Startup Stories - Mixergy

Business tips for startups by proven entrepreneurs

Episodes

#2289 Building companies using Zapier’s AI automations

December 19, 2025

Zapier used to be the software that connected all your other software. But it’s AI has become so powerful that people are using it to build software companies. Founder Wade Foster joined me to talk about and show how they’re building on it.

Wade Foster is t...

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#2288 She had people do AI’s work

December 17, 2025

Helen Hastings wanted to create better accounting software. To figure out what to build, she had humans do the work. This is the story of how she created Quanta, the accounting software that’s taking on QuickBooks with a more modern human+software approach.

Helen Hastings is th...

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#2287 AI made a “no code” founder into a coder

December 8, 2025

Ben Tossell used to listen to Mixergy interviews as he hunted for a big idea to launch. Then he nailed it. MakerPad, an educational company for people who wanted to build using no code. It did so well that he sold it for life-changing money. Then he started coding. Because of AI. This is his story.

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#2286 Pepper: AI + people = > $10 million

November 17, 2025

Pepper is creating content for clients like Shopify, Adobe and Instacart. We’re talking hundreds of thousands of posts & videos. And this is content that leads to sales. In this interview, founder Anirudh Singla tell us how they do it by using AI and humans.

Anirudh Singla...

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#2285 AEO: How to make ChatGPT promote you

November 11, 2025

Ethan Smith runs Graphite, the SEO & AEO company that helps brands like Webflow show up on Google’s page one and ChatGPT’s first answer. This is how he does it

Ethan Smith is the founder and CEO of Graphite, a growth and SEO firm that’s now pioneering Answer Engine...

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#2284 Why is Morning Brew’s founder selling “AI Transformation”?

November 5, 2025

Coming into this interview I wasn’t even sure what “AI Transformation” was, let alone why so many companies pay for it. Here’s the deal: Tenex, the company founded by Alex Lieberman & Arman Hezarkhani, goes into companies hunting for ways to save or making them money using AI. Once they find that, it becomes a no brainer for companies to hire them to build it. But Tenex does more than AI Transformation. They also run a dev shop...

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#2283 How Dan Shipper uses AI to build artisanal AI apps

October 30, 2025

“Why did you launch yet another voice dictation app?” I asked Dan Shipper, founder of Every. I thought he’d tell me that there was some kind of research that showed people needed another one. Nah. It came down to his team’s taste and personal preference. They just wanted something different. So a single creator on the team built it. AI makes it easier for more people to create apps. So what’s the diffe...

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#2282 Neil Patel’s insanely powerful AI sales machine

October 24, 2025

I’ve been talking with founders who used AI to build companies, but aren’t getting enough customers. I found the perfect person to show them how to grow. Neil Patel has been on the cutting edge of AI marketing. He’s going to show us what’s working for his customers and his company. At the end of the conversation, you’ll see the exact process his company, NP Digital, is using AI to scrape yellow pages, ...

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#2281 Garry Tan: Y Combinator Startups Growing 5X Faster – Here’s What Changed

October 17, 2025

AI changed everything. During their time at Y Combinator, startups typically grew revenue weekly by 2-4%. Now? 10-20%! PER WEEK. YC President Garry Tan told me the reason is simple: AI transformed software from a “nice to have” into an urgent necessity. “Before it was like, ‘Yeah, I know I need to replace my software.’…Today it’s becoming, ‘Oh. I see a demo. It’s really impressi...

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#2280 Read.ai is adding 50k users per day

September 15, 2025

How can Read.ai keep growing when 1) there are loads of meeting note taking apps, and 2) platforms like Zoom keep adding note-taking features? That’s what I asked its founder David Shim

David Shim is the founder and CEO of Read.ai, the fastest-growing AI meeting ...

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#2279 How are there so many AI agencies?

September 10, 2025

I keep seeing AI agencies pop up everywhere, offering to AI-ify businesses. But what are they AI’ing? How are they doing it? Seems too general and unfocused to work. Still, they do. I wanted to understand how, so I interviewed Rob Howard, who teaches agency owners how to sell and deliver AI services.

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#2278 How to build a $15M/year AI company.

