Introducing Approaching Zero
An exploration of how AI shortens the path from idea to product
A few months ago we sold Build and started Grids, where it’s our business to figure out how AI will help startups get products built 100X cheaper and faster. As a result I now spend 100% of my time doing prompt engineering, exploring the latest AI code/design tools, working with startups that want to get a product built, and talking to developers/agencies that use AI to move at lightspeed.
My mind is blown on a daily basis. I’ve always been obsessed with using tech to help people bring their ideas to life, and honestly there are moments these days where I am close to hyperventilating with excitement.
So I’m creating a new section of Flying Penguins called “Approaching Zero” where I can chronicle some of those learnings and open the door to others. Potential topics include:
Case studies of products built faster and cheaper with AI
Reviews of game-changing AI tools for code, design, and LLM ops
Conversations with centaur builders and agencies pushing the pace on AI augmentation
Hopefully some cool guest posts from other founders/explorers
I expect I’ll refine the specifics of the format/frame as I go, so on that note…
Wizard of Claude
Many startups come to us wanting to build AI products, but here's the truth: you probably don't need to build as much as you think. At Grids, we're running a remarkably simple but effective operation - we gather client requirements, feed them through some agents built on Claude, and output scope documents for our talent network. No complex infrastructure, just clever use of existing tools.
While we'll be launching some self-serve products soon, this Wizard of Oz type approach could scale pretty far if we didn’t have engineers. You can also use something like Vectorshift or Voiceflow to design more complex agents or multi-agent systems. If you need, you can use APIs to put a simple front end on top.
Some of the demand for overbuilt MVPs is typical laziness/inexperience. But a lot of it is lack of awareness on how deceptively simple these products can be under the hood given current tools. People are getting rinsed left and right by agencies for that reason, and I’ve actually advised a number of people to use off the shelf solutions even though it means leaving a good amount of money on the table for us.
Unsurprisingly, there is a huge market (and even some marketplaces) of AI advisors cropping up right now to help people figure out how to build an AI product without overbuilding or doing something dumb. Many of those advisors are low quality but if you know someone you trust who is deep in the weeds that’s ideal. Or of course we’d love to work with you and we do have some advisors in our network we can recommend as well.
Other notes:
This is a great podcast with Amjad Massad, CEO of Replit, where he talks about the new Replit agent that basically builds fully functional websites via a chatbot. It’s clearly best in class in that category now.
None of the AI design tools are incredible yet, but I like this approach from Polymet of commenting on multiple aspects of the design before “sending to revision” because it approximates how people work with real designers. If you’re building a simple single page website it can get you pretty far.
I firmly believe the simplest way to build a magical AI product right now is to be early on the voice wave that’s about to crash. We’ve done some early A/B testing of the same agents with voice vs text and the difference in UX is pretty nuts.
If you made it here I’d love to know what you're interested in reading (or writing) on Approaching Zero!