Stephen O'Brien

Writer. Blogger on music, TV and other pop culture. Also blogs about SAW & PWL at

[Stephen O'Brien @stephenobrien]

@jasonfried @om Thank you for sharing this, Jason. A fascinating interview :-)

[Matthew Denby @MrMattDenby]

Happy fifth birthday to us. To celebrate five years since our little Covid-era podcast project debuted, we’ve released a special reunion episode of A Journey Through SAW today. Enjoy!

[Stephen O'Brien @stephenobrien]

@AndrewM2p4c I'm so sorry for your loss, Andrew

[AJMusic @AJMusicNY]

2 years on & still hard to believe. Remembering my friend #stevewright, one of the most iconic broadcasters in UK history. A video about Steve in my own words https://t.co/ZN3esGvgcv @airchecks @janeyleegrace @JingleMad @justineclaire75 @BBCRadio2

[The Tripods: All For Nothing? @tripodsbook]

To all you miserable sods suggesting Mo Salah's @LFC @premierleague selfie was a shameless act of product placement ... Shame On You!🤣😜
@tripodsbook #bbc #DoctorWho #1980s

[Ace Records @AceRecordsLtd]

It's Ace new release day folks! Like, share or comment to win one of three sets of new releases. The winners will be drawn out of the hat at 5pm today. 🎩

[GREG ISENBERG @gregisenberg]

this is what's keeping me up at night these days...

1. chatgpt 4o image gen is as big as the chatgpt launch. probably will birth 1000+ $1-$100m/year vertical software businesses.

2. we’re in the “mp3 napster era” of content. millions of creators don’t realize their entire back catalog is being weaponized into their competition because of AI.

3. every calendar, inbox, and CRM will be rebuilt from scratch in the next 3 years. not “AI-enhanced,” fully rethought.

4. i thought ai was creating digital employees. but it's more like digital employers. the first ai systems that can manage human workers will cause a restructuring of labor markets more significant than the industrial revolution.

5. if your job is interviewing people who will train ai systems that will replace people who do interviews, you're just a step in a weird recursive extinction.

6. ai is turning "service businesses that don't scale" into "product businesses with service margins." the new unicorns will be productized services with ai doing 80% of the work.

7. building communities is harder than building products but everyone pretends it's the reverse. the reality is most startups fail because nobody cares.

8. it's been 739 days since the will smith spaghetti video. imagine what could happen to gen ai in 739 more days?

9. people building "ai assistants" have never actually had assistants. real assistants need context, history, and relationship. 95% of chatbots have none of those.

10. most customer support will be automated within 36 months. not just tier 1 tickets, complex, multi-step resolution that previously required senior support staff.

11. the worst thing that can happen to your startup is mediocre success. enough to keep you going but not enough to change your life. most founders are trapped there. thinking about this a lot with respect to shutting down or doubling down on projects.

12. the ai backlash won't just come from replaced workers, it'll be from everyone who realizes their entire digital identity is being converted into training data without consent.

13. no one has ever read a terms of service ever

14. the "sketching economy" is the real ai revolution. when anyone can turn rough sketches into production-ready designs, taste and ideation become the only scarce resources.

15. i dont know how else to say it, the money (and opportunity for the avg joe) is in ai startups is in vertical-specific applications that actually understand industry context. no, adding industry terms to your prompts isn't the same thing.

16. consumer mobile is back in full swing. we went from desktop-first apps to mobile-first apps to now ai-first mobile apps. the next wave of $100m/year apps will start mobile-first with ai baked in from day one.

17. the ai middleman boom is just starting. companies that sit between foundation models and specific industries will capture most of the value while both ends get commoditized.

18. we're witnessing the birth of a whole new job category: ai workflow designers. people who can map human processes into ai-augmented workflows will be the highest-paid consultants of the next decade.

19. ai is creating winner-take-most markets overnight. the window to establish yourself as the go-to solution in a specific vertical is maybe 6-12 months before it closes for a decade. this isn't helping my sleep lollll.

20. really smart strategy to rebuild traditional products with ai as your unfair advantage, hiding the complexity behind familiar interfaces. basically, just look at proven apps that have no ai, make them ai-first (if it adds a ton of value to end customer). use ai features (don’t sell ai) in creator-led marketing. this is the playbook.

21. distribution is the only moat left. your product, tech, and team can all be replicated. your direct connection to customers cannot.

22. we'll soon hit the tipping point where custom ai tools are cheaper than hiring humans, even for small businesses.

23. nobody's talking about how ai is making previously "un-acquirable" businesses suddenly attractive targets. when you can automate operations, the owner-dependent business problem disappears.

24. the coming smb acquisition frenzy will make the 2021 tech bubble look tame. when ai drops operating costs by 60%, every small business becomes a cash flow engine.

25. if vibe coding will be a $100B opportunity, how big of an opportunity is vibe marketing? (you can follow my co-founder @boringmarketer for more on that)

26. Video game studios will separate into two distinct types: agent-driven content farms that generate infinite assets, and boutique studios focused on core mechanics. The middle will disappear entirely.

27. Corporate photography is effectively dead. No company will pay $2K for a stock-style photoshoot when they can generate unlimited perfectly on-brand imagery for the cost of a subscription.

28. enterprise sales is being completely inverted by ai. using ai to identify exactly when and how to talk to the right buyer, and set off automations. ill probably talk about this more on a pod soon.

