I love ChatGPT, maybe a little too much. My friends & family think I’m crazy.
It’s not just because my obsession with ChatGPT and Claude Sonnet, it’s also due to moving from my spacious 600 sq. ft condo in Utah, into a 7ft x 3ft pod bed to work in downtown San Francisco.
Why?
Because San Francisco is the epicenter of AI. And because I spent the last 3 years working on a (failing) startup idea in my home state, Utah. I needed a big, radical change.
The Pivot:
Since moving here, I decided to give up my previous startup idea, and go all in on a new idea: building an AI Chatbot. (Wow, so amazing, right?)
But this one’s different. The idea behind this chatbot is to guide users through building websites, landing pages, & full digital marketing funnels. Actually, “guide” isn’t the right word — it builds the website, landing pages, and funnels directly for the user as they chat.
Why am I excited about this idea? Because LLMs are beginning to disrupt everything we know about the digital world, especially marketing.
LLMs and Search:
Word on the street is that Google and OpenAI are gearing up for a massive battle to the death for the future of search. OpenAI just raised $6.6 billion in the largest VC round ever, and simultaneously launched their own search engine within ChatGPT, along with a chrome plugin to make ChatGPT the default search engine for it’s users. Talk about a declaration of war! These two giants are now interlocked in an epic battle for the future. I intend to insert myself into the middle of it all, while helping others navigate this monumental shift as well.
So, armed with this new pivot idea, I applied to YC and I’m proud to announce… I promptly got rejected! (Lol, I guess 3rd time wasn’t the charm). But, I’ve decided to pursue it anyways.
MVP:
So me and my buddy, Brian, coded up a really basic MVP of this Chatbot, and we even landed our first user for $45/month! (Thanks, Mom! — No, I’m not joking.) My Mom is literally the first user. I spend an hour each Sunday on a Google Meet watching her use our really bad MVP to create her new business website. (What can I say? I come from a family of entrepreneurs!)
I’m not embarrassed to admit my Mom’s the first user, because it’s been invaluable early feedback for the product. (Ok, maybe I’m a little embarrassed, but I’ll pretend otherwise.)
Fiverr:
Not knowing where else to get first initial use cases, I launched a Fiverr freelancer profile so I can test the product by building websites for other people. Being desperate for real world use cases, I priced the service ridiculously low ($5 per site).
I thought I was a genius, and expected the Fiverr orders to come flooding in, but instead.. cricket noises
Aside from a single purchase (thanks to my friend, Darren), I haven’t had any traffic or orders.
I’m realizing this Fiverr idea might be the worst idea I’ve had, (and I’ve had a lot of bad ideas). I really just want an excuse to use the product, so I can find the shortcomings and improve it. I’m not sure how much time to invest in this Fiverr idea. Even if it worked really well, I’m sure I’d find myself overwhelmed by building websites essentially for free.
Traction:
But luckily this week I’ve gotten some real traction. I have a longtime friend, Rich, who runs a freelance marketing agency, so I reached out to him and we agreed to do a pilot marketing project for a client who runs a new home exterior contracting company that is struggling to get leads.
We’re using the chatbot and page builder to create many different variations of landing pages for Google PPC campaigns so we can experiment, and by iterating quickly, we’ve helped the client start landing some leads for stucco repairs! We’re about to launch some additional PPC campaigns for roof replacement/repairs, along with going after larger $20K-$30K exterior remodel jobs. Our MVP is helping us iterate faster on these marketing campaigns using LLMs.
If this project succeeds, we’ll have a compelling case study with proof we’re building something valuable. (I already have some proof of success with some previous clients, but this will be our first organized and disciplined case study).
Since building my last startup was lonely, I’ve decided to say: **** it, I’m going to post the entire journey online. This way whether it flops or goes gangbuster, we’ll have some fun doing it.
So, here’s the start of my weekly progress thread .
Stats for the week:
Daily Active Users: 1. (myself)
Weekly Active Users: 3. (myself, my Mom, and Rich)
New Sign Ups: 0
Sales Prospects/Leads in Pipeline: 3
Current Revenue: $45/month
I’ll post updates here weekly.
Conversation Starters:
- What do you think?
- Are my friends and family right?
- How do you see AI changing marketing, search, and web development?
Also, here’s a demo video of our simple MVP for the curious: https://youtu.be/n96WA_NLVms
Edit: The link isn't working, so I'll embed it here in the page.
