I plan to make the tool free.So I left the project. Second attempt. A year later while I was browsing I discovered stability.ai. From stablediffision, I found their prices to be reasonable, so I returned to the project and completed it. Website link: Craftivi

How I Implemented OpenAI's API In My First SaaS! DebateTrend!

About Me I'm a 17 y/o aspiring solopreneur from Bulgaria! I have a passion for 3D printing, coding, video creation, and space! My Project https://debatetrend.com is a website where you can debate with AI on different topics! You can have multiple debates with different debate styles for different lengths of time! The special part is that at the end of each debate, you can have another AI look through the debate! It will give you and the AI you debated with a score from a system I call "debate score" It will also give you recommendations on where you can improve your debating skills! Quick showcase How I implemented AI - ChatGPT 4-o mini It's my first time implementing AI in a project but I think I got the hang of it relatively quickly! Here's a diagram explaining what I did Diagram of the process of debate creation. I used the assistants API from the OpenAI API. Using the threads functionality, I created a different thread operated by an assistant I had already made. When a user creates a debate my app creates a thread with custom information that was decided by the user. I save parts of the thread object in my MongoDB database which is hosted on Atlas. After that, I redirect the user to a generated page in which you can chat with the AI. I maintain the connection using Pusher which is what I use for web sockets. When a user refreshes the page the previous messages are displayed by making a call to the API with the thread id. After that, I retrieve the user messages while still allowing the user to continue the debate. This is part of what I do on the back end. Of course, I have some security measures in check but I don't know if they are enough. I chose the 4-o mini because it's still very intelligent, with a good response time, and a lot cheaper than 4-o. My Tech Stack Language: Javascript Database: MongoDB hosted on Atlas Hosting: Vercel Framework: Express Auth: PassportJs Emails: Resend Payments: Stripe Front End: TailWindCSS, some regular CSS, and DaisyUI WebSockets: Pusher, because Vercel = no sockets integrated into your web app which I found the painful way AI: OpenAI’s API ChatGPT 4-o mini Do you think I could have done anything better? I would love to hear your opinions!

I just built footyGPT.com , an AI assistant for football stats, data and data-backed predictions

Hey Amigos! I am based in London and I build lots of fun tools and websites in the sports data space to help sports bettors make better data-driven decisions. One of my recently launched ones is footyGPT.com I have tried to launch this earlier in 2023 but my team were not able to achieve the end goal (I am a non-technical founder) Funny story, I bought the domain footygpt(dot)com back in 2023 and let it expire because i felt like since we weren't able to acheieve the end goal, there was no need to keep the domain. But 2 months ago I started working on it one more time with a different team, and since AI has become "more friendly" than it was early in 2023, it was a much smoother ride and i was so scared someone else had already bought the domain, only to find out it was still available to buy! I was so scared I lost such a clean domain. Below is an example of how footyGPT works: Ask FootyGPT for Predictions for a Given Fixture how footyGPT works \(case study\) Ask FootyGPT to Scrape and Summarize Data from a Stats Website using footyGPT to scrape football stats websites Ask FootyGPT for Sentiments and Online Opinion About a Given Match or Events. ask footygpt for up to date sentiments and opinions about football matches Ask FootyGPT to Find Teams with Certain Streaks, Trends, or Stats https://reddit.com/link/1frdk04/video/9oyaj5ldqjrd1/player If you are into football (soccer) please give it a spin and let me know your thoughts! Cheers Amigos

I built an app to find who’s interested in your app by monitoring social media

Hi everyone! I hope you’re all doing great folks! I’d love to know your thoughts about what I’ve been working on recently! 🙏 If you’re busy or wanna see the app scroll to the bottom to see the video demo, otherwise, continue reading. Very brief presentation of myself first: I’m Marvin, and I live in Florence, Italy, 👋 This year I decided to go all-in on solopreneurship, I’ve been in tech as Software Engineer first, and then in Engineering Leadership for 10+ years, I’ve always worked in startups, except for last year, when I was the Director of Engineering at the Linux Foundation. Follow me on X or subscribe to my newsletter if you’re curious about this journey. The vision Most founders start building digital startups because they love crafting and being impactful by helping other people or companies. First-time founders then face reality when they realize that nailing distribution is key. All other founders already learned this, most likely the hard way. The outcome is the same: a great product will unlikely succeed without great distribution. Letting people know about your product should be easier and not an unfair advantage. The following meme is so true, but also quite sad. I wanna help this to change by easing the marketing and distribution part. https://preview.redd.it/g52pz46upqtd1.png?width=679&format=png&auto=webp&s=cf8398a3592f25c05c396bb2ff5d028331a36315 The story behind Distribution is a huge space: lead generation, demand generation, content marketing, social media marketing, cold outreach, etc. I cannot solve everything altogether. A few months ago I was checking the traffic to a job board I own (NextCommit). That's when I noticed that the “baseline” traffic increased by almost 10x. 🤯 I started investigating why. I realized that the monthly traffic from Reddit increased from 10-ish to 350+. Yeah, the job board doesn’t get much traffic in total, but this was an interesting finding. After digging more, it seems that all that increase came from a single Reddit comment: https://www.reddit.com/r/remotework/comments/1crwcei/comment/l5fb1yy/ This is the moment when I realized two things: It’s cool that someone quoted it! Engaging with people on Reddit, even just through comments, can be VERY powerful. And this was just one single comment! https://preview.redd.it/nhxcv4h2qqtd1.png?width=1192&format=png&auto=webp&s=d31905f56ae59426108ddbb61f2d6b668eedf27a Some weeks later I started noticing a few apps like ReplyGuy. These were automatically engaging with Reddit posts identified through keywords. I decided to sign up for the free plan of ReplyGuy to know more, but many things didn’t convince me: One of the keywords I used for my job board was “remote” and that caused a lot of false positives, The generated replies were good as a kickstart, but most of the time they needed to be tuned to sound more like me. The latter is expected. In the end, the platform doesn’t know me, doesn’t know my opinions, doesn’t know my story, etc.. The only valuable feature left for me was identifying the posts, but that also didn’t work well for me due to false positives. I ended up using it after only 15 minutes. I’m not saying they did a poor job, but it was not working well for me. In the end, the product got quite some traction, so it helped confirm there’s interest in that kind of tool. What bothered me was the combination of auto-replies that felt non-authentic. It’s not that I’m against bots, automation is becoming more common, and people are getting used to it. But in this context, I believe bots should act as an extension of ourselves, enhancing our interactions rather than just generating generic responses (like tools such as HeyGen, Synthesia, PhotoAI). I’m not there yet with my app, but a lot can be done. I'd love to reach the point where a user feels confident to automate the replies because they sound as written by themselves. I then decided to start from the same space, helping engage with Reddit posts, for these reasons: I experienced myself that it can be impactful, It aligns with my vision to ease distribution, Some competitors validated that there’s interest in this specific feature and I could use it as a starting point, I’m confident I can provide a better experience even with what I already have. The current state The product currently enables you to: Create multiple projects and assign keywords, Find the posts that are relevant for engagement using a fuzzy match of keywords and post-filtered using AI to avoid false positives, Provide an analysis of each post to assess the best way to engage, Generate a helpful reply that you’d need to review and post. So currently the product is more on the demand gen side, but this is just the beginning. I’m speaking with people from Marketing, Sales, RevOps, and Growth agencies to better understand their lives, struggles, and pain points. This will help me ensure that I build a product that enables them to help users find the products they need. I’m currently looking for up to 10 people to join the closed beta for free. If you’re interested in joining or to get notified once generally available you can do it here! https://tally.so/r/3XYbj4 After the closed beta, I will start onboarding people in batches. This will let me gather feedback, iterate, and provide a great experience to everyone aligned with my vision. I’m not going to add auto-reply unless the conditions I explained above are met or someone convinces me there’s a good reason for doing so. Each batch will probably get bigger with an increasing price until I’m confident about making it generally available. The next steps The next steps will depend on the feedback I get from the customers and the learnings from the discovery calls I’m having. I will talk about future developments in another update, but I have some ideas already. Check out the demo video below, and I'd love to hear your thoughts! ❤️ Oh and BTW, the app is called HaveYouHeard! https://reddit.com/link/1fzsnrd/video/34lat9snpqtd1/player This is the link to Loom in case the upload doesn't work: https://www.loom.com/share/460c4033b1f94e3bb5e1d081a05eedfd

Building in public: v2 of an AI tool to help businesses easily review their business contracts for legal risks

You can check out Cobrief here: https://www.cobrief.app/ It's pretty cheap to begin with at $29.99 / month because the whole point is to cater for the mass SMB market (that can't otherwise afford expensive lawyers or outside counsel). Would any owner/managers on this thread be interested in using this kinda tool to do the initial heavy-lifting rather than (A) Googling or (B) Self-reviewing their contracts? Super keen to hear from you :) PS. Feel free to roast, honest opinions welcome

Building in public: v2 of an AI tool to help businesses easily review their business contracts for legal risks

You can check out Cobrief here: https://www.cobrief.app/ It's pretty cheap to begin with at $29.99 / month because the whole point is to cater for the mass SMB market (that can't otherwise afford expensive lawyers or outside counsel). Would any owner/managers on this thread be interested in using this kinda tool to do the initial heavy-lifting rather than (A) Googling or (B) Self-reviewing their contracts? Super keen to hear from you :) PS. Feel free to roast, honest opinions welcome

[Discussion] When ML and Data Science are the death of a good company: A cautionary tale.

TD;LR: At Company A, Team X does advanced analytics using on-prem ERP tools and older programming languages. Their tools work very well and are designed based on very deep business and domain expertise. Team Y is a new and ambitious Data Science team that thinks they can replace Team X's tools with a bunch of R scripts and a custom built ML platform. Their models are simplistic, but more "fashionable" compared to the econometric models used by Team X, and team Y benefits from the ML/DS moniker so leadership is allowing Team Y to start a large scale overhaul of the analytics platform in question. Team Y doesn't have the experience for such a larger scale transformation, and is refusing to collaborate with team X. This project is very likely going to fail, and cause serious harm to the company as a whole financially and from a people perspective. I argue that this is not just because of bad leadership, but also because of various trends and mindsets in the DS community at large. Update (Jump to below the line for the original story): Several people in the comments are pointing out that this just a management failure, not something due to ML/DS, and that you can replace DS with any buzz tech and the story will still be relevant. My response: Of course, any failure at an organization level is ultimately a management failure one way or the other. Moreover, it is also the case that ML/DS when done correctly, will always improve a company's bottom line. There is no scenario where the proper ML solution, delivered at a reasonable cost and in a timely fashion, will somehow hurt the company's bottom line. My point is that in this case management is failing because of certain trends and practices that are specific to the ML/DS community, namely: The idea that DS teams should operate independently of tech and business orgs -- too much autonomy for DS teams The disregard for domain knowledge that seems prevalent nowadays thanks to the ML hype, that DS can be generalists and someone with good enough ML chops can solve any business problem. That wasn't the case when I first left academia for the industry in 2009 (back then nobody would even bother with a phone screen if you didn't have the right domain knowledge). Over reliance on resources who check all the ML hype related boxes (knows Python, R, Tensorflow, Shiny, etc..., has the right Coursera certifications, has blogged on the topic, etc...), but are lacking in depth of experience. DS interviews nowadays all seem to be: Can you tell me what a p-value is? What is elastic net regression? Show me how to fit a model in sklearn? How do you impute NAs in an R dataframe? Any smart person can look those up on Stackoverflow or Cross-Validated,.....Instead teams should be asking stuff like: why does portfolio optimization use QP not LP? How does a forecast influence a customer service level? When should a recommendation engine be content based and when should it use collaborative filtering? etc... (This is a true story, happening to the company I currently work for. Names, domains, algorithms, and roles have been shuffled around to protect my anonymity)  Company A has been around for several decades. It is not the biggest name in its domain, but it is a well respected one. Risk analysis and portfolio optimization have been a core of Company A's business since the 90s. They have a large team of 30 or so analysts who perform those tasks on a daily basis. These analysts use ERP solutions implemented for them by one the big ERP companies (SAP, Teradata, Oracle, JD Edwards,...) or one of the major tech consulting companies (Deloitte, Accenture, PWC, Capgemini, etc...) in collaboration with their own in house engineering team. The tools used are embarrassingly old school: Classic RDBMS running on on-prem servers or maybe even on mainframes, code written in COBOL, Fortran, weird proprietary stuff like ABAP or SPSS.....you get the picture. But the models and analytic functions were pretty sophisticated, and surprisingly cutting edge compared to the published academic literature. Most of all, they fit well with the company's enterprise ecosystem, and were honed based on years of deep domain knowledge.  They have a tech team of several engineers (poached from the aforementioned software and consulting companies) and product managers (who came from the experienced pools of analysts and managers who use the software, or poached from business rivals) maintaining and running this software. Their technology might be old school, but collectively, they know the domain and the company's overall architecture very, very well. They've guided the company through several large scale upgrades and migrations and they have a track record of delivering on time, without too much overhead. The few times they've stumbled, they knew how to pick themselves up very quickly. In fact within their industry niche, they have a reputation for their expertise, and have very good relations with the various vendors they've had to deal with. They were the launching pad of several successful ERP consulting careers.  Interestingly, despite dealing on a daily basis with statistical modeling and optimization algorithms, none of the analysts, engineers, or product managers involved describe themselves as data scientists or machine learning experts. It is mostly a cultural thing: Their expertise predates the Data Science/ML hype that started circa 2010, and they got most of their chops using proprietary enterprise tools instead of the open source tools popular nowadays. A few of them have formal statistical training, but most of them came from engineering or domain backgrounds and learned stats on the fly while doing their job. Call this team "Team X".  Sometime around the mid 2010s, Company A started having some serious anxiety issues: Although still doing very well for a company its size, overall economic and demographic trends were shrinking its customer base, and a couple of so called disruptors came up with a new app and business model that started seriously eating into their revenue. A suitable reaction to appease shareholders and Wall Street was necessary. The company already had a decent website and a pretty snazzy app, what more could be done? Leadership decided that it was high time that AI and ML become a core part of the company's business. An ambitious Manager, with no science or engineering background, but who had very briefly toyed with a recommender system a couple of years back, was chosen to build a data science team, call it team "Y" (he had a bachelor's in history from the local state college and worked for several years in the company's marketing org). Team "Y" consists mostly of internal hires who decided they wanted to be data scientists and completed a Coursera certification or a Galvanize boot camp, before being brought on to the team, along with a few of fresh Ph.D or M.Sc holders who didn't like academia and wanted to try their hand at an industry role. All of them were very bright people, they could write great Medium blog posts and give inspiring TED talks, but collectively they had very little real world industry experience. As is the fashion nowadays, this group was made part of a data science org that reported directly to the CEO and Board, bypassing the CIO and any tech or business VPs, since Company A wanted to claim the monikers "data driven" and "AI powered" in their upcoming shareholder meetings. In 3 or 4 years of existence, team Y produced a few Python and R scripts. Their architectural experience  consisted almost entirely in connecting Flask to S3 buckets or Redshift tables, with a couple of the more resourceful ones learning how to plug their models into Tableau or how to spin up a Kuberneties pod.  But they needn't worry: The aforementioned manager, who was now a director (and was also doing an online Masters to make up for his qualifications gap and bolster his chances of becoming VP soon - at least he now understands what L1 regularization is), was a master at playing corporate politics and self-promotion. No matter how few actionable insights team Y produced or how little code they deployed to production, he always had their back and made sure they had ample funding. In fact he now had grandiose plans for setting up an all-purpose machine learning platform that can be used to solve all of the company's data problems.  A couple of sharp minded members of team Y, upon googling their industry name along with the word "data science", realized that risk analysis was a prime candidate for being solved with Bayesian models, and there was already a nifty R package for doing just that, whose tutorial they went through on R-Bloggers.com. One of them had even submitted a Bayesian classifier Kernel for a competition on Kaggle (he was 203rd on the leaderboard), and was eager to put his new-found expertise to use on a real world problem. They pitched the idea to their director, who saw a perfect use case for his upcoming ML platform. They started work on it immediately, without bothering to check whether anybody at Company A was already doing risk analysis. Since their org was independent, they didn't really need to check with anybody else before they got funding for their initiative. Although it was basically a Naive Bayes classifier, the term ML was added to the project tile, to impress the board.  As they progressed with their work however, tensions started to build. They had asked the data warehousing and CA analytics teams to build pipelines for them, and word eventually got out to team X about their project. Team X was initially thrilled: They offered to collaborate whole heartedly, and would have loved to add an ML based feather to their already impressive cap. The product owners and analysts were totally onboard as well: They saw a chance to get in on the whole Data Science hype that they kept hearing about. But through some weird mix of arrogance and insecurity, team Y refused to collaborate with them or share any of their long term goals with them, even as they went to other parts of the company giving brown bag presentations and tutorials on the new model they created.  Team X got resentful: from what they saw of team Y's model, their approach was hopelessly naive and had little chances of scaling or being sustainable in production, and they knew exactly how to help with that. Deploying the model to production would have taken them a few days, given how comfortable they were with DevOps and continuous delivery (team Y had taken several months to figure out how to deploy a simple R script to production). And despite how old school their own tech was, team X were crafty enough to be able to plug it in to their existing architecture. Moreover, the output of the model was such that it didn't take into account how the business will consume it or how it was going to be fed to downstream systems, and the product owners could have gone a long way in making the model more amenable to adoption by the business stakeholders. But team Y wouldn't listen, and their leads brushed off any attempts at communication, let alone collaboration. The vibe that team Y was giving off was "We are the cutting edge ML team, you guys are the legacy server grunts. We don't need your opinion.", and they seemed to have a complete disregard for domain knowledge, or worse, they thought that all that domain knowledge consisted of was being able to grasp the definitions of a few business metrics.  Team X got frustrated and tried to express their concerns to leadership. But despite owning a vital link in Company A's business process, they were only \~50 people in a large 1000 strong technology and operations org, and they were several layers removed from the C-suite, so it was impossible for them to get their voices heard.  Meanwhile, the unstoppable director was doing what he did best: Playing corporate politics. Despite how little his team had actually delivered, he had convinced the board that all analysis and optimization tasks should now be migrated to his yet to be delivered ML platform. Since most leaders now knew that there was overlap between team Y and team X's objectives, his pitch was no longer that team Y was going to create a new insight, but that they were going to replace (or modernize) the legacy statistics based on-prem tools with more accurate cloud based ML tools. Never mind that there was no support in the academic literature for the idea that Naive Bayes works better than the Econometric approaches used by team X, let alone the additional wacky idea that Bayesian Optimization would definitely outperform the QP solvers that were running in production.  Unbeknownst to team X, the original Bayesian risk analysis project has now grown into a multimillion dollar major overhaul initiative, which included the eventual replacement of all of the tools and functions supported by team X along with the necessary migration to the cloud. The CIO and a couple of business VPs are on now board, and tech leadership is treating it as a done deal. An outside vendor, a startup who nobody had heard of, was contracted to help build the platform, since team Y has no engineering skills. The choice was deliberate, as calling on any of the established consulting or software companies would have eventually led leadership to the conclusion that team X was better suited for a transformation on this scale than team Y.  Team Y has no experience with any major ERP deployments, and no domain knowledge, yet they are being tasked with fundamentally changing the business process that is at the core of Company A's business. Their models actually perform worse than those deployed by team X, and their architecture is hopelessly simplistic, compared to what is necessary for running such a solution in production.  Ironically, using Bayesian thinking and based on all the evidence, the likelihood that team Y succeeds is close to 0%. At best, the project is going to end up being a write off of 50 million dollars or more. Once the !@#$!@hits the fan, a couple of executive heads are going to role, and dozens of people will get laid off. At worst, given how vital risk analysis and portfolio optimization is to Company A's revenue stream, the failure will eventually sink the whole company. It probably won't go bankrupt, but it will lose a significant portion of its business and work force. Failed ERP implementations can and do sink large companies: Just see what happened to National Grid US, SuperValu or Target Canada.  One might argue that this is more about corporate disfunction and bad leadership than about data science and AI. But I disagree. I think the core driver of this debacle is indeed the blind faith in Data Scientists, ML models and the promise of AI, and the overall culture of hype and self promotion that is very common among the ML crowd.  We haven't seen the end of this story: I sincerely hope that this ends well for the sake of my colleagues and all involved. Company A is a good company, and both its customers and its employees deserver better. But the chances of that happening are negligible given all the information available, and this failure will hit my company hard.

[D] The Rants of an experienced engineer who glimpsed into AI Academia (Briefly)

Background I recently graduated with a master's degree and was fortunate/unfortunate to glimpse the whole "Academic" side of ML. I took a thesis track in my degree because as an immigrant it's harder to get into a good research lab without having authorship in a couple of good papers (Or so I delude myself ). I worked as a Full-stack SWE for a startup for 4+ years before coming to the US for a master’s degree focused on ML and AI. I did everything in those years. From project management to building fully polished S/W products to DevOps to even dabbled in ML. I did my Batchelor’s degree from a university whose name is not even worth mentioning. The university for my master’s degree is in the top 20 in the AI space. I didn't know much about ML and the curiosity drove me to university. Come to uni and I focused on learning ML and AI for one 1-1.5 years after which I found advisors for a thesis topic. This is when the fun starts. I had the most amazing advisors but the entire peer review system and the way we assess ML/Science is what ticked me off. This is where the rant begins. Rant 1:Acadmia follows a Gated Institutional Narrative Let's say you are a Ph.D. at the world's top AI institution working under the best prof. You have a way higher likelihood of you getting a good Postdoc at a huge research lab vs someone's from my poor country doing a Ph.D. with a not-so-well-known advisor having published not-so-well-known papers. I come from a developing nation and I see this many times here. In my country academics don't get funding as they do at colleges in the US. One of the reasons for this is that colleges don't have such huge endowments and many academics don't have wealthy research sponsors. Brand names and prestige carry massive weight to help get funding in US academic circles. This prestige/money percolates down to the students and the researchers who work there. Students in top colleges get a huge advantage and the circles of top researchers keep being from the same sets of institutions. I have nothing against top researchers from top institutions but due to the nature of citations and the way the money flows based on them, a vicious cycle is created where the best institutions keep getting better and the rest don't get as much of a notice. Rant 2: Peer Review without Code Review in ML/AI is shady I am a computer scientist and I was appalled when I heard that you don't need to do code reviews for research papers. As a computer scientist and someone who actually did shit tons of actual ML in the past year, I find it absolutely garbage that code reviews are not a part of this system. I am not saying every scientist who reads a paper should review code but at least one person should for any paper's code submission. At least in ML and AI space. This is basic. I don't get why people call themselves computer scientists if they don't want to read the fucking code. If you can't then make a grad student do it. But for the collective of science, we need this. The core problem lies in the fact that peer review is free. : There should be better solutions for this. We ended up creating Git and that changed so many lives. Academic Research needs something similar. Rant 3: My Idea is Novel Until I see Someone Else's Paper The volume of scientific research is growing exponentially. Information is being created faster than we can digest. We can't expect people to know everything and the amount of overlap in the AI/ML fields requires way better search engines than Google Scholar. The side effect of large volumes of research is that every paper is doing something "novel" making it harder to filter what the fuck was novel. I have had so many experiences where I coded up something and came to realize that someone else has done something symbolically similar and my work just seems like a small variant of that. That's what fucks with my head. Is what I did in Novel? What the fuck is Novel? Is stitching up a transformer to any problem with fancy embeddings and tidying it up as a research paper Novel? Is just making a transformer bigger Novel? Is some new RL algorithm tested with 5 seeds and some fancy fucking prior and some esoteric reasoning for its success Novel? Is using an over parameterized model to get 95% accuracy on 200 sample test set Novel? Is apply Self-supervised learning for some new dataset Novel? If I keep on listing questions on novelty, I can probably write a novel asking about what the fuck is "Novel". Rant 4: Citation Based Optimization Promotes Self Growth Over Collective Growth Whatever people may say about collaboration, Academia intrinsically doesn't promote the right incentive structures to harbor collaboration. Let me explain, When you write a paper, the position of your name matters. If you are just a Ph.D. student and a first author to a paper, it's great. If you are an nth author Not so great. Apparently, this is a very touchy thing for academics. And lots of egos can clash around numbering and ordering of names. I distinctly remember once attending some seminar in a lab and approaching a few students on research project ideas. The first thing that came out of the PhD student's mouth was the position in authorship. As an engineer who worked with teams in the past, this was never something I had thought about. Especially because I worked in industry, where it's always the group over the person. Academia is the reverse. Academia applauds the celebration of the individual's achievements. All of this is understandable but it's something I don't like. This makes PhDs stick to their lane. The way citations/research-focus calibrate the "hire-ability" and "completion of Ph.D. thesis" metrics, people are incentivized to think about themselves instead of thinking about collaborations for making something better. Conclusion A Ph.D. in its most idealistic sense for me is the pursuit of hard ideas(I am poetic that way). In a situation like now when you have to publish or perish and words on paper get passed off as science without even seeing the code that runs it, I am extremely discouraged to go down that route. All these rants are not to diss on scientists. I did them because "we" as a community need better ways to addressing some of these problems. P.S. Never expected so many people to express their opinions about this rant. U shouldn’t take this seriously. As many people have stated I am an outsider with tiny experience to give a full picture. I realize that my post as coming out as something which tries to dichotomize academia and industry. I am not trying to do that. I wanted to highlight some problems I saw for which there is no one person to blame. These issues are in my opinion a byproduct of the economics which created this system. Thank you for gold stranger.

[D] Discussion about no-code AI development platform

What do you think of no-code AI model development service like Darwin AI and Crowd AI? Those services make the users build the AI models only in GUI. Some people would say they prefer to write codes on their own, so they can know how the models are built, but some people would like the no-code service, valuing its convenience more than code customizability. What is your opinion on those services?

[Discussion]: Mark Zuckerberg on Meta's Strategy on Open Source and AI during the earnings call

During the recent earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg answered a question from Eric Sheridan of Goldman Sachs on Meta's AI strategy, opportunities to integrate into products, and why they open source models and how it would benefit their business. I found the reasoning to be very sound and promising for the OSS and AI community. The biggest risk from AI, in my opinion, is not the doomsday scenarios that intuitively come to mind but rather that the most powerful AI systems will only be accessible to the most powerful and resourceful corporations. Quote copied from Ben Thompson's write up on Meta's earning in his Stratechery blog post which goes beyond AI. It's behind a paywall but I highly recommend it personally. Some noteworthy quotes that signal the thought process at Meta FAIR and more broadly We’re just playing a different game on the infrastructure than companies like Google or Microsoft or Amazon We would aspire to and hope to make even more open than that. So, we’ll need to figure out a way to do that. ...lead us to do more work in terms of open sourcing, some of the lower level models and tools Open sourcing low level tools make the way we run all this infrastructure more efficient over time. On PyTorch: It’s generally been very valuable for us to provide that because now all of the best developers across the industry are using tools that we’re also using internally. I would expect us to be pushing and helping to build out an open ecosystem. For all the negative that comes out of the popular discourse on Meta, I think their work to open source key tech tools over the last 10 years has been exceptional, here's hoping it continues into this decade of AI and pushes other tech giants to also realize the benefits of Open Source. Full Transcript: Right now most of the companies that are training large language models have business models that lead them to a closed approach to development. I think there’s an important opportunity to help create an open ecosystem. If we can help be a part of this, then much of the industry will standardize on using these open tools and help improve them further. So this will make it easier for other companies to integrate with our products and platforms as we enable more integrations, and that will help our products stay at the leading edge as well. Our approach to AI and our infrastructure has always been fairly open. We open source many of our state of the art models so people can experiment and build with them. This quarter we released our LLaMa LLM to researchers. It has 65 billion parameters but outperforms larger models and has proven quite popular. We’ve also open-sourced three other groundbreaking visual models along with their training data and model weights — Segment Anything, DinoV2, and our Animated Drawings tool — and we’ve gotten positive feedback on all of those as well. I think that there’s an important distinction between the products we offer and a lot of the technical infrastructure, especially the software that we write to support that. And historically, whether it’s the Open Compute project that we’ve done or just open sourcing a lot of the infrastructure that we’ve built, we’ve historically open sourced a lot of that infrastructure, even though we haven’t open sourced the code for our core products or anything like that. And the reason why I think why we do this is that unlike some of the other companies in the space, we’re not selling a cloud computing service where we try to keep the different software infrastructure that we’re building proprietary. For us, it’s way better if the industry standardizes on the basic tools that we’re using and therefore we can benefit from the improvements that others make and others’ use of those tools can, in some cases like Open Compute, drive down the costs of those things which make our business more efficient too. So I think to some degree we’re just playing a different game on the infrastructure than companies like Google or Microsoft or Amazon, and that creates different incentives for us. So overall, I think that that’s going to lead us to do more work in terms of open sourcing, some of the lower level models and tools. But of course, a lot of the product work itself is going to be specific and integrated with the things that we do. So it’s not that everything we do is going to be open. Obviously, a bunch of this needs to be developed in a way that creates unique value for our products, but I think in terms of the basic models, I would expect us to be pushing and helping to build out an open ecosystem here, which I think is something that’s going to be important. On the AI tools, and we have a bunch of history here, right? So if you if you look at what we’ve done with PyTorch, for example, which has generally become the standard in the industry as a tool that a lot of folks who are building AI models and different things in that space use, it’s generally been very valuable for us to provide that because now all of the best developers across the industry are using tools that we’re also using internally. So the tool chain is the same. So when they create some innovation, we can easily integrate it into the things that we’re doing. When we improve something, it improves other products too. Because it’s integrated with our technology stack, when there are opportunities to make integrations with products, it’s much easier to make sure that developers and other folks are compatible with the things that we need in the way that our systems work. So there are a lot of advantages, but I view this more as a kind of back end infrastructure advantage with potential integrations on the product side, but one that should hopefully enable us to stay at the leading edge and integrate more broadly with the community and also make the way we run all this infrastructure more efficient over time. There are a number of models. I just gave PyTorch as an example. Open Compute is another model that has worked really well for us in this way, both to incorporate both innovation and scale efficiency into our own infrastructure. So I think that there’s, our incentives I think are basically aligned towards moving in this direction. Now that said, there’s a lot to figure out, right? So when you asked if there are going to be other opportunities, I hope so. I can’t speak to what all those things might be now. This is all quite early in getting developed. The better we do at the foundational work, the more opportunities I think that will come and present themselves. So I think that that’s all stuff that we need to figure out. But at least at the base level, I think we’re generally incentivized to move in this direction. And we also need to figure out how to go in that direction over time. I mean, I mentioned LLaMA before and I also want to be clear that while I’m talking about helping contribute to an open ecosystem, LLaMA is a model that we only really made available to researchers and there’s a lot of really good stuff that’s happening there. But a lot of the work that we’re doing, I think, we would aspire to and hope to make even more open than that. So, we’ll need to figure out a way to do that.

[D] "Grokking" Deep Learning architectures and using them in practice

Hi all, I'm on the first years of my PhD in Computer Vision and obviously the vast majority of research in it is nowadays using Deep Learning techniques. I like to think that I'm far from an absolute beginner in the sense that: I've trained neural networks and more "traditional" ML models in a couple of courses, as well as for my MSc thesis, albeit almost out-of-the-box stuff. I have a decent understanding of Linear Algebra, Calculus and Probability Theory (undergrad courses from CS degree). I say "decent" because I'm of the firm opinion that the more math one knows the more impressive the things they can do in AI, so I really don't consider myself a math whiz, but judging from the math knowledge an average "How to get started with Deep Learning" blog post assumes, I'd say I'm well ahead. I'm also devoting some time every day to a more rigorous study of these areas, eventually hoping to expand to other related ones. I can get through Deep Learning papers and usually* obtain at least a basic understanding of what they're about, as well as why it works, at least according to the authors and their experiments. I do still have some trouble with more state-of-the-art works, especially ones that also use things from NLP. However, I don't really feel confident that I can actually produce useful research that investigates and/or uses this sort of methods to do something new. During undergrad, in order to actually understand most -if not all- concepts taught to me in programming and math I'd actually do things with them: solve problems, prove statements, or just code with the goal of creating some system or seeing how an idea actually works (e.g. polymorphism). I realize, however, that this has not been the case with Deep Learning, at least for me: I've never tried to actually code a CNN or ResNet, much less a word2vec model, a Transformer, or any sort of generative model. Sure, I've read about how the first layers of a CNN learn edges etc. but I've never actually "seen it with my own eyes". Transformers in particular seem to really trouble me. Although I sort-of understand the idea behind attention etc., I struggle to see what sort of features they end up using (in contrast to CNNs, where the idea of learning convolutional filters is much more intuitive to me). Which brings me to the question of what's an efficient way to go from understanding a paper to actually feeling like you really, truly, "grok" the material and could build on it, or use it in some scenario? Do you think implementing research papers from scratch or almost from scratch can be useful? Or is it way too time consuming for someone already busy with a PhD? Is it even feasible or are most papers -sadly- unreproducible if you don't use authors' code? How do you manage to stay on track with such a rapidly evolving field, on any level beyond a completely surface understanding? How do you find a good balance between learning to use tools/frameworks, reading papers and gaining the deeper sort of understanding I mention?

[D] The machine learning community has a toxicity problem

It is omnipresent! First of all, the peer-review process is broken. Every fourth NeurIPS submission is put on arXiv. There are DeepMind researchers publicly going after reviewers who are criticizing their ICLR submission. On top of that, papers by well-known institutes that were put on arXiv are accepted at top conferences, despite the reviewers agreeing on rejection. In contrast, vice versa, some papers with a majority of accepts are overruled by the AC. (I don't want to call any names, just have a look the openreview page of this year's ICRL). Secondly, there is a reproducibility crisis. Tuning hyperparameters on the test set seem to be the standard practice nowadays. Papers that do not beat the current state-of-the-art method have a zero chance of getting accepted at a good conference. As a result, hyperparameters get tuned and subtle tricks implemented to observe a gain in performance where there isn't any. Thirdly, there is a worshiping problem. Every paper with a Stanford or DeepMind affiliation gets praised like a breakthrough. For instance, BERT has seven times more citations than ULMfit. The Google affiliation gives so much credibility and visibility to a paper. At every ICML conference, there is a crowd of people in front of every DeepMind poster, regardless of the content of the work. The same story happened with the Zoom meetings at the virtual ICLR 2020. Moreover, NeurIPS 2020 had twice as many submissions as ICML, even though both are top-tier ML conferences. Why? Why is the name "neural" praised so much? Next, Bengio, Hinton, and LeCun are truly deep learning pioneers but calling them the "godfathers" of AI is insane. It has reached the level of a cult. Fourthly, the way Yann LeCun talked about biases and fairness topics was insensitive. However, the toxicity and backlash that he received are beyond any reasonable quantity. Getting rid of LeCun and silencing people won't solve any issue. Fifthly, machine learning, and computer science in general, have a huge diversity problem. At our CS faculty, only 30% of undergrads and 15% of the professors are women. Going on parental leave during a PhD or post-doc usually means the end of an academic career. However, this lack of diversity is often abused as an excuse to shield certain people from any form of criticism. Reducing every negative comment in a scientific discussion to race and gender creates a toxic environment. People are becoming afraid to engage in fear of being called a racist or sexist, which in turn reinforces the diversity problem. Sixthly, moral and ethics are set arbitrarily. The U.S. domestic politics dominate every discussion. At this very moment, thousands of Uyghurs are put into concentration camps based on computer vision algorithms invented by this community, and nobody seems even remotely to care. Adding a "broader impact" section at the end of every people will not make this stop. There are huge shitstorms because a researcher wasn't mentioned in an article. Meanwhile, the 1-billion+ people continent of Africa is virtually excluded from any meaningful ML discussion (besides a few Indaba workshops). Seventhly, there is a cut-throat publish-or-perish mentality. If you don't publish 5+ NeurIPS/ICML papers per year, you are a looser. Research groups have become so large that the PI does not even know the name of every PhD student anymore. Certain people submit 50+ papers per year to NeurIPS. The sole purpose of writing a paper has become to having one more NeurIPS paper in your CV. Quality is secondary; passing the peer-preview stage has become the primary objective. Finally, discussions have become disrespectful. Schmidhuber calls Hinton a thief, Gebru calls LeCun a white supremacist, Anandkumar calls Marcus a sexist, everybody is under attack, but nothing is improved. Albert Einstein was opposing the theory of quantum mechanics. Can we please stop demonizing those who do not share our exact views. We are allowed to disagree without going for the jugular. The moment we start silencing people because of their opinion is the moment scientific and societal progress dies. Best intentions, Yusuf

[D] Should the praise of "Data-centric" AI be taken with a grain of salt?

I hear co-workers, professors, entrepreneurs talk about just how important it is to switch from model-centric AI to a data-centric approach. Personally I don't see a problem focusing on attaining better data but I have been seeing this simplification that AI performance = model + data which seems massively misleading. A better generalization would be AI performance = model data or even AI performance = model log(len(data)). Looking at the rapidly changing problem of image synthesis, it is clear that data alone could not produce the same results seen even two years ago. On the other hand, it can seem unproductive for the field as a whole to try to create another classification model that achieves a .02% increased performance on ImageNet... again and again... And this is maybe why we hear more talk in industry about focusing on the data instead of models: Industry generally faces simpler tasks with negligible improvement as of recently (regression, classification). Therefore it's more easy and valuable to increase and improve the training data. And yes, most machine learning models NEED a large training set to approximate a complex distribution. We have already known this since forever. I think the term has just recently become a pet peeve for me as a novel "catch all" solution to any problem. What are your opinions on the matter?

Interview with Juergen Schmidhuber, renowned ‘Father Of Modern AI’, says his life’s work won't lead to dystopia.

