Presented by Zapier: https://zapier.com/

👉 Link to resources: https://thenextnewthing.ai/l/jon-45million-ai-playbook

⏱ Timestamps
00:00 From $400 to $4.5M ARR
00:18 Hitting $1M solo with AI
01:57 The $105K dev quote that changed everything
02:15 Discovering Replit
03:18 From app idea to business opportunity
05:33 Having AI interview you to refine a business
07:21 The first business model
10:03 The first real customer and first $15K contract
13:12 Teaching practical AI, not just theory
16:48 Jon’s playbook for starting an AI business
19:03 How Zapier fits into the stack
21:18 Why the .org brand worked
23:15 Using GEO to get found in search and ChatGPT
27:27 Building recurring revenue with a fractional CAIO model
31:39 The move from services to software
33:54 What Jenna does for client businesses
36:18 Why this could become a billion-dollar business
39:00 How Jon thinks about pricing
41:33 Brand, trust, and distribution
43:39 Favorite tools: Grok, Replit, Midjourney, NemoClaw
47:51 Margins, growth, and reaching $4.5M ARR
49:12 How long this opportunity will last

He started with $400, built the business himself with AI, hit $1M solo, and is now at $4.5M ARR.

In this episode of The Next New Thing, Andrew Warner talks with Jon Cheney about the exact playbook he used to turn AI tools into a high-ticket recurring-revenue business.

Presented by Zapier: https://zapier.com/

👉 Priority Launch List: https://thenextnewthing.ai/l/shane-priority-launch-list
👉 Shane Mac (X): https://x.com/ShaneMac
👉 Shane Mac (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanemacsays/
👉 XMTP: https://xmtp.org/

⏱ Timestamps
00:00 Launch AI agents on your phone
00:09 Copy any app with a prompt or screenshot
00:18 Creating an agent inside Convos
00:36 Agents provisioned with tools automatically
00:45 OpenClaw vs Hermes agents
00:54 What makes something an “agent”
01:21 Limited rollout and waitlist access
01:30 Turning a screenshot into an app
02:06 Demo: calorie tracking agent
02:33 From app → personalized AI coach
03:18 Training agents with personal data
03:54 Building a fully customized fitness assistant
04:30 Why agents get better over time
05:06 Backing from Andreessen Horowitz + USV
05:15 Coordinating group events with agents
06:00 Replacing chaotic group chats
06:45 Agent managing RSVPs, timing, logistics
07:21 Real-time updates and humor in chat
08:06 Monitoring content with “Radar” agents
09:00 Tracking writers, artists, and updates
09:45 Daily summaries across the internet
10:30 Personalized alerts and insights
10:57 Relationship + life coordination agent
11:24 Daily plans, reservations, and logistics
12:09 Combining multiple tools into one system
12:18 Product rollout and waitlist strategy
12:54 Future integrations (Notion, calendars, etc.)
13:21 Why messaging becomes the main interface
13:39 Agents talking to other agents
14:06 Privacy and coordination between agents

What if your apps weren’t apps anymore—but agents you talk to inside a chat?

In this episode of The Next New Thing, Andrew Warner sits down with Shane Mac to explore Convos, a new platform where you can launch AI agents directly on your phone—and have them act like full apps inside a conversation.

Instead of downloading tools, you create agents by describing what you want. They get provisioned with email, phone numbers, browsing, and memory—then join your chats like participants. From there, you can clone apps, coordinate events, track information across the internet, or even build personalized systems that evolve over time.

Shane demos how a simple screenshot can turn into a working app, how agents can act as assistants inside group chats, and how they can coordinate with other agents without exposing your personal data.

The bigger idea: the interface is shifting from apps to conversations—and agents become the layer that connects everything you do.

Presented by Zapier: https://zapier.com/

👉 Resources: https://thenextnewthing.ai/l/wade-resources
👉 Wade Foster (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/wadefoster/

Zapier just gave AI agents access to 10,000+ apps—and it completely changed how Wade Foster works.

In this episode of The Next New Thing, Wade (Zapier’s CEO) shows how their new SDK lets tools like Claude, Cursor, and Codex directly interact with your entire stack—Slack, Gmail, HubSpot, databases, and more.

Instead of switching between apps, Wade now does everything through an agent: checking Slack, reviewing customers, generating emails, prepping meetings, and even auditing hiring decisions.

The key shift isn’t just automation—it’s turning your entire workflow into something an agent can run end-to-end.

He walks through how he built a personal “CEO CRM” that pulls data from multiple systems, identifies which customers need attention, and drafts outreach emails automatically. From there, he shows how these workflows evolve into reusable skills, then into fully automated systems that run in the background.

The result: less time clicking through tools—and more time operating at a higher level.

⏱ Timestamps
00:00 Giving AI agents access to all your tools
00:27 Zapier SDK launch (open beta)
01:12 Connecting agents to 10,000+ apps
01:57 Why this changes how work gets done
02:24 Installing the SDK in seconds
03:00 Running real workflows inside an agent
03:27 Demo mode (protecting sensitive data)
04:21 SDK vs MCP (what’s different)
05:24 Building a personal CEO CRM
06:27 Pulling data from HubSpot, Databricks, Gong
07:30 Identifying accounts that need attention
08:06 Generating outreach emails automatically
09:00 Keeping humans in the loop (draft vs send)
09:45 Using Clay to verify contact data
10:48 Training AI on your writing style
11:24 Building reusable workflows (skills)
12:00 Daily brief automation (calendar, email, tasks)
13:12 Meeting prep generated automatically
14:06 AI reviewing hiring decisions
15:00 Advisory council of AI personas
15:45 Turning 30-min tasks into 5-min tasks
16:21 Creating your own daily brief system
17:15 Finding what to automate
18:00 Using AI to suggest new workflows
19:03 Reviewing past chats for automation ideas
20:06 Turning repeated tasks into skills
20:42 From manual → automated workflows
21:00 Cron jobs and background execution

👉 Join us: https://thenextnewthing.ai/