It’s not just because my obsession with ChatGPT and Claude Sonnet, it’s also due to moving from my spacious 600 sq. ft condo in Utah, into a 7ft x 3ft pod bed to work in downtown San Francisco.
Why?
Because San Francisco is the epicenter of AI. And because I spent the last 3 years working on a (failing) startup idea in my home state, Utah. I needed a big, radical change.
The Pivot:
Since moving here, I decided to give up my previous startup idea, and go all in on a new idea: building an AI Chatbot. (Wow, so amazing, right?)
But this one’s different. The idea behind this chatbot is to guide users through building websites, landing pages, & full digital marketing funnels. Actually, “guide” isn’t the right word — it builds the website, landing pages, and funnels directly for the user as they chat.
Why am I excited about this idea? Because LLMs are beginning to disrupt everything we know about the digital world, especially marketing.
LLMs and Search:
Word on the street is that Google and OpenAI are gearing up for a massive battle to the death for the future of search. OpenAI just raised $6.6 billion in the largest VC round ever, and simultaneously launched their own search engine within ChatGPT, along with a chrome plugin to make ChatGPT the default search engine for it’s users. Talk about a declaration of war! These two giants are now interlocked in an epic battle for the future. I intend to insert myself into the middle of it all, while helping others navigate this monumental shift as well.
So, armed with this new pivot idea, I applied to YC and I’m proud to announce… I promptly got rejected! (Lol, I guess 3rd time wasn’t the charm). But, I’ve decided to pursue it anyways.
MVP:
So me and my buddy, Brian, coded up a really basic MVP of this Chatbot, and we even landed our first user for $45/month! (Thanks, Mom! — No, I’m not joking.) My Mom is literally the first user. I spend an hour each Sunday on a Google Meet watching her use our really bad MVP to create her new business website. (What can I say? I come from a family of entrepreneurs!)
I’m not embarrassed to admit my Mom’s the first user, because it’s been invaluable early feedback for the product. (Ok, maybe I’m a little embarrassed, but I’ll pretend otherwise.)
Fiverr:
Not knowing where else to get first initial use cases, I launched a Fiverr freelancer profile so I can test the product by building websites for other people. Being desperate for real world use cases, I priced the service ridiculously low ($5 per site).
I thought I was a genius, and expected the Fiverr orders to come flooding in, but instead.. cricket noises
Aside from a single purchase (thanks to my friend, Darren), I haven’t had any traffic or orders.
I’m realizing this Fiverr idea might be the worst idea I’ve had, (and I’ve had a lot of bad ideas). I really just want an excuse to use the product, so I can find the shortcomings and improve it. I’m not sure how much time to invest in this Fiverr idea. Even if it worked really well, I’m sure I’d find myself overwhelmed by building websites essentially for free.
Traction:
But luckily this week I’ve gotten some real traction. I have a longtime friend, Rich, who runs a freelance marketing agency, so I reached out to him and we agreed to do a pilot marketing project for a client who runs a new home exterior contracting company that is struggling to get leads.
We’re using the chatbot and page builder to create many different variations of landing pages for Google PPC campaigns so we can experiment, and by iterating quickly, we’ve helped the client start landing some leads for stucco repairs! We’re about to launch some additional PPC campaigns for roof replacement/repairs, along with going after larger $20K-$30K exterior remodel jobs. Our MVP is helping us iterate faster on these marketing campaigns using LLMs.
If this project succeeds, we’ll have a compelling case study with proof we’re building something valuable. (I already have some proof of success with some previous clients, but this will be our first organized and disciplined case study).
Since building my last startup was lonely, I’ve decided to say: **** it, I’m going to post the entire journey online. This way whether it flops or goes gangbuster, we’ll have some fun doing it.
So, here’s the start of my weekly progress thread .
Stats for the week:
Daily Active Users: 1. (myself)
Weekly Active Users: 3. (myself, my Mom, and Rich)
New Sign Ups: 0
Sales Prospects/Leads in Pipeline: 3
Current Revenue: $45/month
I’ll post updates here weekly.
Conversation Starters:
- What do you think?
- Are my friends and family right?
- How do you see AI changing marketing, search, and web development?
Also, here’s a demo video of our simple MVP for the curious: https://youtu.be/n96WA_NLVms
Edit: The link isn't working, so I'll embed it here in the page.
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