Schmidhuber interview expressing his views on the future of AI and AGI. Original source. I think the interview is of interest to r/MachineLearning, and presents an alternate view, compared to other influential leaders in AI. Juergen Schmidhuber, Renowned 'Father Of Modern AI,' Says His Life’s Work Won't Lead To Dystopia May 23, 2023. Contributed by Hessie Jones. Amid the growing concern about the impact of more advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies on society, there are many in the technology community who fear the implications of the advancements in Generative AI if they go unchecked. Dr. Juergen Schmidhuber, a renowned scientist, artificial intelligence researcher and widely regarded as one of the pioneers in the field, is more optimistic. He declares that many of those who suddenly warn against the dangers of AI are just seeking publicity, exploiting the media’s obsession with killer robots which has attracted more attention than “good AI” for healthcare etc. The potential to revolutionize various industries and improve our lives is clear, as are the equal dangers if bad actors leverage the technology for personal gain. Are we headed towards a dystopian future, or is there reason to be optimistic? I had a chance to sit down with Dr. Juergen Schmidhuber to understand his perspective on this seemingly fast-moving AI-train that will leap us into the future. As a teenager in the 1970s, Juergen Schmidhuber became fascinated with the idea of creating intelligent machines that could learn and improve on their own, becoming smarter than himself within his lifetime. This would ultimately lead to his groundbreaking work in the field of deep learning. In the 1980s, he studied computer science at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where he earned his diploma in 1987. His thesis was on the ultimate self-improving machines that, not only, learn through some pre-wired human-designed learning algorithm, but also learn and improve the learning algorithm itself. Decades later, this became a hot topic. He also received his Ph.D. at TUM in 1991 for work that laid some of the foundations of modern AI. Schmidhuber is best known for his contributions to the development of recurrent neural networks (RNNs), the most powerful type of artificial neural network that can process sequential data such as speech and natural language. With his students Sepp Hochreiter, Felix Gers, Alex Graves, Daan Wierstra, and others, he published architectures and training algorithms for the long short-term memory (LSTM), a type of RNN that is widely used in natural language processing, speech recognition, video games, robotics, and other applications. LSTM has become the most cited neural network of the 20th century, and Business Week called it "arguably the most commercial AI achievement." Throughout his career, Schmidhuber has received various awards and accolades for his groundbreaking work. In 2013, he was awarded the Helmholtz Prize, which recognizes significant contributions to the field of machine learning. In 2016, he was awarded the IEEE Neural Network Pioneer Award for "pioneering contributions to deep learning and neural networks." The media have often called him the “father of modern AI,” because the most cited neural networks all build on his lab’s work. He is quick to point out, however, that AI history goes back centuries. Despite his many accomplishments, at the age of 60, he feels mounting time pressure towards building an Artificial General Intelligence within his lifetime and remains committed to pushing the boundaries of AI research and development. He is currently director of the KAUST AI Initiative, scientific director of the Swiss AI Lab IDSIA, and co-founder and chief scientist of AI company NNAISENSE, whose motto is "AI∀" which is a math-inspired way of saying "AI For All." He continues to work on cutting-edge AI technologies and applications to improve human health and extend human lives and make lives easier for everyone. The following interview has been edited for clarity. Jones: Thank you Juergen for joining me. You have signed letters warning about AI weapons. But you didn't sign the recent publication, "Pause Gigantic AI Experiments: An Open Letter"? Is there a reason? Schmidhuber: Thank you Hessie. Glad to speak with you. I have realized that many of those who warn in public against the dangers of AI are just seeking publicity. I don't think the latest letter will have any significant impact because many AI researchers, companies, and governments will ignore it completely. The proposal frequently uses the word "we" and refers to "us," the humans. But as I have pointed out many times in the past, there is no "we" that everyone can identify with. Ask 10 different people, and you will hear 10 different opinions about what is "good." Some of those opinions will be completely incompatible with each other. Don't forget the enormous amount of conflict between the many people. The letter also says, "If such a pause cannot be quickly put in place, governments should intervene and impose a moratorium." The problem is that different governments have ALSO different opinions about what is good for them and for others. Great Power A will say, if we don't do it, Great Power B will, perhaps secretly, and gain an advantage over us. The same is true for Great Powers C and D. Jones: Everyone acknowledges this fear surrounding current generative AI technology. Moreover, the existential threat of this technology has been publicly acknowledged by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI himself, calling for AI regulation. From your perspective, is there an existential threat? Schmidhuber: It is true that AI can be weaponized, and I have no doubt that there will be all kinds of AI arms races, but AI does not introduce a new quality of existential threat. The threat coming from AI weapons seems to pale in comparison to the much older threat from nuclear hydrogen bombs that don’t need AI at all. We should be much more afraid of half-century-old tech in the form of H-bomb rockets. The Tsar Bomba of 1961 had almost 15 times more destructive power than all weapons of WW-II combined. Despite the dramatic nuclear disarmament since the 1980s, there are still more than enough nuclear warheads to wipe out human civilization within two hours, without any AI I’m much more worried about that old existential threat than the rather harmless AI weapons. Jones: I realize that while you compare AI to the threat of nuclear bombs, there is a current danger that a current technology can be put in the hands of humans and enable them to “eventually” exact further harms to individuals of group in a very precise way, like targeted drone attacks. You are giving people a toolset that they've never had before, enabling bad actors, as some have pointed out, to be able to do a lot more than previously because they didn't have this technology. Schmidhuber: Now, all that sounds horrible in principle, but our existing laws are sufficient to deal with these new types of weapons enabled by AI. If you kill someone with a gun, you will go to jail. Same if you kill someone with one of these drones. Law enforcement will get better at understanding new threats and new weapons and will respond with better technology to combat these threats. Enabling drones to target persons from a distance in a way that requires some tracking and some intelligence to perform, which has traditionally been performed by skilled humans, to me, it seems is just an improved version of a traditional weapon, like a gun, which is, you know, a little bit smarter than the old guns. But, in principle, all of that is not a new development. For many centuries, we have had the evolution of better weaponry and deadlier poisons and so on, and law enforcement has evolved their policies to react to these threats over time. So, it's not that we suddenly have a new quality of existential threat and it's much more worrisome than what we have had for about six decades. A large nuclear warhead doesn’t need fancy face recognition to kill an individual. No, it simply wipes out an entire city with ten million inhabitants. Jones: The existential threat that’s implied is the extent to which humans have control over this technology. We see some early cases of opportunism which, as you say, tends to get more media attention than positive breakthroughs. But you’re implying that this will all balance out? Schmidhuber: Historically, we have a long tradition of technological breakthroughs that led to advancements in weapons for the purpose of defense but also for protection. From sticks, to rocks, to axes to gunpowder to cannons to rockets… and now to drones… this has had a drastic influence on human history but what has been consistent throughout history is that those who are using technology to achieve their own ends are themselves, facing the same technology because the opposing side is learning to use it against them. And that's what has been repeated in thousands of years of human history and it will continue. I don't see the new AI arms race as something that is remotely as existential a threat as the good old nuclear warheads. You said something important, in that some people prefer to talk about the downsides rather than the benefits of this technology, but that's misleading, because 95% of all AI research and AI development is about making people happier and advancing human life and health. Jones: Let’s touch on some of those beneficial advances in AI research that have been able to radically change present day methods and achieve breakthroughs. Schmidhuber: All right! For example, eleven years ago, our team with my postdoc Dan Ciresan was the first to win a medical imaging competition through deep learning. We analyzed female breast cells with the objective to determine harmless cells vs. those in the pre-cancer stage. Typically, a trained oncologist needs a long time to make these determinations. Our team, who knew nothing about cancer, were able to train an artificial neural network, which was totally dumb in the beginning, on lots of this kind of data. It was able to outperform all the other methods. Today, this is being used not only for breast cancer, but also for radiology and detecting plaque in arteries, and many other things. Some of the neural networks that we have developed in the last 3 decades are now prevalent across thousands of healthcare applications, detecting Diabetes and Covid-19 and what not. This will eventually permeate across all healthcare. The good consequences of this type of AI are much more important than the click-bait new ways of conducting crimes with AI. Jones: Adoption is a product of reinforced outcomes. The massive scale of adoption either leads us to believe that people have been led astray, or conversely, technology is having a positive effect on people’s lives. Schmidhuber: The latter is the likely case. There's intense commercial pressure towards good AI rather than bad AI because companies want to sell you something, and you are going to buy only stuff you think is going to be good for you. So already just through this simple, commercial pressure, you have a tremendous bias towards good AI rather than bad AI. However, doomsday scenarios like in Schwarzenegger movies grab more attention than documentaries on AI that improve people’s lives. Jones: I would argue that people are drawn to good stories – narratives that contain an adversary and struggle, but in the end, have happy endings. And this is consistent with your comment on human nature and how history, despite its tendency for violence and destruction of humanity, somehow tends to correct itself. Let’s take the example of a technology, which you are aware – GANs – General Adversarial Networks, which today has been used in applications for fake news and disinformation. In actuality, the purpose in the invention of GANs was far from what it is used for today. Schmidhuber: Yes, the name GANs was created in 2014 but we had the basic principle already in the early 1990s. More than 30 years ago, I called it artificial curiosity. It's a very simple way of injecting creativity into a little two network system. This creative AI is not just trying to slavishly imitate humans. Rather, it’s inventing its own goals. Let me explain: You have two networks. One network is producing outputs that could be anything, any action. Then the second network is looking at these actions and it’s trying to predict the consequences of these actions. An action could move a robot, then something happens, and the other network is just trying to predict what will happen. Now we can implement artificial curiosity by reducing the prediction error of the second network, which, at the same time, is the reward of the first network. The first network wants to maximize its reward and so it will invent actions that will lead to situations that will surprise the second network, which it has not yet learned to predict well. In the case where the outputs are fake images, the first network will try to generate images that are good enough to fool the second network, which will attempt to predict the reaction of the environment: fake or real image, and it will try to become better at it. The first network will continue to also improve at generating images whose type the second network will not be able to predict. So, they fight each other. The 2nd network will continue to reduce its prediction error, while the 1st network will attempt to maximize it. Through this zero-sum game the first network gets better and better at producing these convincing fake outputs which look almost realistic. So, once you have an interesting set of images by Vincent Van Gogh, you can generate new images that leverage his style, without the original artist having ever produced the artwork himself. Jones: I see how the Van Gogh example can be applied in an education setting and there are countless examples of artists mimicking styles from famous painters but image generation from this instance that can happen within seconds is quite another feat. And you know this is how GANs has been used. What’s more prevalent today is a socialized enablement of generating images or information to intentionally fool people. It also surfaces new harms that deal with the threat to intellectual property and copyright, where laws have yet to account for. And from your perspective this was not the intention when the model was conceived. What was your motivation in your early conception of what is now GANs? Schmidhuber: My old motivation for GANs was actually very important and it was not to create deepfakes or fake news but to enable AIs to be curious and invent their own goals, to make them explore their environment and make them creative. Suppose you have a robot that executes one action, then something happens, then it executes another action, and so on, because it wants to achieve certain goals in the environment. For example, when the battery is low, this will trigger “pain” through hunger sensors, so it wants to go to the charging station, without running into obstacles, which will trigger other pain sensors. It will seek to minimize pain (encoded through numbers). Now the robot has a friend, the second network, which is a world model ––it’s a prediction machine that learns to predict the consequences of the robot’s actions. Once the robot has a good model of the world, it can use it for planning. It can be used as a simulation of the real world. And then it can determine what is a good action sequence. If the robot imagines this sequence of actions, the model will predict a lot of pain, which it wants to avoid. If it plays this alternative action sequence in its mental model of the world, then it will predict a rewarding situation where it’s going to sit on the charging station and its battery is going to load again. So, it'll prefer to execute the latter action sequence. In the beginning, however, the model of the world knows nothing, so how can we motivate the first network to generate experiments that lead to data that helps the world model learn something it didn’t already know? That’s what artificial curiosity is about. The dueling two network systems effectively explore uncharted environments by creating experiments so that over time the curious AI gets a better sense of how the environment works. This can be applied to all kinds of environments, and has medical applications. Jones: Let’s talk about the future. You have said, “Traditional humans won’t play a significant role in spreading intelligence across the universe.” Schmidhuber: Let’s first conceptually separate two types of AIs. The first type of AI are tools directed by humans. They are trained to do specific things like accurately detect diabetes or heart disease and prevent attacks before they happen. In these cases, the goal is coming from the human. More interesting AIs are setting their own goals. They are inventing their own experiments and learning from them. Their horizons expand and eventually they become more and more general problem solvers in the real world. They are not controlled by their parents, but much of what they learn is through self-invented experiments. A robot, for example, is rotating a toy, and as it is doing this, the video coming in through the camera eyes, changes over time and it begins to learn how this video changes and learns how the 3D nature of the toy generates certain videos if you rotate it a certain way, and eventually, how gravity works, and how the physics of the world works. Like a little scientist! And I have predicted for decades that future scaled-up versions of such AI scientists will want to further expand their horizons, and eventually go where most of the physical resources are, to build more and bigger AIs. And of course, almost all of these resources are far away from earth out there in space, which is hostile to humans but friendly to appropriately designed AI-controlled robots and self-replicating robot factories. So here we are not talking any longer about our tiny biosphere; no, we are talking about the much bigger rest of the universe. Within a few tens of billions of years, curious self-improving AIs will colonize the visible cosmos in a way that’s infeasible for humans. Those who don’t won’t have an impact. Sounds like science fiction, but since the 1970s I have been unable to see a plausible alternative to this scenario, except for a global catastrophe such as an all-out nuclear war that stops this development before it takes off. Jones: How long have these AIs, which can set their own goals — how long have they existed? To what extent can they be independent of human interaction? Schmidhuber: Neural networks like that have existed for over 30 years. My first simple adversarial neural network system of this kind is the one from 1990 described above. You don’t need a teacher there; it's just a little agent running around in the world and trying to invent new experiments that surprise its own prediction machine. Once it has figured out certain parts of the world, the agent will become bored and will move on to more exciting experiments. The simple 1990 systems I mentioned have certain limitations, but in the past three decades, we have also built more sophisticated systems that are setting their own goals and such systems I think will be essential for achieving true intelligence. If you are only imitating humans, you will never go beyond them. So, you really must give AIs the freedom to explore previously unexplored regions of the world in a way that no human is really predefining. Jones: Where is this being done today? Schmidhuber: Variants of neural network-based artificial curiosity are used today for agents that learn to play video games in a human-competitive way. We have also started to use them for automatic design of experiments in fields such as materials science. I bet many other fields will be affected by it: chemistry, biology, drug design, you name it. However, at least for now, these artificial scientists, as I like to call them, cannot yet compete with human scientists. I don’t think it’s going to stay this way but, at the moment, it’s still the case. Sure, AI has made a lot of progress. Since 1997, there have been superhuman chess players, and since 2011, through the DanNet of my team, there have been superhuman visual pattern recognizers. But there are other things where humans, at the moment at least, are much better, in particular, science itself. In the lab we have many first examples of self-directed artificial scientists, but they are not yet convincing enough to appear on the radar screen of the public space, which is currently much more fascinated with simpler systems that just imitate humans and write texts based on previously seen human-written documents. Jones: You speak of these numerous instances dating back 30 years of these lab experiments where these self-driven agents are deciding and learning and moving on once they’ve learned. And I assume that that rate of learning becomes even faster over time. What kind of timeframe are we talking about when this eventually is taken outside of the lab and embedded into society? Schmidhuber: This could still take months or even years :-) Anyway, in the not-too-distant future, we will probably see artificial scientists who are good at devising experiments that allow them to discover new, previously unknown physical laws. As always, we are going to profit from the old trend that has held at least since 1941: every decade compute is getting 100 times cheaper. Jones: How does this trend affect modern AI such as ChatGPT? Schmidhuber: Perhaps you know that all the recent famous AI applications such as ChatGPT and similar models are largely based on principles of artificial neural networks invented in the previous millennium. The main reason why they works so well now is the incredible acceleration of compute per dollar. ChatGPT is driven by a neural network called “Transformer” described in 2017 by Google. I am happy about that because a quarter century earlier in 1991 I had a particular Transformer variant which is now called the “Transformer with linearized self-attention”. Back then, not much could be done with it, because the compute cost was a million times higher than today. But today, one can train such models on half the internet and achieve much more interesting results. Jones: And for how long will this acceleration continue? Schmidhuber: There's no reason to believe that in the next 30 years, we won't have another factor of 1 million and that's going to be really significant. In the near future, for the first time we will have many not-so expensive devices that can compute as much as a human brain. The physical limits of computation, however, are much further out so even if the trend of a factor of 100 every decade continues, the physical limits (of 1051 elementary instructions per second and kilogram of matter) won’t be hit until, say, the mid-next century. Even in our current century, however, we’ll probably have many machines that compute more than all 10 billion human brains collectively and you can imagine, everything will change then! Jones: That is the big question. Is everything going to change? If so, what do you say to the next generation of leaders, currently coming out of college and university. So much of this change is already impacting how they study, how they will work, or how the future of work and livelihood is defined. What is their purpose and how do we change our systems so they will adapt to this new version of intelligence? Schmidhuber: For decades, people have asked me questions like that, because you know what I'm saying now, I have basically said since the 1970s, it’s just that today, people are paying more attention because, back then, they thought this was science fiction. They didn't think that I would ever come close to achieving my crazy life goal of building a machine that learns to become smarter than myself such that I can retire. But now many have changed their minds and think it's conceivable. And now I have two daughters, 23 and 25. People ask me: what do I tell them? They know that Daddy always said, “It seems likely that within your lifetimes, you will have new types of intelligence that are probably going to be superior in many ways, and probably all kinds of interesting ways.” How should they prepare for that? And I kept telling them the obvious: Learn how to learn new things! It's not like in the previous millennium where within 20 years someone learned to be a useful member of society, and then took a job for 40 years and performed in this job until she received her pension. Now things are changing much faster and we must learn continuously just to keep up. I also told my girls that no matter how smart AIs are going to get, learn at least the basics of math and physics, because that’s the essence of our universe, and anybody who understands this will have an advantage, and learn all kinds of new things more easily. I also told them that social skills will remain important, because most future jobs for humans will continue to involve interactions with other humans, but I couldn’t teach them anything about that; they know much more about social skills than I do. You touched on the big philosophical question about people’s purpose. Can this be answered without answering the even grander question: What’s the purpose of the entire universe? We don’t know. But what’s happening right now might be connected to the unknown answer. Don’t think of humans as the crown of creation. Instead view human civilization as part of a much grander scheme, an important step (but not the last one) on the path of the universe from very simple initial conditions towards more and more unfathomable complexity. Now it seems ready to take its next step, a step comparable to the invention of life itself over 3.5 billion years ago. Alas, don’t worry, in the end, all will be good! Jones: Let’s get back to this transformation happening right now with OpenAI. There are many questioning the efficacy and accuracy of ChatGPT, and are concerned its release has been premature. In light of the rampant adoption, educators have banned its use over concerns of plagiarism and how it stifles individual development. Should large language models like ChatGPT be used in school? Schmidhuber: When the calculator was first introduced, instructors forbade students from using it in school. Today, the consensus is that kids should learn the basic methods of arithmetic, but they should also learn to use the “artificial multipliers” aka calculators, even in exams, because laziness and efficiency is a hallmark of intelligence. Any intelligent being wants to minimize its efforts to achieve things. And that's the reason why we have tools, and why our kids are learning to use these tools. The first stone tools were invented maybe 3.5 million years ago; tools just have become more sophisticated over time. In fact, humans have changed in response to the properties of their tools. Our anatomical evolution was shaped by tools such as spears and fire. So, it's going to continue this way. And there is no permanent way of preventing large language models from being used in school. Jones: And when our children, your children graduate, what does their future work look like? Schmidhuber: A single human trying to predict details of how 10 billion people and their machines will evolve in the future is like a single neuron in my brain trying to predict what the entire brain and its tens of billions of neurons will do next year. 40 years ago, before the WWW was created at CERN in Switzerland, who would have predicted all those young people making money as YouTube video bloggers? Nevertheless, let’s make a few limited job-related observations. For a long time, people have thought that desktop jobs may require more intelligence than skills trade or handicraft professions. But now, it turns out that it's much easier to replace certain aspects of desktop jobs than replacing a carpenter, for example. Because everything that works well in AI is happening behind the screen currently, but not so much in the physical world. There are now artificial systems that can read lots of documents and then make really nice summaries of these documents. That is a desktop job. Or you give them a description of an illustration that you want to have for your article and pretty good illustrations are being generated that may need some minimal fine-tuning. But you know, all these desktop jobs are much easier to facilitate than the real tough jobs in the physical world. And it's interesting that the things people thought required intelligence, like playing chess, or writing or summarizing documents, are much easier for machines than they thought. But for things like playing football or soccer, there is no physical robot that can remotely compete with the abilities of a little boy with these skills. So, AI in the physical world, interestingly, is much harder than AI behind the screen in virtual worlds. And it's really exciting, in my opinion, to see that jobs such as plumbers are much more challenging than playing chess or writing another tabloid story. Jones: The way data has been collected in these large language models does not guarantee personal information has not been excluded. Current consent laws already are outdated when it comes to these large language models (LLM). The concern, rightly so, is increasing surveillance and loss of privacy. What is your view on this? Schmidhuber: As I have indicated earlier: are surveillance and loss of privacy inevitable consequences of increasingly complex societies? Super-organisms such as cities and states and companies consist of numerous people, just like people consist of numerous cells. These cells enjoy little privacy. They are constantly monitored by specialized "police cells" and "border guard cells": Are you a cancer cell? Are you an external intruder, a pathogen? Individual cells sacrifice their freedom for the benefits of being part of a multicellular organism. Similarly, for super-organisms such as nations. Over 5000 years ago, writing enabled recorded history and thus became its inaugural and most important invention. Its initial purpose, however, was to facilitate surveillance, to track citizens and their tax payments. The more complex a super-organism, the more comprehensive its collection of information about its constituents. 200 years ago, at least, the parish priest in each village knew everything about all the village people, even about those who did not confess, because they appeared in the confessions of others. Also, everyone soon knew about the stranger who had entered the village, because some occasionally peered out of the window, and what they saw got around. Such control mechanisms were temporarily lost through anonymization in rapidly growing cities but are now returning with the help of new surveillance devices such as smartphones as part of digital nervous systems that tell companies and governments a lot about billions of users. Cameras and drones etc. are becoming increasingly tinier and more ubiquitous. More effective recognition of faces and other detection technology are becoming cheaper and cheaper, and many will use it to identify others anywhere on earth; the big wide world will not offer any more privacy than the local village. Is this good or bad? Some nations may find it easier than others to justify more complex kinds of super-organisms at the expense of the privacy rights of their constituents. Jones: So, there is no way to stop or change this process of collection, or how it continuously informs decisions over time? How do you see governance and rules responding to this, especially amid Italy’s ban on ChatGPT following suspected user data breach and the more recent news about the Meta’s record $1.3billion fine in the company’s handling of user information? Schmidhuber: Data collection has benefits and drawbacks, such as the loss of privacy. How to balance those? I have argued for addressing this through data ownership in data markets. If it is true that data is the new oil, then it should have a price, just like oil. At the moment, the major surveillance platforms such as Meta do not offer users any money for their data and the transitive loss of privacy. In the future, however, we will likely see attempts at creating efficient data markets to figure out the data's true financial value through the interplay between supply and demand. Even some of the sensitive medical data should not be priced by governmental regulators but by patients (and healthy persons) who own it and who may sell or license parts thereof as micro-entrepreneurs in a healthcare data market. Following a previous interview, I gave for one of the largest re-insurance companies , let's look at the different participants in such a data market: patients, hospitals, data companies. (1) Patients with a rare form of cancer can offer more valuable data than patients with a very common form of cancer. (2) Hospitals and their machines are needed to extract the data, e.g., through magnet spin tomography, radiology, evaluations through human doctors, and so on. (3) Companies such as Siemens, Google or IBM would like to buy annotated data to make better artificial neural networks that learn to predict pathologies and diseases and the consequences of therapies. Now the market’s invisible hand will decide about the data’s price through the interplay between demand and supply. On the demand side, you will have several companies offering something for the data, maybe through an app on the smartphone (a bit like a stock market app). On the supply side, each patient in this market should be able to profit from high prices for rare valuable types of data. Likewise, competing data extractors such as hospitals will profit from gaining recognition and trust for extracting data well at a reasonable price. The market will make the whole system efficient through incentives for all who are doing a good job. Soon there will be a flourishing ecosystem of commercial data market advisors and what not, just like the ecosystem surrounding the traditional stock market. The value of the data won’t be determined by governments or ethics committees, but by those who own the data and decide by themselves which parts thereof they want to license to others under certain conditions. At first glance, a market-based system seems to be detrimental to the interest of certain monopolistic companies, as they would have to pay for the data - some would prefer free data and keep their monopoly. However, since every healthy and sick person in the market would suddenly have an incentive to collect and share their data under self-chosen anonymity conditions, there will soon be many more useful data to evaluate all kinds of treatments. On average, people will live longer and healthier, and many companies and the entire healthcare system will benefit. Jones: Finally, what is your view on open source versus the private companies like Google and OpenAI? Is there a danger to supporting these private companies’ large language models versus trying to keep these models open source and transparent, very much like what LAION is doing? Schmidhuber: I signed this open letter by LAION because I strongly favor the open-source movement. And I think it's also something that is going to challenge whatever big tech dominance there might be at the moment. Sure, the best models today are run by big companies with huge budgets for computers, but the exciting fact is that open-source models are not so far behind, some people say maybe six to eight months only. Of course, the private company models are all based on stuff that was created in academia, often in little labs without so much funding, which publish without patenting their results and open source their code and others take it and improved it. Big tech has profited tremendously from academia; their main achievement being that they have scaled up everything greatly, sometimes even failing to credit the original inventors. So, it's very interesting to see that as soon as some big company comes up with a new scaled-up model, lots of students out there are competing, or collaborating, with each other, trying to come up with equal or better performance on smaller networks and smaller machines. And since they are open sourcing, the next guy can have another great idea to improve it, so now there’s tremendous competition also for the big companies. Because of that, and since AI is still getting exponentially cheaper all the time, I don't believe that big tech companies will dominate in the long run. They find it very hard to compete with the enormous open-source movement. As long as you can encourage the open-source community, I think you shouldn't worry too much. Now, of course, you might say if everything is open source, then the bad actors also will more easily have access to these AI tools. And there's truth to that. But as always since the invention of controlled fire, it was good that knowledge about how technology works quickly became public such that everybody could use it. And then, against any bad actor, there's almost immediately a counter actor trying to nullify his efforts. You see, I still believe in our old motto "AI∀" or "AI For All." Jones: Thank you, Juergen for sharing your perspective on this amazing time in history. It’s clear that with new technology, the enormous potential can be matched by disparate and troubling risks which we’ve yet to solve, and even those we have yet to identify. If we are to dispel the fear of a sentient system for which we have no control, humans, alone need to take steps for more responsible development and collaboration to ensure AI technology is used to ultimately benefit society. Humanity will be judged by what we do next.

[N] TheSequence Scope: When it comes to machine learning, size matters: Microsoft's DeepSpeed framework, which can train a model with up to a trillion parameters

Hi there! Offering to your attention the latest edition of a weekly ML-newsletter that focusing on three things: impactful ML research papers, cool ML tech solutions, and ML use cases supported by investors. Please, see it below. Reddit is a new thing for me, and I've been struggling a bit with it, so please don't judge me too harsh for this promotion. This weekly digest is free and I hope you'd find the format convenient for you. Your feedback is very appreciated, and please feel free to sign up if you like it. 📝 Editorial  The recent emergence of pre-trained language models and transformer architectures pushed the creation of larger and larger machine learning models. Google’s BERT presented attention mechanism and transformer architecture possibilities as the “next big thing” in ML, and the numbers seem surreal. OpenAI’s GPT-2 set a record by processing 1.5 billion parameters, followed by Microsoft’s Turing-NLG, which processed 17 billion parameters just to see the new GPT-3 processing an astonishing 175 billion parameters. To not feel complacent, just this week Microsoft announced a new release of its DeepSpeed framework (which powers Turing-NLG), which can train a model with up to a trillion parameters. That sounds insane but it really isn’t.   What we are seeing is a consequence of several factors. First, computation power and parallelization techniques have evolved to a point where it is relatively easy to train machine learning models in large clusters of machines. Second and most importantly, in the current state of machine learning, larger models have regularly outperformed smaller and more specialized models. Knowledge reusability methods like transfer learning are still in very nascent stages. As a result, it’s really hard to build small models that can operate in uncertain environments. Furthermore, as models like GPT-3 and Turing-NLG have shown, there is some unexplainable magic that happens after models go past a certain size. Many of the immediate machine learning problems might be solved by scaling the current generation of neural network architectures. Plain and simple, when it comes to machine learning, size matters.   We would love to hear your opinions about the debate between broader-larger vs. smaller and more specialized models.   Leave a comment Now, to the most important developments in the AI industry this week 🔎 ML Research GPT-3 Falls Short in Machine Comprehension Proposed by researchers from a few major American universities, a 57-task test to measure models’ ability to reason poses challenges even for sophisticated models like GPT-3 ->read more in the original paper Better Text Summarization OpenAI published a paper showing a reinforcement learning with human feedback technique that can surpass supervised models ->read more on OpenAI blog Reinforcement Learning with Offline Datasets Researchers from the Berkeley AI Research (BAIR) Lab published a paper unveiling a method that uses offline datasets to improve reinforcement learning models->read more on BAIR blog 🤖 Cool AI Tech Releases New Version of DeepSpeed Microsoft open-sourced a new version of DeepSpeed, an open-source library for parallelizable training that can scale up to models with 1 trillion parameters->read more on Microsoft Research blog 💸 Money in AI AI-powered customer experience management platform Sprinklr has raised $200 million (kudos to our subscribers from Sprinklr 👏). Sprinklr's “AI listening processing” solution allows companies to get structured and meaningful sentiments and insights from unstructured customer data that comes from public conversations on different websites and social platforms. Xometry, an on-demand industrial parts marketplace, raises $75 million in Series E funding. The company provides a digital way of creating the right combination of buyers and manufacturers. Another example of AI implementation into matching two sides for a deal. Real estate tech company Orchard raises $69 million in its recent funding round. Orchard aims to digitize the whole real estate market, by developing a solution that combines machine learning and rapid human assistance to smooth the search, match the right deal, and simplify buying and selling relationships. Cybersecurity startup Pcysys raised $25 million in its funding round. Pcysys’ platform, which doesn’t require installation or network reconfiguration, uses algorithms to scan and “ethically” attack enterprise networks. Robotics farming company Iron Ox raised $20 million in a funding round. The system of farming robots is still semi-autonomous, the company’s goal is to become fully autonomous.  Insurtech company Descartes Underwriting raised $18.5 million. The company applies AI and machine learning technologies to climate risk predicting and insurance underwriting. Legaltech startup ThoughtRiver raised $10 million in its Series A round. Its AI solution applied to contract pre-screening aims to boost operational efficiency. Medtech startup Skin Analytics raised $5.1 million in Series A funding. Skin Analytics has developed a clinically validated AI system that can identify not only the important skin cancers but also precancerous lesions that can be treated, as well as a range of lesions that are benign. Amazon, along with several government organizations and three other industry partners, helped fund the National Science Foundation, a high-priority AI research initiative. The amount of funding is not disclosed. The content of TheSequence is written by Jesus Rodriguez, one of the most-read contributors to KDNuggets and TDS. You can check his Medium here.

[N] Last Week in AI News Digest 08/15-08/21: detecting hate speech, dogfight simulation, disaster-response, and more!

Hi there, we at Skynet Today produce a weekly newsletter summarizing each week's major AI news, which seems like it'd be of interest to this subreddit. Here's what's in our latest one: Facebook’s AI for detecting hate speech is facing its biggest challenge yet Facebook has made significant progress recently to proactively take down content that violate its community standards. For example, in the second quarter of 2020, Facebook took down 104.6 million pieces of content. While reviews are typically performed by a vast workforce of human moderators, AI-powered tools have enabled Facebook to do this work at a greater scale for textual content. However, there’s a long way to go for these systems to match or exceed the capabilities of human moderators. This is because a large proportion of hate speech and misinformation is in the form of images and memes, and reasoning about the context and language-image interplay is an extremely difficult challenge for AI. Given Facebook’s scale and the speed at which some use it to spread hate, incite violence, and share lies with millions, Facebook will have to keep running to catch up. AI Slays Top F-16 Pilot In DARPA Dogfight Simulation The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) recently hosted a simulated F16 dogfight competition, with different AI bots competing with each other as well as with human pilots. The top AI bot was able to beat a human pilot 5-0 in the simulated contest. DARPA started this program “as a risk-reduction effort \[…\] to flesh out how human and machine pilots share operational control of a fighter jet to maximize its chances of mission success.” Competition runners are broadly optimistic about the demonstration of AI capabilities, even if they are not close to being deployed on a real aircraft. Of concern, the program had little discussion on the ethics of AI military applications, especially with the lethal autonomous weapon systems being considered. News Advances & Business Microsoft, Energy Dept. to Develop Disaster-Response AI Tools \- The U.S. Department of Energy and Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced a partnership to develop artificial-intelligence tools aimed at helping first-responders better react to fast-changing natural events, such as floods and wildfires. Coronavirus: Robot CERi is a bilingual Covid-19 expert \- Ceri is bilingual, clued-up on coronavirus and can tell what mood you are in. Ceri also happens to be a robot. Moscow DOH uses AI platform to detect lung cancer symptoms \- Moscow’s department of health is using an artificial intelligence (AI) platform to detect symptoms of lung cancer in CT scans, as part of a project to implement AI technology for radiology. Scientists develop artificial intelligence system for high precision recognition of hand gestures \- The recognition of human hand gestures by AI systems has been a valuable development over the last decade and has been adopted in high-precision surgical robots, health monitoring equipment and in gaming systems. Forget credit cards - now you can pay with your face. Creepy or cool? \- A new way to pay has arrived in Los Angeles: your face. Concerns & Hype The dystopian tech that companies are selling to help schools reopen sooner \- This fall, AI could be watching students social distance and checking their masks. Thousands of schools nationwide will not be reopening this fall. NYPD Used Facial Recognition Technology In Siege Of Black Lives Matter Activist’s Apartment \- The NYPD deployed facial recognition technology in its hunt for a prominent Black Lives Matter activist, whose home was besieged by dozens of officers and police dogs last week, a spokesperson confirmed to Gothamist. Machines can spot mental health issues - if you hand over your personal data \- Digital diagnosis could transform psychiatry by mining your most intimate data for clues. But is the privacy cost worth it? Supporting Black Artists Who Are Examining AI \- Technology has a complicated relationship with racial justice. Smartphones, internet platforms, and other digital tools can be used to document and expose racism. But digital tools can also fuel racism: smart doorbells surveil Black individuals. A-level and GCSE results in England to be based on teacher assessments in U-turn \- All A-level and GCSE results in England will be based on grades assesed by teachers instead of algorithms. Analysis & Policy GPT-3 and The Question of Automation \- Automation is not an all or nothing proposition. An AI model’s automation capability is highly conjoined with the task and application it is used in. An A.I. Movie Service Could One Day Serve You a New Custom Film Every Time \- How long will it be until an A.I. can make an actual feature film on demand? Fairness, evidence, and predictive equality \- How the causal fairness principle relates to predictive equality How robotics and automation could create new jobs in the new normal \- Depending on who you ask, AI and automation will either destroy jobs or create new ones. In reality, a greater push toward automation will probably both kill and create jobs - human workers will become redundant in certain spheres, sure, but many new roles will likely crop up. Expert Opinions & Discussion within the field Too many AI researchers think real-world problems are not relevant \- The community’s hyperfocus on novel methods ignores what’s really important.

[N] Last Week in AI News Digest 08/15-08/21: detecting hate speech, dogfight simulation, disaster-response, and more!

Hi there, we at Skynet Today produce a weekly newsletter summarizing each week's major AI news, which seems like it'd be of interest to this subreddit. Here's what's in our latest one: Facebook’s AI for detecting hate speech is facing its biggest challenge yet Facebook has made significant progress recently to proactively take down content that violate its community standards. For example, in the second quarter of 2020, Facebook took down 104.6 million pieces of content. While reviews are typically performed by a vast workforce of human moderators, AI-powered tools have enabled Facebook to do this work at a greater scale for textual content. However, there’s a long way to go for these systems to match or exceed the capabilities of human moderators. This is because a large proportion of hate speech and misinformation is in the form of images and memes, and reasoning about the context and language-image interplay is an extremely difficult challenge for AI. Given Facebook’s scale and the speed at which some use it to spread hate, incite violence, and share lies with millions, Facebook will have to keep running to catch up. AI Slays Top F-16 Pilot In DARPA Dogfight Simulation The Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) recently hosted a simulated F16 dogfight competition, with different AI bots competing with each other as well as with human pilots. The top AI bot was able to beat a human pilot 5-0 in the simulated contest. DARPA started this program “as a risk-reduction effort \[…\] to flesh out how human and machine pilots share operational control of a fighter jet to maximize its chances of mission success.” Competition runners are broadly optimistic about the demonstration of AI capabilities, even if they are not close to being deployed on a real aircraft. Of concern, the program had little discussion on the ethics of AI military applications, especially with the lethal autonomous weapon systems being considered. News Advances & Business Microsoft, Energy Dept. to Develop Disaster-Response AI Tools \- The U.S. Department of Energy and Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced a partnership to develop artificial-intelligence tools aimed at helping first-responders better react to fast-changing natural events, such as floods and wildfires. Coronavirus: Robot CERi is a bilingual Covid-19 expert \- Ceri is bilingual, clued-up on coronavirus and can tell what mood you are in. Ceri also happens to be a robot. Moscow DOH uses AI platform to detect lung cancer symptoms \- Moscow’s department of health is using an artificial intelligence (AI) platform to detect symptoms of lung cancer in CT scans, as part of a project to implement AI technology for radiology. Scientists develop artificial intelligence system for high precision recognition of hand gestures \- The recognition of human hand gestures by AI systems has been a valuable development over the last decade and has been adopted in high-precision surgical robots, health monitoring equipment and in gaming systems. Forget credit cards - now you can pay with your face. Creepy or cool? \- A new way to pay has arrived in Los Angeles: your face. Concerns & Hype The dystopian tech that companies are selling to help schools reopen sooner \- This fall, AI could be watching students social distance and checking their masks. Thousands of schools nationwide will not be reopening this fall. NYPD Used Facial Recognition Technology In Siege Of Black Lives Matter Activist’s Apartment \- The NYPD deployed facial recognition technology in its hunt for a prominent Black Lives Matter activist, whose home was besieged by dozens of officers and police dogs last week, a spokesperson confirmed to Gothamist. Machines can spot mental health issues - if you hand over your personal data \- Digital diagnosis could transform psychiatry by mining your most intimate data for clues. But is the privacy cost worth it? Supporting Black Artists Who Are Examining AI \- Technology has a complicated relationship with racial justice. Smartphones, internet platforms, and other digital tools can be used to document and expose racism. But digital tools can also fuel racism: smart doorbells surveil Black individuals. A-level and GCSE results in England to be based on teacher assessments in U-turn \- All A-level and GCSE results in England will be based on grades assesed by teachers instead of algorithms. Analysis & Policy GPT-3 and The Question of Automation \- Automation is not an all or nothing proposition. An AI model’s automation capability is highly conjoined with the task and application it is used in. An A.I. Movie Service Could One Day Serve You a New Custom Film Every Time \- How long will it be until an A.I. can make an actual feature film on demand? Fairness, evidence, and predictive equality \- How the causal fairness principle relates to predictive equality How robotics and automation could create new jobs in the new normal \- Depending on who you ask, AI and automation will either destroy jobs or create new ones. In reality, a greater push toward automation will probably both kill and create jobs - human workers will become redundant in certain spheres, sure, but many new roles will likely crop up. Expert Opinions & Discussion within the field Too many AI researchers think real-world problems are not relevant \- The community’s hyperfocus on novel methods ignores what’s really important.

[D] AI regulation: a review of NTIA's "AI Accountability Policy" doc

How will governments respond to the rapid rise of AI? How can sensible regulation keep pace with AI technology? These questions interest many of us! One early US government response has come from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Specifically, the NTIA published an "AI Accountability Policy Request for Comment" on April 11, 2023. I read the NTIA document carefully, and I'm sharing my observations here for others interested in AI regulation. You can, of course, read the original materials and form your own opinions. Moreover, you can share those opinions not only on this post, but also with the NTIA itself until June 12, 2023. As background, the NTIA (homepage, Wikipedia) consists of a few hundred people within the Department of Commerce. The official mission of the NTIA is "advising the President on telecommunications and information policy issues". Topics covered by NTIA include broadband internet access, spectrum management, internet health, and now artificial intelligence. I do not know whether the NTIA will ultimately drive thinking around AI regulation in the United States or they are just a spunky lot who got something on paper early. The NTIA document is not a specific policy proposal, but rather a thoughtful discussion of AI regulation, followed by a long list of questions on which the NTIA seeks input. This format seems appropriate right now, as we're all trying to make sense of a fast-changing world. The NTIA document leans heavily on two others: the Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights from the White House Office of Science and Technology and the AI Risk Management Framework from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Without going into these two in depth, even tiny snippets convey their differing audiences and flavors: White House Blueprint: "You should be protected from safe and ineffective systems." NIST Framework: "Risk refers to the composite measure of an event’s probability of occurring and the magnitude or degree of the consequences of the corresponding event." Now, turning back to the NTIA document itself, I'll comment on three aspects (1) scope, (2) problems addressed, and (3) solutions contemplated. Scope is critical to understanding the NTIA document, and is probably worth keeping in mind in all near-term discussion of AI regulation. Over the past several years, at least two different technologies have been called "AI". The document mentions both, but the emphasis is NOT on the one you're probably thinking about. In more detail: A few years ago, regulators began scrutinizing "automated decisions systems", which passed as "AI" in those ancient times. An example would be an ML model used by a bank to decide whether or not you get a loan. That model might take in all sorts of information about you, combine it in mysterious ML ways, and reject your loan request. Then you might wonder, "Did that system effectively use my address and name to deduce that I am black and then reject my loan request on the basis of race?" There is some evidence of that happening, and this seems like an injustice. So perhaps such systems should be audited and certified so people know this won't happen. This is the focus of the document. These days, AI more commonly refers to open-ended systems that can engage on a wide range of topics and approximate human intelligence. The document briefly mentions generative AI models, large language models, ChatGPT, and "foundational models" (sic), but this is not the focus. The passing mentions may obscure this, unfortunately. In my opinion, these two notions of "AI" are radically different, and many of the differences matter from a regulatory perspective. Yet NTIA lumps both under a sweeping definition of an "AI system" as "an engineered or machine-based system that can, for a given set of objectives, generate outputs such as predictions, recommendations, or decisions influencing real or virtual environments." (Hmm, this includes my Magic 8-Ball…) Keep scope in mind as we turn to the next aspect: the problems under discussion. Now, NTIA's goal is to solicit input, so considering a wide range of potential problems associated with AI makes sense. Consistent with that, the document refers to democratic values, civil rights, civil liberties, and privacy. And citing the NIST doc, NTIA vaguely notes "a wide range of potential AI risks". Also, AI systems should be "valid and reliable, safe, secure and resilient, accountable and transparent, explainable and interpretable, privacy-enhanced, and fair with their harmful bias managed". And they should call their mothers \every\ week. (Okay, I made that one up.) A few comments on this formulation of the problem. First, these concerns feel more applicable to older-style AI. This includes automated decisions systems, like for a bank loan or for a prison parole recommendation. Sure, I believe such systems should operate in ways consistent with our consensus societal values, and further regulation may be needed to achieve that. But, hello! There's also another, newer class of AI that poses additional challenges. And I don't see those discussed in the NTIA document. Such challenges might include: People losing jobs because AI takes their work. Ensuring malicious people don't use AI tools to wreak havoc on the world. Sorting out intellectual property issues around AI to ensure both rapid progress in the field and respect for creators' rights. Ensuring laws appropriately assign culpability to humans when AIs cause harm. Planning for an incident analogous to the first internet worm, where an AI goes rogue, wreaks some havoc, and everyone is shocked (before it happens 28,385 more times). Bottom line: when I cntrl-F the doc for "robotic overlords", I get zero hits. ZERO. This is why I now believe scope is so important when considering efforts to regulate AI: are we talking about old-school AI or 2023-era AI or what? Because they are pretty different. The last aspect I'll address is the solutions contemplated. Again, NTIA's goal is to stimulate discussion, not propose something specific. Nevertheless, there is a strong push in one particular direction: unlike, "robotic overlord", the word "audit" appears more than 100 times along with many instances of "assessment" and "certification". On one hand, this approach makes sense. Suppose you want to ensure that a bank loan system is fair, that a social media platform isn't spreading misinformation, that a search engine is returning accurate results, etc. Then someone, somewhere has to assess or audit that system and look for problems. That audit might be done by the creator of the system or a third-party auditing agency. Such audits could be incentivized by mandates, prizes, or shiny gold stars. The government might help by fostering development of auditing tools and data. The NTIA is open to all such possibilities and seeks input on how to proceed. On the other hand, this seems like a tactic best suited to automated decision systems operated by financial institutions, government agencies, and the like. Such formal processes seem a poor fit for the current AI wave. For example: Auditing will take time and money. That's something a bank might pay for a system that will run for years. For something fine-tuned over the weekend at a startup or by some guy living in his mother's basement, that's probably not going to happen. Auditing a straightforward decision system seems far easier than assessing an open-ended AI. Beyond basic practicality, the AI could be taught to lie when it senses an audit. Also, auditing procedures (like the NTIA doc itself) will presumably be online, which means that AIs will read them and could potentially respond. Most current ML models fix parameters after training, but I think we'll soon see some models whose parameters evolve as they engage with the world. Auditing such a system that varies continuously over time seems especially difficult. Auditing a foundation model probably tells you little about derivative models. A sweet-hearted model can surely be made into monster with moderate additional training; you don't need to teach the model new cognitive skills, just repurpose existing ones to new ends. More generally, auditing doesn't address many of my concerns about AI regulation (see list above). For example, auditing sort of assumes a basically responsible actor (bank, government agency, big tech company), but AI could be misused by malicious people who, naturally, will not seek a responsible outside assessment. In any case, for both old-school and modern AI, auditing is only one line of defense, and that's not enough. You can audit until you're blue in the face, stuff will still get through, and AI systems will still cause some harm. So what's the next line of defense? For example, is our legal system ready to sensibly assign culpability to humans for AI-related incidents? In summary, the critical problem with the NTIA document is that it creates a largely false appearance of US government engagement with the new class of AI technology. As a result, people could wrongly believe that the US government is already responding to the rise of AI, and fail to advocate for actual, effective engagement. That said, the NTIA document does address important issues around a prominent technology sometimes (formerly?) called "AI". Even there, however, the proposed approach (auditing) seems like an overly-fragile, single line of defense.

