Startup Stories - Mixergy

Andrew Warner
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  • BUSINESS
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Business tips for startups by proven entrepreneurs

  1. DEC 19

    #2289 Building companies using Zapier’s AI automations

    Zapier used to be the software that connected all your other software. But it’s AI has become so powerful that people are using it to build software companies. Founder Wade Foster joined me to talk about and show how they’re building on it. Wade Foster is the co-founder and CEO of Zapier, the automation platform used by over 350,000 customers to connect more than 8,000 apps. He started Zapier in 2011 with just $1.2M in seed funding and grew it into a profitable company generating hundreds of millions in revenue. Today, Wade is leading Zapier’s evolution into AI-powered automation and agent-based workflows that help businesses move faster with fewer people. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

  2. DEC 17

    #2288 She had people do AI’s work

    Helen Hastings wanted to create better accounting software. To figure out what to build, she had humans do the work. This is the story of how she created Quanta, the accounting software that’s taking on QuickBooks with a more modern human+software approach. Helen Hastings is the founder and CEO of Quanta, an AI-powered accounting platform built for modern software and services companies. Before Quanta, she was a software engineer at Affirm, where she specialized in building financial ledgers and systems of record. She’s also worked at Google and NerdWallet, bringing deep fintech and infrastructure experience to one of accounting’s hardest problems. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

  3. DEC 8

    #2287 AI made a “no code” founder into a coder

    Ben Tossell used to listen to Mixergy interviews as he hunted for a big idea to launch. Then he nailed it. MakerPad, an educational company for people who wanted to build using no code. It did so well that he sold it for life-changing money. Then he started coding. Because of AI. This is his story. Ben Tossell is the founder of Makerpad, the no-code education platform he sold to Zapier. Today he’s the Head of Developer Relations at Factory, where he helps shape the AI coding agent used by developers worldwide. When he’s not working, he’s hanging with his twins. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

  4. NOV 17

    #2286 Pepper: AI + people = > $10 million

    Pepper is creating content for clients like Shopify, Adobe and Instacart. We’re talking hundreds of thousands of posts & videos. And this is content that leads to sales. In this interview, founder Anirudh Singla tell us how they do it by using AI and humans. Anirudh Singla is the founder and CEO of Pepper, a global content marketing platform that blends AI and human creativity to produce content at scale. What began as his side hustle on Upwork has grown into a company serving Fortune 500s —recently crossing $10M in annual recurring revenue. Pepper now operates across writing, design, video, and localization, helping brands drive measurable growth through AI-powered content systems. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

  5. NOV 11

    #2285 AEO: How to make ChatGPT promote you

    Ethan Smith runs Graphite, the SEO & AEO company that helps brands like Webflow show up on Google’s page one and ChatGPT’s first answer. This is how he does it Ethan Smith is the founder and CEO of Graphite, a growth and SEO firm that’s now pioneering Answer Engine Optimization—helping brands rank inside AI-generated responses. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

  6. NOV 5

    #2284 Why is Morning Brew’s founder selling “AI Transformation”?

    Coming into this interview I wasn’t even sure what “AI Transformation” was, let alone why so many companies pay for it. Here’s the deal: Tenex, the company founded by Alex Lieberman & Arman Hezarkhani, goes into companies hunting for ways to save or making them money using AI. Once they find that, it becomes a no brainer for companies to hire them to build it. But Tenex does more than AI Transformation. They also run a dev shop where their developers use AI to build super fast for clients. Alex Lieberman and Arman Hezarkhani are the co-founders of Tenex, a company blending high-performance engineering with AI transformation consulting. Their model aligns incentives around output rather than time, helping enterprises and startups build software faster and integrate AI across people, processes, and tools. Together, they’re building what they call the “McKinsey for AI”—a hybrid of dev shop, consultancy, and innovation lab helping companies thrive in the post-AI era. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

  7. OCT 30

    #2283 How Dan Shipper uses AI to build artisanal AI apps

    “Why did you launch yet another voice dictation app?” I asked Dan Shipper, founder of Every. I thought he’d tell me that there was some kind of research that showed people needed another one. Nah. It came down to his team’s taste and personal preference. They just wanted something different. So a single creator on the team built it. AI makes it easier for more people to create apps. So what’s the differentiator? From what I got in this interview — over and over — it’s the creator’s taste. Dan Shipper is the founder and CEO of Every, a hybrid media and software company creating AI-powered tools for productivity and creativity. The company publishes one of the most widely read newsletters on technology and builds products like Monologue (AI dictation), Spiral (AI ghostwriting), and Cora (AI email assistant). More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

  8. OCT 24

    #2282 Neil Patel’s insanely powerful AI sales machine

    I’ve been talking with founders who used AI to build companies, but aren’t getting enough customers. I found the perfect person to show them how to grow. Neil Patel has been on the cutting edge of AI marketing. He’s going to show us what’s working for his customers and his company. At the end of the conversation, you’ll see the exact process his company, NP Digital, is using AI to scrape yellow pages, create custom offers, and get clients. Neil Patel is the co-founder of NP Digital, a global marketing agency serving clients such as Intuit, Canon, and Cartier. He’s also the creator of the SEO platform Ubersuggest and a leading authority on digital growth, named a top marketer by Forbes and The Wall Street Journal. Through his work, Neil helps businesses combine AI, data, and marketing strategy to drive measurable revenue. More interviews -> https://mixergy.com/moreint Rate this interview -> https://mixergy.com/rateint

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Business tips for startups by proven entrepreneurs

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  • Creator
    Andrew Warner
  • Years Active
    2009 - 2025
  • Episodes
    30
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Mixergy 2025
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    Startup Stories - Mixergy

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