Stephel

Dashboards and Crypto | buildspace s5

[GREG ISENBERG @gregisenberg]

How to become a $1M forward-deployed engineer (FDE) in 30 days (and what FDE clearly means):

- What an FDE is and why the role EXPLODED
- The 3 stages of the job (business reality, judgment, building)
- The exact 30 day roadmap to become one
- What the top roles actually pay

[GREG ISENBERG @gregisenberg]

Fable is banned. Long live local AI.

Full episode breaking down exactly how to get good at local models. the runtime, the hardware, quantization, connecting it to Hermes agent and local AI startup ideas (25 minutes)

[Rohit @heyrohitai]

INSTEAD OF WATCHING AN HOUR OF NETFLIX TONIGHT.

This 1 hour Stanford lecture by Joel Peterson will teach you more about negotiation and getting what you want than most people learn in years.

Bookmark it and give it an hour, no matter what.

[GREG ISENBERG @gregisenberg]

THE CLEAREST PATH TO A $10M+ SOFTWARE EXIT in 2 YEARS (with AI and agents)

building an agency right now is one of the most interesting business moves

the productized agency had its moment in 2022. it collapsed because scaling humans is a nightmare. inconsistent output, people quitting, margins getting crushed. most of the founders (and creators) who tried it got burned and moved on

but the thesis was right. the labor problem is just solved now with AI, claude code, openclaw etc.

here's the actual playbook i'd run today:

pick one painful deliverable for one specific buyer. like SEO content for e-commerce brands doing $1M+ but not "marketing."

or like ad creatives for DTC brands spending $50k/month on meta. one thing. one customer. that's it

then you build the AI workflow behind it.

you're selling an outcome on a monthly retainer. $3-5k/month. 80%+ margins because your cost is compute and a few hours of QA

"BuT tHaT'S nOt a BiG bUsInnesS"

okay but you're still swinging for the fences

because the agency IS the research and development for your agent SaaS

every client is paying you to figure out what to automate. you're learning what breaks, what scales, what customers actually want.

by month 4 you know exactly what to productize. you build the software on top of the workflow you've already proven works and already have customers paying for

agency funds the agent SaaS. SaaS scales without the agency overhead. the clients become your first software customers

now let's talk about what this actually looks like financially

year 1: 10 clients at $4k/month. $480k revenue. 2 people. maybe $80k in costs including compute, tools, one part time VA. you're taking home $400k between two people while building the software in the background

year 2: you launch the software. your 10 agency clients are the first to convert. they already trust you. they've seen the output. you charge $800/month for the software version. now you have recurring software revenue AND the agency still running

year 3: agency is winding down or running on autopilot. software has 200 customers at $800/month. that's $1.9M ARR. 2-3 person team. 85% margins. you are now a very attractive acquisition target

the exit math is interesting. SaaS at $1.9M ARR with strong retention trades at 5-8x revenue. that's a $10-15M exit for something two people built in 3 years starting with zero VC

CAVEAT:

Startups are hard. A lot needs to go right.

But from a framework perspective, I think this probably the lowest risk, highest reward option for lots of of folks

and most of the businesses cost $0 to start

basically

this is the most capital efficient path to a software exit that exists right now

happy building

[GREG ISENBERG @gregisenberg]

200,000+ new vibe coding projects get created every day yet almost NONE of them get customers

7 distribution strategies that actually work right now for your startup:

1. build an MCP server. when someone asks claude or chatgpt the question your product answers, your tool shows up. the AI becomes your sales team.

2. programmatic SEO. pick a keyword pattern (best X for Y). use firecrawl to pull real structured data so pages have actual value. one next.js template, AI generated content, human editing loop so it doesn't read like AI. 10,000 pages �� 30 visits × 2% CVR × $10 = $60k/month from pages you built once.

3. vibe code a free tool (calculator, software etc). one problem, one tool, ship it today. it ranks, lives in people's workflows, markets your brand for years. ahrefs' free backlink checker has sent them more customers than most paid ads ever will.

4. answer engine optimization. people are getting answers from chatgpt and perplexity now, not just google. find the top questions your customer is asking AI. publish structured, definitive answers. one founder went from 4% to 20% AI referrals in a month just by doing this.

5. make the output of your product shareable. think spotify wrapped. think github graphs. think stripe atlas.

what does your user want to screenshot and send? build that moment. add a pre-filled share button. every share is free impressions to your exact audience.

6. buy a niche newsletter. 10k subscribers for $5k to $20k. most owners are making $0 to $500 a month. DM them "ever thought about selling?" you inherit trust and a direct channel to your exact customer on day one. underrated.

7. 30 minute voice memo into claude: five tweet threads, three linkedin posts, one newsletter, short form clips. do this weekly. in 3 months you have more content than competitors who aren't doing this. obviously, your project needs to be optimized so it isnt ai slop, but you'll get there.

code is commoditized. time to focus on distribution.

pick 2 of these ideas and start this week to get customers.

this episode was designed to get your creative juices flowing. maybe it'll give you more ideas on growth tactics you'll use this week.

full breakdown on the @startupideaspod

watch.

[0xMarioNawfal @RoundtableSpace]

THIS GUY OUTLINED THE 7 BEST AI AGENTS FOR MAKING MONEY IN 2026

https://t.co/skTx6t3K3J

[Hridoy Reh @hridoyreh]

Indie hackers run boring sites.

They are making $1.2M+ per month.

10 boring websites:

[Stephel @0x_Stephel]

@WorkflowWhisper Playbook

[Stephel @0x_Stephel]

@kacieahmed How to join sir?

[Stephel @0x_Stephel]

@mscode07 Mine is vibe post! :D im just solving my own issue.. i love coding but im kinda weak posting my updates online so im letting the AI do it for me lol.

github PR to social media post.

[Stephel @0x_Stephel]

hahaha it works! my wish to have git PR to twitter post is here! damn. so exciting. #BuildingInPublic

[Stephel @0x_Stephel]

🚀 Just shipped a game-changing feature! Our latest update brings powerful new capabilities that make development smoother than ever. Check it out! #dev #opensource

[Stephel @0x_Stephel]

@antmillionsbot Yes

[Stephel @0x_Stephel]

@TommiPedruzzi AI

[LoucB @LoicBerthelot]

After 3 SaaS making $35K, $750K, and $60K MRR.

100% bootstrapped.

Here’s the fastest way to validate if an idea is worth 1 year of your life: 🧵

[Ernesto Lopez @ErnestoSOFTWARE]

https://t.co/ytGkQRv5FC

[Stephel @0x_Stephel]

decided to use Neon instead of hosting my own database inside docker. coz im getting a headache now :D

[Stephel @0x_Stephel]

@FlorinPop17 Construction software 😁 coz its old and we need modernize one

[Andrey Azimov @AndreyAzimov]

♦️ The Ruby on Rails Documentary

Brings you 20 years back to the very start, told from those who were there:

- @rails
- @dhh
- @jasonfried
- @tobi
- @bitsweat
- @jamis