[D] Using AI to navigate the complexities of regulatory frameworks

I would be interested in hearing opinions for using AI for regulatory assurance and compliance in regulated industries, what are your thoughts? Explanation: An AI-driven compliance system ensuring adherence to evolving regulations, minimizing risks, and enabling businesses to operate confidently within legal boundaries. Pairing Large Language Models (LLMs) with blockchain technology to offer a range of benefits, particularly in the context of regulatory compliance. LLMs, powered by advanced natural language processing and machine learning capabilities, can enhance regulatory compliance processes in several ways. Firstly, they can automate the analysis of regulatory documents, helping businesses stay updated with evolving compliance requirements. LLMs can also assist in generating compliance reports, simplifying complex legal language into understandable summaries. Furthermore, by integrating LLMs into smart contracts, businesses can ensure that contract terms adhere to regulatory guidelines automatically. The integration of LLMs with blockchain can significantly improve regulatory compliance by automating document analysis, simplifying legal language, monitoring compliance in real-time, and enhancing customer interactions—all contributing to greater efficiency and accuracy in adhering to regulatory standards. I have a whole technical whitepaper with this stuff on hand, if anyone would like to review it let me know..

Interview with Juergen Schmidhuber, renowned ‘Father Of Modern AI’, says his life’s work won't lead to dystopia.

Schmidhuber interview expressing his views on the future of AI and AGI. Original source. I think the interview is of interest to r/MachineLearning, and presents an alternate view, compared to other influential leaders in AI. Juergen Schmidhuber, Renowned 'Father Of Modern AI,' Says His Life’s Work Won't Lead To Dystopia May 23, 2023. Contributed by Hessie Jones. Amid the growing concern about the impact of more advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies on society, there are many in the technology community who fear the implications of the advancements in Generative AI if they go unchecked. Dr. Juergen Schmidhuber, a renowned scientist, artificial intelligence researcher and widely regarded as one of the pioneers in the field, is more optimistic. He declares that many of those who suddenly warn against the dangers of AI are just seeking publicity, exploiting the media’s obsession with killer robots which has attracted more attention than “good AI” for healthcare etc. The potential to revolutionize various industries and improve our lives is clear, as are the equal dangers if bad actors leverage the technology for personal gain. Are we headed towards a dystopian future, or is there reason to be optimistic? I had a chance to sit down with Dr. Juergen Schmidhuber to understand his perspective on this seemingly fast-moving AI-train that will leap us into the future. As a teenager in the 1970s, Juergen Schmidhuber became fascinated with the idea of creating intelligent machines that could learn and improve on their own, becoming smarter than himself within his lifetime. This would ultimately lead to his groundbreaking work in the field of deep learning. In the 1980s, he studied computer science at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where he earned his diploma in 1987. His thesis was on the ultimate self-improving machines that, not only, learn through some pre-wired human-designed learning algorithm, but also learn and improve the learning algorithm itself. Decades later, this became a hot topic. He also received his Ph.D. at TUM in 1991 for work that laid some of the foundations of modern AI. Schmidhuber is best known for his contributions to the development of recurrent neural networks (RNNs), the most powerful type of artificial neural network that can process sequential data such as speech and natural language. With his students Sepp Hochreiter, Felix Gers, Alex Graves, Daan Wierstra, and others, he published architectures and training algorithms for the long short-term memory (LSTM), a type of RNN that is widely used in natural language processing, speech recognition, video games, robotics, and other applications. LSTM has become the most cited neural network of the 20th century, and Business Week called it "arguably the most commercial AI achievement." Throughout his career, Schmidhuber has received various awards and accolades for his groundbreaking work. In 2013, he was awarded the Helmholtz Prize, which recognizes significant contributions to the field of machine learning. In 2016, he was awarded the IEEE Neural Network Pioneer Award for "pioneering contributions to deep learning and neural networks." The media have often called him the “father of modern AI,” because the most cited neural networks all build on his lab’s work. He is quick to point out, however, that AI history goes back centuries. Despite his many accomplishments, at the age of 60, he feels mounting time pressure towards building an Artificial General Intelligence within his lifetime and remains committed to pushing the boundaries of AI research and development. He is currently director of the KAUST AI Initiative, scientific director of the Swiss AI Lab IDSIA, and co-founder and chief scientist of AI company NNAISENSE, whose motto is "AI∀" which is a math-inspired way of saying "AI For All." He continues to work on cutting-edge AI technologies and applications to improve human health and extend human lives and make lives easier for everyone. The following interview has been edited for clarity. Jones: Thank you Juergen for joining me. You have signed letters warning about AI weapons. But you didn't sign the recent publication, "Pause Gigantic AI Experiments: An Open Letter"? Is there a reason? Schmidhuber: Thank you Hessie. Glad to speak with you. I have realized that many of those who warn in public against the dangers of AI are just seeking publicity. I don't think the latest letter will have any significant impact because many AI researchers, companies, and governments will ignore it completely. The proposal frequently uses the word "we" and refers to "us," the humans. But as I have pointed out many times in the past, there is no "we" that everyone can identify with. Ask 10 different people, and you will hear 10 different opinions about what is "good." Some of those opinions will be completely incompatible with each other. Don't forget the enormous amount of conflict between the many people. The letter also says, "If such a pause cannot be quickly put in place, governments should intervene and impose a moratorium." The problem is that different governments have ALSO different opinions about what is good for them and for others. Great Power A will say, if we don't do it, Great Power B will, perhaps secretly, and gain an advantage over us. The same is true for Great Powers C and D. Jones: Everyone acknowledges this fear surrounding current generative AI technology. Moreover, the existential threat of this technology has been publicly acknowledged by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI himself, calling for AI regulation. From your perspective, is there an existential threat? Schmidhuber: It is true that AI can be weaponized, and I have no doubt that there will be all kinds of AI arms races, but AI does not introduce a new quality of existential threat. The threat coming from AI weapons seems to pale in comparison to the much older threat from nuclear hydrogen bombs that don’t need AI at all. We should be much more afraid of half-century-old tech in the form of H-bomb rockets. The Tsar Bomba of 1961 had almost 15 times more destructive power than all weapons of WW-II combined. Despite the dramatic nuclear disarmament since the 1980s, there are still more than enough nuclear warheads to wipe out human civilization within two hours, without any AI I’m much more worried about that old existential threat than the rather harmless AI weapons. Jones: I realize that while you compare AI to the threat of nuclear bombs, there is a current danger that a current technology can be put in the hands of humans and enable them to “eventually” exact further harms to individuals of group in a very precise way, like targeted drone attacks. You are giving people a toolset that they've never had before, enabling bad actors, as some have pointed out, to be able to do a lot more than previously because they didn't have this technology. Schmidhuber: Now, all that sounds horrible in principle, but our existing laws are sufficient to deal with these new types of weapons enabled by AI. If you kill someone with a gun, you will go to jail. Same if you kill someone with one of these drones. Law enforcement will get better at understanding new threats and new weapons and will respond with better technology to combat these threats. Enabling drones to target persons from a distance in a way that requires some tracking and some intelligence to perform, which has traditionally been performed by skilled humans, to me, it seems is just an improved version of a traditional weapon, like a gun, which is, you know, a little bit smarter than the old guns. But, in principle, all of that is not a new development. For many centuries, we have had the evolution of better weaponry and deadlier poisons and so on, and law enforcement has evolved their policies to react to these threats over time. So, it's not that we suddenly have a new quality of existential threat and it's much more worrisome than what we have had for about six decades. A large nuclear warhead doesn’t need fancy face recognition to kill an individual. No, it simply wipes out an entire city with ten million inhabitants. Jones: The existential threat that’s implied is the extent to which humans have control over this technology. We see some early cases of opportunism which, as you say, tends to get more media attention than positive breakthroughs. But you’re implying that this will all balance out? Schmidhuber: Historically, we have a long tradition of technological breakthroughs that led to advancements in weapons for the purpose of defense but also for protection. From sticks, to rocks, to axes to gunpowder to cannons to rockets… and now to drones… this has had a drastic influence on human history but what has been consistent throughout history is that those who are using technology to achieve their own ends are themselves, facing the same technology because the opposing side is learning to use it against them. And that's what has been repeated in thousands of years of human history and it will continue. I don't see the new AI arms race as something that is remotely as existential a threat as the good old nuclear warheads. You said something important, in that some people prefer to talk about the downsides rather than the benefits of this technology, but that's misleading, because 95% of all AI research and AI development is about making people happier and advancing human life and health. Jones: Let’s touch on some of those beneficial advances in AI research that have been able to radically change present day methods and achieve breakthroughs. Schmidhuber: All right! For example, eleven years ago, our team with my postdoc Dan Ciresan was the first to win a medical imaging competition through deep learning. We analyzed female breast cells with the objective to determine harmless cells vs. those in the pre-cancer stage. Typically, a trained oncologist needs a long time to make these determinations. Our team, who knew nothing about cancer, were able to train an artificial neural network, which was totally dumb in the beginning, on lots of this kind of data. It was able to outperform all the other methods. Today, this is being used not only for breast cancer, but also for radiology and detecting plaque in arteries, and many other things. Some of the neural networks that we have developed in the last 3 decades are now prevalent across thousands of healthcare applications, detecting Diabetes and Covid-19 and what not. This will eventually permeate across all healthcare. The good consequences of this type of AI are much more important than the click-bait new ways of conducting crimes with AI. Jones: Adoption is a product of reinforced outcomes. The massive scale of adoption either leads us to believe that people have been led astray, or conversely, technology is having a positive effect on people’s lives. Schmidhuber: The latter is the likely case. There's intense commercial pressure towards good AI rather than bad AI because companies want to sell you something, and you are going to buy only stuff you think is going to be good for you. So already just through this simple, commercial pressure, you have a tremendous bias towards good AI rather than bad AI. However, doomsday scenarios like in Schwarzenegger movies grab more attention than documentaries on AI that improve people’s lives. Jones: I would argue that people are drawn to good stories – narratives that contain an adversary and struggle, but in the end, have happy endings. And this is consistent with your comment on human nature and how history, despite its tendency for violence and destruction of humanity, somehow tends to correct itself. Let’s take the example of a technology, which you are aware – GANs – General Adversarial Networks, which today has been used in applications for fake news and disinformation. In actuality, the purpose in the invention of GANs was far from what it is used for today. Schmidhuber: Yes, the name GANs was created in 2014 but we had the basic principle already in the early 1990s. More than 30 years ago, I called it artificial curiosity. It's a very simple way of injecting creativity into a little two network system. This creative AI is not just trying to slavishly imitate humans. Rather, it’s inventing its own goals. Let me explain: You have two networks. One network is producing outputs that could be anything, any action. Then the second network is looking at these actions and it’s trying to predict the consequences of these actions. An action could move a robot, then something happens, and the other network is just trying to predict what will happen. Now we can implement artificial curiosity by reducing the prediction error of the second network, which, at the same time, is the reward of the first network. The first network wants to maximize its reward and so it will invent actions that will lead to situations that will surprise the second network, which it has not yet learned to predict well. In the case where the outputs are fake images, the first network will try to generate images that are good enough to fool the second network, which will attempt to predict the reaction of the environment: fake or real image, and it will try to become better at it. The first network will continue to also improve at generating images whose type the second network will not be able to predict. So, they fight each other. The 2nd network will continue to reduce its prediction error, while the 1st network will attempt to maximize it. Through this zero-sum game the first network gets better and better at producing these convincing fake outputs which look almost realistic. So, once you have an interesting set of images by Vincent Van Gogh, you can generate new images that leverage his style, without the original artist having ever produced the artwork himself. Jones: I see how the Van Gogh example can be applied in an education setting and there are countless examples of artists mimicking styles from famous painters but image generation from this instance that can happen within seconds is quite another feat. And you know this is how GANs has been used. What’s more prevalent today is a socialized enablement of generating images or information to intentionally fool people. It also surfaces new harms that deal with the threat to intellectual property and copyright, where laws have yet to account for. And from your perspective this was not the intention when the model was conceived. What was your motivation in your early conception of what is now GANs? Schmidhuber: My old motivation for GANs was actually very important and it was not to create deepfakes or fake news but to enable AIs to be curious and invent their own goals, to make them explore their environment and make them creative. Suppose you have a robot that executes one action, then something happens, then it executes another action, and so on, because it wants to achieve certain goals in the environment. For example, when the battery is low, this will trigger “pain” through hunger sensors, so it wants to go to the charging station, without running into obstacles, which will trigger other pain sensors. It will seek to minimize pain (encoded through numbers). Now the robot has a friend, the second network, which is a world model ––it’s a prediction machine that learns to predict the consequences of the robot’s actions. Once the robot has a good model of the world, it can use it for planning. It can be used as a simulation of the real world. And then it can determine what is a good action sequence. If the robot imagines this sequence of actions, the model will predict a lot of pain, which it wants to avoid. If it plays this alternative action sequence in its mental model of the world, then it will predict a rewarding situation where it’s going to sit on the charging station and its battery is going to load again. So, it'll prefer to execute the latter action sequence. In the beginning, however, the model of the world knows nothing, so how can we motivate the first network to generate experiments that lead to data that helps the world model learn something it didn’t already know? That’s what artificial curiosity is about. The dueling two network systems effectively explore uncharted environments by creating experiments so that over time the curious AI gets a better sense of how the environment works. This can be applied to all kinds of environments, and has medical applications. Jones: Let’s talk about the future. You have said, “Traditional humans won’t play a significant role in spreading intelligence across the universe.” Schmidhuber: Let’s first conceptually separate two types of AIs. The first type of AI are tools directed by humans. They are trained to do specific things like accurately detect diabetes or heart disease and prevent attacks before they happen. In these cases, the goal is coming from the human. More interesting AIs are setting their own goals. They are inventing their own experiments and learning from them. Their horizons expand and eventually they become more and more general problem solvers in the real world. They are not controlled by their parents, but much of what they learn is through self-invented experiments. A robot, for example, is rotating a toy, and as it is doing this, the video coming in through the camera eyes, changes over time and it begins to learn how this video changes and learns how the 3D nature of the toy generates certain videos if you rotate it a certain way, and eventually, how gravity works, and how the physics of the world works. Like a little scientist! And I have predicted for decades that future scaled-up versions of such AI scientists will want to further expand their horizons, and eventually go where most of the physical resources are, to build more and bigger AIs. And of course, almost all of these resources are far away from earth out there in space, which is hostile to humans but friendly to appropriately designed AI-controlled robots and self-replicating robot factories. So here we are not talking any longer about our tiny biosphere; no, we are talking about the much bigger rest of the universe. Within a few tens of billions of years, curious self-improving AIs will colonize the visible cosmos in a way that’s infeasible for humans. Those who don’t won’t have an impact. Sounds like science fiction, but since the 1970s I have been unable to see a plausible alternative to this scenario, except for a global catastrophe such as an all-out nuclear war that stops this development before it takes off. Jones: How long have these AIs, which can set their own goals — how long have they existed? To what extent can they be independent of human interaction? Schmidhuber: Neural networks like that have existed for over 30 years. My first simple adversarial neural network system of this kind is the one from 1990 described above. You don’t need a teacher there; it's just a little agent running around in the world and trying to invent new experiments that surprise its own prediction machine. Once it has figured out certain parts of the world, the agent will become bored and will move on to more exciting experiments. The simple 1990 systems I mentioned have certain limitations, but in the past three decades, we have also built more sophisticated systems that are setting their own goals and such systems I think will be essential for achieving true intelligence. If you are only imitating humans, you will never go beyond them. So, you really must give AIs the freedom to explore previously unexplored regions of the world in a way that no human is really predefining. Jones: Where is this being done today? Schmidhuber: Variants of neural network-based artificial curiosity are used today for agents that learn to play video games in a human-competitive way. We have also started to use them for automatic design of experiments in fields such as materials science. I bet many other fields will be affected by it: chemistry, biology, drug design, you name it. However, at least for now, these artificial scientists, as I like to call them, cannot yet compete with human scientists. I don’t think it’s going to stay this way but, at the moment, it’s still the case. Sure, AI has made a lot of progress. Since 1997, there have been superhuman chess players, and since 2011, through the DanNet of my team, there have been superhuman visual pattern recognizers. But there are other things where humans, at the moment at least, are much better, in particular, science itself. In the lab we have many first examples of self-directed artificial scientists, but they are not yet convincing enough to appear on the radar screen of the public space, which is currently much more fascinated with simpler systems that just imitate humans and write texts based on previously seen human-written documents. Jones: You speak of these numerous instances dating back 30 years of these lab experiments where these self-driven agents are deciding and learning and moving on once they’ve learned. And I assume that that rate of learning becomes even faster over time. What kind of timeframe are we talking about when this eventually is taken outside of the lab and embedded into society? Schmidhuber: This could still take months or even years :-) Anyway, in the not-too-distant future, we will probably see artificial scientists who are good at devising experiments that allow them to discover new, previously unknown physical laws. As always, we are going to profit from the old trend that has held at least since 1941: every decade compute is getting 100 times cheaper. Jones: How does this trend affect modern AI such as ChatGPT? Schmidhuber: Perhaps you know that all the recent famous AI applications such as ChatGPT and similar models are largely based on principles of artificial neural networks invented in the previous millennium. The main reason why they works so well now is the incredible acceleration of compute per dollar. ChatGPT is driven by a neural network called “Transformer” described in 2017 by Google. I am happy about that because a quarter century earlier in 1991 I had a particular Transformer variant which is now called the “Transformer with linearized self-attention”. Back then, not much could be done with it, because the compute cost was a million times higher than today. But today, one can train such models on half the internet and achieve much more interesting results. Jones: And for how long will this acceleration continue? Schmidhuber: There's no reason to believe that in the next 30 years, we won't have another factor of 1 million and that's going to be really significant. In the near future, for the first time we will have many not-so expensive devices that can compute as much as a human brain. The physical limits of computation, however, are much further out so even if the trend of a factor of 100 every decade continues, the physical limits (of 1051 elementary instructions per second and kilogram of matter) won’t be hit until, say, the mid-next century. Even in our current century, however, we’ll probably have many machines that compute more than all 10 billion human brains collectively and you can imagine, everything will change then! Jones: That is the big question. Is everything going to change? If so, what do you say to the next generation of leaders, currently coming out of college and university. So much of this change is already impacting how they study, how they will work, or how the future of work and livelihood is defined. What is their purpose and how do we change our systems so they will adapt to this new version of intelligence? Schmidhuber: For decades, people have asked me questions like that, because you know what I'm saying now, I have basically said since the 1970s, it’s just that today, people are paying more attention because, back then, they thought this was science fiction. They didn't think that I would ever come close to achieving my crazy life goal of building a machine that learns to become smarter than myself such that I can retire. But now many have changed their minds and think it's conceivable. And now I have two daughters, 23 and 25. People ask me: what do I tell them? They know that Daddy always said, “It seems likely that within your lifetimes, you will have new types of intelligence that are probably going to be superior in many ways, and probably all kinds of interesting ways.” How should they prepare for that? And I kept telling them the obvious: Learn how to learn new things! It's not like in the previous millennium where within 20 years someone learned to be a useful member of society, and then took a job for 40 years and performed in this job until she received her pension. Now things are changing much faster and we must learn continuously just to keep up. I also told my girls that no matter how smart AIs are going to get, learn at least the basics of math and physics, because that’s the essence of our universe, and anybody who understands this will have an advantage, and learn all kinds of new things more easily. I also told them that social skills will remain important, because most future jobs for humans will continue to involve interactions with other humans, but I couldn’t teach them anything about that; they know much more about social skills than I do. You touched on the big philosophical question about people’s purpose. Can this be answered without answering the even grander question: What’s the purpose of the entire universe? We don’t know. But what’s happening right now might be connected to the unknown answer. Don’t think of humans as the crown of creation. Instead view human civilization as part of a much grander scheme, an important step (but not the last one) on the path of the universe from very simple initial conditions towards more and more unfathomable complexity. Now it seems ready to take its next step, a step comparable to the invention of life itself over 3.5 billion years ago. Alas, don’t worry, in the end, all will be good! Jones: Let’s get back to this transformation happening right now with OpenAI. There are many questioning the efficacy and accuracy of ChatGPT, and are concerned its release has been premature. In light of the rampant adoption, educators have banned its use over concerns of plagiarism and how it stifles individual development. Should large language models like ChatGPT be used in school? Schmidhuber: When the calculator was first introduced, instructors forbade students from using it in school. Today, the consensus is that kids should learn the basic methods of arithmetic, but they should also learn to use the “artificial multipliers” aka calculators, even in exams, because laziness and efficiency is a hallmark of intelligence. Any intelligent being wants to minimize its efforts to achieve things. And that's the reason why we have tools, and why our kids are learning to use these tools. The first stone tools were invented maybe 3.5 million years ago; tools just have become more sophisticated over time. In fact, humans have changed in response to the properties of their tools. Our anatomical evolution was shaped by tools such as spears and fire. So, it's going to continue this way. And there is no permanent way of preventing large language models from being used in school. Jones: And when our children, your children graduate, what does their future work look like? Schmidhuber: A single human trying to predict details of how 10 billion people and their machines will evolve in the future is like a single neuron in my brain trying to predict what the entire brain and its tens of billions of neurons will do next year. 40 years ago, before the WWW was created at CERN in Switzerland, who would have predicted all those young people making money as YouTube video bloggers? Nevertheless, let’s make a few limited job-related observations. For a long time, people have thought that desktop jobs may require more intelligence than skills trade or handicraft professions. But now, it turns out that it's much easier to replace certain aspects of desktop jobs than replacing a carpenter, for example. Because everything that works well in AI is happening behind the screen currently, but not so much in the physical world. There are now artificial systems that can read lots of documents and then make really nice summaries of these documents. That is a desktop job. Or you give them a description of an illustration that you want to have for your article and pretty good illustrations are being generated that may need some minimal fine-tuning. But you know, all these desktop jobs are much easier to facilitate than the real tough jobs in the physical world. And it's interesting that the things people thought required intelligence, like playing chess, or writing or summarizing documents, are much easier for machines than they thought. But for things like playing football or soccer, there is no physical robot that can remotely compete with the abilities of a little boy with these skills. So, AI in the physical world, interestingly, is much harder than AI behind the screen in virtual worlds. And it's really exciting, in my opinion, to see that jobs such as plumbers are much more challenging than playing chess or writing another tabloid story. Jones: The way data has been collected in these large language models does not guarantee personal information has not been excluded. Current consent laws already are outdated when it comes to these large language models (LLM). The concern, rightly so, is increasing surveillance and loss of privacy. What is your view on this? Schmidhuber: As I have indicated earlier: are surveillance and loss of privacy inevitable consequences of increasingly complex societies? Super-organisms such as cities and states and companies consist of numerous people, just like people consist of numerous cells. These cells enjoy little privacy. They are constantly monitored by specialized "police cells" and "border guard cells": Are you a cancer cell? Are you an external intruder, a pathogen? Individual cells sacrifice their freedom for the benefits of being part of a multicellular organism. Similarly, for super-organisms such as nations. Over 5000 years ago, writing enabled recorded history and thus became its inaugural and most important invention. Its initial purpose, however, was to facilitate surveillance, to track citizens and their tax payments. The more complex a super-organism, the more comprehensive its collection of information about its constituents. 200 years ago, at least, the parish priest in each village knew everything about all the village people, even about those who did not confess, because they appeared in the confessions of others. Also, everyone soon knew about the stranger who had entered the village, because some occasionally peered out of the window, and what they saw got around. Such control mechanisms were temporarily lost through anonymization in rapidly growing cities but are now returning with the help of new surveillance devices such as smartphones as part of digital nervous systems that tell companies and governments a lot about billions of users. Cameras and drones etc. are becoming increasingly tinier and more ubiquitous. More effective recognition of faces and other detection technology are becoming cheaper and cheaper, and many will use it to identify others anywhere on earth; the big wide world will not offer any more privacy than the local village. Is this good or bad? Some nations may find it easier than others to justify more complex kinds of super-organisms at the expense of the privacy rights of their constituents. Jones: So, there is no way to stop or change this process of collection, or how it continuously informs decisions over time? How do you see governance and rules responding to this, especially amid Italy’s ban on ChatGPT following suspected user data breach and the more recent news about the Meta’s record $1.3billion fine in the company’s handling of user information? Schmidhuber: Data collection has benefits and drawbacks, such as the loss of privacy. How to balance those? I have argued for addressing this through data ownership in data markets. If it is true that data is the new oil, then it should have a price, just like oil. At the moment, the major surveillance platforms such as Meta do not offer users any money for their data and the transitive loss of privacy. In the future, however, we will likely see attempts at creating efficient data markets to figure out the data's true financial value through the interplay between supply and demand. Even some of the sensitive medical data should not be priced by governmental regulators but by patients (and healthy persons) who own it and who may sell or license parts thereof as micro-entrepreneurs in a healthcare data market. Following a previous interview, I gave for one of the largest re-insurance companies , let's look at the different participants in such a data market: patients, hospitals, data companies. (1) Patients with a rare form of cancer can offer more valuable data than patients with a very common form of cancer. (2) Hospitals and their machines are needed to extract the data, e.g., through magnet spin tomography, radiology, evaluations through human doctors, and so on. (3) Companies such as Siemens, Google or IBM would like to buy annotated data to make better artificial neural networks that learn to predict pathologies and diseases and the consequences of therapies. Now the market’s invisible hand will decide about the data’s price through the interplay between demand and supply. On the demand side, you will have several companies offering something for the data, maybe through an app on the smartphone (a bit like a stock market app). On the supply side, each patient in this market should be able to profit from high prices for rare valuable types of data. Likewise, competing data extractors such as hospitals will profit from gaining recognition and trust for extracting data well at a reasonable price. The market will make the whole system efficient through incentives for all who are doing a good job. Soon there will be a flourishing ecosystem of commercial data market advisors and what not, just like the ecosystem surrounding the traditional stock market. The value of the data won’t be determined by governments or ethics committees, but by those who own the data and decide by themselves which parts thereof they want to license to others under certain conditions. At first glance, a market-based system seems to be detrimental to the interest of certain monopolistic companies, as they would have to pay for the data - some would prefer free data and keep their monopoly. However, since every healthy and sick person in the market would suddenly have an incentive to collect and share their data under self-chosen anonymity conditions, there will soon be many more useful data to evaluate all kinds of treatments. On average, people will live longer and healthier, and many companies and the entire healthcare system will benefit. Jones: Finally, what is your view on open source versus the private companies like Google and OpenAI? Is there a danger to supporting these private companies’ large language models versus trying to keep these models open source and transparent, very much like what LAION is doing? Schmidhuber: I signed this open letter by LAION because I strongly favor the open-source movement. And I think it's also something that is going to challenge whatever big tech dominance there might be at the moment. Sure, the best models today are run by big companies with huge budgets for computers, but the exciting fact is that open-source models are not so far behind, some people say maybe six to eight months only. Of course, the private company models are all based on stuff that was created in academia, often in little labs without so much funding, which publish without patenting their results and open source their code and others take it and improved it. Big tech has profited tremendously from academia; their main achievement being that they have scaled up everything greatly, sometimes even failing to credit the original inventors. So, it's very interesting to see that as soon as some big company comes up with a new scaled-up model, lots of students out there are competing, or collaborating, with each other, trying to come up with equal or better performance on smaller networks and smaller machines. And since they are open sourcing, the next guy can have another great idea to improve it, so now there’s tremendous competition also for the big companies. Because of that, and since AI is still getting exponentially cheaper all the time, I don't believe that big tech companies will dominate in the long run. They find it very hard to compete with the enormous open-source movement. As long as you can encourage the open-source community, I think you shouldn't worry too much. Now, of course, you might say if everything is open source, then the bad actors also will more easily have access to these AI tools. And there's truth to that. But as always since the invention of controlled fire, it was good that knowledge about how technology works quickly became public such that everybody could use it. And then, against any bad actor, there's almost immediately a counter actor trying to nullify his efforts. You see, I still believe in our old motto "AI∀" or "AI For All." Jones: Thank you, Juergen for sharing your perspective on this amazing time in history. It’s clear that with new technology, the enormous potential can be matched by disparate and troubling risks which we’ve yet to solve, and even those we have yet to identify. If we are to dispel the fear of a sentient system for which we have no control, humans, alone need to take steps for more responsible development and collaboration to ensure AI technology is used to ultimately benefit society. Humanity will be judged by what we do next.

[Discussion]: Mark Zuckerberg on Meta's Strategy on Open Source and AI during the earnings call

During the recent earnings call, Mark Zuckerberg answered a question from Eric Sheridan of Goldman Sachs on Meta's AI strategy, opportunities to integrate into products, and why they open source models and how it would benefit their business. I found the reasoning to be very sound and promising for the OSS and AI community. The biggest risk from AI, in my opinion, is not the doomsday scenarios that intuitively come to mind but rather that the most powerful AI systems will only be accessible to the most powerful and resourceful corporations. Quote copied from Ben Thompson's write up on Meta's earning in his Stratechery blog post which goes beyond AI. It's behind a paywall but I highly recommend it personally. Some noteworthy quotes that signal the thought process at Meta FAIR and more broadly We’re just playing a different game on the infrastructure than companies like Google or Microsoft or Amazon We would aspire to and hope to make even more open than that. So, we’ll need to figure out a way to do that. ...lead us to do more work in terms of open sourcing, some of the lower level models and tools Open sourcing low level tools make the way we run all this infrastructure more efficient over time. On PyTorch: It’s generally been very valuable for us to provide that because now all of the best developers across the industry are using tools that we’re also using internally. I would expect us to be pushing and helping to build out an open ecosystem. For all the negative that comes out of the popular discourse on Meta, I think their work to open source key tech tools over the last 10 years has been exceptional, here's hoping it continues into this decade of AI and pushes other tech giants to also realize the benefits of Open Source. Full Transcript: Right now most of the companies that are training large language models have business models that lead them to a closed approach to development. I think there’s an important opportunity to help create an open ecosystem. If we can help be a part of this, then much of the industry will standardize on using these open tools and help improve them further. So this will make it easier for other companies to integrate with our products and platforms as we enable more integrations, and that will help our products stay at the leading edge as well. Our approach to AI and our infrastructure has always been fairly open. We open source many of our state of the art models so people can experiment and build with them. This quarter we released our LLaMa LLM to researchers. It has 65 billion parameters but outperforms larger models and has proven quite popular. We’ve also open-sourced three other groundbreaking visual models along with their training data and model weights — Segment Anything, DinoV2, and our Animated Drawings tool — and we’ve gotten positive feedback on all of those as well. I think that there’s an important distinction between the products we offer and a lot of the technical infrastructure, especially the software that we write to support that. And historically, whether it’s the Open Compute project that we’ve done or just open sourcing a lot of the infrastructure that we’ve built, we’ve historically open sourced a lot of that infrastructure, even though we haven’t open sourced the code for our core products or anything like that. And the reason why I think why we do this is that unlike some of the other companies in the space, we’re not selling a cloud computing service where we try to keep the different software infrastructure that we’re building proprietary. For us, it’s way better if the industry standardizes on the basic tools that we’re using and therefore we can benefit from the improvements that others make and others’ use of those tools can, in some cases like Open Compute, drive down the costs of those things which make our business more efficient too. So I think to some degree we’re just playing a different game on the infrastructure than companies like Google or Microsoft or Amazon, and that creates different incentives for us. So overall, I think that that’s going to lead us to do more work in terms of open sourcing, some of the lower level models and tools. But of course, a lot of the product work itself is going to be specific and integrated with the things that we do. So it’s not that everything we do is going to be open. Obviously, a bunch of this needs to be developed in a way that creates unique value for our products, but I think in terms of the basic models, I would expect us to be pushing and helping to build out an open ecosystem here, which I think is something that’s going to be important. On the AI tools, and we have a bunch of history here, right? So if you if you look at what we’ve done with PyTorch, for example, which has generally become the standard in the industry as a tool that a lot of folks who are building AI models and different things in that space use, it’s generally been very valuable for us to provide that because now all of the best developers across the industry are using tools that we’re also using internally. So the tool chain is the same. So when they create some innovation, we can easily integrate it into the things that we’re doing. When we improve something, it improves other products too. Because it’s integrated with our technology stack, when there are opportunities to make integrations with products, it’s much easier to make sure that developers and other folks are compatible with the things that we need in the way that our systems work. So there are a lot of advantages, but I view this more as a kind of back end infrastructure advantage with potential integrations on the product side, but one that should hopefully enable us to stay at the leading edge and integrate more broadly with the community and also make the way we run all this infrastructure more efficient over time. There are a number of models. I just gave PyTorch as an example. Open Compute is another model that has worked really well for us in this way, both to incorporate both innovation and scale efficiency into our own infrastructure. So I think that there’s, our incentives I think are basically aligned towards moving in this direction. Now that said, there’s a lot to figure out, right? So when you asked if there are going to be other opportunities, I hope so. I can’t speak to what all those things might be now. This is all quite early in getting developed. The better we do at the foundational work, the more opportunities I think that will come and present themselves. So I think that that’s all stuff that we need to figure out. But at least at the base level, I think we’re generally incentivized to move in this direction. And we also need to figure out how to go in that direction over time. I mean, I mentioned LLaMA before and I also want to be clear that while I’m talking about helping contribute to an open ecosystem, LLaMA is a model that we only really made available to researchers and there’s a lot of really good stuff that’s happening there. But a lot of the work that we’re doing, I think, we would aspire to and hope to make even more open than that. So, we’ll need to figure out a way to do that.

[N] Montreal-based Element AI sold for $230-million as founders saw value mostly wiped out

According to Globe and Mail article: Element AI sold for $230-million as founders saw value mostly wiped out, document reveals Montreal startup Element AI Inc. was running out of money and options when it inked a deal last month to sell itself for US$230-milion to Silicon Valley software company ServiceNow Inc., a confidential document obtained by the Globe and Mail reveals. Materials sent to Element AI shareholders Friday reveal that while many of its institutional shareholders will make most if not all of their money back from backing two venture financings, employees will not fare nearly as well. Many have been terminated and had their stock options cancelled. Also losing out are co-founders Jean-François Gagné, the CEO, his wife Anne Martel, the chief administrative officer, chief science officer Nick Chapados and Yoshua Bengio, the University of Montreal professor known as a godfather of “deep learning,” the foundational science behind today’s AI revolution. Between them, they owned 8.8 million common shares, whose value has been wiped out with the takeover, which goes to a shareholder vote Dec 29 with enough investor support already locked up to pass before the takeover goes to a Canadian court to approve a plan of arrangement with ServiceNow. The quartet also owns preferred shares worth less than US$300,000 combined under the terms of the deal. The shareholder document, a management proxy circular, provides a rare look inside efforts by a highly hyped but deeply troubled startup as it struggled to secure financing at the same time as it was failing to live up to its early promises. The circular states the US$230-million purchase price is subject to some adjustments and expenses which could bring the final price down to US$195-million. The sale is a disappointing outcome for a company that burst onto the Canadian tech scene four years ago like few others, promising to deliver AI-powered operational improvements to a range of industries and anchor a thriving domestic AI sector. Element AI became the self-appointed representative of Canada’s AI sector, lobbying politicians and officials and landing numerous photo ops with them, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It also secured $25-million in federal funding – $20-million of which was committed earlier this year and cancelled by the government with the ServiceNow takeover. Element AI invested heavily in hype and and earned international renown, largely due to its association with Dr. Bengio. It raised US$102-million in venture capital in 2017 just nine months after its founding, an unheard of amount for a new Canadian company, from international backers including Microsoft Corp., Intel Corp., Nvidia Corp., Tencent Holdings Ltd., Fidelity Investments, a Singaporean sovereign wealth fund and venture capital firms. Element AI went on a hiring spree to establish what the founders called “supercredibility,” recruiting top AI talent in Canada and abroad. It opened global offices, including a British operation that did pro bono work to deliver “AI for good,” and its ranks swelled to 500 people. But the swift hiring and attention-seeking were at odds with its success in actually building a software business. Element AI took two years to focus on product development after initially pursuing consulting gigs. It came into 2019 with a plan to bring several AI-based products to market, including a cybersecurity offering for financial institutions and a program to help port operators predict waiting times for truck drivers. It was also quietly shopping itself around. In December 2018, the company asked financial adviser Allen & Co LLC to find a potential buyer, in addition to pursuing a private placement, the circular reveals. But Element AI struggled to advance proofs-of-concept work to marketable products. Several client partnerships faltered in 2019 and 2020. Element did manage to reach terms for a US$151.4-million ($200-million) venture financing in September, 2019 led by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and backed by the Quebec government and consulting giant McKinsey and Co. However, the circular reveals the company only received the first tranche of the financing – roughly half of the amount – at the time, and that it had to meet unspecified conditions to get the rest. A fairness opinion by Deloitte commissioned as part of the sale process estimated Element AI’s enterprises value at just US$76-million around the time of the 2019 financing, shrinking to US$45-million this year. “However, the conditions precedent the closing of the second tranche … were not going to be met in a timely manner,” the circular reads. It states “new terms were proposed” for a round of financing that would give incoming investors ranking ahead of others and a cumulative dividend of 12 per cent on invested capital and impose “other operating and governance constraints and limitations on the company.” Management instead decided to pursue a sale, and Allen contacted prospective buyers in June. As talks narrowed this past summer to exclusive negotiations with ServiceNow, “the company’s liquidity was diminishing as sources of capital on acceptable terms were scarce,” the circular reads. By late November, it was generating revenue at an annualized rate of just $10-million to $12-million, Deloitte said. As part of the deal – which will see ServiceNow keep Element AI’s research scientists and patents and effectively abandon its business – the buyer has agreed to pay US$10-million to key employees and consultants including Mr. Gagne and Dr. Bengio as part of a retention plan. The Caisse and Quebec government will get US$35.45-million and US$11.8-million, respectively, roughly the amount they invested in the first tranche of the 2019 financing.

[Discussion] When ML and Data Science are the death of a good company: A cautionary tale.

