ols, prompts, and editing steps that I would usually give up halfway. Recently, I started hearing people talk about AI video agents that can handle most of the work by understanding simple instructions. It almost sounds too good to be true! I'm really curious if they actually save time or if they're just another trend. Has anyone here tried these AI video agents for real projects? I'd love to hear your honest experience what worked well, what didn't, and whether they're worth trying for someone who's just getting started.
My journey in startups began 10 years ago, and I've launched 18 startups, most of which failed. Briefly on why they failed: 1. Contract Online my first startup in 2015, which was supposed to be an online service for remote signing of contracts for any transactions between individuals. A kind of analogue of a secure transaction. For this startup, I even managed to attract a business angel who invested $16,500.
Reason for failure: I had two lawyers on my team who discovered in the process that the legal framework at the time could not provide reliable grounds for protecting our users in remote transactions. The contracts would not have been considered legally signed. 2. Natural Products In 2015-2018, I became very passionate about healthy eating, but in the process, I discovered that products in all chain stores are full of chemicals, and stores with truly natural products are inaccessible to the majority. Hence, the idea emerged to create my own online platform where you could order natural products directly from farmers at affordable prices.
Reason for failure: For several years, I tried to launch this project, even trained as a baker of natural bread and tried to create my own farm, but in the process, I found that few people are willing to pay for truly natural products, even if these products were only 20-30% more expensive than market prices, and not 2-3 times more, as in premium stores. Hence, the market was so small that all my attempts were doomed.
Up to $10B pledged with Nvidia-backed Firebird to build "Data Center Valley" 100,000 GPUs, live by 2027, part of Kazakhstan's push to become a regional AI hub.
Thoughts anyone? I'm personally a little confused about why they chose Kazakhstan as the new data center capital.
I've been in B2B marketing for years and this pattern shows up everywhere: the CRM is full of wins, the website shows three case studies from 2023.
It's never because the stories aren't there. It's the production line. Chase the customer, find a slot for a 45-minute call, record, transcribe, write, then wait two weeks for their side to approve a quote. Repeat per story. Most teams quietly give up after the third one.
I ve hit a few demo nights in SF with some gems and some straight-up misses. I m chasing the high-signal ones where you leave with something you can ship next week.
What s the best demo you ran or attended recently, and what made it great? If there s a series or event worth following, drop it (city or online both welcome).
My friend and I were running into the same brick wall over and over again: we'd attempt a tool, be excited for about 10 minutes and then it'd be like it was built for another team, another workflow, or honestly, another era. Some were clunky. Some were too complicated. None of them worked how we needed. So we set out to build Loopify, something we'd actually want to use ourselves: Quick. Efficient. Simple. Doesn't get you thinking you require a training program just to book a TikTok. We are looking for as much user feedback as possible. Talking with teams, individual creators, small brands, anyone who's had to fight through tools just to keep up online. If that sounds like you, I'd love to hear: What's your biggest friction point with current tools? What's one teeny feature you'd love to have but never see? Or just something you dislike doing that could be simpler? Seriously appreciate any ideas you pitch our way.
Something raised in the last couple of months. And it's worth paying attention to.
Runway launched a $10M venture fund + free API credits for startups yesterday. Perplexity launched a $50M fund for seed-stage companies. CoreWeave Ventures launched in September. OpenAI has been running its Startup Fund for a while now.
I'm building a tool that uses AI to help craft cold emails that actually get responses. But before I go too far, I want to dig deeper into the real frustrations behind cold outreach.
Most founders and marketers I talk to say something like:
We send cold emails, but we re not sure if they re hitting the right tone, targeting the right pain point, or just going straight to spam.
Right now, I m researching the before you send side of cold outreach that moment where you're staring at your draft, wondering if it s persuasive, personal, or just meh.
