What’s Keeping Me Up at Night (Besides My Two-Year-Old)

Mark Simpson

Mar 7 • General discussion

I've been lurking for while. I've known of

@Jason West

for a long time, (back in the SA days) and this group/community has been invaluable for my education.

This is wha's on my mind at the moment.

Most of this has been driven because of AI

1. Google is becoming unusable. Once you get used to real deep research (Grok, Perplexity, etc.), Google feels stuck in 2012.

2. The cost of starting a business has collapsed. What used to take a team now takes an API key and a few good social posts. You used to need 1,000 customers to break even—now you need 10. OutSauced in 2024 was proof of that.

3. Creators are turning into holding companies. The ones who understand distribution, audience-building, and multiple revenue streams will own the next decade. It’s still early.

4. LLM SEO is going to be massive. The businesses that determine how to get cited by AI models will print money. Jessica Gillingham mentioned on a podcast that websites with high PR are surfacing first—wild.

5. Buying businesses is a ridiculous opportunity. The number of boomers tired of running a business is insane. No one’s talking about it enough.

6. AI is still web-first, but mobile-first AI is the real opportunity. The same way we built the first mobile-first hospitality websites, someone will build the first AI-native consumer apps.

7. Every product launch needs video. I watch great features die on landing pages while quick screen recordings drive thousands of signups. Social feeds have spoken.

8. What used to take millions in VC now takes a few prompts and a well-placed tweet. The speed of execution right now is absurd.

9. Knowing when to pivot is an art. Launching something high-quality has never been easier, but the real skill is knowing when to double down or switch lanes.

10. University is becoming more useless by the day. Everything is being rewritten in real time. If any of my kids show interest, I will encourage them to build and create something rather than sit in classes when they are over 18.

11. Someone needs to build the app store for AI agents. Companies will browse and hire pre-trained, specialized AI like we download apps today.

12. The best moat in this new world? Owning distribution. You win if a big player can outspend you but can’t reach your audience.

13. The biggest risk right now is wasting time on things that don’t move the needle. You can spend hours on politics, emails, and “research,” but if you’re not actually building something, what’s the point?

14. Software is about to eat agencies, consulting firms, and entire corporate departments. AI-driven automation is going to hollow out entire industries.

15. We’re shifting from “there’s an app for that” to “there’s your app for that.” The ability to generate fully customised software on demand is getting closer. And that's fascinating as someone who doesn’t write a single line of code.

16. The minimum viable audience is more important than the minimum viable product. If you have the right 100 people, you can build anything.

17. I don’t know how long this window stays open, but all the rules are being rewritten right now. Those playing with the new tools, building audiences, and creating communities have a massive, unfair advantage.

And finally, marketing always wins. Some people out there have better products, but the products that are marketed better win.

This and my two-year-old are keeping me awake.

I either need to start writing these down more often—or buy stronger sleep gummies. 😂

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