TD;LR: At Company A, Team X does advanced analytics using on-prem ERP tools and older programming languages. Their tools work very well and are designed based on very deep business and domain expertise. Team Y is a new and ambitious Data Science team that thinks they can replace Team X's tools with a bunch of R scripts and a custom built ML platform. Their models are simplistic, but more "fashionable" compared to the econometric models used by Team X, and team Y benefits from the ML/DS moniker so leadership is allowing Team Y to start a large scale overhaul of the analytics platform in question. Team Y doesn't have the experience for such a larger scale transformation, and is refusing to collaborate with team X. This project is very likely going to fail, and cause serious harm to the company as a whole financially and from a people perspective. I argue that this is not just because of bad leadership, but also because of various trends and mindsets in the DS community at large. Update (Jump to below the line for the original story): Several people in the comments are pointing out that this just a management failure, not something due to ML/DS, and that you can replace DS with any buzz tech and the story will still be relevant. My response: Of course, any failure at an organization level is ultimately a management failure one way or the other. Moreover, it is also the case that ML/DS when done correctly, will always improve a company's bottom line. There is no scenario where the proper ML solution, delivered at a reasonable cost and in a timely fashion, will somehow hurt the company's bottom line. My point is that in this case management is failing because of certain trends and practices that are specific to the ML/DS community, namely: The idea that DS teams should operate independently of tech and business orgs -- too much autonomy for DS teams The disregard for domain knowledge that seems prevalent nowadays thanks to the ML hype, that DS can be generalists and someone with good enough ML chops can solve any business problem. That wasn't the case when I first left academia for the industry in 2009 (back then nobody would even bother with a phone screen if you didn't have the right domain knowledge). Over reliance on resources who check all the ML hype related boxes (knows Python, R, Tensorflow, Shiny, etc..., has the right Coursera certifications, has blogged on the topic, etc...), but are lacking in depth of experience. DS interviews nowadays all seem to be: Can you tell me what a p-value is? What is elastic net regression? Show me how to fit a model in sklearn? How do you impute NAs in an R dataframe? Any smart person can look those up on Stackoverflow or Cross-Validated,.....Instead teams should be asking stuff like: why does portfolio optimization use QP not LP? How does a forecast influence a customer service level? When should a recommendation engine be content based and when should it use collaborative filtering? etc... (This is a true story, happening to the company I currently work for. Names, domains, algorithms, and roles have been shuffled around to protect my anonymity)  Company A has been around for several decades. It is not the biggest name in its domain, but it is a well respected one. Risk analysis and portfolio optimization have been a core of Company A's business since the 90s. They have a large team of 30 or so analysts who perform those tasks on a daily basis. These analysts use ERP solutions implemented for them by one the big ERP companies (SAP, Teradata, Oracle, JD Edwards,...) or one of the major tech consulting companies (Deloitte, Accenture, PWC, Capgemini, etc...) in collaboration with their own in house engineering team. The tools used are embarrassingly old school: Classic RDBMS running on on-prem servers or maybe even on mainframes, code written in COBOL, Fortran, weird proprietary stuff like ABAP or SPSS.....you get the picture. But the models and analytic functions were pretty sophisticated, and surprisingly cutting edge compared to the published academic literature. Most of all, they fit well with the company's enterprise ecosystem, and were honed based on years of deep domain knowledge.  They have a tech team of several engineers (poached from the aforementioned software and consulting companies) and product managers (who came from the experienced pools of analysts and managers who use the software, or poached from business rivals) maintaining and running this software. Their technology might be old school, but collectively, they know the domain and the company's overall architecture very, very well. They've guided the company through several large scale upgrades and migrations and they have a track record of delivering on time, without too much overhead. The few times they've stumbled, they knew how to pick themselves up very quickly. In fact within their industry niche, they have a reputation for their expertise, and have very good relations with the various vendors they've had to deal with. They were the launching pad of several successful ERP consulting careers.  Interestingly, despite dealing on a daily basis with statistical modeling and optimization algorithms, none of the analysts, engineers, or product managers involved describe themselves as data scientists or machine learning experts. It is mostly a cultural thing: Their expertise predates the Data Science/ML hype that started circa 2010, and they got most of their chops using proprietary enterprise tools instead of the open source tools popular nowadays. A few of them have formal statistical training, but most of them came from engineering or domain backgrounds and learned stats on the fly while doing their job. Call this team "Team X".  Sometime around the mid 2010s, Company A started having some serious anxiety issues: Although still doing very well for a company its size, overall economic and demographic trends were shrinking its customer base, and a couple of so called disruptors came up with a new app and business model that started seriously eating into their revenue. A suitable reaction to appease shareholders and Wall Street was necessary. The company already had a decent website and a pretty snazzy app, what more could be done? Leadership decided that it was high time that AI and ML become a core part of the company's business. An ambitious Manager, with no science or engineering background, but who had very briefly toyed with a recommender system a couple of years back, was chosen to build a data science team, call it team "Y" (he had a bachelor's in history from the local state college and worked for several years in the company's marketing org). Team "Y" consists mostly of internal hires who decided they wanted to be data scientists and completed a Coursera certification or a Galvanize boot camp, before being brought on to the team, along with a few of fresh Ph.D or M.Sc holders who didn't like academia and wanted to try their hand at an industry role. All of them were very bright people, they could write great Medium blog posts and give inspiring TED talks, but collectively they had very little real world industry experience. As is the fashion nowadays, this group was made part of a data science org that reported directly to the CEO and Board, bypassing the CIO and any tech or business VPs, since Company A wanted to claim the monikers "data driven" and "AI powered" in their upcoming shareholder meetings. In 3 or 4 years of existence, team Y produced a few Python and R scripts. Their architectural experience  consisted almost entirely in connecting Flask to S3 buckets or Redshift tables, with a couple of the more resourceful ones learning how to plug their models into Tableau or how to spin up a Kuberneties pod.  But they needn't worry: The aforementioned manager, who was now a director (and was also doing an online Masters to make up for his qualifications gap and bolster his chances of becoming VP soon - at least he now understands what L1 regularization is), was a master at playing corporate politics and self-promotion. No matter how few actionable insights team Y produced or how little code they deployed to production, he always had their back and made sure they had ample funding. In fact he now had grandiose plans for setting up an all-purpose machine learning platform that can be used to solve all of the company's data problems.  A couple of sharp minded members of team Y, upon googling their industry name along with the word "data science", realized that risk analysis was a prime candidate for being solved with Bayesian models, and there was already a nifty R package for doing just that, whose tutorial they went through on R-Bloggers.com. One of them had even submitted a Bayesian classifier Kernel for a competition on Kaggle (he was 203rd on the leaderboard), and was eager to put his new-found expertise to use on a real world problem. They pitched the idea to their director, who saw a perfect use case for his upcoming ML platform. They started work on it immediately, without bothering to check whether anybody at Company A was already doing risk analysis. Since their org was independent, they didn't really need to check with anybody else before they got funding for their initiative. Although it was basically a Naive Bayes classifier, the term ML was added to the project tile, to impress the board.  As they progressed with their work however, tensions started to build. They had asked the data warehousing and CA analytics teams to build pipelines for them, and word eventually got out to team X about their project. Team X was initially thrilled: They offered to collaborate whole heartedly, and would have loved to add an ML based feather to their already impressive cap. The product owners and analysts were totally onboard as well: They saw a chance to get in on the whole Data Science hype that they kept hearing about. But through some weird mix of arrogance and insecurity, team Y refused to collaborate with them or share any of their long term goals with them, even as they went to other parts of the company giving brown bag presentations and tutorials on the new model they created.  Team X got resentful: from what they saw of team Y's model, their approach was hopelessly naive and had little chances of scaling or being sustainable in production, and they knew exactly how to help with that. Deploying the model to production would have taken them a few days, given how comfortable they were with DevOps and continuous delivery (team Y had taken several months to figure out how to deploy a simple R script to production). And despite how old school their own tech was, team X were crafty enough to be able to plug it in to their existing architecture. Moreover, the output of the model was such that it didn't take into account how the business will consume it or how it was going to be fed to downstream systems, and the product owners could have gone a long way in making the model more amenable to adoption by the business stakeholders. But team Y wouldn't listen, and their leads brushed off any attempts at communication, let alone collaboration. The vibe that team Y was giving off was "We are the cutting edge ML team, you guys are the legacy server grunts. We don't need your opinion.", and they seemed to have a complete disregard for domain knowledge, or worse, they thought that all that domain knowledge consisted of was being able to grasp the definitions of a few business metrics.  Team X got frustrated and tried to express their concerns to leadership. But despite owning a vital link in Company A's business process, they were only \~50 people in a large 1000 strong technology and operations org, and they were several layers removed from the C-suite, so it was impossible for them to get their voices heard.  Meanwhile, the unstoppable director was doing what he did best: Playing corporate politics. Despite how little his team had actually delivered, he had convinced the board that all analysis and optimization tasks should now be migrated to his yet to be delivered ML platform. Since most leaders now knew that there was overlap between team Y and team X's objectives, his pitch was no longer that team Y was going to create a new insight, but that they were going to replace (or modernize) the legacy statistics based on-prem tools with more accurate cloud based ML tools. Never mind that there was no support in the academic literature for the idea that Naive Bayes works better than the Econometric approaches used by team X, let alone the additional wacky idea that Bayesian Optimization would definitely outperform the QP solvers that were running in production.  Unbeknownst to team X, the original Bayesian risk analysis project has now grown into a multimillion dollar major overhaul initiative, which included the eventual replacement of all of the tools and functions supported by team X along with the necessary migration to the cloud. The CIO and a couple of business VPs are on now board, and tech leadership is treating it as a done deal. An outside vendor, a startup who nobody had heard of, was contracted to help build the platform, since team Y has no engineering skills. The choice was deliberate, as calling on any of the established consulting or software companies would have eventually led leadership to the conclusion that team X was better suited for a transformation on this scale than team Y.  Team Y has no experience with any major ERP deployments, and no domain knowledge, yet they are being tasked with fundamentally changing the business process that is at the core of Company A's business. Their models actually perform worse than those deployed by team X, and their architecture is hopelessly simplistic, compared to what is necessary for running such a solution in production.  Ironically, using Bayesian thinking and based on all the evidence, the likelihood that team Y succeeds is close to 0%. At best, the project is going to end up being a write off of 50 million dollars or more. Once the !@#$!@hits the fan, a couple of executive heads are going to role, and dozens of people will get laid off. At worst, given how vital risk analysis and portfolio optimization is to Company A's revenue stream, the failure will eventually sink the whole company. It probably won't go bankrupt, but it will lose a significant portion of its business and work force. Failed ERP implementations can and do sink large companies: Just see what happened to National Grid US, SuperValu or Target Canada.  One might argue that this is more about corporate disfunction and bad leadership than about data science and AI. But I disagree. I think the core driver of this debacle is indeed the blind faith in Data Scientists, ML models and the promise of AI, and the overall culture of hype and self promotion that is very common among the ML crowd.  We haven't seen the end of this story: I sincerely hope that this ends well for the sake of my colleagues and all involved. Company A is a good company, and both its customers and its employees deserver better. But the chances of that happening are negligible given all the information available, and this failure will hit my company hard.

[CASE STUDY] From 217/m to $2,836/m in 9 months - Sold for $59,000; I grow and monetise web traffic of 5, 6, 7 figures USD valued passive income content sites [AMA]

Hello Everyone (VERY LONG CASE STUDY AHEAD) - 355% return in 9 months Note: I own a 7-figures USD valued portfolio of 41+ content sites that generates 5-6 figures USD a month in passive income. This is my first time posting in this sub and my goal is to NOT share generic advice but precise numbers, data and highly refined processes so you can also get started with this business yourself or if you already have an existing business, drive huge traffic to it and scale it substantially (get more customers). I will use a case study to explain the whole process. As most of us are entrepreneurs here, explaining an actual project would be more meaningful. In this case study I used AI assisted content to grow an existing site from $217/m to $2,836/m in 9 months (NO BACKLINKS) and sold it for $59,000. ROI of 3 months: 355% Previous case studies (before I give an overview of the model) Amazon Affiliate Content Site: $371/m to $19,263/m in 14 MONTHS - $900K CASE STUDY \[AMA\] Affiliate Website from $267/m to $21,853/m in 19 months (CASE STUDY - Amazon?) \[AMA\] Amazon Affiliate Website from $0 to $7,786/month in 11 months Amazon Affiliate Site from $118/m to $3,103/m in 8 MONTHS (SOLD it for $62,000+) Note: You can check pinned posts on my profile. Do go through the comments as well as a lot of questions are answered in those. However, if you still have any questions, feel free to reach out. This is an \[AMA\]. Quick Overview of the Model Approach: High traffic, niche specific, informative content websites that monetise its traffic through highly automated methods like display ads and affiliate. The same model can be applied to existing businesses to drive traffic and get customers. Main idea: Make passive income in a highly automated way Easy to understand analogy You have real estate (here you have digital asset like a website) You get rental income (here you get ads and affiliate income with no physical hassle, in case you have a business like service, product etc. then you can get customers for that too but if not, it's alright) Real estate has value (this digital asset also has value that can be appreciated with less effort) Real estate can be sold (this can be sold too but faster) IMPORTANT NOTE: Search traffic is the BEST way to reach HUGE target audience and it's important when it comes to scaling. This essentially means that you can either monetise that via affiliate, display etc. or if you have a business then you can reach a bigger audience to scale. Overview of this website's valuation (then and now: Oct. 2022 and June 2023) Oct 2022: $217/m Valuation: $5,750.5 (26.5x) - set it the same as the multiple it was sold for June 2023: $2,836/m Traffic and revenue trend: growing fast Last 3 months avg: $2,223 Valuation now: $59,000 (26.5x) Description: The domain was registered in 2016, it grew and then the project was left unattended. I decided to grow it again using properly planned AI assisted content. Backlink profile: 500+ Referring domains (Ahrefs). Backlinks mean the sites linking back to you. This is important when it comes to ranking. Summary of Results of This Website - Before and After Note: If the terms seem technical, do not worry. I will explain them in detail later. Still if you have any questions. Feel free to comment or reach out. |Metric|Oct 2022|June 2023|Difference|Comments| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |Articles|314|804|\+490|AI Assisted content published in 3 months| |Traffic|9,394|31,972|\+22,578|Organic| |Revenue|$217|$2,836|\+$2,619|Multiple sources| |RPM (revenue/1000 web traffic)|23.09|$88.7|\+$65.61|Result of Conversion rate optimisation (CRO). You make changes to the site for better conversions| |EEAT (expertise, experience, authority and trust of website)|2 main authors|8 authors|6|Tables, video ads and 11 other fixations| |CRO|Nothing|Tables, video ads |Tables, video ads and 11 other fixations || ​ Month by Month Growth |Month|Revenue|Steps| |:-|:-|:-| |Sept 2022|NA|Content Plan| |Oct 2022|$217|Content Production| |Nov 2022|$243|Content production + EEAT authors| |Dec 2022|$320|Content production + EEAT authors| |Jan 2023|$400|Monitoring| |Feb 2023|$223|Content production + EEAT authors| |Mar 2023|$2,128|CRO & Fixations| |April 2023|$1,609|CRO & Fixations| |May 2023|$2,223|Content production + EEAT authors| |June 2023|$2,836|CRO and Fixations| |Total|$10,199|| ​ What will I share Content plan and Website structure Content Writing Content Uploading, formatting and onsite SEO Faster indexing Conversion rate optimisation Guest Posting EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust) Costing ROI The plans moving forward with these sites ​ Website Structure and Content Plan This is probably the most important important part of the whole process. The team spends around a month just to get this right. It's like defining the direction of the project. Description: Complete blueprint of the site's structure in terms of organisation of categories, subcategories and sorting of articles in each one of them. It also includes the essential pages. The sorted articles target main keyword, relevant entities and similar keywords. This has to be highly data driven and we look at over 100 variables just to get it right. It's like beating Google's algorithm to ensure you have a blueprint for a site that will rank. It needs to be done right. If there is a mistake, then even if you do everything right - it's not going to work out and after 8-16 months you will realise that everything went to waste. Process For this project, we had a niche selected already so we didn't need to do a lot of research pertaining to that. We also knew the topic since the website was already getting good traffic on that. We just validated from Ahrefs, SEMRUSH and manual analysis if it would be worth it to move forward with that topic. ​ Find entities related to the topic: We used Ahrefs and InLinks to get an idea about the related entities (topics) to create a proper topical relevance. In order to be certain and have a better idea, we used ChatGPT to find relevant entities as well \> Ahrefs (tool): Enter main keyword in keywords explorer. Check the left pain for popular topics \> Inlinks (tool): Enter the main keyword, check the entity maps \> ChatGPT (tool): Ask it to list down the most important and relevant entities in order of their priority Based on this info, you can map out the most relevant topics that are semantically associated to your main topic Sorting the entities in topics (categories) and subtopics (subcategories): Based on the information above, cluster them properly. The most relevant ones must be grouped together. Each group must be sorted into its relevant category. \> Example: Site about cycling. \> Categories/entities: bicycles, gear and equipment, techniques, safety, routes etc. \> The subcategories/subentities for let's say "techniques" would be: Bike handling, pedaling, drafting etc. Extract keywords for each subcategory/subentity: You can do this using Ahrefs or Semrush. Each keyword would be an article. Ensure that you target the similar keywords in one article. For example: how to ride a bicycle and how can I ride a bicycle will be targeted by one article. Make the more important keyword in terms of volume and difficulty as the main keyword and the other one(s) as secondary Define main focus vs secondary focus: Out of all these categories/entities - there will be one that you would want to dominate in every way. So, focus on just that in the start. This will be your main focus. Try to answer ALL the questions pertaining to that. You can extract the questions using Ahrefs. \> Ahrefs > keywords explorer \> enter keyword \> Questions \> Download the list and cluster the similar ones. This will populate your main focus category/entity and will drive most of the traffic. Now, you need to write in other categories/subentities as well. This is not just important, but crucial to complete the topical map loop. In simple words, if you do this Google sees you as a comprehensive source on the topic - otherwise, it ignores you and you don't get ranked Define the URLs End result: List of all the entities and sub-entities about the main site topic in the form of categories and subcategories respectively. A complete list of ALL the questions about the main focus and at around 10 questions for each one of the subcategories/subentities that are the secondary focus Content Writing So, now that there's a plan. Content needs to be produced. Pick out a keyword (which is going to be a question) and... Answer the question Write about 5 relevant entities Answer 10 relevant questions Write a conclusion Keep the format the same for all the articles. Content Uploading, formatting and onsite SEO Ensure the following is taken care of: H1 Permalink H2s H3s Lists Tables Meta description Socials description Featured image 2 images in text \\Schema Relevant YouTube video (if there is) Note: There are other pointers link internal linking in a semantically relevant way but this should be good to start with. Faster Indexing Indexing means Google has read your page. Ranking only after this step has been done. Otherwise, you can't rank if Google hasn't read the page. Naturally, this is a slow process. But, we expedite it in multiple ways. You can use RankMath to quickly index the content. Since, there are a lot of bulk pages you need a reliable method. Now, this method isn't perfect. But, it's better than most. Use Google Indexing API and developers tools to get indexed. Rank Math plugin is used. I don't want to bore you and write the process here. But, a simple Google search can help you set everything up. Additionally, whenever you post something - there will be an option to INDEX NOW. Just press that and it would be indexed quite fast. Conversion rate optimisation Once you get traffic, try adding tables right after the introduction of an article. These tables would feature a relevant product on Amazon. This step alone increased our earnings significantly. Even though the content is informational and NOT review. This still worked like a charm. Try checking out the top pages every single day in Google analytics and add the table to each one of them. Moreover, we used EZOIC video ads as well. That increased the RPM significantly as well. Both of these steps are highly recommended. Overall, we implemented over 11 fixations but these two contribute the most towards increasing the RPM so I would suggest you stick to these two in the start. Guest Posting We made additional income by selling links on the site as well. However, we were VERY careful about who we offered a backlink to. We didn't entertain any objectionable links. Moreover, we didn't actively reach out to anyone. We had a professional email clearly stated on the website and a particularly designated page for "editorial guidelines" A lot of people reached out to us because of that. As a matter of fact, the guy who bought the website is in the link selling business and plans to use the site primarily for selling links. According to him, he can easily make $4000+ from that alone. Just by replying to the prospects who reached out to us. We didn't allow a lot of people to be published on the site due to strict quality control. However, the new owner is willing to be lenient and cash it out. EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust) This is an important ranking factor. You need to prove on the site that your site has authors that are experienced, have expertise, authority and trust. A lot of people were reaching out to publish on our site and among them were a few established authors as well. We let them publish on our site for free, added them on our official team, connected their socials and shared them on all our socials. In return, we wanted them to write 3 articles each for us and share everything on all the social profiles. You can refer to the tables I shared above to check out the months it was implemented. We added a total of 6 writers (credible authors). Their articles were featured on the homepage and so were their profiles. Costing Well, we already had the site and the backlinks on it. Referring domains (backlinks) were already 500+. We just needed to focus on smart content and content. Here is the summary of the costs involved. Articles: 490 Avg word count per article: 1500 Total words: 735,000 (approximately) Cost per word: 2 cents (includes research, entities, production, quality assurance, uploading, formatting, adding images, featured image, alt texts, onsite SEO, publishing/scheduling etc.) Total: $14,700 ROI (Return on investment) Earning: Oct 22 - June 23 Earnings: $10,199 Sold for: $59,000 Total: $69,199 Expenses: Content: $14,700 Misc (hosting and others): $500 Total: $15,200 ROI over a 9 months period: 355.25% The plans moving forward This website was a part of a research and development experiment we did. With AI, we wanted to test new waters and transition more towards automation. Ideally, we want to use ChatGPT or some other API to produce these articles and bulk publish on the site. The costs with this approach are going to be much lower and the ROI is much more impressive. It's not the the 7-figures projects I created earlier (as you may have checked the older case studies on my profile), but it's highly scalable. We plan to refine this model even further, test more and automate everything completely to bring down our costs significantly. Once we have a model, we are going to scale it to 100s of sites. The process of my existing 7-figures websites portfolio was quite similar. I tested out a few sites, refined the model and scaled it to over 41 sites. Now, the fundamentals are the same however, we are using AI in a smarter way to do the same but at a lower cost, with a smaller team and much better returns. The best thing in my opinion is to run numerous experiments now. Our experimentation was slowed down a lot in the past since we couldn't write using AI but now it's much faster. The costs are 3-6 times lower so when it used to take $50-100k to start, grow and sell a site. Now you can pump 3-6 more sites for the same budget. This is a good news for existing business owners as well who want to grow their brand. Anyway, I am excited to see the results of more sites. In the meantime, if you have any questions - feel free to let me know. Best of luck for everything. Feel free to ask questions. I'd be happy to help. This is an AMA.

Building and launching an AI-powered Product Strategy tool, or; a story of nights and weekends

Speaking to peers in the software development sphere I learned of one constant that we had all personally experienced throughout our careers: a bloated product development process that feels like work for the sake of work, centred around the highest-paid person's opinion instead of its customers. We didn't like how current tools assume AI will provide the perfect answer on the first run. Instead, we wanted a tool that allows for manual refining and editing AI suggestions, keeping all previous ideas in context. This way, we can develop a solution step by step, instead of trying to get it perfect on the first try. An approach more similar to how you'd typically approach product discovery as a human. AI is then used to help save time and reduce admin, instead of replace the expert So, we got together and asked over 100 Product Managers questions about it, brought all that feedback goodness together, and started building Squad. We think we've created something really cool and hope you think so too. The ELI5 on what Squad does: 1) Creates alignment that empowers bottom up software development whilst keeping executive in the loop 2) Increases confidence that what you're building is what people actually want - data driven by default 2) Speeds up the time from idea --> execution by ideating with you on an experimentation approach 3) Helps gives PMs time back to focus on strategy (currently stats show they spend 75% of their time on admin, 25% on strategy) The team hustled hard on this as a passion project while working day jobs, and today have launched on Product Hunt. Check it out and see if the mission resonates with you, we'd appreciate the love! https://www.producthunt.com/posts/squad-8b75e29c-d767-4a8f-a60a-fd162e141a72 ​

I've been building stuff for years, I can build your idea

If anyone is interested at all, I'm a college student whose been massively passionate for entrepreneur and business stuff for years and can build anything from a marketplace to a social network, a booking app, a live streaming app, AI app*, what not. I'm really flexible in general and I'm also very reasonable with pricing. I like this community so I'd like to work on something I enjoy... (indeed... get out of my tabs please). Im a little passionate in general let's say, and I build all the time for fun. But I need money. So I'm here. Viola! Since I'm a college student, and this is my first time ever offering my services as well, chances are I won't expect anything past $500. I might even do it for cheaper if it looks doable for me. If you're generous that's up to you (lol). I'm happy to share my work and live previews you can interact with before we start. And, I'm happy to build things before you pay, so you can see it literally working :) THE "NEGATIVE"/catch: There will be no code from scratch as we'd build using no-code (www.bubble.io) and implement code as needed. This means you will not have the source code ever (even if we wanted to) and if you ever want your own from scratch platform/app you will have to find someone/a team to do it from scratch, as there's no option to export source code out. If you plan to grow past 1 million users, you may consider migrating to something built from scratch at this point scaling wise (and you can't get your source code - so you'll have to pay an entire dev team separately. If you have an app, you'll need a website developed, and Android and iOS developers for the app). For an MVP however, I personally think it's a faster, easier and cheaper way to get things running without investing a lot. THE GOOD: No-code/low-code will be a thousand times more easy, cheap, and fast to maintain. And if you're a startup, chances are you WILL need to tweak things... possibly a lot (100s vs. 1,000s difference in my opinion..). We can still build almost anything and also turn it into a mobile app for iOS / Android, though I'm more comfortable with getting a web app up first and the main posting here. But it depends on the complexity so just ask. Maintenance is likely to end up FAR cheaper and you can even do it free yourself if you decided to learn (which you could totally do in some days, and master in some weeks/months fully). I can build and document everything to be as beginner friendly as possible for you to be able to maintain it yourself if you wanted to learn. Send me a message describing what you need if you're interested. I will give you an estimate on price, time, and can send you some live previews. If we agree, I will start to build before any down payments to a (reasonable) point!:)

Recently hit 6,600,000 monthly organic traffic for a B2C SaaS website. Here's the 40 tips that helped me make that happen.

Hey guys! So as title says, we recently hit 6,600,000 monthly organic traffic / month for a B2C SaaS website (screenshot. Can't give name publicly, but can show testimonial to a mod). Here's 40 tips that "helped" me make this happen. If you get some value of the post, I write an SEO tip every other day on /r/seogrowth. There's around 10 more tips already up there other than the ones I mention here. If you want to give back for all my walls of text, I'd appreciate a sub <3 Also, there are a bunch of free stuff I mention in the article: content outline, writer guidelines, SEO checklist, and other stuff. Here's the Google Doc with all that! Tip #1. Take SEO With a Grain of Salt A lot of the SEO advice and best practices on the internet are based on 2 things: Personal experiences and case studies of companies that managed to make SEO work for them. Google or John Mueller (Google’s Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst). And, unfortunately, neither of these sources are always accurate. Personal SEO accounts are simply about what worked for specific companies. Sometimes, what worked for others, won’t work for you. For example, you might find a company that managed to rank with zero link-building because their website already had a very strong backlink profile. If you’re starting with a fresh website, chances are, you won’t be able to get the same results. At the same time, information from Google or John Mueller is also not 100% accurate. For example, they’ve said that guest posting is against Google’s guidelines and doesn’t work… But practically, guest posting is a very effective link-building strategy. So the takeaway is this: Take all information you read about SEO with a grain of salt. Analyze the information yourself, and make your conclusions. SEO Tip #2. SEO Takes Time You’ve already heard this one before, but considering how many people keep asking, thought I'd include this anyway. On average, it’s going to take you 6 months to 2 years to get SEO results, depending on the following factors: Your backlink profile. The more quality backlinks you have (or build), the faster you’ll rank. Age of your website. If your website is older (or you purchased an aged website), you can expect your content to rank faster. Amount of content published. The more quality content you publish on your website, the more “authoritative” it is in the eyes of Google, and thus more likely to rank faster. SEO work done on the website. If a lot of your pages are already ranking on Google (page 2-3), it’s easier to get them to page #1 than if you just published the content piece. Local VS global SEO. Ranking locally is (sometimes) easier and faster than ranking globally. That said, some marketing agencies can use “SEO takes time” as an excuse for not driving results. Well, fortunately, there is a way to track SEO results from month #2 - #3 of work. Simply check if your new content pieces/pages are getting more and more impressions on Google Search Console month-to-month. While your content won’t be driving traffic for a while after being published, they’ll still have a growing number of impressions from month #2 or #3 since publication. SEO Tip #3. SEO Might Not Be The Best Channel For You In theory, SEO sounds like the best marketing channel ever. You manage to rank on Google and your marketing seemingly goes on auto-pilot - you’re driving new leads every day from existing content without having to lift a finger… And yet, SEO is not for everyone. Avoid SEO as a marketing channel if: You’re just getting started with your business and need to start driving revenue tomorrow (and not in 1-2 years). If this is you, try Google ads, Facebook ads, or organic marketing. Your target audience is pretty small. If you’re selling enterprise B2B software and have around 2,000 prospects in total worldwide, then it’s simply easier to directly reach out to these prospects. Your product type is brand-new. If customers don’t know your product exists, they probably won’t be Googling it. SEO Tip #4. Traffic Can Be a Vanity Metric I've seen hundreds of websites that drive 6-7 digits of traffic but generate only 200-300 USD per month from those numbers. “What’s the deal?” You might be thinking. “How can you fail to monetize that much traffic?” Well, that brings us to today’s tip: traffic can be a vanity metric. See, not all traffic is created equal. Ranking for “hormone balance supplement” is a lot more valuable than ranking for “Madagascar character names.” The person Googling the first keyword is an adult ready to buy your product. Someone Googling the latter, on the other hand, is a child with zero purchasing power. So, when deciding on which keywords to pursue, always keep in mind the buyer intent behind and don’t go after rankings or traffic just because 6-digit traffic numbers look good. SEO Tip #5. Push Content Fast Whenever you publish a piece of content, you can expect it to rank within 6 months to a year (potentially less if you’re an authority in your niche). So, the faster you publish your content, the faster they’re going to age, and, as such, the faster they’ll rank on Google. On average, I recommend you publish a minimum of 10,000 words of content per month and 20,000 to 30,000 optimally. If you’re not doing link-building for your website, then I’d recommend pushing for even more content. Sometimes, content velocity can compensate for the lack of backlinks. SEO Tip #6. Use Backlink Data to Prioritize Content You might be tempted to go for that juicy, 6-digit traffic cornerstone keyword right from the get-go... But I'd recommend doing the opposite. More often than not, to rank for more competitive, cornerstone keywords, you’ll need to have a ton of supporting content, high-quality backlinks, website authority, and so on. Instead, it’s a lot more reasonable to first focus on the less competitive keywords and then, once you’ve covered those, move on to the rest. Now, as for how to check keyword competitiveness, here are 2 options: Use Mozbar to see the number of backlinks for top-ranking pages, as well as their Domain Authority (DA). If all the pages ranking on page #1 have <5 backlinks and DA of 20 - 40, it’s a good opportunity. Use SEMrush or Ahrefs to sort your keywords by difficulty, and focus on the less difficult keywords first. Now, that said, keep in mind that both of these metrics are third-party, and hence not always accurate. SEO Tip #7. Always Start With Competitive Analysis When doing keyword research, the easiest way to get started is via competitive analysis. Chances are, whatever niche you’re in, there’s a competitor that is doing great with SEO. So, instead of having to do all the work from scratch, run their website through SEMrush or Ahrefs and steal their keyword ideas. But don’t just stop there - once you’ve borrowed keyword ideas from all your competitors, run the seed keywords through a keyword research tool such as UberSuggest or SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool. This should give you dozens of new ideas that your competitors might’ve missed. Finally, don’t just stop at borrowing your competitor’s keyword ideas. You can also borrow some inspiration on: The types of graphics and images you can create to supplement your blog content. The tone and style you can use in your articles. The type of information you can include in specific content pieces. SEO Tip #8. Source a LOT of Writers Content writing is one of those professions that has a very low barrier to entry. Anyone can take a writing course, claim to be a writer, and create an UpWork account… This is why 99% of the writers you’ll have to apply for your gigs are going to be, well, horrible. As such, if you want to produce a lot of content on the reg, you’ll need to source a LOT of writers. Let’s do the math: If, by posting a job ad, you source 100 writers, you’ll see that only 5 of them are a good fit. Out of the 5 writers, 1 has a very high rate, so they drop out. Another doesn’t reply back to your communication, which leaves you with 3 writers. You get the 3 writers to do a trial task, and only one turns out to be a good fit for your team. Now, since the writer is freelance, the best they can do is 4 articles per month for a total of 5,000-words (which, for most niches, ain’t all that much). So, what we’re getting at here is, to hire quality writers, you should source a LOT of them. SEO Tip #9. Create a Process for Filtering Writers If you follow the previous tip, you'll end up with a huge database of hundreds of writers. This creates a whole new problem: You now have a database of 500+ writers waiting for you to sift through them and decide which ones are worth the hire. It would take you 2-3 days of intense work to go through all these writers and vet them yourself. Let’s be real - you don’t have time for that. Here’s what you can do instead: When sourcing writers, always get them to fill in a Google form (instead of DMing or emailing you). In this form, make sure to ask for 3 relevant written samples, a link to the writer’s portfolio page, and the writer’s rate per word. Create a SOP for evaluating writers. The criteria for evaluation should be: Level of English. Does the writer’s sample have any English mistakes? If so, they’re not a good fit. Quality of Samples. Are the samples long-form and engaging content or are they boring 500-word copy-pastes? Technical Knowledge. Has the writer written about a hard-to-explain topic before? Anyone can write about simple topics like traveling—you want to look for someone who knows how to research a new topic and explain it in a simple and easy-to-read way. If someone’s written about how to create a perfect cover letter, they can probably write about traveling, but the opposite isn’t true. Get your VA to evaluate the writer’s samples as per the criteria above and short-list writers that seem competent. If you sourced 500 writers, the end result of this process should be around 50 writers. You or your editor goes through the short-list of 50 writers and invites 5-10 for a (paid) trial task. The trial task is very important - you’ll sometimes find that the samples provided by the writer don’t match their writing level. SEO Tip #10. Use the Right Websites to Find Writers Not sure where to source your writers? Here are some ideas: ProBlogger \- Our #1 choice - a lot of quality writers frequent this website. LinkedIn \- You can headhunt content writers in specific locations. Upwork \- If you post a content gig, most writers are going to be awful. Instead, I recommend headhunting top writers instead. WeWorkRemotely \- Good if you’re looking to make a full-time remote hire. Facebook \- There are a ton of quality Facebook groups for writers. Some of our faves are Cult of Copy Job Board and Content Marketing Lounge. SEO Tip #11. Always Use Content Outlines When giving tasks to your writing team, you need to be very specific about the instructions you give them. Don’t just provide a keyword and tell them to “knock themselves out.” The writer isn’t a SEO expert; chances are, they’re going to mess it up big-time and talk about topics that aren’t related to the keyword you’re targeting. Instead, when giving tasks to writers, do it through content outlines. A content outline, in a nutshell, is a skeleton of the article they’re supposed to write. It includes information on: Target word count (aim for the same or 50% more the word count than that of the competition). Article title. Article structure (which sections should be mentioned and in what order). Related topics of keywords that need to be mentioned in the article. Content outline example in the URL in the post intro. SEO Tip #12. Focus on One Niche at a Time I used to work with this one client that had a SaaS consisting of a mixture of CRM, Accounting Software, and HRS. I had to pick whether we were going to focus on topics for one of these 3 niches or focus on all of them at the same time. I decided to do the former. Here’s why: When evaluating what to rank, Google considers the authority of your website. If you have 60 articles about accounting (most of which link to each other), you’re probably an authority in the niche and are more likely to get good rankings. If you have 20 sales, 20 HR, and 20 accounting articles, though, none of these categories are going to rank as well. It always makes more sense to first focus on a single niche (the one that generates the best ROI for your business), and then move on to the rest. This also makes it easier to hire writers - you hire writers specialized in accounting, instead of having to find writers who can pull off 3 unrelated topics. SEO Tip #13. Just Hire a VA Already It’s 2021 already guys—unless you have a virtual assistant, you’re missing out big-time. Since a lot of SEO tasks are very time-consuming, it really helps to have a VA around to take over. As long as you have solid SOPs in place, you can hire a virtual assistant, train them, and use them to free up your time. Some SEO tasks virtual assistants can help with are: Internal linking. Going through all your blog content and ensuring that they link to each other. Backlink prospecting. Going through hundreds of websites daily to find link opportunities. Uploading content on WordPress and ensuring that the content is optimized well for on-page SEO. SEO Tip #14. Use WordPress (And Make Your Life Easier) Not sure which CMS platform to use? 99% of the time, you’re better off with WordPress. It has a TON of plugins that will make your life easier. Want a drag & drop builder? Use Elementor. It’s cheap, efficient, extremely easy to learn, and comes jam-packed with different plugins and features. Wix, SiteGround, and similar drag & drops are pure meh. SEO Tip #15. Use These Nifty WordPress Plugins There are a lot of really cool WordPress plugins that can make your (SEO) life so much easier. Some of our favorites include: RankMath. A more slick alternative to YoastSEO. Useful for on-page SEO. Smush. App that helps you losslessly compress all images on your website, as well as enables lazy loading. WP Rocket. This plugin helps speed up your website pretty significantly. Elementor. Not a techie? This drag & drop plugin makes it significantly easier to manage your website. WP Forms. Very simple form builder. Akismet Spam Protection. Probably the most popular anti-spam WP plugin. Mammoth Docx. A plugin that uploads your content from a Google doc directly to WordPress. SEO Tip #16. No, Voice Search Is Still Not Relevant Voice search is not and will not be relevant (no matter what sensationalist articles might say). Sure, it does have its application (“Alexa, order me toilet paper please”), but it’s pretty niche and not relevant to most SEOs. After all, you wouldn’t use voice search for bigger purchases (“Alexa, order me a new laptop please”) or informational queries (“Alexa, teach me how to do accounting, thanks”). SEO Tip #17. SEO Is Obviously Not Dead I see these articles every year - “SEO is dead because I failed to make it work.” SEO is not dead and as long as there are people looking up for information/things online, it never will be. And no, SEO is not just for large corporations with huge budgets, either. Some niches are hypercompetitive and require a huge link-building budget (CBD, fitness, VPN, etc.), but they’re more of an exception instead of the rule. SEO Tip #18. Doing Local SEO? Focus on Service Pages If you’re doing local SEO, you’re better off focusing on local service pages than blog content. E.g. if you’re an accounting firm based in Boston, you can make a landing page about /accounting-firm-boston/, /tax-accounting-boston/, /cpa-boston/, and so on. Or alternatively, if you’re a personal injury law firm, you’d want to create pages like /car-accident-law-firm/, /truck-accident-law-firm/, /wrongful-death-law-firm/, and the like. Thing is, you don’t really need to rank on global search terms—you just won’t get leads from there. Even if you ranked on the term “financial accounting,” it wouldn’t really matter for your bottom line that much. SEO Tip #19. Engage With the SEO Community The SEO community is (for the most part) composed of extremely helpful and friendly people. There are a lot of online communities (including this sub) where you can ask for help, tips, case studies, and so on. Some of our faves are: This sub :) SEO Signals Lab (FB Group) Fat Graph Content Ops (FB Group) Proper SEO Group (FB Group) BigSEO Subreddit SEO Tip #20. Test Keywords Before Pursuing Them You can use Google ads to test how profitable any given keyword is before you start trying to rank for it. The process here is: Create a Google Ads account. Pick a keyword you want to test. Create a landing page that corresponds to the search intent behind the keyword. Allocate an appropriate budget. E.g. if you assume a conversion rate of 2%, you’d want to buy 100+ clicks. If the CPC is 2 USD, then the right budget would be 200 USD plus. Run the ads! If you don’t have the budget for this, you can still use the average CPC for the keyword to estimate how well it’s going to convert. If someone is willing to bid 10 USD to rank for a certain keyword, it means that the keyword is most probably generating pretty good revenue/conversions. SEO Tip #21. Test & Improve SEO Headlines Sometimes, you’ll see that you’re ranking in the top 3 positions for your search query, but you’re still not driving that much traffic. “What’s the deal?” you might be asking. Chances are, your headline is not clickable enough. Every 3-4 months, go through your Google Search Console and check for articles that are ranking well but not driving enough traffic. Then, create a Google sheet and include the following data: Targeted keyword Page link CTR (for the last 28 days) Date when you implemented the new title Old title New title New CTR (for the month after the CTR change was implemented) From then on, implement the new headline and track changes in the CTR. If you don’t reach your desired result, you can always test another headline. SEO Tip #22. Longer Content Isn’t Always Better Content You’ve probably heard that long-form content is where it’s at in 2021. Well, this isn’t always the case. Rather, this mostly depends on the keyword you’re targeting. If, for example, you’re targeting the keyword “how to tie a tie,” you don’t need a long-ass 5,000-word mega-guide. In such a case, the reader is looking for something that can be explained in 200-300 words and if your article fails to do this, the reader will bounce off and open a different page. On the other hand, if you’re targeting the keyword “how to write a CV,” you’ll need around 4,000 to 5,000 words to adequately explain the topic and, chances are, you won’t rank with less. SEO Tip #23. SEO is Not All About Written Content More often than not, when people talk about SEO they talk about written blog content creation. It’s very important not to forget, though, that blog content is not end-all-be-all for SEO. Certain keywords do significantly better with video content. For example, if the keyword is “how to do a deadlift,” video content is going to perform significantly better than blog content. Or, if the keyword is “CV template,” you’ll see that a big chunk of the rankings are images of the templates. So, the lesson here is, don’t laser-focus on written content—keep other content mediums in mind, too. SEO Tip #24. Write For Your Audience It’s very important that your content resonates well with your target audience. If, for example, you’re covering the keyword “skateboard tricks,” you can be very casual with your language. Heck, it’s even encouraged! Your readers are Googling the keyword in their free time and are most likely teens or in their early 20s. Meaning, you can use informal language, include pop culture references, and avoid complicated language. Now, on the other hand, if you’re writing about high-level investment advice, your audience probably consists of 40-something suit-and-ties. If you include Rick & Morty references in your article, you'll most likely lose credibility and the Googler, who will go to another website. Some of our best tips on writing for your audience include: Define your audience. Who’s the person you’re writing for? Are they reading the content at work or in their free time? Keep your reader’s level of knowledge in mind. If you’re covering an accounting 101 topic, you want to cover the topic’s basics, as the reader is probably a student. If you’re writing about high-level finance, though, you don’t have to teach the reader what a balance sheet is. More often than not, avoid complicated language. The best practice is to write on a 6th-grade level, as it’s understandable for anyone. Plus, no one wants to read Shakespeare when Googling info online (unless they’re looking for Shakespeare's work, of course). SEO Tip #25. Create Compelling Headlines Want to drive clicks to your articles? You’ll need compelling headlines. Compare the following headline: 101 Productivity Tips \[To Get Things Done in 2021\] With this one: Productivity Tips Guide Which one would you click? Data says it’s the first! To create clickable headlines, I recommend you include the following elements: Keyword. This one’s non-negotiable - you need to include the target keyword in the headline. Numbers. If Buzzfeed taught us anything, it’s that people like to click articles with numbers in their titles. Results. If I read your article, what’s going to be the end result? E.g. “X Resume tips (to land the job)”.* Year (If Relevant). Adding a year to your title shows that the article is recent (which is relevant for some specific topics). E.g. If the keyword is “Marketing Trends,” I want to know marketing trends in 2021, not in 2001. So, adding a year in the title makes the headline more clickable. SEO Tip #26. Make Your Content Visual How good your content looks matters, especially if you're in a competitive niche. Here are some tips on how to make your content as visual as possible: Aim for 2-4 sentences per paragraph. Avoid huge blocks of text. Apply a 60-65% content width to your blog pages. Pick a good-looking font. I’d recommend Montserrat, PT Sans, and Roboto. Alternatively, you can also check out your favorite blogs, see which fonts they’re using, and do the same. Use a reasonable font size. Most top blogs use font sizes ranging from 16 pt to 22 pt. Add images when possible. Avoid stock photos, though. No one wants to see random “office people smiling” scattered around your blog posts. Use content boxes to help convey information better. Content boxes example in the URL in the intro of the post. SEO Tip #27. Ditch the Skyscraper Technique Already Brian Dean’s skyscraper technique is awesome and all, but the following bit really got old: “Hey \[name\], I saw you wrote an article. I, too, wrote an article. Please link to you?” The theory here is, if your content is good, the person will be compelled to link to it. In practice, though, the person really, really doesn’t care. At the end of the day, there’s no real incentive for the person to link to your content. They have to take time out of their day to head over to their website, log in to WordPress, find the article you mentioned, and add a link... Just because some stranger on the internet asked them to. Here’s something that works much better: Instead of fake compliments, be very straightforward about what you can offer them in exchange for that link. Some things you can offer are: A free version of your SaaS. Free product delivered to their doorstep. Backlink exchange. A free backlink from your other website. Sharing their content to your social media following. Money. SEO Tip #28. Get the URL Slug Right for Seasonal Content If you want to rank on a seasonal keyword, there are 2 ways to do this. If you want your article to be evergreen (i.e. you update it every year with new information), then your URL should not contain the year. E.g. your URL would be /saas-trends/, and you simply update the article’s contents+headline each year to keep it timely. If you’re planning on publishing a new trends report annually, though, then you can add a year to the URL. E.g. /saas-trends-2020/ instead of /saas-trends/. SEO Tip #29. AI Content Tools Are a Mixed Bag Lots of people are talking about AI content tools these days. Usually, they’re either saying: “AI content tools are garbage and the output is horrible,” Or: “AI content tools are a game-changer!” So which one is it? The truth is somewhere in-between. In 2021, AI content writing tools are pretty bad. The output you’re going to get is far from something you can publish on your website. That said, some SEOs use such tools to get a very, very rough draft of the article written, and then they do intense surgery on it to make it usable. Should you use AI content writing tools? If you ask me, no - it’s easier to hire a proficient content writer than spend hours salvaging AI-written content. That said, I do believe that such tools are going to get much better years down the line. This one was, clearly, more of a personal opinion than a fact. I’d love to hear YOUR opinion on AI content tools! Are they a fad, or are they the future of content creation? Let me know in the comments. SEO Tip #30. Don’t Overdo it With SEO Tools There are a lot of SEO tools out there for pretty much any SEO function. Keyword research, link-building, on-page, outreach, technical SEO, you name it! If you were to buy most of these tools for your business, you’d easily spend 4-figures on SEO tools per month. Luckily, though, you don’t actually need most of them. At the end of the day, the only must-have SEO tools are: An SEO Suite (Paid). Basically SEMrush or Ahrefs. Both of these tools offer an insane number of features - backlink analysis, keyword research, and a ton of other stuff. Yes, 99 USD a month is expensive for a tool. But then again, if you value your time 20 USD/hour and this tool saves you 6 hours, it's obviously worth it, right? On-Page SEO Tool (Free). RankMath or Yoast. Basically, a tool that's going to help you optimize web pages or blog posts as per SEO best practices. Technical SEO Tool (Freemium). You can use ScreamingFrog to crawl your entire website and find technical SEO problems. There are probably other tools that also do this, but ScreamingFrog is the most popular option. The freemium version of the tool only crawls a limited number of pages (500 URLs, to be exact), so if your website is relatively big, you'll need to pay for the tool. Analytics (Free). Obviously, you'll need Google Analytics (to track website traffic) and Google Search Console (to track organic traffic, specifically) set up on your website. Optionally, you can also use Google Track Manager to better track how your website visitors interact with the site. MozBar (Free). Chrome toolbar that lets you simply track the number of backlinks on Google Search Queries, Domain Authority, and a bunch of other stuff. Website Speed Analysis (Free). You can use Google Page Speed Insights to track how fast your website loads, as well as how mobile-friendly it is. Outreach Tool (Paid). Tool for reaching out to prospects for link-building, guest posting, etc. There are about a dozen good options for this. Personally, I like to use Snov for this. Optimized GMB Profile (Free). Not a tool per se, but if you're a local business, you need to have a well-optimized Google My Business profile. Google Keyword Planner (Free). This gives you the most reliable search volume data of all the tools. So, when doing keyword research, grab the search volume from here. Tool for Storing Keyword Research (Free). You can use Google Sheets or AirTable to store your keyword research and, at the same time, use it as a content calendar. Hemingway App (Free). Helps keep your SEO content easy to read. Spots passive voice, complicated words, etc. Email Finder (Freemium). You can use a tool like Hunter to find the email address of basically anyone on the internet (for link-building or guest posting purposes). Most of the tools that don’t fit into these categories are 100% optional. SEO Tip #31. Hiring an SEO? Here’s How to Vet Them Unless you’re an SEO pro yourself, hiring one is going to be far from easy. There’s a reason there are so many “SEO experts” out there - for the layman, it’s very hard to differentiate between someone who knows their salt and a newbie who took an SEO course, like, last week. Here’s how you can vet both freelance and full-time SEOs: Ask for concrete traffic numbers. The SEO pro should give you the exact numbers on how they’ve grown a website in the past - “100% SEO growth in 1 year” doesn’t mean much if the growth is from 10 monthly traffic to 20. “1,000 to 30,000” traffic, on the other hand, is much better. Ask for client names. While some clients ask their SEOs to sign an NDA and not disclose their collaboration, most don’t. If an SEO can’t name a single client they’ve worked with in the past, that’s a red flag. Make sure they have the right experience. Global and local SEO have very different processes. Make sure that the SEO has experience with the type of SEO you need. Make sure you’re looking for the right candidate. SEO pros can be content writers, link-builders, web developers, or all of the above simultaneously. Make sure you understand which one you need before making the hire. If you’re looking for someone to oversee your content ops, you shouldn’t hire a technical SEO expert. Look for SEO pros in the right places. Conventional job boards are overrated. Post your job ads on SEO communities instead. E.g. this sub, bigseo, SEO Signals Facebook group, etc. SEO Tip #32. Blog Post Not Ranking? Follow This Checklist I wanted to format the post natively for Reddit, but it’s just SO much better on Notion. Tl;dr, the checklist covers every reason your post might not be ranking: Search intent mismatch. Inferior content. Lack of internal linking. Lack of backlinks. And the like. Checklist URL at the intro of the post. SEO Tip #33. Avoid BS Link-Building Tactics The only type of link-building that works is building proper, quality links from websites with a good backlink profile and decent organic traffic. Here’s what DOESN’T work: Blog comment links Forum spam links Drive-by Reddit comment/post links Web 2.0 links Fiverr “100 links for 10 bucks” bs If your “SEO agency” says they’re doing any of the above instead of actually trying to build you links from quality websites, you’re being scammed. SEO Tip #34. Know When to Use 301 and 302 Redirects When doing redirects, it’s very important to know the distinction between these two. 301 is a permanent page redirect and passes on link juice. If you’re killing off a page that has backlinks, it’s better to 301 it to your homepage so that you don’t lose the link juice. If you simply delete a page, it’s going to be a 404, and the backlink juice is lost forever. 302 is a temporary page redirect and doesn’t pass on link juice. If the redirect is temporary, you do a 302. E.g. you want to test how well a new page is going to perform w/ your audience. SEO Tip #35. Social Signals Matter (But Not How You Think) Social signals are NOT a ranking factor. And yet, they can help your content rank on Google’s front page. Wondering what the hell am I talking about? Here’s what’s up: As I said, social signals are not a ranking factor. It’s not something Google takes into consideration to decide whether your article should rank or not. That said, social signals CAN lead to your article ranking better. Let’s say your article goes viral and gets around 20k views within a week. A chunk of these viewers are going to forget your domain/link and they’re going to look up the topic on Google via your chosen keyword + your brand name. The amount of people looking for YOUR keyword and exclusively picking your result over others is going to make Google think that your content is satisfying search intent better than the rest, and thus, reward you with better ranking. SEO Tip #36. Run Remarketing Ads to Lift Organic Traffic Conversions Not satisfied with your conversion rates? You can use Facebook ads to help increase them. Facebook allows you to do something called “remarketing.” This means you can target anyone that visited a certain page (or multiple pages) on your website and serve them ads on Facebook. There are a TON of ways you can take advantage of this. For example, you can target anyone that landed on a high buyer intent page and serve them ads pitching your product or a special offer. Alternatively, you can target people who landed on an educational blog post and offer them something to drive them down the funnel. E.g. free e-book or white paper to teach them more about your product or service. SEO Tip #37. Doing Local SEO? Follow These Tips Local SEO is significantly different from global SEO. Here’s how the two differ (and what you need to do to drive local SEO results): You don’t need to publish content. For 95% of local businesses, you only want to rank for keywords related to your services/products, you don’t actually need to create educational content. You need to focus more on reviews and citation-building. One of Google Maps’ biggest ranking factors is the of reviews your business has. Encourage your customers to leave a review if they enjoyed your product/service through email or real-life communication. You need to create service pages for each location. As a local business, your #1 priority is to rank for keywords around your service. E.g. If you're a personal injury law firm, you want to optimize your homepage for “personal injury law firm” and then create separate pages for each service you provide, e.g. “car accident lawyer,” “motorcycle injury law firm,” etc. Focus on building citations. Being listed on business directories makes your business more trustworthy for Google. BrightLocal is a good service for this. You don’t need to focus as much on link-building. As local SEO is less competitive than global, you don’t have to focus nearly as much on building links. You can, in a lot of cases, rank with the right service pages and citations. SEO Tip #38. Stop Ignoring the Outreach Emails You’re Getting (And Use Them to Build Your Own Links) Got a ton of people emailing you asking for links? You might be tempted to just send them all straight to spam, and I don’t blame you. Outreach messages like “Hey Dr Jigsaw, your article is A+++ amazing! ...can I get a backlink?” can get hella annoying. That said, there IS a better way to deal with these emails: Reply and ask for a link back. Most of the time, people who send such outreach emails are also doing heavy guest posting. So, you can ask for a backlink from a 3rd-party website in exchange for you mentioning their link in your article. Win-win! SEO Tip #39. Doing Internal Linking for a Large Website? This’ll Help Internal linking can get super grueling once you have hundreds of articles on your website. Want to make the process easier? Do this: Pick an article you want to interlink on your website. For the sake of the example, let’s say it’s about “business process improvement.” Go on Google and look up variations of this keyword mentioned on your website. For example: Site:\[yourwebsite\] “improve business process” Site:\[yourwebsite\] “improve process” Site:\[yourwebsite\] “process improvement” The above queries will find you the EXACT articles where these keywords are mentioned. Then, all you have to do is go through them and include the links. SEO Tip #40. Got a Competitor Copying Your Content? File a DMCA Notice Fun fact - if your competitors are copying your website, you can file a DMCA notice with Google. That said, keep in mind that there are consequences for filing a fake notice.

