framework to find the next cursor-like billion dollar idea:
1. look for skilled professionals who spend 6+ hours a day in a specific software tool - the more arcane, the better
2. identify tasks within their workflow that require deep expertise but follow patterns - these are ripe for ai assistance
3. focus on industries with high hourly rates ($100+) where time savings translate directly to revenue or cost reduction
4. seek workflows with specialized vocabulary that generic ai struggles with but domain-specific ai could master
5. prioritize tasks that involve both creativity and technical constraints - the sweet spot for human-ai collaboration
6. build for existing interfaces people already know rather than forcing new workflows
7. start with a tiny, almost embarrassingly specific niche - e.g., not "legal" but "divorce proceedings in california"
8. solve for the 80% case that's repetitive, leaving humans to handle the complex 20%
9. the best opportunities feel like "ai-enhanced superpowers" rather than "ai replacements"
10. if it can be on the cloud, that's a good sign
We're living in an era of 2-person $10M ARR companies.
If you want to get started, let me help you with your AI coding tech stack:
AI coding tools:
- Cursor → best AI coding IDE
- Windsurf → cheap & beginner friendly IDE
- https://t.co/mkj8QSos9D → development plan for AI models
- Replit → best for quick MVPs + mobile apps
- Bolt → best for AI coding micro SaaS apps
- Lovable → best for coding anding pages
- v0 → best for designing UI components
Frontend & UI:
- NextJS → secure & scalable
- TailwindCSS → best CSS library
- Shadcn → top UI components library
- Lucide icons → best icons library
Backend:
- Supabase → SQL database & storage
- Firebase → db, auth & storage (great for mobile apps)
- Convex → Typescript backend logic + live queries
User authentication:
Clerk Dev → free auth & waitlist
Auth.js → simple, open-source auth
Firebase Auth → fast, reliable auth (by Google)
Supabase Auth → easy social login + magic link
Domains:
- Cloudflare: domain, DNS, deployment
- Namecheap: cheapest domain options
- Vercel domains: best UI to find domains
Deployments:
- Cloudflare Pages → edge deployment, fast & cheap
- Vercel → best for Next.js, serverless, fast deploys
- Render → full-stack, best for backend heavy apps
AI API stack:
- OpenAI: best GPT models (GPT4o & o3-mini)
- Claude: best coding models (Sonnet 3.5/3.7)
- Gemini: best multimodal (flash 2.0) + latest PRO 2.5
Payments & Emails
- Stripe → best for SaaS payments
- Resend → email setup for SaaS users
- Convertkit → emails to waitlist and onboarding
If you're confused about any of these, grok it, chatGPT it, perplexity it. Ask it to "explain like I'm 5." No excuses.
Execution Plan:
1. Build super fast
2. Launch with style
3. Monetize from start
4. Distribute to all channels
5. Scale fast by creative marketing
6. Sell your startup to private equity
7. Repeat the cycle again!
Don't overcomplicate. Gamify the system.
New Resource: Foundation Model Development Cheatsheet for best practices
We compiled 250+ resources & tools for:
🔭 sourcing data
🔍 documenting & audits
🌴 environmental impact
☢️ risks & harms eval
🌍 release & monitoring
With experts from @AiEleuther, @allen_ai, @huggingface, @StanfordCRFM, @PrincetonCITP, @MasakhaneNLP, @MIT++
🔗 https://t.co/yJci5yJbRS
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Technology is the thing that makes us us. Through the tools we create, we become neither less human, nor superhuman, nor post-human: We become more human.
https://t.co/njdhEuQEUI
Followup To Why AI Won't Cause Unemployment
“Some people worry that AI will make us feel inferior, but then, anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority complex every time he looks at a flower.” —Alan Kay
[Followup to my recent post “Why AI Won’t Cause Unemployment”.]
“Wait, why are the red price lines going up and the blue price lines going down?”
The blue price lines are for sectors like consumer electronics, media, and toys, which are mostly neither subsidized nor regulated by the government, which means that technological innovation can be more or less freely applied by anyone in those markets to reduce prices and improve quality. This is why the TV you buy today is so dramatically better and cheaper than the one you bought ten years ago. Nobody gets mad at Samsung when they make a better and cheaper TV except their competitors, who either get to work on the same thing themselves or go out of business.
The red price lines are for sectors like health care, education, and housing, which are extensively subsidized and regulated by the government, and also tend to have monopolistic/oligopolistic/cartel-like industry structures which are enabled and supported by the government. What happens if you subsidize a product whose supply is restricted? Its price rises. What’s restricting the supply? Regulation. This is the effect of most “consumer protection” regulations which may start with good intent, but are quickly hijacked by incumbent suppliers as protect themselves from new competition. This is why new bank creation virtually ended after the Dodd Frank law was passed. Many such cases.
Put yourself into the shoes of a monopolistic/oligopolistic/cartel-like incumbent in one of the red line industries. What do you care about? As long as nothing changes, your life is wonderful. You get paid a fortune, and don’t have to do anything new. So you perpetually lobby the government and conspire with other incumbents to prevent change. What’s the scariest form of change? Technology change. What’s the main thing you try to prevent? Technology change. How good are you at preventing it? Really good, just look at the red price lines. Who prevents it for you? Your captured agents in the government, to whom you provide lavish campaign contributions and revolving-door salaries while they loudly claim to be protecting consumers from you. Repeat as necessary until you have a total monopoly with infinite prices and infinite profits.
“Does this mean AI isn’t going to have a profound effect on our society?”
No, AI is going to have a profound (and almost entirely positive) effect on our society. It just won’t show up in the economy the way many people expect.
And specifically, because most jobs in the future are going to be in the red, regulated sectors, most jobs are totally safe from AI, regardless of how good AI gets.
“So we don’t need Universal Basic Income?”
No, we already have Universal Basic Income, it’s for all the people working in the red line sectors (not their fault, but it’s true). Every time you buy any of the red line items, you’re paying for it. In the future, that will be virtually everyone.
“OK, so, wait. You’re saying that all this is really bad for me as a consumer, as someone just trying to live my life and provide for my family?”
Yes, it’s terrible for you. It’s why it feels like everything that matters in your life is getting more expensive. Because it is.
“But… why do we put up with this?”
I don’t know, why do you?