AI Agents, Drama recap, Raise of robots, My pod with Greg
1) Me & Greg Isenberg recorded a pod about web directories.
I finally launched my Directory Playbook.
2) Remarkable things happening in AI and Agents
Ideogram shipped a pretty cool UX for AI.
Anthropic AI can use your computer just as you do.
A template from replit for computer use by AI.
Fireship (Jeff Delaney) has haters for ads.
You’ll go to jail for Fake reviews
The Era of AI Agents began 🫥
3) My updates
Directory Maker discord is on fire, lots of questions and answers daily
4) My other thoughts
The old startup model is dead.
As a startup founder, just don't do this
How would I ideate, build & get users for my startup
The most dangerous, common, & overlooked problem for startup founders
A Secret Growth Hack for X is to adopt one of these personas
5) My open startup founder report for October
Unicornplatform.com reached 250,000 users! - 300,000+ websites & directories were created using it. - 12 new templates & components. - multi filters and many new features for directories. - moved over to new infra: auto-protection from ddos + speed boost - native CMS(in beta)
SEObotAI.com had 105% growth MoM. - declined an acquisition offer from a big VC-backed player. - new onboarding & UX inside the app - improved the content quality & RAG - added more CMS integrations - almost done with Framer & Notion auto-sync - added moderation flow
ListingBott.com had 110% MoM growth. - lots of new websites and directors in the db (approaching 10,000) - accepting more website types(ecom, agencies, marketplaces...) - added new "backlinks from blogs" package - beta testing the v2 of the app. Launching it in Nov.
IndexRusher.com is pivoting. - google API we relied on isn't working as good as it did in the past - we found 3 news ways to get pages indexed - implemented them and testing it with my projects - once it works, I'll deploy it for everyone and notify the users
CountVisits.com has grown on data and has become too slow. - moved it from Postgres SQL to ClickHouse Db (now feels 100x faster) - adding more metrics: stripe, paddle, SEO impressions/clicks, social mentions and more. The goal is to have 100% complete busy founder dashboard.
SaaSemailer.com is being beta tested - I'm using it to send out emails for some of my projects, both transactional and campaigns - gonna integrate it into unicorn platform so that users can send emails to their waitlisters or subscribers right from the app
Directory Guide is growing and I enjoy teaching so much. - 550 serious directory makers joined Discord community - many great chats every day + Q&A sessions from me - the feedback is so good - I'll grow it into a maker academy.
Launched several directories (one is already picking up with traffic) -
DevHunt.org & NextJsStarter.com signed several sponsors. - Clerk (auth SDK) - Marblism (AI generates nextjs project) - Sevala (deploy & host apps) - and more.
Filmgrail.com (cinema web/app/ticketing) - signed my biggest customer ever (100 million cinema visits a year across the continent) - I've built a sales AI agent that replaced my entire sales & marketing team. - I still have to do demo calls :( gonna hire someone for this
MVPwizards.com is doing well. Bringing traffic and leads to the MVP builders.
Nearing 50k followers on X and 15k on Linkdin. - I focused on threads this month.
Non generic educational content didn't score well.
I might put this content over to youtube or make another guide
I'm thinking of making a micro
saas guide in end of Nov.
Drama Recaps. - I "invented" a new format for X, the Drama (news) recaps, where I cover everything from last week in a dramatic & fun way. - It went well first, with millions of views, but I lost the fuel for this. Doing my last one next Monday, and quit if it won't go viral
Things seem to be going well, but I'm on my limits
- got sick during the month; almost didn't sleep; didn't see my kids enough I need help:
content(seo, social media, emails)
directory maker(to follow my guide & make me directories)
Apply johnrush.me/hiring/
My kid asks me: Daddy, should I be a programmer like u?
I answered: no, kiddo, learn real-world skills.
By the time you're 25, coding will be an obsolete profession.
But, I wonder if physical labor will last for long.
The progress in AI + Robotics makes me smoke. See it for yourself.