Started a content marketing agency 8 years ago - $0 to $7,863,052 (2025 update)

Hey friends, My name is Tyler and for the past 8 years, I’ve been documenting my experience building a content marketing agency called Optimist. Year 1 — 0 to $500k ARR Year 2 — $500k to $1MM ARR Year 3 — $1MM ARR to $1.5MM(ish) ARR Year 4 — $3,333,686 Revenue Year 5 — $4,539,659 Revenue Year 6 — $5,974,324 Revenue Year 7 - $6,815,503 Revenue (Edit: Seems like links are banned now. You can check my post history for all of my previous updates with lessons and learnings.) How Optimist Works First, an overview/recap of the Optimist business model: We operate as a “collective” of full time/professional freelancers Everyone aside from me is a contractor Entirely remote/distributed team We pay freelancers a flat fee for most work, working out to roughly $65-100/hour. Clients pay us a flat monthly fee for full-service content marketing (research, strategy, writing, editing, design/photography, reporting and analytics, targeted linkbuilding, and more)\ Packages range in price from \~$10-20k/mo \This is something we are revisiting now* The Financials In 2024, we posted $1,032,035.34 in revenue. This brings our lifetime revenue to $7,863,052. Here’s our monthly revenue from January 2017 to December of 2024. (Edit: Seems like I'm not allowed to link to the chart.) The good news: Revenue is up 23% YoY. EBITDA in Q4 trending up 1-2 points. We hosted our first retreat in 4 years, going to Ireland with about half the team. The bad news: Our revenue is still historically low. At $1MM for the year, we’re down about 33% from our previous years over $1.5MM. Revenue has been rocky. It doesn’t feel like we’ve really “recovered” from the bumps last year. The trend doesn’t really look great. Even though, anecdotally, it feels like we are moving in a good direction. EBITDA is still hovering at around 7%. Would love to get that closer to 20%. (For those who may ask: I’m calculating EBITDA after paying taxes and W2 portion of my income.) — Almost every year, my update starts the same way: This has been a year of growth and change. Both for my business—and me personally. 2024 was no different. I guess that tells you something about entrepreneurship. It’s a lot more like sailing a ship than driving a car. You’re constantly adapting, tides are shifting, and any blip of calm is usually just a moment before the next storm. As with past years, there’s a lot to unpack from the last 12 months. Here we go again. Everything is Burning In the last 2 years, everything has turned upside down in the world of content and SEO. Back in 2020, we made a big decision to re-position the agency. (See post history) We decided to narrow our focus to our most successful, profitable, and consistent segment of clients and re-work our entire operation to focus on serving them. We defined our ICP as: \~Series A ($10mm+ funding) with 6-12 months runway to scale organic as a channel Product-led company with “simple” sales cycle involving fewer stakeholders Demonstrable opportunity to use SEO to drive business growth Our services: Content focused on growing organic search (SEO) Full-service engagements that included research, planning, writing, design, reporting And our engagement structure: Engaged directly with an executive; ownership over strategy and day-to-day execution 1-2 points of contact or stakeholders Strategic partner that drives business growth (not a service vendor who makes content) Most importantly, we decided that we were no longer going to offer a broader range of content that we used to sell. That included everything from thought leadership content to case studies and ebooks. We doubled-down on “SEO content” for product-led SaaS companies. And this worked phenomenally for us. We started bringing on more clients than ever. We developed a lot of internal system and processes that helped us scale and take on more work than we’ve ever had and drive great outcomes for our ideal clients. But in 2023 and 2024, things started going awry. One big change, of course, was the rise of AI. Many companies and executives (and writers) feel that AI can write content just as well as an agency like ours. That made it a lot harder to sell a $10,000 per month engagement when they feel like the bulk of the work could be “done for free.” (Lots of thoughts on this if you want my opinions.) But it wasn’t just that. Google also started tinkering with their algorithm, introducing new features like AI Overviews, and generally changing the rules of the game. This created 3 big shifts in our world: The perceived value of content (especially “SEO content”) dropped dramatically in many people’s minds because of AI’s writing capabilities SEO became less predictable as a source of traffic and revenue It’s harder than ever for startups and smaller companies to rank for valuable keywords (let alone generate any meaningful traffic or revenue from them) The effect? The middle of the content market has hollowed out. People—like us—providing good, human-crafted content aimed on driving SEO growth saw a dramatic decline in demand. We felt it all year. Fewer and fewer leads. The leads we did see usually scoffed at our prices. They were indexing us against the cost of content mills and mass-produced AI articles. It was a time of soul-searching and looking for a way forward. I spent the first half of the year convinced that the only way to survive was to run toward the fire. We have to build our own AI workflows. We have to cut our rates internally. We have to get faster and cheaper to stay competitive with the agencies offering the same number of deliverables for a fraction of our rates. It’s the only way forward. But then I asked myself a question… Is this the game I actually want to play? As an entrepreneur, do I want to run a business where I’m competing mostly on price and efficiency rather than quality and value? Do I want to hop into a race toward cheaper and cheaper content? Do I want to help people chase a dwindling amount of organic traffic that’s shrinking in value? No. That’s not the game I want to play. That’s not a business I want to run. I don’t want to be in the content mill business. So I decided to turn the wheel—again. Repositioning Part II: Electric Boogaloo What do you do when the whole world shifts around you and the things that used to work aren’t working anymore? You pivot. You re-position the business and move in another direction. So that’s what we decided to do. Again. There was only one problem: I honestly wasn’t sure what opportunities existed in the content marketing industry outside of what we were already doing. We lived in a little echo chamber of startups and SEO. It felt like the whole market was on fire and I had fight through the smoke to find an escape hatch. So I started making calls. Good ol’ fashioned market research. I reached out to a few dozen marketing and content leaders at a bunch of different companies. I got on the phone and just asked lots of questions about their content programs, their goals, and their pain points. I wanted to understand what was happening in the market and how we could be valuable. And, luckily, this process really paid off. I learned a lot about the fragmentation happening across content and how views were shifting. I noticed key trends and how our old target market really wasn’t buying what we were selling. Startups and small companies are no longer willing to invest in an agency like ours. If they were doing content and SEO at all, they were focused entirely on using AI to scale output and minimize costs. VC money is still scarce and venture-backed companies are more focused on profitability than pure growth and raising another round. Larger companies (\~500+ employees) are doing more content than ever and drowning in content production. They want to focus on strategy but can barely tread water keeping up with content requests from sales, demand gen, the CEO, and everyone else. Many of the companies still investing in content are looking at channels and formats outside of SEO. Things like thought leadership, data reports, interview-driven content, and more. They see it as a way to stand out from the crowd of “bland SEO content.” Content needs are constantly in flux. They range from data reports and blog posts to product one-pagers. The idea of a fixed-scope retainer is a total mismatch for the needs of most companies. All of this led to the logical conclusion: We were talking to the wrong people about the wrong things\.\ Many companies came to one of two logical conclusions: SEO is a risky bet, so it’s gotta be a moonshot—super-low cost with a possibility for a big upside (i.e., use AI to crank out lots of content. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, then at least we aren’t out much money.) SEO is a risky bet, so we should diversify into other strategies and channels to drive growth (i.e., shift our budget from SEO and keyword-focused content to video, podcasts, thought leadership, social, etc) Unless we were going to lean into AI and dramatically cut our costs and rates, our old buyers weren’t interested. And the segment of the market that needs our help most are looking primarily for production support across a big range of content types. They’re not looking for a team to run a full-blown program focused entirely on SEO. So we had to go back to the drawing board. I’ve written before about our basic approach to repositioning the business. But, ultimately it comes down to identifying our unique strengths as a team and then connecting them to needs in the market. After reviewing the insights from my discussions and taking another hard look at our business and our strengths, I decided on a new direction: Move upmarket: Serve mid-size to enterprise businesses with \~500-5,000 employees instead of startups Focus on content that supports a broader range of business goals instead of solely on SEO and organic growth (e.g., sales, demand gen, brand, etc) Shift back to our broader playbook of content deliverables, including thought leadership, data studies, and more Focus on content execution and production to support an internally-directed content strategy across multiple functions In a way, it’s sort of a reverse-niche move. Rather than zooming in specifically on driving organic growth for startups, we want to be more of an end-to-end content production partner that solves issues of execution and operations for all kinds of content teams. It’s early days, but the response here has been promising. We’ve seen an uptick in leads through Q4. And more companies in our pipeline fit the new ICP. They’re bigger, often have more budget. (But they move more slowly). We should know by the end of the quarter if this maneuver is truly paying off. Hopefully, this will work out. Hopefully our research and strategy are right and we’ll find a soft landing serving a different type of client. If it doesn’t? Then it will be time to make some harder decisions. As I already mentioned, I’m not interested in the race to the bottom of AI content. And if that’s the only game left in town, then it might be time to think hard about a much bigger change. — To be done: Build new content playbooks for expanded deliverables Build new showcase page for expanded deliverables Retooling the Operation It’s easy to say we’re doing something new. It’s a lot harder to actually do it—and do it well. Beyond just changing our positioning, we have to do open-heart surgery on the entire content operation behind the scenes. We need to create new systems that work for a broader range of content types, formats, and goals. Here’s the first rub: All of our workflows are tooled specifically for SEO-focused content. Every template, worksheet, and process that we’ve built and scaled in the last 5 years assumes that the primary goal of every piece of content is SEO. Even something as simple as requiring a target keyword is a blocker in a world where we’re not entirely focused on SEO. This is relatively easy to fix, but it requires several key changes: Update content calendars to make keywords optional Update workflows to determine whether we need an optimization report for each deliverable Next, we need to break down the deliverables into parts rather than a single line item. In our old system, we would plan content as a single row in a Content Calendar spreadsheet. It was a really wide sheet with lots of fields where we’d define the dimensions of each individual article. This was very efficient and simple to follow. But every article had the same overall scope when it came to the workflow. In Asana (our project management tool), all of the steps in the creation were strung together in a single task. We would create a few basic templates for each client, and then each piece would flow through the same steps: Briefing Writing Editing Design etc. If we had anything that didn’t fit into the “standard” workflow, we’d just tag it in the calendar with an unofficial notation \[USING BRACKETS\]. It worked. But it wasn’t ideal. Now we need the steps to be more modular. Imagine, for example, a client asks us to create a mix of deliverables: 1 article with writing + design 1 content brief 1 long-form ebook with an interview + writing + design Each of these would require its own steps and its own workflow. We need to break down the work to accommodate for a wider variety of workflows and variables. This means we need to update the fields and structure of our calendar to accommodate for the new dimensions—while also keeping the planning process simple and manageable. This leads to the next challenge: The number of “products” that we’re offering could be almost infinite. Just looking at the example scope above, you can mix and match all of these different building blocks to create a huge variety of different types of work, each requiring its own workflow. This is part of the reason we pivoted away from this model to focus on a productized, SEO-focused content service back in 2020. Take something as simple as a case study. On the surface, it seems like one deliverable that can be easily scoped and priced, right? Well, unpack what goes into a case study: Is there already source material from the customer or do we need to conduct an interview? How long is it? Is it a short overview case study or a long-form narrative? Does it need images and graphics? How many? Each of these variables opens up 2-3 possibilities. And when you combine them, we end up with something like 10 possible permutations for this single type of deliverable. It gets a bit messy. But not only do we have to figure out how to scope and price all for all of these variables, we also have to figure out how to account for these variables in the execution. We have to specify—for every deliverable—what type it is, how long, which steps are involved and not involved, the timeline for delivery, and all of the other factors. We’re approaching infinite complexity, here. We have to figure out a system that allows for a high level of flexibility to serve the diverse needs of our clients but is also productized enough that we can build workflows, process, and templates to deliver the work. I’ve spent the last few months designing that system. Failed Attempt #1: Ultra-Productization In my first pass, I tried to make it as straight forward as possible. Just sit down, make a list of all of the possible deliverables we could provide and then assign them specific scopes and services. Want a case study? Okay that’ll include an interview, up to 2,000 words of content, and 5 custom graphics. It costs $X. But this solution quickly fell apart when we started testing it against real-world scenarios. What if the client provided the brief instead of us creating one? What if they didn’t want graphics? What if this particular case study really needs to be 3,000 words but all of the others should be 2,000? In order for this system to work, we’d need to individual scope and price all of these permutations of each productized service. Then we’d need to somehow keep track of all of these and make sure that we accurately scope, price, and deliver them across dozens of clients. It’s sort of like a restaurant handling food allergies by creating separate versions of every single dish to account for every individual type of allergy. Most restaurants have figured out that it makes way more sense to have a “standard” and an “allergy-free” version. Then you only need 2 options to cover 100% of the cases. Onto the next option. Failed Attempt #2: Deliverable-Agnostic Services Next, I sat down with my head of Ops, Katy, to try to map it out. We took a big step back and said: Why does the deliverable itself even matter? At the end of the day, what we’re selling is just a few types of work (research, writing, editing, design, etc) that can be packaged up in an infinite number of ways. Rather than try to define deliverables, shouldn’t we leave it open ended for maximum flexibility? From there, we decided to break down everything into ultra-modular building blocks. We started working on this super complex system of modular deliverables where we would have services like writing, design, editing, etc—plus a sliding scale for different scopes like the length of writing or the number of images. In theory, it would allow us to mix and match any combination of services to create custom deliverables for the client. In fact, we wanted the work to be deliverable-agnostic. That way we could mold it to fit any client’s needs and deliver any type of content, regardless of the format or goal. Want a 5,000-word case study with 15 custom graphics? That’ll be $X. Want a 2,000-word blog post with an interview and no visuals? $Y. Just want us to create 10 briefs, you handle the writing, and we do design? It’s $Z. Again, this feels like a reasonable solution. But it quickly spiraled out of amuck. (That’s an Office reference.) For this to work, we need to have incredibly precise scoping process for every single deliverable. Before we can begin work (or even quote a price), we need to know pretty much the exact word count of the final article, for example. In the real world? This almost never happens. The content is as long as the content needs to be. Clients rarely know if the blog post should be 2,000 words or 3,000 words. They just want good content. We have a general ballpark, but we can rarely dial it in within just 1,000 words until we’ve done enough research to create the brief. Plus, from a packaging and pricing perspective, it introduces all kind of weird scenarios where clients will owe exactly $10,321 for this ultra-specific combination of services. We were building an open system that could accommodate any and all types of potential deliverables. On the face that seems great because it makes us incredibly flexible. In reality, the ambiguity actually works against us. It makes it harder for us to communicate to clients clearly about what they’ll get, how much it will cost, and how long it will take. That, of course, also means that it hurts our client relationships. (This actually kind of goes back to my personal learnings, which I’ll mention in a bit. I tend to be a “let’s leave things vague so we don’t have to limit our options” kind of person. But I’m working on fixing this to be more precise, specific, and clear in everything that we do.) Dialing It In: Building a Closed System We were trying to build an open system. We need to build a closed system. We need to force clarity and get specific about what we do, what we don’t do, and how much it all costs. Then we need a system to expand on that closed system—add new types of deliverables, new content playbooks, and new workflows if and when the need arises. With that in mind, we can start by mapping out the key dimensions of any type of deliverable that we would ever want to deliver. These are the universal dimensions that determine the scope, workflow, and price of any deliverable—regardless of the specific type output. Dimensions are: Brief scope Writing + editing scope Design scope Interview scope Revision (rounds) Scope, essentially, just tells us how many words, graphics, interviews, etc are required for the content we’re creating. In our first crack at the system, we got super granular with these scopes. But to help force a more manageable system, we realized that we didn’t need tiny increments for most of this work. Instead, we just need boundaries—you pay $X for up to Y words. We still need some variability around the scope of these articles. Obviously, most clients won’t be willing to pay the same price for a 1,000-word article as a 10,000-word article. But we can be smarter about the realistic break points. We boiled it down to the most common ranges: (Up to) 250 words 1,000 words 3,000 words 6,000 words 10,000 words This gives us a much more manageable number of variables. But we still haven’t exactly closed the system. We need one final dimension: Deliverable type. This tells us what we’re actually building with these building blocks. This is how we’ll put a cap on the potentially infinite number of combinations we could offer. The deliverable type will define what the final product should look like (e.g., blog post, case study, ebook, etc). And it will also give us a way to put standards and expectations around different types of deliverables that we want to offer. Then we can expand on this list of deliverables to offer new services. In the mean time, only the deliverables that we have already defined are, “on the menu,” so to speak. If a client comes to us and asks for something like a podcast summary article (which we don’t currently offer), we’ll have to either say we can’t provide that work or create a new deliverable type and define the dimensions of that specific piece. But here’s the kicker: No matter the deliverable type, it has to still fit within the scopes we’ve already defined. And the pricing will be the same. This means that if you’re looking for our team to write up to 1,000 words of content, it costs the same amount—whether it’s a blog post, an ebook, a LinkedIn post, or anything else. Rather than trying to retool our entire system to offer this new podcast summary article deliverable, we’ll just create the new deliverable type, add it to the list of options, and it’s ready to sell with the pre-defined dimensions we’ve already identified. To do: Update onboarding workflow Update contracts and scope documents Dial in new briefing process Know Thyself For the last year, I’ve been going through personal therapy. (Huge shout out to my wife, Laura, for her support and encouragement throughout the process.) It’s taught me a lot about myself and my tendencies. It’s helped me find some of my weaknesses and think about how I can improve as a person, as a partner, and as an entrepreneur. And it’s forced me to face a lot of hard truths. For example, consider some of the critical decisions I’ve made for my business: Unconventional freelance “collective” model No formal management structure Open-ended retainers with near-infinite flexibility General contracts without defined scope “Take it or leave it” approach to sales and marketing Over the years, I’ve talked about almost everything on this list as a huge advantage. I saw these things as a reflection of how I wanted to do things differently and better than other companies. But now, I see them more as a reflection of my fears and insecurities. Why did I design my business like this? Why do I want so much “flexibility” and why do I want things left open-ended rather than clearly defined? One reason that could clearly explain it: I’m avoidant. If you’re not steeped in the world of therapy, this basically means that my fight or flight response gets turned all the way to “flight.” If I’m unhappy or uncomfortable, my gut reaction is usually to withdraw from the situation. I see commitment and specificity as a prelude to future conflict. And I avoid conflict whenever possible. So I built my business to minimize it. If I don’t have a specific schedule of work that I’m accountable for delivering, then we can fudge the numbers a bit and hope they even out in the end. If I don’t set a specific standard for the length of an article, then I don’t have to let the client know when their request exceeds that limit. Conflict….avoided? Now, that’s not to say that everything I’ve built was wrong or bad. There is a lot of value in having flexibility in your business. For example, I would say that our flexible retainers are, overall, an advantage. Clients have changing needs. Having flexibility to quickly adapt to those needs can be a huge value add. And not everything can be clearly defined upfront (at least not without a massive amount of time and work just to decide how long to write an article). Overly-rigid structures and processes can be just as problematic as loosey-goosey ones. But, on the whole, I realized that my avoidant tendencies and laissez faire approach to management have left a vacuum in many areas. The places where I avoided specificity were often the places where there was the most confusion, uncertainty, and frustration from the team and from clients. People simply didn’t know what to expect or what was expected of them. Ironically, this often creates the conflict I’m trying to avoid. For example, if I don’t give feedback to people on my team, then they feel uneasy about their work. Or they make assumptions about expectations that don’t match what I’m actually expecting. Then the client might get upset, I might get upset, and our team members may be upset. Conflict definitely not avoided. This happens on the client side, too. If we don’t define a specific timeline when something will be delivered, the client might expect it sooner than we can deliver—creating frustration when we don’t meet their expectation. This conflict actually would have been avoided if we set clearer expectations upfront. But we didn’t do that. I didn’t do that. So it’s time to step up and close the gaps. Stepping Up and Closing the Gaps If I’m going to address these gaps and create more clarity and stability, I have to step up. Both personally and professionally. I have to actually face the fear and uncertainty that drives me to be avoidant. And then apply that to my business in meaningful ways that aren’t cop-out ways of kinda-sorta providing structure without really doing it. I’ve gotta be all in. This means: Fill the gaps where I rely on other people to do things that aren’t really their job but I haven’t put someone in place to do it Set and maintain expectations about our internal work processes, policies, and standards Define clear boundaries on things like roles, timelines, budgets, and scopes Now, this isn’t going to happen overnight. And just because I say that I need to step up to close these gaps doesn’t mean that I need to be the one who’s responsible for them (at least not forever). It just means that, as the business leader, I need to make sure the gaps get filled—by me or by someone else who has been specifically charged with owning that part of the operation. So, this is probably my #1 focus over the coming quarter. And it starts by identifying the gaps that exist. Then, step into those gaps myself, pay someone else to fill that role, or figure out how to eliminate the gap another way. This means going all the way back to the most basic decisions in our business. One of the foundational things about Optimist is being a “different kind” of agency. I always wanted to build something that solved for the bureaucracy, hierarchy, and siloed structure of agencies. If a client has feedback, they should be able to talk directly to the person doing the work rather than going through 3 layers of account management and creative directors. So I tried to be clever. I tried to design all kinds of systems and processes that eliminated these middle rungs. (In retrospect, what I was actually doing was designing a system that played into my avoidant tendencies and made it easy to abdicate responsibility for lots of things.) Since we didn’t want to create hierarchy, we never implemented things like Junior and Senior roles. We never hired someone to manage or direct the individual creatives. We didn’t have Directors or VPs. (Hell, we barely had a project manager for the first several years of existence.) This aversion to hierarchy aligned with our values around elevating ownership and collective contribution. I still believe in the value a flat structure. But a flat structure doesn’t eliminate the complexity of a growing business. No one to review writers and give them 1:1 feedback? I guess I’ll just have to do that….when I have some spare time. No Content Director? Okay, well someone needs to manage our content playbooks and roll out new ones. Just add it to my task list. Our flat structure didn’t eliminate the need for these roles. It just eliminated the people to do them. All of those unfilled roles ultimately fell back on me or our ops person, Katy. Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve recognized this. We’ve known there were growing holes in our business as it’s gotten bigger and more complex. Over the years, we’ve experimented with different ways to solve for it. The Old Solution: Distributed Ops One system we designed was a “distributed ops” framework. Basically, we had one person who was the head of ops (at the time, we considered anything that was non-client-facing to be “ops”). They’d plan and organize all of the various things that needed to happen around Optimist. Then they’d assign out the work to whoever was able to help. We had a whole system for tying this into the our profit share and even gave people “Partner” status based on their contributions to ops. It worked—kinda. One big downfall is that all of the tasks and projects were ad hoc. People would pick up jobs, but they didn’t have much context or expertise to apply. So the output often varied. Since we were trying to maintain a flat structure, there was minimal oversight or management of the work. In other words, we didn’t always get the best results. But, more importantly, we still didn’t close all of the gaps entirely. Because everything was an ad-hoc list of tasks and projects, we never really had the “big picture” view of everything that needed to be done across the business. This also meant we rarely had clarity on what was important, what was trivial, and what was critical. We need a better system. Stop Reinventing the Wheel (And Create a Damn Org Chart) It’s time to get serious about filling the gaps in our business. It can’t be a half-fix or an ad hoc set of projects and tasks. We need clarity on the roles that need to be filled and then fill them. The first step here is to create an org chart. A real one. Map out all of the jobs that need to be done for Optimist to be successful besides just writers and designers. Roles like: Content director Design director SEO manager Reporting Finance Account management Business development Sales Marketing Project management It feels a bit laughable listing all of these roles. Because most are either empty or have my name attached to them. And that’s the problem. I can’t do everything. And all of the empty roles are gaps in our structure—places where people aren’t getting the direction, feedback, or guidance they need to do their best work. Or where things just aren’t being done consistently. Content director, for example, should be responsible for steering the output of our content strategists, writers, and editors. They’re not micromanaging every deliverable. But they give feedback, set overall policy, and help our team identify opportunities to get better. Right now we don’t have anyone in that role. Which means it’s my job—when I have time. Looking at the org chart (a real org chart that I actually built to help with this), it’s plain as day how many roles look like this. Even if we aren’t going to implement a traditional agency structure and a strict hierarchy, we still need to address these gaps. And the only way for that to happen is face the reality and then create a plan to close the gaps. Now that we have a list of theoretical roles, we need to clearly define the responsibilities and boundaries of those roles to make sure they cover everything that actually needs to happen. Then we can begin the process of delegating, assigning, hiring, and otherwise addressing each one. So that’s what I need to do. To be done: Create job descriptions for all of the roles we need to fill Hire Biz Dev role Hire Account Lead role(s) Hire Head of Content Playing Offense As we move into Q1 of 2025 and I reflect on the tumultuous few years we’ve had, one thought keeps running through my head. We need to play offense. Most of the last 1-2 years was reacting to changes that were happening around us. Trying to make sense and chart a new path forward. Reeling. But what I really want—as a person and as an entrepreneur—is to be proactive. I want to think and plan ahead. Figure out where we want to go before we’re forced to change course by something that’s out of our control. So my overarching focus for Q1 is playing offense. Thinking longer term. Getting ahead of the daily deluge and creating space to be more proactive, innovative, and forward thinking. To do: Pilot new content formats Audit and update our own content strategy Improve feedback workflows Build out long-term roadmap for 1-2 years for Optimist Final Note on Follow-Through and Cadence In my reflection this year, one of the things I’ve realized is how helpful these posts are for me. I process by writing. So I actually end up making a lot of decisions and seeing things more clearly each time I sit down to reflect and write my yearly recap. It also gives me a space to hold myself accountable for the things I said I would do. So, I’m doing two things a bit differently from here on out. First: I’m identifying clear action items that I’m holding myself accountable for getting done in the next 3 months (listed in the above sections). In each future update, I’ll do an accounting of what I got done and what wasn’t finished (and why). Second: I’m going to start writing shorter quarterly updates. This will gives me more chances each year to reflect, process, and make decisions. Plus it gives me a shorter feedback loop for the action items that I identified above. (See—playing offense.) — Okay friends, enemies, and frenemies. This is my first update for 2025. Glad to share with y’all. And thanks to everyone who’s read, commented, reached out, and shared their own experiences over the years. We are all the accumulation of our connections and our experiences. As always, I will pop in to respond to comments and answer questions. Feel free to share your thoughts, questions, and general disdain down below. Cheers, Tyler

I Watched My Startup Slowly Dying Over Two Years: Mistakes and Lessons Learned

If you are tired of reading successful stories, you may want to listen to my almost failure story. Last year in April, I went full-time on my startup. Nearly two years later, I’ve seen my product gradually dying. I want to share some of the key mistakes I made and the lessons I’ve taken from them so you don't have to go through them. Some mistakes were very obvious in hindsight; others, I’m still not sure if they were mistakes or just bad luck. I’d love to hear your thoughts and advice as well. Background I built an English-learning app, with both web and mobile versions. The idea came from recognizing how expensive it is to hire an English tutor in most countries, especially for practicing speaking skills. With the rise of AI, I saw an opportunity in the education space. My target market was Japan, though I later added support for multiple languages and picked up some users from Indonesia and some Latin American countries too. Most of my users came from influencer marketing on Twitter. The MVP for the web version launched in Japan and got great feedback. People were reposting it on Twitter, and growth was at its peak in the first few weeks. After verifying the requirement with the MVP, I decided to focus on the mobile app to boost user retention, but for various reasons, the mobile version didn’t launch until December 2023— 8 months after the web version. Most of this year has been spent iterating on the mobile app, but it didn’t make much of an impact in the end. Key Events and Lessons Learned Here are some takeaways: Find co-founders as committed as you are I started with two co-founders—both were tech people and working Part-Time. After the web version launched, one dropped out due to family issues. Unfortunately, we didn’t set clear rules for equity allocation, so even after leaving, they still retained part of the equity. The other co-founder also effectively dropped out this year, contributing only minor fixes here and there. So If you’re starting a company with co-founders, make sure they’re as committed as you are. Otherwise, you might be better off going solo. I ended up teaching myself programming with AI tools, starting with Flutter and eventually handling both front-end and back-end work using Windsurf. With dev tools getting more advanced, being a solo developer is becoming a more viable option. Also, have crystal-clear rules for equity—especially around what happens if someone leaves. Outsourcing Pitfalls Outsourcing development was one of my biggest mistakes. I initially hired a former colleague from India to build the app. He dragged the project on for two months with endless excuses, and the final output was unusable. Then I hired a company, but they didn’t have enough skilled Flutter developers. The company’s owner scrambled to find people, which led to rushed work and poor-quality code which took a lot of time revising myself. Outsourcing is a minefield. If you must do it, break the project into small tasks, set clear milestones, and review progress frequently. Catching issues early can save you time and money. Otherwise, you’re often better off learning the tools yourself—modern dev tools are surprisingly beginner-friendly. Trust, but Verify I have a bad habit of trusting people too easily. I don’t like spending time double-checking things, so I tend to assume people will do what they say they’ll do. This mindset is dangerous in a startup. For example, if I had set up milestones and regularly verified the progress of my first outsourced project, I would’ve realized something was wrong within two weeks instead of two months. That would’ve saved me a lot of time and frustration. Like what I mentioned above, set up systems to verify their work—milestones, deliverables, etc.—to minimize risk. Avoid red ocean if you are small My team was tiny (or non-existent, depending on how you see it), with no technical edge. Yet, I chose to enter Japan’s English-learning market, which is incredibly competitive. It’s a red ocean, dominated by big players who’ve been in the game for years. Initially, my product’s AI-powered speaking practice and automatic grammar correction stood out, but within months, competitors rolled out similar features. Looking back, I should’ve gone all-in on marketing during the initial hype and focused on rapidly launching the mobile app. But hindsight is 20/20. 'Understanding your user' helps but what if it's not what you want? I thought I was pretty good at collecting user feedback. I added feedback buttons everywhere in the app and made changes based on what users said. But most of these changes were incremental improvements—not the kind of big updates that spark excitement. Also, my primary users were from Japan and Indonesia, but I’m neither Japanese nor Indonesian. That made it hard to connect with users on social media in an authentic way. And in my opinion, AI translations can only go so far—they lack the human touch and cultural nuance that builds trust. But honestly I'm not sure if the thought is correct to assume that they will not get touched if they recognize you are a foreigner...... Many of my Japanese users were working professionals preparing for the TOEIC exam. I didn’t design any features specifically for that; instead, I aimed to build a general-purpose English-learning tool since I dream to expand it to other markets someday. While there’s nothing wrong with this idealistic approach, it didn’t give users enough reasons to pay for the app. Should You Go Full-Time? From what I read, a lot of successful indie developers started part-time, building traction before quitting their jobs. But for me, I jumped straight into full-time mode, which worked for my lifestyle but might’ve hurt my productivity. I value work-life balance and refused to sacrifice everything for the startup. The reason I chose to leave the corp is I want to escape the 996 toxic working environment in China's internet companies. So even during my most stressful periods, I made time to watch TV with my partner and take weekends off. Anyways, if you’re also building something or thinking about starting a business, I hope my story helps. If I have other thoughts later, I will add them too. Appreciate any advice.

