The "Failed" Startup Ideas Now Worth Millions Thanks to AI
Top Insights
Y Combinator: AI Just Unlocked a Decade's Worth of "Impossible" Startup Ideas
AI is bringing back startup ideas that spectacularly failed in the 2010s—but this time they actually work. Y Combinator partners reveal recruiting marketplaces, tech-enabled services, and full-stack companies are suddenly viable again.
The game-changers:
- AI replacing expensive human operations teams
- Full-stack startups achieving software margins for the first time
- Automated evaluation beating years of manual data collection
Companies like Merkur raised millions building what TripleByte couldn't—instant engineer evaluation. Apriora automates technical interviews that engineers hate doing. The cost of intelligence is plummeting so fast that YC predicts a return to freemium models. Partners say following technological curiosity now beats traditional customer discovery. We're hitting the "oil well" moment.
AI Is Transforming Email Marketing as Teams Report 340% Surge in Automated Content Creation
AI is reshaping email marketing from the ground up, according to Litmus's "2025 State of Email" report surveying 692 marketing professionals. Nearly half (49%) of marketers now use generative AI for copy creation, while AI-powered image generation exploded 340% in just one year. The speed gains are dramatic—only 6% of teams need more than two weeks to produce an email, down from 62% in 2024.
Some 29% of marketers say AI-driven content generation will drive the biggest changes in 2025. And 70% predict up to half their operations will be AI-powered by 2026. As one executive noted, successful teams now create "sophisticated, data-driven programs that respond to individual customer needs."
Bot-Builders of the Week
A few weeks ago, Mario and Luke wrapped up their first ever AI Bot-Building Workshop where they taught 500+ people their process for building AI tools.
The same tools their members use to write 6 & 7 figure launches, land clients that fly them to Tulum, and close deals that would sound like bragging.Out of all 500+ attendees, these 12 people used Mario and Luke's processes to build the absolute best bots in their first ever AI bot writing contest.
They won cash, a year in Genesis, and most importantly — massive bragging rights. If you're looking to hire someone for custom bot-building, these are your people:
Top Winners:
- Ron Javier - #1 spot for an upsell bot that crushes (ron@ronjavier.com)
- Jens Tomas - Shares #1 spot, built a bot that writes full digital courses (jens@jenstomas.de)
- Ivan Davidovski - #2 winner with an awesome Big Idea bot (davidoffsky15@gmail.com)
- Rob Tidwell - Won for his lead magnet bot (robscopywriting@gmail.com)
- James Mahon - Built a spectacular upsell bot (james@saintjamesofemail.com)
Runner-Ups:
- Ernesto Josato - Bot that builds webinar slides (ernesto@josa.ai)
- Cody Rhinehart - Email marketing bot (info@lionheartapf.com)
- Max Voorhees - Offer optimization bot (info@maxvoorheescopywriter.com)
- Carl Galletti - Price anchoring bot (CarlGalletti@gmail.com)
- Jason Alberti - Avatar bot (freedomtosucceed@gmail.com)
- Bruce Marjoribanks - "Alien Campaigns" bot that creates offers in Wolfram's "interconcept space" (bruce@untappedprofits.co)
Tool to Try
SleekFlow is an AI-powered omnichannel messaging platform. It helps businesses streamline customer conversations across channels like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook Messenger, and more. With GPT-4 under the hood, SleekFlow automates sales, support, and marketing workflows. All so you can you can qualify leads, respond faster, and close deals without switching tabs.
AI Tool Highlights:
🤖 AI Smart Replies in Seconds: SleekFlow’s AI suggests context-aware replies based on your knowledge base, so your team can respond faster and stay on-brand.
📈 Lead Scoring That Works While You Chat: The AI agent ranks prospects in real time, helping your sales team focus on the most promising leads.
🧠 Customizable AI Personas: Tailor AI agents for different roles—like sales, support, or marketing—and adjust their tone, length, and behavior to match your brand.
📊 Summarize Long Chats Instantly: Turn messy threads into clean, shareable summaries for internal notes or CRM updates.
🌍 Omnichannel Inbox: Manage all your customer conversations from one place—WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and more.
🔁 Visual Flow Builder: Automate messaging, routing, and follow-ups with a drag-and-drop builder—no coding needed.
One More Need-to-Know News Story
Sam Altman's Latest Warning: Adopt AI Now or Get Left Behind Forever
OpenAI's Sam Altman just delivered a blunt message to businesses: "Just do it." Companies waiting for the next AI breakthrough risk being crushed by early adopters. Speaking at Snowflake Summit 2025, Altman said today's AI is like "an intern that can work for a couple of hours," but by 2026, companies will "throw a tonne of compute" at problems "teams of people can't solve alone."
The kicker? Altman predicts the "breathtaking" progress of the last five years will continue for at least five more. His AGI goal: "quadruple" scientific discovery. Bottom line: when things change quickly, "companies that have the quickest adoption speed win."
Is Your Landing Page Missing One of These 5 Essential 'Copy Blocks'?
- it might be costing you a fortune!
Two $100+ million copywriters discovered what REALLY drives conversions—5 simple building blocks arranged in a specific order. This framework is so powerful that beginners are generating 5-figure profits with it. And you can learn the full system in just 33 minutes.
Discover All 5 'Copy Blocks' Now
Mind Fodder
Thanks for reading.
Until next time!
The AI Marketers
P.S. Help shape the future of this newsletter – take a short 2-minute survey so we can deliver even better AI marketing insights, prompts, and tools.
[Take Survey Here]