September 3, 2025

Pavel Doležal built Keboola to $15 million per year. How he did it: 1. Start with consulting, so clients tell you what they need 2. Build software that makes companies’ chaotic data accessible. NO agents yet. 3. Create agents that take action. That’s the hardest part. At the end of this interview, Pavel tells you how YOU should start an AI company and about the three successful companies that followed his advice.

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#2277 My Body Tutor: Remote Coaching as a Service

July 9, 2025

Ever wish someone would text you every day to make sure you stuck to your goals? That’s exactly what Adam Gilbert built — first for fitness, now for business. He’s the founder of My Body Tutor and DoneDaily, two remote coaching services powered by daily accountability. I invited him to share how he turned simple check-ins into a multi-million dollar company.

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#2276 Close: The $50 Million / Year CRM

June 18, 2025

How is Close doing so well in the CRM space against such big competitors? The answer: focus. Instead of chasing enterprise clients or trying to build a CRM that does everything from web hosting to calendaring, Steli Efti focused on sales teams at small and mid-sized businesses. And he built a product with a tight set of features focused on more client conversations and less data entry.

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#2275 He’s doing SEO on ChatGPT

May 12, 2025

Have you noticed how AI search results are now linking to websites? Today’s guest runs an SEO agency that helps his clients’ sites show up in those chat responses. I invited Chirag Kulkarni founder of Taco to talk about how he’s doing it and how he built his agency.

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#2274 1440: $20+mil / year newsletter

April 29, 2025

After closing a company that failed, Tim Huelskamp decided to keep it simple. He launched an email newsletter that briefed smart people about the day’s top news. Today his company, 1440, has over 4 million subscribers and generates over $20 million in annual revenue

Tim H...

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#2273 What happened to our partnership?

March 5, 2025

Before I partnered with Jesse Pujji, we were buddy-buddy. Texting all the time. When we got started, we got excited about the world of possibilities for our company. Now? Something is missing. I asked him about it. And about where he put his money, why he’s not launching more companies now, what he’s building with AI, and more.

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#2272 Aux: >$10mil advising private equity

February 21, 2025

When Kasey Grelle heard that private equity companies paid marketing agencies to evaluate companies they wanted to buy, she spotted a business opportunity. That realization became Aux Insights, the firm that’s become “the office of the CMO” for private equity companies. Listen to how they got clients & built their business.

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#1559 Cameron Herold coaches me on hiring (so I don’t collapse at my desk)

February 14, 2018

Hiring has been a huge issue for me. And in a past interview with Cameron Herold, I brought it up because he’s the founder of the COO Alliance, the world’s leading network for the second in command. I don’t get embarrassed by a lot of stuff. If you heard my interviews, you hear me get pretty frank about my flaws, my mistakes. But this issue is something I was embarrassed about. I think if I don’t hire somebo...

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#1524 When does a startup founder need a COO?

November 22, 2017

A topic we don’t talk about on Mixergy is how to actually manage a company. I remember when I was in NYU as an undergrad I loved all my business classes, but management just didn’t feel like me. I always thought of the guys in Dilbert but entrepreneurs were the ones who were creating, the ones who were doing. Mixergy’s grown and I’ve been running it, but I have to be honest, I’m not doing a great job ...

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Startup Stories - Mixergy

Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#2289 Building companies using Zapier’s AI automations

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}#2288 She had people do AI’s work

#2287 AI made a “no code” founder into a coder

#2286 Pepper: AI + people = > $10 million

#2285 AEO: How to make ChatGPT promote you

#2284 Why is Morning Brew’s founder selling “AI Transformation”?

#2283 How Dan Shipper uses AI to build artisanal AI apps

#2282 Neil Patel’s insanely powerful AI sales machine

#2281 Garry Tan: Y Combinator Startups Growing 5X Faster – Here’s What Changed

#2280 Read.ai is adding 50k users per day

#2279 How are there so many AI agencies?

#2278 How to build a $15M/year AI company.

#2277 My Body Tutor: Remote Coaching as a Service

#2276 Close: The $50 Million / Year CRM

#2275 He’s doing SEO on ChatGPT

#2274 1440: $20+mil / year newsletter

#2273 What happened to our partnership?

#2272 Aux: >$10mil advising private equity

#1559 Cameron Herold coaches me on hiring (so I don’t collapse at my desk)

#1524 When does a startup founder need a COO?

Popular Podcasts

#2289 Building companies using Zapier’s AI automations

#2288 She had people do AI’s work