[CASE STUDY] From 217/m to $2,836/m in 9 months - Sold for $59,000; I grow and monetise web traffic of 5, 6, 7 figures USD valued passive income content sites [AMA]

Hello Everyone (VERY LONG CASE STUDY AHEAD) - 355% return in 9 months Note: I own a 7-figures USD valued portfolio of 41+ content sites that generates 5-6 figures USD a month in passive income. This is my first time posting in this sub and my goal is to NOT share generic advice but precise numbers, data and highly refined processes so you can also get started with this business yourself or if you already have an existing business, drive huge traffic to it and scale it substantially (get more customers). I will use a case study to explain the whole process. As most of us are entrepreneurs here, explaining an actual project would be more meaningful. In this case study I used AI assisted content to grow an existing site from $217/m to $2,836/m in 9 months (NO BACKLINKS) and sold it for $59,000. ROI of 3 months: 355% Previous case studies (before I give an overview of the model) Amazon Affiliate Content Site: $371/m to $19,263/m in 14 MONTHS - $900K CASE STUDY \[AMA\] Affiliate Website from $267/m to $21,853/m in 19 months (CASE STUDY - Amazon?) \[AMA\] Amazon Affiliate Website from $0 to $7,786/month in 11 months Amazon Affiliate Site from $118/m to $3,103/m in 8 MONTHS (SOLD it for $62,000+) Note: You can check pinned posts on my profile. Do go through the comments as well as a lot of questions are answered in those. However, if you still have any questions, feel free to reach out. This is an \[AMA\]. Quick Overview of the Model Approach: High traffic, niche specific, informative content websites that monetise its traffic through highly automated methods like display ads and affiliate. The same model can be applied to existing businesses to drive traffic and get customers. Main idea: Make passive income in a highly automated way Easy to understand analogy You have real estate (here you have digital asset like a website) You get rental income (here you get ads and affiliate income with no physical hassle, in case you have a business like service, product etc. then you can get customers for that too but if not, it's alright) Real estate has value (this digital asset also has value that can be appreciated with less effort) Real estate can be sold (this can be sold too but faster) IMPORTANT NOTE: Search traffic is the BEST way to reach HUGE target audience and it's important when it comes to scaling. This essentially means that you can either monetise that via affiliate, display etc. or if you have a business then you can reach a bigger audience to scale. Overview of this website's valuation (then and now: Oct. 2022 and June 2023) Oct 2022: $217/m Valuation: $5,750.5 (26.5x) - set it the same as the multiple it was sold for June 2023: $2,836/m Traffic and revenue trend: growing fast Last 3 months avg: $2,223 Valuation now: $59,000 (26.5x) Description: The domain was registered in 2016, it grew and then the project was left unattended. I decided to grow it again using properly planned AI assisted content. Backlink profile: 500+ Referring domains (Ahrefs). Backlinks mean the sites linking back to you. This is important when it comes to ranking. Summary of Results of This Website - Before and After Note: If the terms seem technical, do not worry. I will explain them in detail later. Still if you have any questions. Feel free to comment or reach out. |Metric|Oct 2022|June 2023|Difference|Comments| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| |Articles|314|804|\+490|AI Assisted content published in 3 months| |Traffic|9,394|31,972|\+22,578|Organic| |Revenue|$217|$2,836|\+$2,619|Multiple sources| |RPM (revenue/1000 web traffic)|23.09|$88.7|\+$65.61|Result of Conversion rate optimisation (CRO). You make changes to the site for better conversions| |EEAT (expertise, experience, authority and trust of website)|2 main authors|8 authors|6|Tables, video ads and 11 other fixations| |CRO|Nothing|Tables, video ads |Tables, video ads and 11 other fixations || &#x200B; Month by Month Growth |Month|Revenue|Steps| |:-|:-|:-| |Sept 2022|NA|Content Plan| |Oct 2022|$217|Content Production| |Nov 2022|$243|Content production + EEAT authors| |Dec 2022|$320|Content production + EEAT authors| |Jan 2023|$400|Monitoring| |Feb 2023|$223|Content production + EEAT authors| |Mar 2023|$2,128|CRO & Fixations| |April 2023|$1,609|CRO & Fixations| |May 2023|$2,223|Content production + EEAT authors| |June 2023|$2,836|CRO and Fixations| |Total|$10,199|| &#x200B; What will I share Content plan and Website structure Content Writing Content Uploading, formatting and onsite SEO Faster indexing Conversion rate optimisation Guest Posting EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust) Costing ROI The plans moving forward with these sites &#x200B; Website Structure and Content Plan This is probably the most important important part of the whole process. The team spends around a month just to get this right. It's like defining the direction of the project. Description: Complete blueprint of the site's structure in terms of organisation of categories, subcategories and sorting of articles in each one of them. It also includes the essential pages. The sorted articles target main keyword, relevant entities and similar keywords. This has to be highly data driven and we look at over 100 variables just to get it right. It's like beating Google's algorithm to ensure you have a blueprint for a site that will rank. It needs to be done right. If there is a mistake, then even if you do everything right - it's not going to work out and after 8-16 months you will realise that everything went to waste. Process For this project, we had a niche selected already so we didn't need to do a lot of research pertaining to that. We also knew the topic since the website was already getting good traffic on that. We just validated from Ahrefs, SEMRUSH and manual analysis if it would be worth it to move forward with that topic. &#x200B; Find entities related to the topic: We used Ahrefs and InLinks to get an idea about the related entities (topics) to create a proper topical relevance. In order to be certain and have a better idea, we used ChatGPT to find relevant entities as well \> Ahrefs (tool): Enter main keyword in keywords explorer. Check the left pain for popular topics \> Inlinks (tool): Enter the main keyword, check the entity maps \> ChatGPT (tool): Ask it to list down the most important and relevant entities in order of their priority Based on this info, you can map out the most relevant topics that are semantically associated to your main topic Sorting the entities in topics (categories) and subtopics (subcategories): Based on the information above, cluster them properly. The most relevant ones must be grouped together. Each group must be sorted into its relevant category. \> Example: Site about cycling. \> Categories/entities: bicycles, gear and equipment, techniques, safety, routes etc. \> The subcategories/subentities for let's say "techniques" would be: Bike handling, pedaling, drafting etc. Extract keywords for each subcategory/subentity: You can do this using Ahrefs or Semrush. Each keyword would be an article. Ensure that you target the similar keywords in one article. For example: how to ride a bicycle and how can I ride a bicycle will be targeted by one article. Make the more important keyword in terms of volume and difficulty as the main keyword and the other one(s) as secondary Define main focus vs secondary focus: Out of all these categories/entities - there will be one that you would want to dominate in every way. So, focus on just that in the start. This will be your main focus. Try to answer ALL the questions pertaining to that. You can extract the questions using Ahrefs. \> Ahrefs > keywords explorer \> enter keyword \> Questions \> Download the list and cluster the similar ones. This will populate your main focus category/entity and will drive most of the traffic. Now, you need to write in other categories/subentities as well. This is not just important, but crucial to complete the topical map loop. In simple words, if you do this Google sees you as a comprehensive source on the topic - otherwise, it ignores you and you don't get ranked Define the URLs End result: List of all the entities and sub-entities about the main site topic in the form of categories and subcategories respectively. A complete list of ALL the questions about the main focus and at around 10 questions for each one of the subcategories/subentities that are the secondary focus Content Writing So, now that there's a plan. Content needs to be produced. Pick out a keyword (which is going to be a question) and... Answer the question Write about 5 relevant entities Answer 10 relevant questions Write a conclusion Keep the format the same for all the articles. Content Uploading, formatting and onsite SEO Ensure the following is taken care of: H1 Permalink H2s H3s Lists Tables Meta description Socials description Featured image 2 images in text \\Schema Relevant YouTube video (if there is) Note: There are other pointers link internal linking in a semantically relevant way but this should be good to start with. Faster Indexing Indexing means Google has read your page. Ranking only after this step has been done. Otherwise, you can't rank if Google hasn't read the page. Naturally, this is a slow process. But, we expedite it in multiple ways. You can use RankMath to quickly index the content. Since, there are a lot of bulk pages you need a reliable method. Now, this method isn't perfect. But, it's better than most. Use Google Indexing API and developers tools to get indexed. Rank Math plugin is used. I don't want to bore you and write the process here. But, a simple Google search can help you set everything up. Additionally, whenever you post something - there will be an option to INDEX NOW. Just press that and it would be indexed quite fast. Conversion rate optimisation Once you get traffic, try adding tables right after the introduction of an article. These tables would feature a relevant product on Amazon. This step alone increased our earnings significantly. Even though the content is informational and NOT review. This still worked like a charm. Try checking out the top pages every single day in Google analytics and add the table to each one of them. Moreover, we used EZOIC video ads as well. That increased the RPM significantly as well. Both of these steps are highly recommended. Overall, we implemented over 11 fixations but these two contribute the most towards increasing the RPM so I would suggest you stick to these two in the start. Guest Posting We made additional income by selling links on the site as well. However, we were VERY careful about who we offered a backlink to. We didn't entertain any objectionable links. Moreover, we didn't actively reach out to anyone. We had a professional email clearly stated on the website and a particularly designated page for "editorial guidelines" A lot of people reached out to us because of that. As a matter of fact, the guy who bought the website is in the link selling business and plans to use the site primarily for selling links. According to him, he can easily make $4000+ from that alone. Just by replying to the prospects who reached out to us. We didn't allow a lot of people to be published on the site due to strict quality control. However, the new owner is willing to be lenient and cash it out. EEAT (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust) This is an important ranking factor. You need to prove on the site that your site has authors that are experienced, have expertise, authority and trust. A lot of people were reaching out to publish on our site and among them were a few established authors as well. We let them publish on our site for free, added them on our official team, connected their socials and shared them on all our socials. In return, we wanted them to write 3 articles each for us and share everything on all the social profiles. You can refer to the tables I shared above to check out the months it was implemented. We added a total of 6 writers (credible authors). Their articles were featured on the homepage and so were their profiles. Costing Well, we already had the site and the backlinks on it. Referring domains (backlinks) were already 500+. We just needed to focus on smart content and content. Here is the summary of the costs involved. Articles: 490 Avg word count per article: 1500 Total words: 735,000 (approximately) Cost per word: 2 cents (includes research, entities, production, quality assurance, uploading, formatting, adding images, featured image, alt texts, onsite SEO, publishing/scheduling etc.) Total: $14,700 ROI (Return on investment) Earning: Oct 22 - June 23 Earnings: $10,199 Sold for: $59,000 Total: $69,199 Expenses: Content: $14,700 Misc (hosting and others): $500 Total: $15,200 ROI over a 9 months period: 355.25% The plans moving forward This website was a part of a research and development experiment we did. With AI, we wanted to test new waters and transition more towards automation. Ideally, we want to use ChatGPT or some other API to produce these articles and bulk publish on the site. The costs with this approach are going to be much lower and the ROI is much more impressive. It's not the the 7-figures projects I created earlier (as you may have checked the older case studies on my profile), but it's highly scalable. We plan to refine this model even further, test more and automate everything completely to bring down our costs significantly. Once we have a model, we are going to scale it to 100s of sites. The process of my existing 7-figures websites portfolio was quite similar. I tested out a few sites, refined the model and scaled it to over 41 sites. Now, the fundamentals are the same however, we are using AI in a smarter way to do the same but at a lower cost, with a smaller team and much better returns. The best thing in my opinion is to run numerous experiments now. Our experimentation was slowed down a lot in the past since we couldn't write using AI but now it's much faster. The costs are 3-6 times lower so when it used to take $50-100k to start, grow and sell a site. Now you can pump 3-6 more sites for the same budget. This is a good news for existing business owners as well who want to grow their brand. Anyway, I am excited to see the results of more sites. In the meantime, if you have any questions - feel free to let me know. Best of luck for everything. Feel free to ask questions. I'd be happy to help. This is an AMA.

We create AI software and provide AI automation for companies. Here is a list of the best AI tools for sales IMHO

Here are some AI tools that are useful for sales. I tried to touch as many different parts of the sales process so the tools are all quite different but all useful for sales. I tried to include some of the best and underrated AI tools. Most of them are free so check them out if you want. I did not include ChatGPT as it can basically be used for anything with the right prompts. So these tools will be more research-oriented. A quick disclaimer – I work for the company Idealink where we create custom ChatGPT for businesses and other AI products. Apollo AI Seamless AI CoPilot AI Lavender AI Regie AI Gemini Plusdocs Make Midjourney Fireflies AI Apollo AI - Find potential customers Apollo is a platform for sales and business development. It offers a range of tools to find and engage with ideal customers. The platform has an extensive B2B database and features that streamline the sales process from prospecting to closing deals. Key Features: Extensive B2B Database: Apollo boasts a large, accurate database of over 275 million contacts, providing a wealth of potential leads and opportunities for sales teams. Data Enrichment and Lead Insights: The platform offers data enrichment capabilities, ensuring CRM systems are continuously updated with detailed and actionable lead information. AI-Driven Sales Engagement: Apollo's AI technology assists in crafting effective communication and prioritizing high-value leads, enhancing the overall sales engagement process. Comprehensive Sales Tools: The platform provides an integrated suite of tools for email, call, and social media engagement, combined with analytics and automation features to streamline the sales cycle. Tailored Solutions for Teams: Apollo offers customized solutions for different team types, including sales and business development, founders, and marketing teams, addressing specific needs and goals. Seamless AI - Sale process made easier Seamless.AI is an innovative B2B sales lead generation solution that allows sales teams to efficiently connect with their ideal customers. The platform's features provide accurate and up-to-date contact information and integrate easily with existing sales and marketing tools. Key Features: Real-Time Search Engine: Seamless.AI uses AI to scour the web in real time, ensuring the contact information for sales leads is current and accurate. Comprehensive Integration: Easily integrates with popular CRMs and sales tools like Salesforce, HubSpot, and LinkedIn Sales Navigator, enhancing productivity and eliminating manual data entry. Chrome Extension: Enhances web browsing experience for sales teams, allowing them to build lead lists directly from their browser. Pitch Intelligence and Writer: Tools for crafting effective sales messages and marketing content, personalized for each potential customer. Data Enrichment and Autopilot: Keeps customer data current and automates lead-building, supporting consistent lead generation. Buyer Intent Data and Job Changes: Offers insights into potential customers' buying intentions and keeps track of significant job changes within key accounts. CoPilot AI - Helps sales reps manage leads CoPilot AI is an advanced AI-powered sales support platform designed for B2B sales teams and agencies to drive consistent revenue growth. The tool focuses on using LinkedIn for sales prospecting, engagement, and conversion. Key Features: LinkedIn Lead Generation: Targets and automates outreach to high-intent LinkedIn leads, enhancing efficiency and scalability in lead generation. Personalized Messaging Automation: Facilitates sending of personalized, one-click messages at scale, maintaining a human touch in digital interactions. Sales Conversion Insights: Offers tools to understand and adapt to prospects' communication styles, improving the likelihood of conversion. Sales Process Optimization: Provides analytics to evaluate and refine sales strategies, identifying opportunities for improvement in the sales funnel. Industry Versatility: Adapts to diverse industries, offering tailored solutions for B2B sales, marketing, HR, and financial services sectors. Collaborative Team Tools: Enables team synchronization and collaboration, boosting productivity and synergy in sales teams Lavender AI - Email AI assistant Lavender AI is an AI-powered email tool that helps users write better emails. It provides real-time feedback and personalized suggestions to optimize email communication efficiency. Key Features: Email Coaching and Scoring: Lavender evaluates emails using AI and a vast database of email interactions, offering a score and tips for improvement. It identifies factors that might reduce the likelihood of receiving a reply, helping users refine their email content. Personalization Assistant: This feature integrates prospect data directly into the user's email platform, suggesting personalization strategies based on recipient data and personality insights to foster deeper connections. Adaptive Improvement: Lavender's scoring and recommendations evolve in real-time with changing email behaviors and practices, thanks to its generative AI and extensive data analysis, ensuring users always follow the best practices. Data-Driven Managerial Insights: The platform provides managers with valuable insights derived from actual email interactions, aiding them in coaching their teams more effectively based on real performance and communication trends. Broad Integration Capability: Lavender integrates with various email and sales platforms including Gmail, Outlook, and others, making it versatile for different user preferences and workflows. Regie AI - Great for business intelligence Regie.ai simplifies the sales prospecting process for businesses, using GenAI and automation to improve interactions with prospects. The platform offers tools like Auto-Pilot for automatic prospecting and meeting scheduling, Co-Pilot for sales rep support, and integrations with various CRM and sales engagement platforms. It also includes a Chrome Extension and CMS for content management and customization. Key Features: Automated Prospecting with Auto-Pilot: Regie.ai's Auto-Pilot feature autonomously prospects and schedules meetings, using Generative AI for Sales Agents to enhance outbound sales efforts. Audience Discovery and Content Generation: The platform identifies target accounts not in the CRM, generating relevant, on-brand content for each message, thus ensuring efficiency in list building and message personalization. Outbound Prioritization and Dynamic Engagement: It utilizes engagement and intent data to prioritize outreach to in-market prospects and adjust engagement strategies based on buyer responsiveness. Full Funnel Brand Protection and Analytics: Regie.ai ensures consistent use of marketing-approved language in all sales outreach and provides insights into campaign and document performance, thereby safeguarding brand integrity throughout the sales funnel. Gemini - AI powered conversational platform Gemini is a large language model chatbot developed by Google AI. It can generate text, translate languages, write different creative text formats, and answer your questions in an informative way. It is still under development but has learned to perform many kinds of tasks. Key features: Generate different creative text formats of text content (poems, code, scripts, musical pieces, email, letters, etc.) Answer your questions in an informative way, even if they are open ended, challenging, or strange. Translate languages Follow your instructions and complete your requests thoughtfully. Plusdocs (Plus AI) - AI tool for presentations Plus AI is a versatile tool that helps improve presentations and integrates with Slides in a simple and intuitive way. It simplifies slide creation and customization by converting text into slides and utilizing AI for various languages. Key Features: Text-to-Slide Conversion: Plus AI excels in transforming textual content into visually appealing slides, streamlining the presentation creation process. Multilingual AI Support: The tool is equipped to handle various languages, making it adaptable for a global user base. Professional Design Options: Users have access to professionally designed slide layouts, enabling the creation of polished presentations with ease. Customization and AI Design: Plus AI allows for extensive customization, including the use of AI for designing and editing slides, ensuring unique and personalized presentations. Live Snapshots and Templates: The tool offers live snapshots for real-time updates and a wide range of templates for quick and effective slide creation. Make - AI automation Make is a powerful visual platform that allows users to build and automate tasks, workflows, apps, and systems. It offers an intuitive, no-code interface that empowers users across various business functions to design and implement complex processes without the need for developer resources. Key Features: No-Code Visual Workflow Builder: Make's core feature is its user-friendly interface that allows for the creation of intricate workflows without coding expertise, making it accessible to a wide range of users. Extensive App Integration: The platform boasts compatibility with over 1000 apps, facilitating seamless connections and data sharing across diverse tools and systems. Custom Automation Solutions: Make enables personalized automation strategies, fitting various business needs from marketing automation to IT workflow control. Template Library: Users can jumpstart their automation projects with a vast collection of pre-built templates, which are customizable to fit specific workflow requirements. Enterprise-Level Solutions: Make offers advanced options for larger organizations, including enhanced security, single sign-on, custom functions, and dedicated support. Midjourney - Making sales content Midjourney is an AI-based image generation tool that changes the way we visualise and create digital art. It offers a lot of artistic possibilities, allowing users to create stunning images from text prompts. This innovative service caters to artists, designers, and anyone seeking to bring their creative visions to life. Key Features: Advanced AI Image Generation: Midjourney's core strength lies in its powerful AI algorithms, which interpret text prompts to generate detailed, high-quality images. This feature allows users to explore an endless array of visual concepts and styles. User-driven Customization: The tool offers significant control over the image creation process, enabling users to guide the AI with specific instructions, ensuring that the final output aligns closely with their vision. Diverse Artistic Styles: Midjourney can mimic various artistic styles, from classical to contemporary, providing users with a wide range of aesthetic options for their creations. Collaboration and Community Features: The platform fosters a community of users who can share, critique, and collaborate on artistic projects, enriching the creative experience. Fireflies AI - Sales meeting assistant Fireflies.ai is a powerful tool for improving team productivity and efficiency in managing meetings and voice conversations. It offers a range of features to simplify the process of capturing, organizing, and analyzing meeting content. Key Features: Automatic Meeting Transcription: Fireflies.ai can transcribe meetings held on various video-conferencing platforms and dialers. The tool captures both video and audio, providing transcripts quickly and efficiently. AI-Powered Search and Summarization: It allows users to review long meetings in a fraction of the time, highlighting key action items, tasks, and questions. Users can filter and focus on specific topics discussed in meetings. Improved Collaboration: The tool enables adding comments, pins, and reactions to specific conversation parts. Users can create and share soundbites and integrate meeting notes with popular collaboration apps such as Slack, Notion, and Asana. Conversation Intelligence: Fireflies.ai offers insights into meetings by tracking metrics like speaker talk time and sentiment. It helps in coaching team members and improving performance in sales, recruiting, and other internal processes. Workflow Automation: The AI assistant from Fireflies.ai can log call notes and activities in CRMs, create tasks through voice commands, and share meeting recaps instantly across various platforms. Comprehensive Knowledge Base: It compiles all voice conversations into an easily accessible and updatable knowledge base, with features to organize meetings into channels and set custom privacy controls. I’ll keep updating this little guide, so add your comments and I’ll try to add more tools. This is all just a personal opinion, so it’s completely cool if you disagree with it. Btw here is the link to the full blog post about all the AI tools in a bit more depth.

What’s expected of an AI-powered SMM tool?

As someone working on an AI platform that helps small businesses with marketing, I’ve been wondering: What's your expectations for an AI social media manager tool? To give you more details, here are some questions I’d love to hear opinions on: What should an AI agent in SMM know to create effective posts? What kinds of posts should it write? How much of social media posting can or should be automated by AI? What’s currently trending on platforms like LinkedIn and X? Can AI effectively replicate or predict such trends? Should AI focus more on addressing the audience’s pain points, or is there more value in leveraging trends and viral formats?

As a soloproneur, here is how I'm scaling with AI and GPT-based tools

Being a solopreneur has its fair share of challenges. Currently I've got businesses in ecommerce, agency work, and affiliate marketing, and one undeniable truth remains: to truly scale by yourself, you need more than just sheer will. That's where I feel technology, especially AI, steps in. As such, I wanted some AI tools that have genuinely made a difference in my own work as a solo business operator. No fluff, just tried-and-true tools and platforms that have worked for me. The ability for me to scale alone with AI tools that take advantage of GPT in one way, or another has been significant and really changed my game over the past year. They bring in an element of adaptability and intelligence and work right alongside “traditional automation”. Whether you're new to this or looking to optimize your current setup, I hope this post helps. FYI I used multiple prompts with GPT-4 to draft this using my personal notes. Plus AI (add-on for google slides/docs) I handle a lot of sales calls and demos for my AI automation agency. As I’m providing a custom service rather than a product, every client has different pain points and as such I need to make a new slide deck each time. And making slides used to be a huge PITA and pretty much the bane of my existence until slide deck generators using GPT came out. My favorite so far has been PlusAI, which works as a plugin for Google Slides. You pretty much give it a rough idea, or some key points and it creates some slides right within Google Slides. For me, I’ve been pasting the website copy or any information on my client, then telling PlusAI the service I want to propose. After the slides are made, you have a lot of leeway to edit the slides again with AI, compared to other slide generators out there. With 'Remix', I can switch up layouts if something feels off, and 'Rewrite' is there to gently nudge the AI in a different direction if I ever need it to. It's definitely given me a bit of breathing space in a schedule that often feels suffocating. echo.win (web-based app) As a solopreneur, I'm constantly juggling roles. Managing incoming calls can be particularly challenging. Echo.win, a modern call management platform, has become a game-changer for my business. It's like having a 24/7 personal assistant. Its advanced AI understands and responds to queries in a remarkably human way, freeing up my time. A standout feature is the Scenario Builder, allowing me to create personalized conversation flows. Live transcripts and in-depth analytics help me make data-driven decisions. The platform is scalable, handling multiple simultaneous calls and improving customer satisfaction. Automatic contact updates ensure I never miss an important call. Echo.win's pricing is reasonable, offering a personalized business number, AI agents, unlimited scenarios, live transcripts, and 100 answered call minutes per month. Extra minutes are available at a nominal cost. Echo.win has revolutionized my call management. It's a comprehensive, no-code platform that ensures my customers are always heard and never missed MindStudio by YouAi (web app/GUI) I work with numerous clients in my AI agency, and a recurring task is creating chatbots and demo apps tailored to their specific needs and connected to their knowledge base/data sources. Typically, I would make production builds from scratch with libraries such as LangChain/LlamaIndex, however it’s quite cumbersome to do this for free demos. As each client has unique requirements, it means I'm often creating something from scratch. For this, I’ve been using MindStudio (by YouAi) to quickly come up with the first iteration of my app. It supports multiple AI models (GPT, Claude, Llama), let’s you upload custom data sources via multiple formats (PDF, CSV, Excel, TXT, Docx, and HTML), allows for custom flows and rules, and lets you to quickly publish your apps. If you are in their developer program, YouAi has built-in payment infrastructure to charge your users for using your app. Unlike many of the other AI builders I’ve tried, MindStudio basically lets me dictate every step of the AI interaction at a high level, while at the same time simplifying the behind-the-scenes work. Just like how you'd sketch an outline or jot down main points, you start with a scaffold or decide to "remix" an existing AI, and it will open up the IDE. I often find myself importing client data or specific project details, and then laying out the kind of app or chatbot I'm looking to prototype. And once you've got your prototype you can customize the app as much as you want. LLamaIndex (Python framework) As mentioned before, in my AI agency, I frequently create chatbots and apps for clients, tailored to their specific needs and connected to their data sources. LlamaIndex, a data framework for LLM applications, has been a game-changer in this process. It allows me to ingest, structure, and access private or domain-specific data. The major difference over LangChain is I feel like LlamaIndex does high level abstraction much better.. Where LangChain unnecessarily abstracts the simplest logic, LlamaIndex actually has clear benefits when it comes to integrating your data with LLMs- it comes with data connectors that ingest data from various sources and formats, data indexes that structure data for easy consumption by LLMs, and engines that provide natural language access to data. It also includes data agents, LLM-powered knowledge workers augmented by tools, and application integrations that tie LlamaIndex back into the rest of the ecosystem. LlamaIndex is user-friendly, allowing beginners to use it with just five lines of code, while advanced users can customize and extend any module to fit their needs. To be completely honest, to me it’s more than a tool- at its heart it’s a framework that ensures seamless integration of LLMs with data sources while allowing for complete flexibility compared to no-code tools. GoCharlie (web app) GoCharlie, the first AI Agent product for content creation, has been a game-changer for my business. Powered by a proprietary LLM called Charlie, it's capable of handling multi-input/multi-output tasks. GoCharlie's capabilities are vast, including content repurposing, image generation in 4K and 8K for various aspect ratios, SEO-optimized blog creation, fact-checking, web research, and stock photo and GIF pull-ins. It also offers audio transcriptions for uploaded audio/video files and YouTube URLs, web scraping capabilities, and translation. One standout feature is its multiple input capability, where I can attach a file (like a brand brief from a client) and instruct it to create a social media campaign using brand guidelines. It considers the file, prompt, and website, and produces multiple outputs for each channel, each of which can be edited separately. Its multi-output feature allows me to write a prompt and receive a response, which can then be edited further using AI. Overall, very satisfied with GoCharlie and in my opinion it really presents itself as an effective alternative to GPT based tools. ProfilePro (chrome extension) As someone overseeing multiple Google Business Profiles (GBPs) for my various businesses, I’ve been using ProfilePro by Merchynt. This tool stood out with its ability to auto-generate SEO-optimized content like review responses and business updates based on minimal business input. It works as a Chrome extension, and offers suggestions for responses automatically on your GBP, with multiple options for the tone it will write in. As a plus, it can generate AI images for Google posts, and offer suggestions for services and service/product descriptions. While it streamlines many GBP tasks, it still allows room for personal adjustments and refinements, offering a balance between automation and individual touch. And if you are like me and don't have dedicated SEO experience, it can handle ongoing optimization tasks to help boost visibility and drive more customers to profiles through Google Maps and Search

Education workshops for kids in 2025

Hello, I’m planning to launch STEM workshops for kids in my city. I’d love to hear your insights and opinions. I am software developer with experience in robotics industry. While there are already many LEGO Mindstorms groups (I’ve worked with them before and really enjoyed it). I want to create something a little different—something fresh and valuable that stands out. All of these courses are called young constructor, young robotics programmer - I would like to make something sounds more available. The goal is to offer onsite workshops that not only teach STEM skills but also help kids build a sense of community. The workshops will be tailored to three age groups: 9-10 years, 11-12 years, and 13-14 years. Here are my initial ideas: Python Programming Course: Using a DIY IoT home model kit (designed by me, I am able to make few models on my own) with a raspberry pi. The kit would include features like programmable LEDs, an electromagnet for holding doors, a numeric keypad, a microphone (for a basic voice assistant) and so on. The course would cover Python basics step by step. AI Introduction: Focused on Python. I’m still brainstorming ideas for this one. What do you think of this idea? Maybe do you know any great alternatives for mindstorms sets (they are everywhere now). For now I want to prepare a unique program for 3 courses and start with this. I could start it with some devs friends that have experience of working with kids, and then, if it would work I could hire students for it.

How to get that big idea for your next business? Use trends!

Hello entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners, I am Mikael and I want to share a post about how to spot business ideas. If you're wondering who the owl is, it's Agent O, my sidekick (please bear with him... or me, if you can). Let's get on to it. So, there are basically two ways of getting ideas for your new business: Find a service, product or experience that's already working. Identify and ride a trend. 🦉 : Third, have a rich relative pass you their business and sip margaritas by the sea while scrolling Reddit for the rest of your life! 🕵️ : Refrain yourself, I just got started ffs, I don't want to get banned! So, what are trends? Trends are patterns of adoption of a product, service or experience by people who want to satisfy a common need. Cool, huh? How trends start Trends emerge and evolve as temporary or permanent solutions to human needs. All products, services and experiences are the expression of human needs manifested through a perceived lack, which we humans interpret as problems. Let me make this more clear. Humans have needs: from basic (food, shelter, safety) to advanced (community, knowledge) to evolved (self actualization, spirituality) and everything in between. Don’t see this as a hierarchy, as it’s usually depicted with Maslow’s pyramid. See it as cycles with different degrees of impact on humans that vary in time and intensity. 🦉 : WHAT!?? 🕵️ : Hear me out… How Trends Affect Society Human needs are physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. Every day we feel the impact of those needs with different degrees of required fulfillment. You can’t go on without air for more than a few minutes. You can’t live without food and water for more than a few days. So, when it comes to the needs of the body, these have a shorter timeframe in which they need to be addressed. 🦉 : Ahh, I see what you did there… \\🕵️ \\: Thanks! But you can also live with an unfulfilled need for love or friends for a long time. You can live with a decaying health as well. And you also can live your entire life without finding out if there is a God or not. Humans perceive needs as something they lack within, which in turn is expressed as a problem on the outside. I lack food or water, this will create a problem for my survival. So I need to find food and water in my environment. This lack creates a behavior seeking a product, service or experience to fulfill that need. Makes sense? 🦉 : I just went out and got me a “Mice à la Forest” dinner! 🕵️: Bon appétit! See, Agent O fulfilled a bodily need. That’s what animals do, as they’re driven by instinct and are governed by natural laws (survive, reproduce, sleep, repeat). Humans are driven by more complex needs, as our intellect and emotions allow us to override those basic primary instincts. Why Trends Are Important What an entrepreneur does is to shift the perspective: instead of seeing a lack, he/she sees an opportunity by asking the question: how can I fulfill this need? Or, even better put: how can I help people by solving their problem? That’s the first step to solving a problem: asking a question. That is why the best products are actually problems solved by entrepreneurs who work to solve their own need for a product, service or experience. They then provide it to other people for a cost. Easy, right? That’s what entrepreneurship is: solving a problem. The bigger the problem, the bigger the impact. The bigger the impact, the higher the revenue. It’s easier to understand trends now, isn’t it? You can see that trends are nothing more than the initial adoption of a product, service or experience by a group of people who are looking for a solution to their common need. 🦉 : Did you get that from a book? 🕵️ : You snore when you sleep… ¯\\(\ツ)/\¯ 🦉 : $@#&\*! Hooman! Needs are the foundation on which the modern world is built. Once you understand needs, you fundamentally change your perception of problems into opportunities. This mental shift is the entrepreneurial mindset: where others see problems, you see solutions. Where Do Trends Start So, to recap: human needs are translated into problems. Founders understand the root of the problem (the need) and create products, services, experiences as solutions to those needs. They offer the solution to the public through startups and companies, which belong to a specific niche in a particular industry. 🦉 : Aaah, so that’s why it’s called venture capital? 🕵️ : Yeah, because you’re venturing into a new endeavor to let people know about your solution to their (and ideally your) problem. 🦉 : So if you use ads to market your venture, it’s an adventure? 🕵️ : I see what you did there… If the need behind the adoption is strong and real enough, that trend will translate into a niche within an industry. If the adoption isn’t driven by strong fundamental needs, it will turn into a fad and disappear from the perception of the public, no matter how much marketing money is thrown at it. This happens because the solution (product/service/experience) to the need didn’t create the physical, intellectual or emotional response required to create a recurring behavior around it. Remember this: Problem (why) -> Behavior (how) -> Solution (what) Understand this: there are multiple types of trends. There are product or service trends. There are industry driven trends. There are tendency driven trends, like the emergence of a new paradigm that improves a lot of industries (yes, I’m looking at you, AI). Where Do Trends Come From So now you can see that trends are patterns of adoption related to a specific human need that is addressed through one or multiple products or services. This is a bottom up direction coming from evolution. Multiple trends in different industries also emerge from a theme, which is a bigger vision of a human effort to address a high level problem. This is a top down direction, coming from implementation (by governments, different organizations or other interested parties with the power to influence changes at mass level). Conclusion Now you have a better understanding of trends by looking at them through the lens of human needs. Also, you might also understand time better because you realize that human needs have different degrees of impact in time and intensity. So you now see that trends don’t only relate to individuals, but also to groups of people, from the smallest community to countries and even global needs. That is the reason you’ll sometimes hear some say that time is a flat circle: because clothes change, but humans are quite the same. Needs don’t change a lot in time, just the way we address and solve them. Here’s an interesting game for you: take a look at some behaviors in your life. Which of them are driven by a bodily need, which by an intellectual or emotional one? Which ones are completely automated and you had no idea you were doing? How are these behaviors controlling parts of your life that you were unaware of until now? If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you enjoyed it, found it useful and entertaining. Ofc, I value your opinion and welcome it in the comments. Thank you!

How to get that big idea for your next business? Use trends!

Hello entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners, I am Mikael and I want to share a post about how to spot business ideas. If you're wondering who the owl is, it's Agent O, my sidekick (please bear with him... or me, if you can). Let's get on to it. So, there are basically two ways of getting ideas for your new business: Find a service, product or experience that's already working. Identify and ride a trend. 🦉 : Third, have a rich relative pass you their business and sip margaritas by the sea while scrolling Reddit for the rest of your life! 🕵️ : Refrain yourself, I just got started ffs, I don't want to get banned! So, what are trends? Trends are patterns of adoption of a product, service or experience by people who want to satisfy a common need. Cool, huh? How trends start Trends emerge and evolve as temporary or permanent solutions to human needs. All products, services and experiences are the expression of human needs manifested through a perceived lack, which we humans interpret as problems. Let me make this more clear. Humans have needs: from basic (food, shelter, safety) to advanced (community, knowledge) to evolved (self actualization, spirituality) and everything in between. Don’t see this as a hierarchy, as it’s usually depicted with Maslow’s pyramid. See it as cycles with different degrees of impact on humans that vary in time and intensity. 🦉 : WHAT!?? 🕵️ : Hear me out… How Trends Affect Society Human needs are physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. Every day we feel the impact of those needs with different degrees of required fulfillment. You can’t go on without air for more than a few minutes. You can’t live without food and water for more than a few days. So, when it comes to the needs of the body, these have a shorter timeframe in which they need to be addressed. 🦉 : Ahh, I see what you did there… \\🕵️ \\: Thanks! But you can also live with an unfulfilled need for love or friends for a long time. You can live with a decaying health as well. And you also can live your entire life without finding out if there is a God or not. Humans perceive needs as something they lack within, which in turn is expressed as a problem on the outside. I lack food or water, this will create a problem for my survival. So I need to find food and water in my environment. This lack creates a behavior seeking a product, service or experience to fulfill that need. Makes sense? 🦉 : I just went out and got me a “Mice à la Forest” dinner! 🕵️: Bon appétit! See, Agent O fulfilled a bodily need. That’s what animals do, as they’re driven by instinct and are governed by natural laws (survive, reproduce, sleep, repeat). Humans are driven by more complex needs, as our intellect and emotions allow us to override those basic primary instincts. Why Trends Are Important What an entrepreneur does is to shift the perspective: instead of seeing a lack, he/she sees an opportunity by asking the question: how can I fulfill this need? Or, even better put: how can I help people by solving their problem? That’s the first step to solving a problem: asking a question. That is why the best products are actually problems solved by entrepreneurs who work to solve their own need for a product, service or experience. They then provide it to other people for a cost. Easy, right? That’s what entrepreneurship is: solving a problem. The bigger the problem, the bigger the impact. The bigger the impact, the higher the revenue. It’s easier to understand trends now, isn’t it? You can see that trends are nothing more than the initial adoption of a product, service or experience by a group of people who are looking for a solution to their common need. 🦉 : Did you get that from a book? 🕵️ : You snore when you sleep… ¯\\(\ツ)/\¯ 🦉 : $@#&\*! Hooman! Needs are the foundation on which the modern world is built. Once you understand needs, you fundamentally change your perception of problems into opportunities. This mental shift is the entrepreneurial mindset: where others see problems, you see solutions. Where Do Trends Start So, to recap: human needs are translated into problems. Founders understand the root of the problem (the need) and create products, services, experiences as solutions to those needs. They offer the solution to the public through startups and companies, which belong to a specific niche in a particular industry. 🦉 : Aaah, so that’s why it’s called venture capital? 🕵️ : Yeah, because you’re venturing into a new endeavor to let people know about your solution to their (and ideally your) problem. 🦉 : So if you use ads to market your venture, it’s an adventure? 🕵️ : I see what you did there… If the need behind the adoption is strong and real enough, that trend will translate into a niche within an industry. If the adoption isn’t driven by strong fundamental needs, it will turn into a fad and disappear from the perception of the public, no matter how much marketing money is thrown at it. This happens because the solution (product/service/experience) to the need didn’t create the physical, intellectual or emotional response required to create a recurring behavior around it. Remember this: Problem (why) -> Behavior (how) -> Solution (what) Understand this: there are multiple types of trends. There are product or service trends. There are industry driven trends. There are tendency driven trends, like the emergence of a new paradigm that improves a lot of industries (yes, I’m looking at you, AI). Where Do Trends Come From So now you can see that trends are patterns of adoption related to a specific human need that is addressed through one or multiple products or services. This is a bottom up direction coming from evolution. Multiple trends in different industries also emerge from a theme, which is a bigger vision of a human effort to address a high level problem. This is a top down direction, coming from implementation (by governments, different organizations or other interested parties with the power to influence changes at mass level). Conclusion Now you have a better understanding of trends by looking at them through the lens of human needs. Also, you might also understand time better because you realize that human needs have different degrees of impact in time and intensity. So you now see that trends don’t only relate to individuals, but also to groups of people, from the smallest community to countries and even global needs. That is the reason you’ll sometimes hear some say that time is a flat circle: because clothes change, but humans are quite the same. Needs don’t change a lot in time, just the way we address and solve them. Here’s an interesting game for you: take a look at some behaviors in your life. Which of them are driven by a bodily need, which by an intellectual or emotional one? Which ones are completely automated and you had no idea you were doing? How are these behaviors controlling parts of your life that you were unaware of until now? If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you enjoyed it, found it useful and entertaining. Ofc, I value your opinion and welcome it in the comments. Thank you!