29. i wonder if AGI will emerge from interconnected agent networks that develop emergent properties nobody designed? we're building the neural connections without realizing it.

30. while genai looks to be the $1T category, many quiet fortunes will be built in predictive ai. knowing what will happen is more valuable than generating new content.

31. the "ai bubble" is actually an excise tax on vcs who can't tell the difference between genuine innovation and repackaged openai apis.

32. interfaces will become personalities. when every tool can talk back, vibe and tone will drive trust, loyalty, and retention. It's why I'm investing more in our design firm for the AI age @meetLCA (you can follow for more insights on designing/taste/brand that will stand out)

33. ai will kill the homepage. interfaces will get replaced by entry points that change based on who you are, what you need, and when you show up.

34. no one will pay for "ai", they’ll pay to solve a $10,000/hour problem in 3 clicks. sell outcomes, hide the ai.

35. ai is unbundling google. every vertical search engine, directory, and comparison tool is a billion-dollar opportunity in disguise.

36. every small business will get a “ghost team.” automated bookkeepers, sales agents, marketers—run by one founder and 5 bots.

37. ai-generated content is creating a monoculture of ideas. when everyone uses the same models, we get the same outputs. original human thinking is becoming the ultimate premium. be weird. weird will sell.

38. schools won’t be disrupted by ai. they’ll be disintermediated. smart teens will skip formal education, build audiences, run experiments, and learn faster. kids say they want to become creators but creators are becoming entrepreneurs. entrepreneurship becomes the most popular profession.

39. in 18 months, 80% of the “ai startup” category will look like spam. the rest will become infrastructure.

40. conversion rate product debates are obsolete. Why argue over 2 button colors when AI focus groups can test 200 variations overnight?

41. most of what we call “marketing” is about to be done by ai. humans will move upstream into storytelling, vibes, and brand energy.

42. the best hiring decision you can make this year? a head of ai ops. someone who can build workflows, glue tools, and ship outcomes.

43. the first $1b AGI startup will look like a toy at first. all world-changing interfaces do.

44. ai-powered distribution > ai-powered product. a mid product with elite reach will beat a great product with no attention every time.

45. people still hate monthly subscriptions. outcome-based pricing is still in early days. implementing this will be a competitive advantage for lots of companies. large saas wont be able to compete with you.

46. i don't know how long this window stays open, but we're in a moment where all the rules of building businesses are being rewritten. for the people playing with these new tools, creating audiences and communities, you've got an unfair advantage.

i hope you get some sleep.

[Andy Miller @i_am_mill_i_am]

BASE! HOW L’EAU CAN YOU GO?

Tomorrow evening I’ll be at @WaterstonesLPL chatting to @adellestripe about her fabulous fragrances memoir Base Notes. @WhiteRabbitBks

Tickets here. Join us! You know it makes scents.
https://t.co/rAfG7wdlSJ

[Nik Kershaw HQ @NikKershaw_HQ]

"All opinions, inane musings, unhinged rants and incoherent ramblings are mine and mine alone!”

@NikKershaw 's new book reveals the stories behind his greatest hits – including the riddle (or lack thereof) behind The Riddle!

Pre-orders now open! https://t.co/OpC5BzUY2P.

[Stephen O'Brien @stephenobrien]

The deluxe version of @garyjkemp's new album This Destination finally arrived today. Felt really flat today but this outstanding album has really soothed my soul tonight.

[Stephen O'Brien @stephenobrien]

@MrMattDenby A big thank you and well done to you & Gavin, Matt. What an achievement! The definitive telling of the SAW story as far as I am concerned :-)

[Tash Bandara @TashBandara]

Coming soon to a podcast platform near you! Tash Bandara X @AJMusicProds.

Exclusive stories on all things jingles, Steve Wright & BBC!

Oh, and lots of AJ classic jingles that previously haven’t been posted ANYWHERE.

[Matthew Denby @MrMattDenby]

The final episode of A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman, which will count down the ultimate SAW singles top 20 as voted by listeners around the world, is days away.
For now, subscribers can hear what made numbers 50 to 21 at https://t.co/YI5PWc16UV

[Stephen O'Brien @stephenobrien]

@i_am_mill_i_am So sorry for your sad loss, Andy.

[The Beatles Earth @BeatlesEarth]

🤣

[Tim Worthington @outonbluesix]

So here it is! The final instalment of my attempt to look back at The Box Of Delights in something approaching its original context - and unlike that Spectator piece, it isn't full of invented culture war nonsense about 1984...

https://t.co/NQDrJjlEs6

[phil harding @phardingmusic]

With the aid of John Palmer I've put together an East 17 - 30th Anniversary Christmas blog - The Making of 'Stay Another Day 1994' - it's quite a long read🙏😀🌲❄
https://t.co/r43ehVGzGZ

[Looks Unfamiliar @looksunfamiliar]

From Pogles' Wood and Pipkins to Pob's Programme and Press Gang, a brand new look at the good, the bad and the extra school of children's television. Available in all good bookshops now!

https://t.co/jtO4RBomro

[Matthew Denby @MrMattDenby]

OUT NOW: Our second-to-last episode, as we cover the Love This years, including huge hits by Nicki French and Robson & Jerome, plus the rise of Simon Cowell. We also chat to Mike Stock about his legacy. Listen on Apple https://t.co/YvI34nF4bj or Spotify https://t.co/rtxzKTBLqE