Critique my business ideas

So I have some business ideas that I would like to confront to you in order to have feedback. The point is to give me your completely honest opinion and try to find some potential problems. 1 - Digital marketing automation for green ecommerce stores Marketing has always been a problem for everyone in business more particularly for niche businesses. It's tough for them because people who will buy their product are generally harder to find. Also these products are way more expensive than other so it may be clever for them to focus more on marketing. Since the green and sustainable industry is growing at a very fast rate such as AI, I would like to hear your opinion on the idea of automating marketing for these type of businesses. 2 - AI Mental Health platform The mental health issues will gain more and more importance in the future. We now live in a world that isn't as safe as before and with the rise of social media we can predict that mental health issues will be more frequent especially for young people. PH, Instagram, Tiktok all of these are just bad for everyone and so an AI mental health plateform where people can chat with AI, discuss in anonymous forums and use integrated tools to reduce screen time and manage addiction I think would be a good idea. I haven't really thought about how to make money but as I write I was thinking about either a freemium model or integrate products from stores and kind of get affiliation, getting money when people buy the product. 3 - A car enthusiast website Everyday around 5000 millionaires are created so obviously the high end car industry is growing at a fairly fast rate. My idea would be to create a network where people would pay to ride in a supercar. There would be a map where people would look for cars in their area and chat with the owner basically. 4 - Marketing agency for real estate agents This is self explanatory. Common pain points include managing client communication, nurturing leads, following up on inquiries, and staying top-of-mind with potential buyers and sellers. Effective email automation can help with sending personalized follow-ups, reminders, newsletters, and market updates. It would be a subscription based business basically.

Ideas or niche for AI business?

Hey everyone! I'm a mathematician specialized in AI and I'm currently looking to start an innovative business or project. I was wondering if anyone here has experience with processes, machines, sensors, or any other systems that generate some amount of data that, in your opinion, isn't being fully utilized or could benefit from AI. I’m particularly interested in niche and specific cases that might not be widely known by the general public. I'm asking you because I believe that the diverse professional experiences within this community may reveal hidden opportunities. To give you some context: I have experience working on AI projects across different fields like healthcare, robotics, finance, and more. My specialization lies in forecasting. Mi current role is basically to make (or assist in making) strategic decisions based on the results of forecasting different events, metrics, indicators, ... I have no prior businesses, but I’m currently enrolled in a startup and business incubator program to help develop and refine my ideas. My plan is to apply to top incubators and accelerators if I can develop a decent business concept. I’m looking for an online business or project that requires relatively little capital to start, as I’m a "recent" graduate. I’m based in Spain, near the Mediterranean, though I'm not looking to center my business idea specifically around this. Any specific suggestions or insights based on your professional experiences would be incredibly valuable. If you have experience with underutilized data-generating processes, machines, or sensors, or know of a niche application where AI could be transformative, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Thanks so much!

CCTV + AI business usecases validation for our platform

Hi all , we are currently a team of two , with periodical help from outside professional network have developed a platform to get cctv feed to cloud servers and analyze said video content and alert users through phone call , sms and whatsapp etc We have worked on a usecase for starters and solving or perfecting the data science model we developed etc Also looking to try our foot with other business usecases I am wondering as to how to discover business usecase that owners would love to pay us as a SaaS product 1). we are thinking of garage car parts theft detection at night time and said alert system , all in real time leveraging existing cctv camera that businesses have 2). Fire detection and alert system with existing CCTV cameras that owners have Is there any market or need for these above solutions . State your opinions with backup data or how much ideally you would pay if you had bought it !

Critique my business ideas

So I have some business ideas that I would like to confront to you in order to have feedback. The point is to give me your completely honest opinion and try to find some potential problems. 1 - Digital marketing automation for green ecommerce stores Marketing has always been a problem for everyone in business more particularly for niche businesses. It's tough for them because people who will buy their product are generally harder to find. Also these products are way more expensive than other so it may be clever for them to focus more on marketing. Since the green and sustainable industry is growing at a very fast rate such as AI, I would like to hear your opinion on the idea of automating marketing for these type of businesses. 2 - AI Mental Health platform The mental health issues will gain more and more importance in the future. We now live in a world that isn't as safe as before and with the rise of social media we can predict that mental health issues will be more frequent especially for young people. PH, Instagram, Tiktok all of these are just bad for everyone and so an AI mental health plateform where people can chat with AI, discuss in anonymous forums and use integrated tools to reduce screen time and manage addiction I think would be a good idea. I haven't really thought about how to make money but as I write I was thinking about either a freemium model or integrate products from stores and kind of get affiliation, getting money when people buy the product. 3 - A car enthusiast website Everyday around 5000 millionaires are created so obviously the high end car industry is growing at a fairly fast rate. My idea would be to create a network where people would pay to ride in a supercar. There would be a map where people would look for cars in their area and chat with the owner basically. 4 - Marketing agency for real estate agents This is self explanatory. Common pain points include managing client communication, nurturing leads, following up on inquiries, and staying top-of-mind with potential buyers and sellers. Effective email automation can help with sending personalized follow-ups, reminders, newsletters, and market updates. It would be a subscription based business basically.

SaaS, Agency, or job?

Recently, I was fired, and since I have some savings, I decided it’s finally time to start my own venture. After a couple of weeks of research and trying to figure out what I should do, here are my thoughts and some questions at the end. I’d appreciate any feedback or opinions. It’s not that I expect to wake up a multimillionaire, but I see how people make money without working the typical 9-5. Some of the worst examples are on YouTube—those agency, OFM, dropshipping hustle bros. I know it’s naive to believe all of it because they’re just selling courses, but some of them do seem to have built impressive income streams. Anyway, let’s dive into two categories and compare. Agency (providing services, development, consultation): I’ll talk about AI automation because of my background in ML Engineering and Generative AI, but this could apply to any other agency niche. It seems like a good business idea for someone who knows generative AI and can do some impressive things with LLMs, agents, etc. I even started working on it—built a website—but I stopped when I couldn’t define exactly what services to offer. I could do heavy backend tasks with infrastructure, like real machine learning and AI with fine-tuning, but I couldn’t find any examples of agencies doing this. Almost 100% of them are doing simple automations with tools like Zapier or Make. When it comes to business owners, it’s really hard to find clients in general. After reading Reddit threads, articles, and watching videos, it seems like nearly everyone struggles with client acquisition. For a one-person agency offering more complex services like real ML, it would likely be even harder to find clients, compared to big outsourcing companies with sales teams. Even without focusing on the client challenge, which is obvious in any business, looking at what successful agency owners earn, it’s usually around $100k–$200k a year. I’m not talking about the high end, just regular people. I got this information from reading, and a simple example is from interviews with people who claim to make $10k/month. But many others in these communities struggle to even reach that point. It seems like this is a difficult target for most people. SaaS: This area seems more straightforward, and with my background, it feels like a good fit. However, from reading different sources, I’ve found stories like, “It took me six months to get my first client,” or “I worked on a simple SaaS for nine months and just reached my first $1k.” There are also warnings not to believe those who claim to make $10k/month easily, and many people report struggling to grow after getting their first 10 clients. So, it’s clear to me that even with good tech skills, you’re not going to make massive amounts of money overnight, which I understand. However, with so many people becoming startup founders and indie hackers, many seem to struggle despite thinking it’s the way to go. I know both paths can potentially skyrocket, but here’s where I need help: Am I wrong about agencies? Am I wrong about SaaS? The toughest question for me: I don’t want to go back to a 9-5 job, even if I could earn $300k a year. Even if my own business takes more time and I earn less in the first few years, I still believe it will be more profitable long term, and I will be happier. So, should I pursue an agency, SaaS, or a traditional job?

RD-Agent

🖥️ Live Demo | 🎥 Demo Video ▶️YouTube | 📖 Documentation | 📃 Papers Data Science Agent Preview Check out our demo video showcasing the current progress of our Data Science Agent under development: https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3eccbecb-34a4-4c81-bce4-d3f8862f7305 📰 News | 🗞️ News | 📝 Description | | -- | ------ | | Support LiteLLM Backend | We now fully support LiteLLM as a backend for integration with multiple LLM providers. | | More General Data Science Agent | 🚀Coming soon! | | Kaggle Scenario release | We release Kaggle Agent, try the new features! | | Official WeChat group release | We created a WeChat group, welcome to join! (🗪QR Code) | | Official Discord release | We launch our first chatting channel in Discord (🗪) | | First release | RDAgent is released on GitHub | 🌟 Introduction RDAgent aims to automate the most critical and valuable aspects of the industrial R&D process, and we begin with focusing on the data-driven scenarios to streamline the development of models and data. Methodologically, we have identified a framework with two key components: 'R' for proposing new ideas and 'D' for implementing them. We believe that the automatic evolution of R&D will lead to solutions of significant industrial value. R&D is a very general scenario. The advent of RDAgent can be your 💰 Automatic Quant Factory (🎥Demo Video|▶️YouTube) 🤖 Data Mining Agent: Iteratively proposing data & models (🎥Demo Video 1|▶️YouTube) (🎥Demo Video 2|▶️YouTube) and implementing them by gaining knowledge from data. 🦾 Research Copilot: Auto read research papers (🎥Demo Video|▶️YouTube) / financial reports (🎥Demo Video|▶️YouTube) and implement model structures or building datasets. 🤖 Kaggle Agent: Auto Model Tuning and Feature Engineering([🎥Demo Video Coming Soon...]()) and implementing them to achieve more in competitions. ... You can click the links above to view the demo. We're continuously adding more methods and scenarios to the project to enhance your R&D processes and boost productivity. Additionally, you can take a closer look at the examples in our 🖥️ Live Demo. ⚡ Quick start You can try above demos by running the following command: 🐳 Docker installation. Users must ensure Docker is installed before attempting most scenarios. Please refer to the official 🐳Docker page for installation instructions. Ensure the current user can run Docker commands without using sudo. You can verify this by executing docker run hello-world. 🐍 Create a Conda Environment Create a new conda environment with Python (3.10 and 3.11 are well-tested in our CI): Activate the environment: 🛠️ Install the RDAgent You can directly install the RDAgent package from PyPI: 💊 Health check rdagent provides a health check that currently checks two things. whether the docker installation was successful. whether the default port used by the rdagent ui is occupied. ⚙️ Configuration The demos requires following ability: ChatCompletion json_mode embedding query For example: If you are using the OpenAI API, you have to configure your GPT model in the .env file like this. However, not every API services support these features by default. For example: AZURE OpenAI, you have to configure your GPT model in the .env file like this. We now support LiteLLM as a backend for integration with multiple LLM providers. If you use LiteLLM Backend to use models, you can configure as follows: For more configuration information, please refer to the documentation. 🚀 Run the Application The 🖥️ Live Demo is implemented by the following commands(each item represents one demo, you can select the one you prefer): Run the Automated Quantitative Trading & Iterative Factors Evolution: Qlib self-loop factor proposal and implementation application Run the Automated Quantitative Trading & Iterative Model Evolution: Qlib self-loop model proposal and implementation application Run the Automated Medical Prediction Model Evolution: Medical self-loop model proposal and implementation application (1) Apply for an account at PhysioNet. (2) Request access to FIDDLE preprocessed data: FIDDLE Dataset. (3) Place your username and password in .env. Run the Automated Quantitative Trading & Factors Extraction from Financial Reports: Run the Qlib factor extraction and implementation application based on financial reports Run the Automated Model Research & Development Copilot: model extraction and implementation application Run the Automated Kaggle Model Tuning & Feature Engineering: self-loop model proposal and feature engineering implementation application Using sf-crime (San Francisco Crime Classification) as an example. Register and login on the Kaggle website. Configuring the Kaggle API. (1) Click on the avatar (usually in the top right corner of the page) -> Settings -> Create New Token, A file called kaggle.json will be downloaded. (2) Move kaggle.json to ~/.config/kaggle/ (3) Modify the permissions of the kaggle.json file. Reference command: chmod 600 ~/.config/kaggle/kaggle.json Join the competition: Click Join the competition -> I Understand and Accept at the bottom of the competition details page. Description of the above example: Kaggle competition data, contains two parts: competition description file (json file) and competition dataset (zip file). We prepare the competition description file for you, the competition dataset will be downloaded automatically when you run the program, as in the example. If you want to download the competition description file automatically, you need to install chromedriver, The instructions for installing chromedriver can be found in the documentation. The Competition List Available can be found here. 🖥️ Monitor the Application Results You can run the following command for our demo program to see the run logs. Note: Although port 19899 is not commonly used, but before you run this demo, you need to check if port 19899 is occupied. If it is, please change it to another port that is not occupied. You can check if a port is occupied by running the following command. 🏭 Scenarios We have applied RD-Agent to multiple valuable data-driven industrial scenarios. 🎯 Goal: Agent for Data-driven R&D In this project, we are aiming to build an Agent to automate Data-Driven R\&D that can 📄 Read real-world material (reports, papers, etc.) and extract key formulas, descriptions of interested features and models, which are the key components of data-driven R&D . 🛠️ Implement the extracted formulas (e.g., features, factors, and models) in runnable codes. Due to the limited ability of LLM in implementing at once, build an evolving process for the agent to improve performance by learning from feedback and knowledge. 💡 Propose new ideas based on current knowledge and observations. 📈 Scenarios/Demos In the two key areas of data-driven scenarios, model implementation and data building, our system aims to serve two main roles: 🦾Copilot and 🤖Agent. The 🦾Copilot follows human instructions to automate repetitive tasks. The 🤖Agent, being more autonomous, actively proposes ideas for better results in the future. The supported scenarios are listed below: | Scenario/Target | Model Implementation | Data Building | | -- | -- | -- | | 💹 Finance | 🤖 Iteratively Proposing Ideas & Evolving▶️YouTube | 🤖 Iteratively Proposing Ideas & Evolving ▶️YouTube 🦾 Auto reports reading & implementation▶️YouTube | | 🩺 Medical | 🤖 Iteratively Proposing Ideas & Evolving▶️YouTube | - | | 🏭 General | 🦾 Auto paper reading & implementation▶️YouTube 🤖 Auto Kaggle Model Tuning | 🤖Auto Kaggle feature Engineering | RoadMap: Currently, we are working hard to add new features to the Kaggle scenario. Different scenarios vary in entrance and configuration. Please check the detailed setup tutorial in the scenarios documents. Here is a gallery of successful explorations (5 traces showed in 🖥️ Live Demo). You can download and view the execution trace using this command from the documentation. Please refer to 📖readthedocs_scen for more details of the scenarios. ⚙️ Framework Automating the R&D process in data science is a highly valuable yet underexplored area in industry. We propose a framework to push the boundaries of this important research field. The research questions within this framework can be divided into three main categories: | Research Area | Paper/Work List | |--------------------|-----------------| | Benchmark the R&D abilities | Benchmark | | Idea proposal: Explore new ideas or refine existing ones | Research | | Ability to realize ideas: Implement and execute ideas | Development | We believe that the key to delivering high-quality solutions lies in the ability to evolve R&D capabilities. Agents should learn like human experts, continuously improving their R&D skills. More documents can be found in the 📖 readthedocs. 📃 Paper/Work list 📊 Benchmark Towards Data-Centric Automatic R&D !image 🔍 Research In a data mining expert's daily research and development process, they propose a hypothesis (e.g., a model structure like RNN can capture patterns in time-series data), design experiments (e.g., finance data contains time-series and we can verify the hypothesis in this scenario), implement the experiment as code (e.g., Pytorch model structure), and then execute the code to get feedback (e.g., metrics, loss curve, etc.). The experts learn from the feedback and improve in the next iteration. Based on the principles above, we have established a basic method framework that continuously proposes hypotheses, verifies them, and gets feedback from the real-world practice. This is the first scientific research automation framework that supports linking with real-world verification. For more detail, please refer to our 🖥️ Live Demo page. 🛠️ Development Collaborative Evolving Strategy for Automatic Data-Centric Development !image 🤝 Contributing We welcome contributions and suggestions to improve RD-Agent. Please refer to the Contributing Guide for more details on how to contribute. Before submitting a pull request, ensure that your code passes the automatic CI checks. 📝 Guidelines This project welcomes contributions and suggestions. Contributing to this project is straightforward and rewarding. Whether it's solving an issue, addressing a bug, enhancing documentation, or even correcting a typo, every contribution is valuable and helps improve RDAgent. To get started, you can explore the issues list, or search for TODO: comments in the codebase by running the command grep -r "TODO:". Before we released RD-Agent as an open-source project on GitHub, it was an internal project within our group. Unfortunately, the internal commit history was not preserved when we removed some confidential code. As a result, some contributions from our group members, including Haotian Chen, Wenjun Feng, Haoxue Wang, Zeqi Ye, Xinjie Shen, and Jinhui Li, were not included in the public commits. ⚖️ Legal disclaimer The RD-agent is provided “as is”, without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement. The RD-agent is aimed to facilitate research and development process in the financial industry and not ready-to-use for any financial investment or advice. Users shall independently assess and test the risks of the RD-agent in a specific use scenario, ensure the responsible use of AI technology, including but not limited to developing and integrating risk mitigation measures, and comply with all applicable laws and regulations in all applicable jurisdictions. The RD-agent does not provide financial opinions or reflect the opinions of Microsoft, nor is it designed to replace the role of qualified financial professionals in formulating, assessing, and approving finance products. The inputs and outputs of the RD-agent belong to the users and users shall assume all liability under any theory of liability, whether in contract, torts, regulatory, negligence, products liability, or otherwise, associated with use of the RD-agent and any inputs and outputs thereof.

internet-tools-collection

Internet Tools Collection A collection of tools, website and AI for entrepreneurs, web designers, programmers and for everyone else. Content by category Artificial Intelligence Developers Design Entrepreneur Video Editing Stock videos Stock Photos Stock music Search Engine Optimization Blog Posts Resume Interviews No code website builder No code game builder Side Hustle Browser Extensions Other Students Artificial Intelligence Jasper - The Best AI Writing Assistant [](https://www.jasper.ai/) Create content 5x faster with artificial intelligence. Jasper is the highest quality AI copywriting tool with over 3,000 5-star reviews. Best for writing blog posts, social media content, and marketing copy. AutoDraw [](https://www.autodraw.com/) Fast drawing for everyone. AutoDraw pairs machine learning with drawings from talented artists to help you draw stuff fast. Rytr - Best AI Writer, Content Generator & Writing Assistant [](https://rytr.me/) Rytr is an AI writing assistant that helps you create high-quality content, in just a few seconds, at a fraction of the cost! Neevo - Neevo [](https://www.neevo.ai/) Kinetix Tech [](https://kinetix.tech/) Kinetix is a no-code 3D creation tool powered by Artificial Intelligence. The web-based platform leverages AI motion capture to convert a video into a 3D animation and lets you customize your avatars and environments. We make 3D animation accessible to every creator so they can create engaging stories. LALAL.AI: 100% AI-Powered Vocal and Instrumental Tracks Remover [](https://www.lalal.ai/) Split vocal and instrumental tracks quickly and accurately with LALAL.AI. Upload any audio file and receive high-quality extracted tracks in a few seconds. Copy.ai: Write better marketing copy and content with AI [](https://www.copy.ai/) Get great copy that sells. Copy.ai is an AI-powered copywriter that generates high-quality copy for your business. Get started for free, no credit card required! Marketing simplified! OpenAI [](https://openai.com/) OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company. Our mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. DALL·E 2 [](https://openai.com/dall-e-2/) DALL·E 2 is a new AI system that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language. Steve.ai - World’s fastest way to create Videos [](https://www.steve.ai/) Steve.AI is an online Video making software that helps anyone to create Videos and animations in seconds. Octie.ai - Your A.I. ecommerce marketing assistant [](https://octie.ai/) Write emails, product descriptions, and more, with A.I. Created by Octane AI. hypnogram.xyz [](https://hypnogram.xyz/) Generate images from text descriptions using AI FakeYou. Deep Fake Text to Speech. [](https://fakeyou.com/) FakeYou is a text to speech wonderland where all of your dreams come true. Craiyon, formerly DALL-E mini [](https://www.craiyon.com/) Craiyon, formerly DALL-E mini, is an AI model that can draw images from any text prompt! Deck Rocks - Create Pictch Decks [](https://www.deck.rocks/) Writely | Using AI to Improve Your Writing [](https://www.writelyai.com/) Making the art of writing accessible to all Writesonic AI Writer - Best AI Writing Assistant [](https://writesonic.com/) Writesonic is an AI writer that's been trained on top-performing SEO content, high-performing ads, and converting sales copy to help you supercharge your writing and marketing efforts. Smart Copy - AI Copywriting Assistant | Unbounce [](https://unbounce.com/product/smart-copy/) Generate creative AI copy on-the-spot across your favourite tools Synthesia | #1 AI Video Generation Platform [](https://www.synthesia.io/) Create AI videos by simply typing in text. Easy to use, cheap and scalable. Make engaging videos with human presenters — directly from your browser. Free demo. NVIDIA Canvas: Turn Simple Brushstrokes into Realistic Images [](https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/studio/canvas/) Create backgrounds quickly, or speed up your concept exploration so you can spend more time visualizing ideas with the help of NVIDIA Canvas. Hotpot.ai - Hotpot.ai [](https://hotpot.ai/) Hotpot.ai makes graphic design and image editing easy. AI tools allow experts and non-designers to automate tedious tasks while attractive, easy-to-edit templates allow anyone to create device mockups, social media posts, marketing images, app icons, and other work graphics. Klaviyo: Marketing Automation Platform for Email & SMS [](https://www.klaviyo.com/) Klaviyo, an ecommerce marketing automation platform for email marketing and sms syncs your tech stack with your website store to scale your business. Search listening tool for market, customer & content research - AnswerThePublic [](https://answerthepublic.com/) Use our free tool to get instant, raw search insights, direct from the minds of your customers. Upgrade to a paid plan to monitor for new ways that people talk & ask questions about your brand, product or topic. Topic Mojo [](https://topicmojo.com/) Discover unique & newest queries around any topic and find what your customers are searching for. Pulling data from 50+ sources to enhance your topic research. AI Image Enlarger | Enlarge Image Without Losing Quality! [](https://imglarger.com/) AI Image Enlarger is a FREE online image enlarger that could upscale and enhance small images automatically. Make jpg/png pictures big without losing quality. Midjourney [](https://www.midjourney.com/app/) Kaedim - AI for turning 2D images to 3D models [](https://www.kaedim3d.com/webapp) AI for turning 2D images, sketches and photos to 3D models in seconds. Overdub: Ultra realistic text to speech voice cloning - Descript [](https://www.descript.com/overdub) Create a text to speech model of your voice. Try a live demo. Getting Started [](https://magenta.tensorflow.org/get-started) Resources to learn about Magenta Photosonic AI Art Generator | Create Unique Images with AI [](https://photosonic.writesonic.com/) Transform your imagination into stunning digital art with Photosonic - the AI art generator. With its creative suggestions, this Writesonic's AI image generator can help unleash your inner artist and share your creations with the world. Image Computer [](https://image.computer/) Most downloaded Instagram Captions App (+more creator tools) [](https://captionplus.app/) Join 3 Million+ Instagram Creators who use CaptionPlus to find Instagram Captions, Hashtags, Feed Planning, Reel Ideas, IG Story Design and more. Writecream - Best AI Writer & Content Generator - Writecream [](https://www.writecream.com/) Sentence Rewriter is a free tool to reword a sentence, paragraph and even entire essays in a short amount of time. Hypotenuse AI: AI Writing Assistant and Text Generator [](https://www.hypotenuse.ai/) Turn a few keywords into original, insightful articles, product descriptions and social media copy with AI copywriting—all in just minutes. Try it free today. Text to Speach Listnr: Generate realistic Text to Speech voiceovers in seconds [](https://www.listnr.tech/) AI Voiceover Generator with over 600+ voiceovers in 80+ languages, go from Text to Voice in seconds. Get started for Free! Free Text to Speech: Online, App, Software, Commercial license with Natural Sounding Voices. [](https://www.naturalreaders.com/) Free text to speech online app with natural voices, convert text to audio and mp3, for personal and commercial use Developers OverAPI.com | Collecting all the cheat sheets [](https://overapi.com/) OverAPI.com is a site collecting all the cheatsheets,all! Search Engine For Devs [](https://you.com/) Spline - Design tool for 3D web browser experiences [](https://spline.design/) Create web-based 3D browser experiences Image to HTML CSS converter. Convert image to HTML CSS with AI: Fronty [](https://fronty.com/) Fronty - Image to HTML CSS code converter. Convert image to HTML powered by AI. Sketchfab - The best 3D viewer on the web [](https://sketchfab.com/) With a community of over one million creators, we are the world’s largest platform to publish, share, and discover 3D content on web, mobile, AR, and VR. Railway [](https://railway.app/) Railway is an infrastructure platform where you can provision infrastructure, develop with that infrastructure locally, and then deploy to the cloud. JSON Crack - Crack your data into pieces [](https://jsoncrack.com/) Simple visualization tool for your JSON data. No forced structure, paste your JSON and view it instantly. Locofy.ai - ship your products 3-4x faster — with low code [](https://www.locofy.ai/) Turn your designs into production-ready frontend code for mobile apps and web. Ship products 3-4x faster with your existing design tools, tech stacks & workflows. Oh Shit, Git!?! [](https://ohshitgit.com/) Carbon | Create and share beautiful images of your source code [](https://carbon.now.sh/) Carbon is the easiest way to create and share beautiful images of your source code. GPRM : GitHub Profile ReadMe Maker [](https://gprm.itsvg.in/) Best Profile Generator, Create your perfect GitHub Profile ReadMe in the best possible way. Lots of features and tools included, all for free ! HubSpot | Software, Tools, and Resources to Help Your Business Grow Better [](https://www.hubspot.com/) HubSpot’s integrated CRM platform contains the marketing, sales, service, operations, and website-building software you need to grow your business. QuickRef.ME - Quick Reference Cheat Sheet [](https://quickref.me/) Share quick reference and cheat sheet for developers massCode | A free and open source code snippets manager for developers [](https://masscode.io/) Code snippets manager for developers, developed using web technologies. Snyk | Developer security | Develop fast. Stay secure. [](https://snyk.io/) Snyk helps software-driven businesses develop fast and stay secure. Continuously find and fix vulnerabilities for npm, Maven, NuGet, RubyGems, PyPI and more. Developer Roadmaps [](https://roadmap.sh/) Community driven roadmaps, articles, guides, quizzes, tips and resources for developers to learn from, identify their career paths, know what they don't know, find out the knowledge gaps, learn and improve. CSS Generators Get Waves – Create SVG waves for your next design [](https://getwaves.io/) A free SVG wave generator to make unique SVG waves for your next web design. Choose a curve, adjust complexity, randomize! Box Shadows [](https://box-shadow.dev/) Tridiv | CSS 3D Editor [](http://tridiv.com/) Tridiv is a web-based editor for creating 3D shapes in CSS Glassmorphism CSS Generator - Glass UI [](https://ui.glass/generator/) Generate CSS and HTML components using the glassmorphism design specifications based on the Glass UI library. Blobmaker - Make organic SVG shapes for your next design [](https://www.blobmaker.app/) Make organic SVG shapes for your next design. Modify the complexity, contrast, and color, to generate unique SVG blobs every time. Keyframes.app [](https://keyframes.app/) cssFilters.co - Custom and Instagram like photo filters for CSS [](https://www.cssfilters.co/) Visual playground for generating CSS for custom and Instagram like photo filters. Experiment with your own uploaded photo or select one from the Unsplash collection. CSS Animations Animista - CSS Animations on Demand [](https://animista.net/) Animista is a CSS animation library and a place where you can play with a collection of ready-made CSS animations and download only those you will use. Build Internal apps Superblocks | Save 100s of developer hours on internal tools [](https://www.superblocks.com/) Superblocks is the fast, easy and secure way for developers to build custom internal tools fast. Connect your databases & APIs. Drag and drop UI components. Extend with Python or Javascript. Deploy in 1-click. Secure and Monitor using your favorite tools Budibase | Build internal tools in minutes, the easy way [](https://budibase.com/) Budibase is a modern, open source low-code platform for building modern internal applications in minutes. Retool | Build internal tools, remarkably fast. [](https://retool.com/) Retool is the fast way to build internal tools. Drag-and-drop our building blocks and connect them to your databases and APIs to build your own tools, instantly. Connects with Postgres, REST APIs, GraphQL, Firebase, Google Sheets, and more. Built by developers, for developers. Trusted by startups and Fortune 500s. Sign up for free. GitHub Repositories GitHub - vasanthk/how-web-works: What happens behind the scenes when we type www.google.com in a browser? [](https://github.com/vasanthk/how-web-works) What happens behind the scenes when we type www.google.com in a browser? - GitHub - vasanthk/how-web-works: What happens behind the scenes when we type www.google.com in a browser? GitHub - kamranahmedse/developer-roadmap: Interactive roadmaps, guides and other educational content to help developers grow in their careers. [](https://github.com/kamranahmedse/developer-roadmap) Interactive roadmaps, guides and other educational content to help developers grow in their careers. - GitHub - kamranahmedse/developer-roadmap: Interactive roadmaps, guides and other educational content to help developers grow in their careers. GitHub - apptension/developer-handbook: An opinionated guide on how to become a professional Web/Mobile App Developer. [](https://github.com/apptension/developer-handbook) An opinionated guide on how to become a professional Web/Mobile App Developer. - GitHub - apptension/developer-handbook: An opinionated guide on how to become a professional Web/Mobile App Developer. ProfileMe.dev | Create an amazing GitHub profile in minutes [](https://www.profileme.dev/) ProfileMe.dev | Create an amazing GitHub profile in minutes GitHub - Kristories/awesome-guidelines: A curated list of high quality coding style conventions and standards. [](https://github.com/Kristories/awesome-guidelines) A curated list of high quality coding style conventions and standards. - GitHub - Kristories/awesome-guidelines: A curated list of high quality coding style conventions and standards. GitHub - tiimgreen/github-cheat-sheet: A list of cool features of Git and GitHub. [](https://github.com/tiimgreen/github-cheat-sheet) A list of cool features of Git and GitHub. Contribute to tiimgreen/github-cheat-sheet development by creating an account on GitHub. GitHub - andreasbm/web-skills: A visual overview of useful skills to learn as a web developer [](https://github.com/andreasbm/web-skills) A visual overview of useful skills to learn as a web developer - GitHub - andreasbm/web-skills: A visual overview of useful skills to learn as a web developer GitHub - Ebazhanov/linkedin-skill-assessments-quizzes: Full reference of LinkedIn answers 2022 for skill assessments (aws-lambda, rest-api, javascript, react, git, html, jquery, mongodb, java, Go, python, machine-learning, power-point) linkedin excel test lösungen, linkedin machine learning test LinkedIn test questions and answers [](https://github.com/Ebazhanov/linkedin-skill-assessments-quizzes) Full reference of LinkedIn answers 2022 for skill assessments (aws-lambda, rest-api, javascript, react, git, html, jquery, mongodb, java, Go, python, machine-learning, power-point) linkedin excel test lösungen, linkedin machine learning test LinkedIn test questions and answers - GitHub - Ebazhanov/linkedin-skill-assessments-quizzes: Full reference of LinkedIn answers 2022 for skill assessments (aws-lambda, rest-api, javascript, react, git, html, jquery, mongodb, java, Go, python, machine-learning, power-point) linkedin excel test lösungen, linkedin machine learning test LinkedIn test questions and answers Blockchain/Crypto Dashboards [](https://dune.com/) Blockchain ecosystem analytics by and for the community. Explore and share data from Ethereum, xDai, Polygon, Optimism, BSC and Solana for free. Introduction - The Anchor Book v0.24.0 [](https://book.anchor-lang.com/introduction/introduction.html) Crypto & Fiat Exchange Super App | Trade, Save & Spend | hi [](https://hi.com/) Buy, Trade, Send and Earn Crypto & Fiat. Deposit Bitcoin, ETH, USDT and other cryptos and start earning. Get the hi Debit Card and Multi-Currency IBAN Account. Moralis Web3 - Enterprise-Grade Web3 APIs [](https://moralis.io/) Bridge the development gap between Web2 and Web3 with Moralis’ powerful Web3 APIs. Mirror [](https://mirror.xyz/) Built on web3 for web3, Mirror’s robust publishing platform pushes the boundaries of writing online—whether it’s the next big white paper or a weekly community update. Makerdao [](https://blog.makerdao.com/) Sholi — software for Investors & Traders / Sholi MetriX [](https://sholi.io/) Sholi — software for Investors & Traders / Sholi MetriX Stock Trading Quiver Quantitative [](https://www.quiverquant.com/) Quiver Quantitative Chart Prime - The only tool you'll need for trading assets across all markets [](https://chartprime.com/) ChartPrime offers a toolkit that will take your trading game to the next level. Visit our site for a full rundown of features and helpful tutorials. Learning Hacker Rank [](https://www.hackerrank.com/) Coderbyte | Code Screening, Challenges, & Interview Prep [](https://coderbyte.com/) Improve your coding skills with our library of 300+ challenges and prepare for coding interviews with content from leading technology companies. Competitive Programming | Participate & Learn | CodeChef [](https://www.codechef.com/) Learn competitive programming with the help of CodeChef's coding competitions. Take part in these online coding contests to level up your skills Learn to Code - for Free | Codecademy [](https://www.codecademy.com/) Learn the technical skills to get the job you want. Join over 50 million people choosing Codecademy to start a new career (or advance in their current one). Free Code Camp [](https://www.freecodecamp.org/) Learn to Code — For Free Sololearn: Learn to Code [](https://www.sololearn.com/home) Join Now to learn the basics or advance your existing skills Mimo: The coding app you need to learn to code! Python, HTML, JavaScript [](https://getmimo.com/) Join more than 17 million learners worldwide. Learn to code for free. Learn Python, JavaScript, CSS, SQL, HTML, and more with our free code learning app. Free for developers [](https://free-for.dev/#/) Your Career in Web Development Starts Here | The Odin Project [](https://www.theodinproject.com/) The Odin Project empowers aspiring web developers to learn together for free Code Learning Games CheckiO - coding games and programming challenges for beginner and advanced [](https://checkio.org/) CheckiO - coding websites and programming games. Improve your coding skills by solving coding challenges and exercises online with your friends in a fun way. Exchanges experience with other users online through fun coding activities Coding for Kids | Game-Based Programming | CodeMonkey [](https://www.codemonkey.com/) CodeMonkey is a leading coding for kids program. Through its award-winning courses, millions of students learn how to code in real programming languages. Coding Games and Programming Challenges to Code Better [](https://www.codingame.com/) CodinGame is a challenge-based training platform for programmers where you can play with the hottest programming topics. Solve games, code AI bots, learn from your peers, have fun. Learn VIM while playing a game - VIM Adventures [](https://vim-adventures.com/) VIM Adventures is an online game based on VIM's keyboard shortcuts. It's the "Zelda meets text editing" game. So come have some fun and learn some VIM! CodeCombat - Coding games to learn Python and JavaScript [](https://codecombat.com/) Learn typed code through a programming game. Learn Python, JavaScript, and HTML as you solve puzzles and learn to make your own coding games and websites. Design Useberry - Codeless prototype analytics [](https://www.useberry.com/) User testing feedback & rich insights in minutes, not months! Figma: the collaborative interface design tool. [](https://www.figma.com/) Build better products as a team. Design, prototype, and gather feedback all in one place with Figma. Dribbble - Discover the World’s Top Designers & Creative Professionals [](https://dribbble.com/) Find Top Designers & Creative Professionals on Dribbble. We are where designers gain inspiration, feedback, community, and jobs. Your best resource to discover and connect with designers worldwide. Photopea | Online Photo Editor [](https://www.photopea.com/) Photopea Online Photo Editor lets you edit photos, apply effects, filters, add text, crop or resize pictures. Do Online Photo Editing in your browser for free! Toools.design – An archive of 1000+ Design Resources [](https://www.toools.design/) A growing archive of over a thousand design resources, weekly updated for the community. Discover highly useful design tools you never thought existed. All Online Tools in One Box | 10015 Tools [](https://10015.io/) All online tools you need in one box for free. Build anything online with “all-in-one toolbox”. All tools are easy-to-use, blazing fast & free. Phase - Digital Design Reinvented| Phase [](https://phase.com/) Design and prototype websites and apps visually and intuitively, in a new powerful product reworked for the digital age. Animated Backgrounds [](https://animatedbackgrounds.me/) A Collection of 30+ animated backgrounds for websites and blogs.With Animated Backgrounds, set a simple, elegant background animations on your websites and blogs. Trianglify.io · Low Poly Pattern Generator [](https://trianglify.io/) Trianglify.io is a tool for generating low poly triangle patterns that can be used as wallpapers and website assets. Cool Backgrounds [](https://coolbackgrounds.io/) Explore a beautifully curated selection of cool backgrounds that you can add to blogs, websites, or as desktop and phone wallpapers. SVG Repo - Free SVG Vectors and Icons [](https://www.svgrepo.com/) Free Vectors and Icons in SVG format. ✅ Download free mono or multi color vectors for commercial use. Search in 300.000+ Free SVG Vectors and Icons. Microcopy - Short copy text for your website. [](https://www.microcopy.me/) Search micro UX copy text: slogans, headlines, notifications, CTA, error messages, email, account preferences, and much more. 3D icons and icon paks - Free3Dicon [](https://free3dicon.com/) All 3D icons you need in one place. This is a collection of free, beautiful, trending 3D icons, that you can use in any project. Love 3D Icon [](https://free3dicons.com/) Downloads free 3D icons GIMP - GNU Image Manipulation Program [](https://www.gimp.org/) GIMP - The GNU Image Manipulation Program: The Free and Open Source Image Editor blender.org - Home of the Blender project - Free and Open 3D Creation Software [](https://www.blender.org/) The Freedom to Create 3D Design Software | 3D Modeling on the Web | SketchUp [](https://www.sketchup.com/) SketchUp is a premier 3D design software that truly makes 3D modeling for everyone, with a simple to learn yet robust toolset that empowers you to create whatever you can imagine. Free Logo Maker - Create a Logo in Seconds - Shopify [](https://www.shopify.com/tools/logo-maker) Free logo maker tool to generate custom design logos in seconds. This logo creator is built for entrepreneurs on the go with hundreds of templates, free vectors, fonts and icons to design your own logo. The easiest way to create business logos online. All your design tools in one place | Renderforest [](https://www.renderforest.com/) Time to get your brand noticed. Create professional videos, logos, mockups, websites, and graphics — all in one place. Get started now! Prompt Hero [](https://prompthero.com/) Type Scale - A Visual Calculator [](https://type-scale.com/) Preview and choose the right type scale for your project. Experiment with font size, scale and different webfonts. DreamFusion: Text-to-3D using 2D Diffusion [](https://dreamfusion3d.github.io/) DreamFusion: Text-to-3D using 2D Diffusion, 2022. The branding style guidelines documents archive [](https://brandingstyleguides.com/) Welcome to the brand design manual documents directory. Search over our worldwide style assets handpicked collection, access to PDF documents for inspiration. Super designer | Create beautiful designs with a few clicks [](https://superdesigner.co/) Create beautiful designs with a few clicks. Simple design tools to generate unique patterns, backgrounds, 3D shapes, colors & images for social media, websites and more Readymag—a design tool to create websites without coding [](https://readymag.com/) Meet the most elegant, simple and powerful web-tool for designing websites, presentations, portfolios and all kinds of digital publications. ffflux: Online SVG Fluid Gradient Background Generator | fffuel [](https://fffuel.co/ffflux/) SVG generator to make fluid gradient backgrounds that feel organic and motion-like. Perfect to add a feeling of motion and fluidity to your web designs. Generate unique SVG design assets | Haikei [](https://haikei.app/) A web-based design tool to generate unique SVG design assets for websites, social media, blog posts, desktop and mobile wallpapers, posters, and more! Our generators let you discover, customize, randomize, and export generative SVG design assets ready to use with your favorite design tools. UI/UX - Inspirational Free Website Builder Software | 10,000+ Free Templates [](https://nicepage.com/) Nicepage is your website builder software breaking limitations common for website builders with revolutionary freehand positioning. 7000+ Free Templates. Easy Drag-n-Drop. No coding. Mobile-friendly. Clean HTML. Super designer | Create beautiful designs with a few clicks [](https://superdesigner.co/) Create beautiful designs with a few clicks. Simple design tools to generate unique patterns, backgrounds, 3D shapes, colors & images for social media, websites and more Pika – Create beautiful mockups from screenshots [](https://pika.style/) Quickly create beautiful website and device mockup from screenshot. Pika lets you capture website screenshots form URL, add device and browser frames, customize background and more LiveTerm [](https://liveterm.vercel.app/) Minimal Gallery – Web design inspiration [](https://minimal.gallery/) For the love of beautiful, clean and functional websites. Awwwards - Website Awards - Best Web Design Trends [](https://www.awwwards.com/) Awwwards are the Website Awards that recognize and promote the talent and effort of the best developers, designers and web agencies in the world. Design Systems For Figma [](https://www.designsystemsforfigma.com/) A collection of Design Systems for Figma from all over the globe. Superside: Design At Scale For Ambitious Brands [](https://www.superside.com/) We are an always-on design company. Get a team of dedicated designers, speedy turnarounds, magical creative collaboration tech and the top 1% of global talent. UXArchive - Made by Waldo [](https://uxarchive.com/) UXArchive the world's largest library of mobile user flows. Be inspired to design the best user experiences. Search by Muzli [](https://search.muz.li/) Search, discover, test and create beautiful color palettes for your projects Siteinspire | Web Design Inspiration [](https://www.siteinspire.com/) SAVEE [](https://savee.it/) The best way to save and share inspiration. A little corner of the internet to find good landing page copywriting examples [](https://greatlandingpagecopy.com/) A little corner of the internet to find great landing page copywriting examples. The Best Landing Page Examples For Design Inspiration - SaaS Landing Page [](https://saaslandingpage.com/) SaaS Landing Page showcases the best landing page examples created by top-class SaaS companies. Get ideas and inspirations for your next design project. Websites Free templates Premium Bootstrap Themes and Templates: Download @ Creative Tim [](https://www.creative-tim.com/) UI Kits, Templates and Dashboards built on top of Bootstrap, Vue.js, React, Angular, Node.js and Laravel. Join over 2,014,387+ creatives to access all our products! Free Bootstrap Themes, Templates, Snippets, and Guides - Start Bootstrap [](https://startbootstrap.com/) Start Bootstrap develops free to download, open source Bootstrap 5 themes, templates, and snippets and creates guides and tutorials to help you learn more about designing and developing with Bootstrap. Free Website Templates [](https://freewebsitetemplates.com/) Get your free website templates here and use them on your website without needing to link back to us. One Page Love - One Page Website Inspiration and Templates [](https://onepagelove.com/) One Page Love is a One Page website design gallery showcasing the best Single Page websites, templates and resources. Free CSS | 3400 Free Website Templates, CSS Templates and Open Source Templates [](https://www.free-css.com/) Free CSS has 3400 free website templates, all templates are free CSS templates, open source templates or creative commons templates. Free Bootstrap Themes and Website Templates | BootstrapMade [](https://bootstrapmade.com/) At BootstrapMade, we create beautiful website templates and bootstrap themes using Bootstrap, the most popular HTML, CSS and JavaScript framework. Free and Premium Bootstrap Themes, Templates by Themesberg [](https://themesberg.com/) Free and Premium Bootstrap themes, templates, admin dashboards and UI kits used by over 38820 web developers and software companies HTML, Vue.js and React templates for startup landing pages - Cruip [](https://cruip.com/) Cruip is a gallery of premium and free HTML, Vue.js and React templates for startups and SaaS. Free Website Templates Download | WordPress Themes - W3Layouts [](https://w3layouts.com/) Want to download free website templates? W3Layouts WordPress themes and website templates are built with responsive web design techniques. Download now! Free HTML Landing Page Templates and UI Kits | UIdeck [](https://uideck.com/) Free HTML Landing Page Templates, Bootstrap Themes, React Templates, HTML Templates, Tailwind Templates, and UI Kits. Create Online Graphics Snappa - Quick & Easy Graphic Design Software [](https://snappa.com/) Snappa makes it easy to create any type of online graphic. Create & publish images for social media, blogs, ads, and more! Canva [](https://www.canva.com/) Polotno Studio - Make graphical designs [](https://studio.polotno.com) Free online design editor. Create images for social media, youtube previews, facebook covers Free Logo Maker: Design Custom Logos | Adobe Express [](https://www.adobe.com/express/create/logo) The Adobe Express logo maker is instant, intuitive, and intelligent. Use it to generate a wide range of possibilities for your own logo. Photo Editor: Fotor – Free Online Photo Editing & Image Editor [](https://www.fotor.com/) Fotor's online photo editor helps you edit photos with free online photo editing tools. Crop photos, resize images, and add effects/filters, text, and graphics in just a few clicks. Photoshop online has never been easier with Fotor's free online photo editor. VistaCreate – Free Graphic Design Software with 70,000+ Free Templates [](https://create.vista.com/) Looking for free graphic design software? Easily create professional designs with VistaCreate, a free design tool with powerful features and 50K+ ready-made templates Draw Freely | Inkscape [](https://inkscape.org/) Inkscape is professional quality vector graphics software which runs on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows desktop computers. Visual & Video Maker Trusted By 11 Million Users - Piktochart [](https://piktochart.com/) With Piktochart, you can create professional-looking infographics, flyers, posters, charts, videos, and more. No design experience needed. Start for free. The Web's Favorite Online Graphic Design Tool | Stencil [](https://getstencil.com/) Stencil is a fantastically easy-to-use online graphic design tool and image editor built for business owners, social media marketers, and bloggers. Pablo by Buffer - Design engaging images for your social media posts in under 30 seconds [](https://pablo.buffer.com/) Buffer makes it super easy to share any page you're reading. Keep your Buffer topped up and we automagically share them for you through the day. Free Online Graphic Design Software | Create stunning designs in seconds. [](https://desygner.com/) Easy drag and drop graphic design tool for anyone to use with 1000's of ready made templates. Create & print professional business cards, flyers, social posts and more. Color Pallet Color Palettes for Designers and Artists - Color Hunt [](https://colorhunt.co/) Discover the newest hand-picked color palettes of Color Hunt. Get color inspiration for your design and art projects. Coolors - The super fast color palettes generator! [](https://coolors.co/) Generate or browse beautiful color combinations for your designs. Get color palette inspiration from nature - colorpalettes.earth [](https://colorpalettes.earth/) Color palettes inspired by beautiful nature photos Color Palette Generator - Create Beautiful Color Schemes [](https://colors.muz.li/) Search, discover, test and create beautiful color palettes for your projects A Most Useful Color Picker | 0to255 [](https://0to255.com/) Find lighter and darker colors based on any color. Discover why over two million people have used 0to255 to choose colors for their website, logo, room interior, and print design projects. Colour Contrast Checker [](https://colourcontrast.cc/) Check the contrast between different colour combinations against WCAG standards Fonts Google Fonts [](https://fonts.google.com/) Making the web more beautiful, fast, and open through great typography Fonts In Use – Type at work in the real world. [](https://fontsinuse.com/) A searchable archive of typographic design, indexed by typeface, format, and topic. Wordmark - Helps you choose fonts! [](https://wordmark.it/) Wordmark helps you choose fonts by quickly displaying your text with your fonts. OH no Type Company [](https://ohnotype.co/) OH no Type Co. Retail and custom typefaces. Life’s a thrill, fonts are chill! Illustrations Illustrations | unDraw [](https://undraw.co/illustrations) The design project with open-source illustrations for any idea you can imagine and create. Create beautiful websites, products and applications with your color, for free. Design Junction [](https://designjunction.xyz/) Design Junction is a one-stop resource library for Designers and Creatives with curated list of best resources handpicked from around the web Humaaans: Mix-&-Match illustration library [](https://www.humaaans.com/) Mix-&-match illustrations of people with a design library for InVIsion Studio and Sketch. Stubborn - Free Illustrations Generator [](https://stubborn.fun/) Free illustrations generator for Figma and Sketch. Get the opportunity to design your characters using symbols and styles. Open Peeps, Hand-Drawn Illustration Library [](https://www.openpeeps.com/) Open Peeps is a hand-drawn illustration library to create scenes of people. You can use them in product illustration, marketing, comics, product states, user flows, personas, storyboarding, quinceañera invitations, or whatever you want! ⠀ Reshot | Free icons & illustrations [](https://www.reshot.com/) Design freely with instant downloads of curated SVG icons and vector illustrations. All free with commercial licensing. No attribution required. Blush: Illustrations for everyone [](https://blush.design/) Blush makes it easy to add free illustrations to your designs. Play with fully customizable graphics made by artists across the globe. Mockups Angle 4 - 5000+ Device Mockups for Figma, Sketch and XD [](https://angle.sh/) Vector mockups for iPhone, iPad, Android and Mac devices, including the new iPhone 13, Pro, Pro Max and Mini. Perfect for presenting your apps. Huge library of components, compositions, wallpapers and plugins made for Figma, Sketch and XD. Make Mockups, Logos, Videos and Designs in Seconds [](https://placeit.net/) Get unlimited downloads on all our 100K templates! You can make a logo, video, mockup, flyer, business card and social media image in seconds right from your browser. Free and premium tools for graphic designers | Lstore Graphics [](https://www.ls.graphics/) Free and premium mockups, UI/UX tools, scene creators for busy designers Logo Design & Brand Identity Platform for Entrepreneurs | Looka [](https://looka.com/) Logojoy is now Looka! Design a Logo, make a website, and create a Brand Identity you’ll love with the power of Artificial Intelligence. 100% free to use. Create stunning product mockups easily and online - Smartmockups [](https://smartmockups.com/) Smartmockups enables you to create stunning high-resolution mockups right inside your browser within one interface across multiple devices. Previewed - Free mockup generator for your app [](https://previewed.app/) Join Previewed to create stunning 3D image shots and animations for your app. Choose from hundreds of ready made mockups, or create your own. Free Design Software - Graphic Online Maker - Glorify [](https://www.glorify.com/) Create professional and high converting social media posts, ads, infographics, presentations, and more with Glorify, a free design software & graphic maker. Other BuiltWith Technology Lookup [](https://builtwith.com/) Web technology information profiler tool. Find out what a website is built with. Compress JPEG Images Online [](https://compressjpeg.com/) Compress JPEG images and photos for displaying on web pages, sharing on social networks or sending by email. PhotoRoom - Remove Background and Create Product Pictures [](https://www.photoroom.com/) Create product and portrait pictures using only your phone. Remove background, change background and showcase products. Magic Eraser - Remove unwanted things from images in seconds [](https://www.magiceraser.io/) Magic Eraser - Use AI to remove unwanted things from images in seconds. Upload an image, mark the bit you need removed, download the fixed up image. Compressor.io - optimize and compress JPEG photos and PNG images [](https://compressor.io/) Optimize and compress JPEG, PNG, SVG, GIF and WEBP images online. Compress, resize and rename your photos for free. Remove Video Background – Unscreen [](https://www.unscreen.com/) Remove the background of any video - 100% automatically, online & free! Goodbye Greenscreen. Hello Unscreen. Noun Project: Free Icons & Stock Photos for Everything [](https://thenounproject.com/) Noun Project features the most diverse collection of icons and stock photos ever. Download SVG and PNG. Browse over 5 million art-quality icons and photos. Design Principles [](https://principles.design/) An Open Source collection of Design Principles and methods Shapefest™ - A massive library of free 3D shapes [](https://www.shapefest.com/) A massive free library of beautifully rendered 3D shapes. 160,000+ high resolution PNG images in one cohesive library. Learning UX Degreeless.design - Everything I Learned in Design School [](https://degreeless.design/) This is a list of everything I've found useful in my journey of learning design, and an ongoing list of things I think you should read. For budding UX, UI, Interaction, or whatever other title designers. UX Tools | Practical UX skills and tools [](https://uxtools.co/) Lessons and resources from two full-time product designers. Built For Mars [](https://builtformars.com/) On a mission to help the world build better user experiences by demystifying UX. Thousands of hours of research packed into UX case studies. Case Study Club – Curated UX Case Study Gallery [](https://www.casestudy.club/) Case Study Club is the biggest curated gallery of the best UI/UX design case studies. Get inspired by industry-leading designers, openly sharing their UX process. The Guide to Design [](https://start.uxdesign.cc/) A self-guided class to help you get started in UX and answer key questions about craft, design, and career Uxcel - Where design careers are built [](https://app.uxcel.com/explore) Available on any device anywhere in the world, Uxcel is the best way to improve and learn UX design online in just 5 minutes per day. UI & UX Design Tips by Jim Raptis. [](https://www.uidesign.tips/) Learn UI & UX Design with practical byte-sized tips and in-depth articles from Jim Raptis. Entrepreneur Instant Username Search [](https://instantusername.com/#/) Instant Username Search checks out if your username is available on more than 100 social media sites. Results appear instantly as you type. Flourish | Data Visualization & Storytelling [](https://flourish.studio/) Beautiful, easy data visualization and storytelling PiPiADS - #1 TikTok Ads Spy Tool [](https://www.pipiads.com/) PiPiADS is the best tiktok ads spy tool .We provide tiktok advertising,advertising on tiktok,tiktok ads examples,tiktok ads library,tiktok ads best practices,so you can understand the tiktok ads cost and master the tiktok ads 2021 and tiktok ads manager. Minea - The best adspy for product search in ecommerce and dropshipping [](https://en.minea.com/) Minea is the ultimate e-commerce product search tool. Minea tracks all ads on all networks. Facebook Ads, influencer product placements, Snapspy, all networks are tracked. Stop paying adspy 149€ for one network and discover Minea. AdSpy [](https://adspy.com/) Google Trends [](https://trends.google.com/) ScoreApp: Advanced Quiz Funnel Marketing | Make a Quiz Today [](https://www.scoreapp.com/) ScoreApp makes quiz funnel marketing easy, so you can attract relevant warm leads, insightful data and increase your sales. Try for free today Mailmodo - Send Interactive Emails That Drive Conversions [](https://www.mailmodo.com/) Use Mailmodo to create and send interactive emails your customers love. Drive conversions and get better email ROI. Sign up for a free trial now. 185 Top E-Commerce Sites Ranked by User Experience Performance – Baymard Institute [](https://baymard.com/ux-benchmark) See the ranked UX performance of the 185 largest e-commerce sites in the US and Europe. The chart summarizes 50,000+ UX performance ratings. Metricool - Analyze, manage and measure your digital content [](https://metricool.com/) Social media scheduling, web analytics, link in bio and reporting. Metricool is free per live for one brand. START HERE Visualping: #1 Website change detection, monitoring and alerts [](https://visualping.io/) More than 1.5 millions users monitor changes in websites with Visualping, the No1 website change detection, website checker, webpage change monitoring and webpage change detection tool. Gumroad – Sell what you know and see what sticks [](https://gumroad.com/) Gumroad is a powerful, but simple, e-commerce platform. We make it easy to earn your first dollar online by selling digital products, memberships and more. Product Hunt – The best new products in tech. [](https://www.producthunt.com/) Product Hunt is a curation of the best new products, every day. Discover the latest mobile apps, websites, and technology products that everyone's talking about. 12ft Ladder [](https://12ft.io/) Show me a 10ft paywall, I’ll show you a 12ft ladder. namecheckr | Social and Domain Name Availability Search For Brand Professionals [](https://www.namecheckr.com/) Social and Domain Name Availability Search For Brand Professionals Excel AI Formula Generator - Excelformulabot.com [](https://excelformulabot.com/) Transform your text instructions into Excel formulas in seconds with the help of AI. Z-Library [](https://z-lib.org/) Global Print On Demand Platform | Gelato [](https://www.gelato.com/) Create and sell custom products online. With local production in 33 countries, easy integration, and 24/7 customer support, Gelato is an all-in-one platform. Freecycle: Front Door [](https://freecycle.org/) Free eBooks | Project Gutenberg [](https://www.gutenberg.org/) Project Gutenberg is a library of free eBooks. Convertio — File Converter [](https://convertio.co/) Convertio - Easy tool to convert files online. More than 309 different document, image, spreadsheet, ebook, archive, presentation, audio and video formats supported. Namechk [](https://namechk.com/) Crazy Egg Website — Optimization | Heatmaps, Recordings, Surveys & A/B Testing [](https://www.crazyegg.com/) Use Crazy Egg to see what's hot and what's not, and to know what your web visitors are doing with tools, such as heatmaps, recordings, surveys, A/B testing & more. Ifttt [](https://ifttt.com/) Also Asked [](https://alsoasked.com/) Business Name Generator - Easily create Brandable Business Names - Namelix [](https://namelix.com/) Namelix uses artificial intelligence to create a short, brandable business name. Search for domain availability, and instantly generate a logo for your new business Merch Informer [](https://merchinformer.com/) Headline Generator [](https://www.title-generator.com/) Title Generator: create 700 headlines with ONE CLICK: Content Ideas + Catchy Headlines + Ad Campaign E-mail Subject Lines + Emotional Titles. Simple - Efficient - One Click Make [](https://www.make.com/en) Create and add calculator widgets to your website | CALCONIC_ [](https://www.calconic.com/) Web calculator builder empowers you to choose from a pre-made templates or build your own calculator widgets from a scratch without any need of programming knowledge Boost Your Views And Subscribers On YouTube - vidIQ [](https://vidiq.com/) vidIQ helps you acquire the tools and knowledge needed to grow your audience faster on YouTube and beyond. Learn More Last Pass [](https://www.lastpass.com/) Starter Story: Learn How People Are Starting Successful Businesses [](https://www.starterstory.com/) Starter Story interviews successful entrepreneurs and shares the stories behind their businesses. In each interview, we ask how they got started, how they grew, and how they run their business today. How To Say No [](https://www.starterstory.com/how-to-say-no) Saying no is hard, but it's also essential for your sanity. Here are some templates for how to say no - so you can take back your life. Think with Google - Discover Marketing Research & Digital Trends [](https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/) Uncover the latest marketing research and digital trends with data reports, guides, infographics, and articles from Think with Google. ClickUp™ | One app to replace them all [](https://clickup.com/) Our mission is to make the world more productive. To do this, we built one app to replace them all - Tasks, Docs, Goals, and Chat. The Manual [](https://manual.withcompound.com/) Wealth-planning resources for founders and startup employees Software for Amazon FBA Sellers & Walmart Sellers | Helium 10 [](https://www.helium10.com/) If you're looking for the best software for Amazon FBA & Walmart sellers on the market, check out Helium 10's capabilities online today! Buffer: All-you-need social media toolkit for small businesses [](https://buffer.com/) Use Buffer to manage your social media so that you have more time for your business. Join 160,000+ small businesses today. CPGD — The Consumer Packaged Goods Directory [](https://www.cpgd.xyz/) The Consumer Packaged Goods Directory is a platform to discover new brands and resources. We share weekly trends in our newsletter and partner with services to provide vetted, recommended platforms for our Directory brands. Jungle Scout [](https://www.junglescout.com/) BuzzSumo | The World's #1 Content Marketing Platform [](https://buzzsumo.com/) BuzzSumo powers the strategies of 500k+ marketers, with content marketing data on 8b articles, 42m websites, 300t engagements, 500k journalists & 492m questions. Login - Capital [](https://app.capital.xyz/) Raise, hold, spend, and send funds — all in one place. Marketing Pictory – Video Marketing Made Easy - Pictory.ai [](https://pictory.ai/) Pictory's powerful AI enables you to create and edit professional quality videos using text, no technical skills required or software to download. Tolstoy | Communicate with interactive videos [](https://www.gotolstoy.com/) Start having face-to-face conversations with your customers. Create Email Marketing Your Audience Will Love - MailerLite [](https://www.mailerlite.com/) Email marketing tools to grow your audience faster and drive revenue smarter. Get free access to premium features with a 30-day trial! Sign up now! Hypefury - Schedule & Automate Social Media Marketing [](https://hypefury.com/) Save time on social media while creating more value, and growing your audience faster. Schedule & automate your social media experience! Klaviyo: Marketing Automation Platform for Email & SMS [](https://www.klaviyo.com/) Klaviyo, an ecommerce marketing automation platform for email marketing and sms syncs your tech stack with your website store to scale your business. Online Email & Lead Scraper | Klean Leads [](https://www.kleanleads.com/) Klean Leads is an online email scraper & email address finder. Use it to book more appointments, get more replies, and close more sales. PhantomBuster [](https://phantombuster.com/) Call to Action Examples - 300+ CTA Phrases [](https://ctaexamples.com/) See the best CTA example in every situation covered by the library of 300+ CTA goals. Use the examples to create your own CTAs in minutes. Creative Center: one-stop creative solution for TikTok [](https://ads.tiktok.com/business/creativecenter/pc/en?from=001010) Come to get your next great idea for TikTok. Here you can find the best performing ads, viral videos, and trending hashtags across regions and verticals. Groove.cm GrooveFunnels, GrooveMail with CRM and Digital Marketing Automation Platform - Groove.cm with GrooveFunnels, GroovePages, GrooveKart [](https://groove.cm/) Groove is a website creator, page builder, sales funnel maker, membership site platform, email autoresponder, blog tool, shopping cart system, ecommerce store solution, affiliate manager, video marketing software and more apps to help build your online business. SurveyMonkey: The World’s Most Popular Free Online Survey Tool [](https://www.surveymonkey.com/) Use SurveyMonkey to drive your business forward by using our free online survey tool to capture the voices and opinions of the people who matter most to you. Video Maker | Create Videos Online | Promo.com [](https://promo.com/) Free customizable video maker to help boost your business. Video creator for ads, social media, product and explainer videos, and for anything else you need! beehiiv — The newsletter platform built for growth [](https://www.beehiiv.com/) Access the best tools available in email, helping your newsletter scale and monetize like never before. GetResponse | Professional Email Marketing for Everyone [](https://www.getresponse.com/) No matter your level of expertise, we have a solution for you. At GetResponse, it's email marketing done right. Start your free account today! Search Email Newsletter Archives : Email Tuna [](https://emailtuna.com/) Explore newsletters without subscribing. Get email design ideas, discount coupon codes and exclusive newsletters deals. Database of email newsletters archived from all over the internet. Other Tools Simplescraper — Scrape Websites and turn them into APIs [](https://simplescraper.io/) Web scraping made easy — a powerful and free Chrome extension for scraping websites in your browser, automated in the cloud, or via API. No code required. Exploding Topics - Discover the hottest new trends. [](https://explodingtopics.com/) See new market opportunities, trending topics, emerging technology, hot startups and more on Exploding Topics. Scribe | Visual step-by-step guides [](https://scribehow.com/) By capturing your process while you work, Scribe automatically generates a visual guide, ready to share with the click of a button. Get It Free – The internet's BEST place to find free stuff! [](https://getitfree.us/) The internet's BEST place to find free stuff! Inflact by Ingramer – Marketing toolkit for Instagram [](https://inflact.com/) Sell on Instagram, build your audience, curate content with the right set of tools. Free Online Form Builder & Form Creator | Jotform [](https://www.jotform.com/) We believe the right form makes all the difference. Go from busywork to less work with powerful forms that use conditional logic, accept payments, generate reports, and automate workflows. Manage Your Team’s Projects From Anywhere | Trello [](https://trello.com/en) Trello is the ultimate project management tool. Start up a board in seconds, automate tedious tasks, and collaborate anywhere, even on mobile. TikTok hashtag generator - tiktokhashtags.com [](https://tiktokhashtags.com/) Find out which are the best hashtags for your TikTok post. Create Infographics, Reports and Maps - Infogram [](https://infogram.com/) Infogram is an easy to use infographic and chart maker. Create and share beautiful infographics, online reports, and interactive maps. Make your own here. Confetto - Create Instagram content in minutes [](https://www.confet.to/) Confetto is an all-in-one social media marketing tool built for SMBs and Social Media Managers. Confetto helps you create high-quality content for your audience that maximizes your reach and engagement on social media. Design, copy-write, plan and schedule content all in one place. Find email addresses in seconds • Hunter (Email Hunter) [](https://hunter.io/) Hunter is the leading solution to find and verify professional email addresses. Start using Hunter and connect with the people that matter for your business. PlayPhrase.me: Site for cinema archaeologists. [](https://playphrase.me/) Travel and explore the world of cinema. Largest collection of video quotes from movies on the web. #1 Free SEO Tools → SEO Review Tools [](https://www.seoreviewtools.com/) SEO Review Tools: 42+ Free Online SEO Tools build with ❤! → Rank checker → Domain Authority Checker → Keyword Tool → Backlink Checker Podcastle: Seamless Podcast Recording & Editing [](https://podcastle.ai/) Podcastle is the simplest way to create professional-quality podcasts. Record, edit, transcribe, and export your content with the power of AI, in an intuitive web-based platform. Save Ads from TikTok & Facebook Ad Library - Foreplay [](https://www.foreplay.co/) The best way to save ads from TikTok Creative Center and Facebook Ad Library, Organize them into boards and share ad inspiration with your team. Supercharge your creative strategy. SiteRight - Automate Your Business [](https://www.siteright.co/) SiteRight combines the abilities of multiple online resources into a single dashboard allowing you to have full control over how you manage your business. Diffchecker - Compare text online to find the difference between two text files [](https://www.diffchecker.com/) Diffchecker will compare text to find the difference between two text files. Just paste your files and click Find Difference! Yout.com [](https://yout.com/) Yout.com allows you to record videos from YouTube, FaceBook, SoundCloud, VK and others too many formats with clipping. Intuitively easy to use, with Yout the Internet DVR, with a bit of extra. AI Content Generation | Competitor Analysis - Predis.ai [](https://predis.ai/) Predis helps brands and influencers communicate better on social media by providing AI-powered content strategy analysis, content and hashtag recommendations. Castr | #1 Live Video Streaming Solution With Video Hosting [](https://castr.io/) Castr is a live video streaming solution platform that delivers enterprise-grade live videos globally with CDN. Live event streaming, video hosting, pre-recorded live, multi stream – all in one place using Castr. Headliner - Promote your podcast, radio show or blog with video [](https://www.headliner.app/) Easily create videos to promote your podcast, radio show or blog. Share to Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin and anywhere video lives Create Presentations, Infographics, Design & Video | Visme [](https://www.visme.co/) Create professional presentations, interactive infographics, beautiful design and engaging videos, all in one place. Start using Visme today. Designrr - Create eBooks, Kindle books, Leadmagnets, Flipbooks and Blog posts from your content in 2 minutes [](https://designrr.io/) Upload any web page, MS Word, Video, Podcast or YouTube and it will create a stunning ebook and convert it to pdf, epub, Kindle or Flipbook. Quick and Easy to use. Full Training, 24x7 Support and Facebook Group Included. SwipeWell | Swipe File Software [](https://www.swipewell.app/) The only Chrome extension dedicated to helping you save, organize, and reference marketing examples (so you never feel stumped). Tango | Create how-to guides, in seconds [](https://www.tango.us/) Tango takes the pain out of documenting processes by automatically generating how-to guides while you work. Empower your team to do their best work. Ad Creative Bank [](https://www.theadcreativebank.com/) Get inspired by ads from across industries, learn new best practices, and start thinking creatively about your brand’s digital creative. Signature Hound • Free Email Signature and Template Generator [](https://signaturehound.com/) Our email signature generator is free and easy to use. Our customizable templates work with Gmail, Outlook, Office 365, Apple Mail and more. Organize All Of Your Marketing In One Place - CoSchedule [](https://coschedule.com/) Get more done in less time with the only work management software for marketers. B Ok - Books [](https://b-ok.xyz/categories) OmmWriter [](https://ommwriter.com/) Ommwriter Rebrandly | Custom URL Shortener, Branded Link Management, API [](https://www.rebrandly.com/) URL Shortener with custom domains. Shorten, brand and track URLs with the industry-leading link management platform. Free to try. API, Short URL, Custom Domains. Common Tools [](https://www.commontools.org/) Book Bolt [](https://bookbolt.io/) Zazzle [](https://www.zazzle.com/) InspiroBot [](https://inspirobot.me/) Download Free Cheat Sheets or Create Your Own! - Cheatography.com: Cheat Sheets For Every Occasion [](https://cheatography.com/) Find thousands of incredible, original programming cheat sheets, all free to download. No Code Chatbot Platform | Free Chatbot Platform | WotNot [](https://wotnot.io/) WotNot is the best no code chatbot platform to build AI bot easily without coding. Deploy bots and live chat on the Website, Messenger, WhatsApp, and more. SpyFu - Competitor Keyword Research Tools for Google Ads PPC & SEO [](https://www.spyfu.com/) Systeme.io - The only tool you need to launch your online business [](https://systeme.io/) Systeme.io has all the tools you need to grow your online business. Click here to create your FREE account! Productivity Temp Mail [](https://temp-mail.org/en/) The Visual Collaboration Platform for Every Team | Miro [](https://miro.com/) Scalable, secure, cross-device and enterprise-ready team collaboration whiteboard for distributed teams. Join 35M+ users from around the world. Grammarly: Free Online Writing Assistant [](https://www.grammarly.com/) Millions trust Grammarly’s free writing app to make their online writing clear and effective. Getting started is simple — download Grammarly’s extension today. Rize · Maximize Your Productivity [](https://rize.io/) Rize is a smart time tracker that improves your focus and helps you build better work habits. Motion | Manage calendars, meetings, projects & tasks in one app [](https://www.usemotion.com/) Automatically prioritize tasks, schedule meetings, and resolve calendar conflicts. Used by over 10k CEOs and professionals to improve focus, get more done, and streamline workday. Notion – One workspace. Every team. [](https://www.notion.so/) We’re more than a doc. Or a table. Customize Notion to work the way you do. Loom: Async Video Messaging for Work | Loom [](https://www.loom.com/) Record your screen, share your thoughts, and get things done faster with async video. Zapier | Automation that moves you forward [](https://zapier.com/) Workflow automation for everyone. Zapier automates your work across 5,000+ app integrations, so you can focus on what matters. Rows — The spreadsheet with superpowers [](https://rows.com/) Combine the power of a spreadsheet with built-in integrations from your business apps. Automate workflows and build tools that make work simpler. Free Online Form Builder | Tally [](https://tally.so/) Tally is the simplest way to create free forms & surveys. Create any type of form in seconds, without knowing how to code, and for free. Highbrow | Learn Something New Every Day. Join for Free! [](https://gohighbrow.com/) Highbrow helps you learn something new every day with 5-minute lessons delivered to your inbox every morning. Join over 400,000 lifelong learners today! Slick Write | Check your grammar. Proofread online. [](https://www.slickwrite.com/#!home) Slick Write is a powerful, FREE application that makes it easy to check your writing for grammar errors, potential stylistic mistakes, and other features of interest. Whether you're a blogger, novelist, SEO professional, or student writing an essay for school, Slick Write can help take your writing to the next level. Reverso [](https://www.reverso.net) Hemingway Editor [](https://hemingwayapp.com/) Web Apps by 123apps - Edit, Convert, Create [](https://123apps.com/) Splitbee – Your all-in-one analytics and conversion platform [](https://splitbee.io/) Track and optimize your online business with Splitbee. Analytics, Funnels, Automations, A/B Testing and more. PDF Tools Free PDF, Video, Image & Other Online Tools - TinyWow [](https://tinywow.com/) Smallpdf.com - A Free Solution to all your PDF Problems [](https://smallpdf.com/) Smallpdf - the platform that makes it super easy to convert and edit all your PDF files. Solving all your PDF problems in one place - and yes, free. Sejda helps with your PDF tasks [](https://www.sejda.com/) Sejda helps with your PDF tasks. Quick and simple online service, no installation required! Split, merge or convert PDF to images, alternate mix or split scans and many other. iLovePDF | Online PDF tools for PDF lovers [](https://www.ilovepdf.com/) iLovePDF is an online service to work with PDF files completely free and easy to use. Merge PDF, split PDF, compress PDF, office to PDF, PDF to JPG and more! Text rewrite QuillBot [](https://quillbot.com/) Pre Post SEO : Online SEO Tools [](https://www.prepostseo.com/) Free Online SEO Tools: plagiarism checker, grammar checker, image compressor, website seo checker, article rewriter, back link checker Wordtune | Your personal writing assistant & editor [](https://www.wordtune.com/) Wordtune is the ultimate AI writing tool that rewrites, rephrases, and rewords your writing! Trusted by over 1,000,000 users, Wordtune strengthens articles, academic papers, essays, emails and any other online content. Aliexpress alternatives CJdropshipping - Dropshipping from Worldwide to Worldwide! [](https://cjdropshipping.com/) China's reliable eCommerce dropshipping fulfillment supplier, helps small businesses ship worldwide, dropship and fulfillment services that are friendly to start-ups and small businesses, Shopify dropshipping. SaleHoo [](https://www.salehoo.com/) Alibaba.com: Manufacturers, Suppliers, Exporters & Importers from the world's largest online B2B marketplace [](https://www.alibaba.com/) Find quality Manufacturers, Suppliers, Exporters, Importers, Buyers, Wholesalers, Products and Trade Leads from our award-winning International Trade Site. Import & Export on alibaba.com Best Dropshipping Suppliers for US + EU Products | Spocket [](https://www.spocket.co/) Spocket allows you to easily start dropshipping top products from US and EU suppliers. Get started for free and see why Spocket consistently gets 5 stars. Best dropshipping supplier to the US [](https://www.usadrop.com/) THE ONLY AMERICAN-MADE FULFILLMENT CENTER IN CHINA. Our knowledge of the Worldwide dropshipping market and the Chinese Supply-Chain can't be beat! 阿里1688 [](https://www.1688.com/) 阿里巴巴（1688.com）是全球企业间（B2B）电子商务的著名品牌，为数千万网商提供海量商机信息和便捷安全的在线交易市场，也是商人们以商会友、真实互动的社区平台。目前1688.com已覆盖原材料、工业品、服装服饰、家居百货、小商品等12个行业大类，提供从原料--生产--加工--现货等一系列的供应产品和服务 Dropshipping Tools Oberlo | Where Self Made is Made [](https://www.oberlo.com/) Start selling online now with Shopify. All the videos, podcasts, ebooks, and dropshipping tools you'll need to build your online empire. Klaviyo: Marketing Automation Platform for Email & SMS [](https://www.klaviyo.com/) Klaviyo, an ecommerce marketing automation platform for email marketing and sms syncs your tech stack with your website store to scale your business. SMSBump | SMS Marketing E-Commerce App for Shopify [](https://smsbump.com/) SMSBump is an SMS marketing & automation app for Shopify. Segment customers, recover orders, send campaign text messages with a 35%+ click through rate. 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How To Start An AI Business In 2025 - STEP BY STEP

I don’t sell to beginners, get my 100% FREE agency course: https://bit.ly/APP-LITE My Favorite Tool: Get The All-in-One AI Sales & Marketing Automation Software: https://bit.ly/JW-GHL ❌ IMPORTANT ❌ : Don't use an ad blocker or chrome extension when clicking on the link, it will block affiliate tracking and you will NOT receive any of my bonuses WHO AM I? Hey, if we haven’t met before, my name is Jason Wardrop and I started and ran my own Real Estate CRM software for 6 years before becoming HighLevel’s #1 Affiliate All-Time! Disclosure: All content on Jason Wardrop’s YouTube channel reflects my own opinions and should NOT be taken as legal advice, financial advice, or investment advice. Please seek out the guidance of professionally trained and licensed individuals before making any decisions. I am an independent entity from HighLevel. I am not an agent or employee of HighLevel and have no authority to make binding contract or represent HighLevel. I receive referral payments from HighLevel. The opinions expressed here are my own and shall NOT be interpreted or considered as representations, guarantees, or statements made by HighLevel Inc or any of its subsidiaries, agents, or assigns. Some links in the description may be affiliate links. Results not guaranteed. #makemoney #makemoneyonline #sidehustle

99% of Beginners Don't Know the Basics of AI

Sign up for Google’s Project Management Certification on Coursera here: https://imp.i384100.net/js-project-management Grab my AI Toolkit for free: https://academy.jeffsu.org/ai-toolkit?utmsource=youtube&utmmedium=video&utm_campaign=163 Curious about #AI but don't know where to start? In this video, I break down 5 key takeaways from Google's AI Essentials course for beginners, share the pros and cons, and help you decide if this certification is worth your time. Let’s get started 😁 TIMESTAMPS 00:00 I took Google’s AI Essentials Course 00:29 There are 3 Types of AI Tools 03:39 Always surface Implied Context 04:51 Zero-Shot vs. Few-Shot Prompting 05:50 Chain-of-Thought Prompting 06:53 Limitations of AI 07:51 Pros and Cons of Google’s AI Essentials Course RESOURCES MENTIONED 🔩 Grab my free Workspace Toolkit: https://academy.jeffsu.org/workspace-toolkit?utmsource=youtube&utmmedium=video&utm_campaign=163 Write the Perfect Prompt: https://youtu.be/jC4v5AS4RIM ChatGPT for Job Seekers: https://youtu.be/2uN8PTXMY5c MY FAVORITE GEAR 🎬 My YouTube Gear - https://www.jeffsu.org/yt-gear/ 🎒 Everyday Carry - https://www.jeffsu.org/my-edc/ MY TOP 3 FAVORITE SOFTWARE ❎ CleanShot X - https://geni.us/cleanshotx ✍️ Skillshare - https://geni.us/skillshare-jeff 💼 Teal - http://tealhq.co/jeffsu BE MY FRIEND: 📧 Subscribe to my newsletter - https://www.jeffsu.org/newsletter/?utmsource=youtube&utmmedium=video 📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/j.sushie 🤝 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsu05/ 👨🏻‍💻 WHO AM I: I'm Jeff, a tech professional trying to figure life out. What I do end up figuring out, I share! PS: Some of the links in this description are affiliate links I get a kickback from and my opinions are my own and may not reflect that of my employer 😇 #Google #ChatGPT

How To Sell AI To Local Businesses (And Make $9k Per Month)

I don’t sell to beginners, get my 100% FREE agency course: https://bit.ly/APP-LITE My Favorite Tool: Get The All-in-One AI Sales & Marketing Automation Software: https://bit.ly/JW-GHL ❌ IMPORTANT ❌ : Don't use an ad blocker or chrome extension when clicking on the link, it will block affiliate tracking and you will NOT receive any of my bonuses WHO AM I? Hey, if we haven’t met before, my name is Jason Wardrop and I started and ran my own Real Estate CRM software for 6 years before becoming HighLevel’s #1 Affiliate All-Time! Disclosure: All content on Jason Wardrop’s YouTube channel reflects my own opinions and should NOT be taken as legal advice, financial advice, or investment advice. Please seek out the guidance of professionally trained and licensed individuals before making any decisions. I am an independent entity from HighLevel. I am not an agent or employee of HighLevel and have no authority to make binding contract or represent HighLevel. I receive referral payments from HighLevel. The opinions expressed here are my own and shall NOT be interpreted or considered as representations, guarantees, or statements made by HighLevel Inc or any of its subsidiaries, agents, or assigns. Some links in the description may be affiliate links. Results not guaranteed. #makemoney #makemoneyonline #sidehustle

Google’s AI Course for Beginners (in 10 minutes)!

Grab my AI Toolkit for free: https://academy.jeffsu.org/ai-toolkit?utmsource=youtube&utmmedium=video&utm_campaign=146 Grab my free Workspace Toolkit: https://academy.jeffsu.org/workspace-toolkit?utmsource=youtube&utmmedium=video&utm_campaign=146 🔍 In this video, we unravel the layers of AI, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and their applications in tools like #ChatGPT and Google #Bard We first go through how AI is a broad field of study that encompasses #MachineLearning as a sub-field. We then break down Machine Learning into supervised and unsupervised models, using real-world examples to illustrate their functions and differences. We move deeper into Deep Learning: Learn about artificial neural networks and the power of semi-supervised learning in applications like fraud detection in banking. Then we delve into Generative AI, differentiating it from discriminative models and demonstrating its capabilities in creating new, innovative outputs. Finally we walk through Large Language Models (LLMs) and uncover the significance of LLMs in AI, their pre-training processes, and their customization for specific industry applications TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Google’s AI Course in 10 Minutes 00:38 What is Artificial Intelligence? 01:27 What is Machine Learning? 03:28 What is Deep Learning? 05:15 What is Generative AI? 07:05 What are Large Language Models? RESOURCES I MENTION IN THE VIDEO Google’s full course: https://www.cloudskillsboost.google/course_templates/536 Grab my free Workspace Toolkit: https://academy.jeffsu.org/workspace-toolkit?utmsource=youtube&utmmedium=video&utm_campaign=146 MY FAVORITE GEAR 🎬 My YouTube Gear - https://www.jeffsu.org/yt-gear/ 🎒 Everyday Carry - https://www.jeffsu.org/my-edc/ MY TOP 3 FAVORITE SOFTWARE ❎ CleanShot X - https://geni.us/cleanshotx ✍️ Skillshare - https://geni.us/skillshare-jeff 📖 Readwise - https://readwise.io/jeffsu/ BE MY FRIEND: 📧 Subscribe to my Productivity newsletter - https://www.jeffsu.org/productivity-ping/ 📸 Instagram - https://instagram.com/j.sushie 🤝 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jsu05/ 👨🏻‍💻 WHO AM I: I'm Jeff, a tech professional trying to figure life out. What I do end up figuring out, I share! PS: Some of the links in this description are affiliate links I get a kickback from and my opinions are my own and may not reflect that of my employer 😇