Surviving the AI slowdown

Welcome back 🫡 today’s issue is full of plays worth stealing. Altman’s calling the bubble, builders are printing cash with zero inventory, and there’s a dead-simple way to automate your content or AI agents. Whether you’re shipping, scaling, or just staying sharp, you’ll find something in here that clicks.

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TL;DR: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman just admitted what most of the AI industry won’t say: we’re likely in a bubble. Like the dot-com boom, there’s a real technological shift happening; but investor excitement is outpacing sustainable business models. Altman thinks many players will lose “a phenomenal amount of money,” but insists OpenAI will be one of the few that survive, pointing to ChatGPT’s explosive growth and trillion-dollar infrastructure plans.

If the bubble bursts, founders should expect capital to dry up quickly. The survivors won’t be the best storytellers, but the ones with distribution, infrastructure, or proprietary data that can’t be replicated.

TL;DR: Print-on-demand on Etsy is emerging as a smarter, leaner alternative to traditional dropshipping. Using AI tools for design, automation platforms like N8N/Make, and research tools like Everbe, solo operators can create, list, and scale hundreds of products with little startup cost and zero inventory risk. Combine that with “parasite SEO” (ranking on Etsy’s domain) and creator partnerships, and you’ve got a modern ecom playbook with real leverage.

This compresses years of e-commerce learning into a low-risk, high-leverage sandbox. You’re not just making T-shirts—you’re building fluency in AI, automation, product validation, and distribution, all without needing to code or buy inventory. These are foundational skills for any digital business.

TL;DR: This N8N tutorial walks you through building an AI agent that actually works with no-code. You’ll learn how to set up a chat model with memory, connect it to tools like Google Sheets and Slack, and use system prompts to control behavior. You then get an agent that tracks subscriptions, confirms inputs, and updates your data automatically.

You need to understand the wiring of your agent. This tutorial teaches you the fundamentals: how memory creates continuity, how system prompts shape behavior, and how to turn conversations into actions. It's the best starting point for founders, builders, and operators ready to go from user to creator.

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TL;DR: Andy Cloak built Data Fetcher, a micro SaaS that syncs external data into Airtable via APIs, now making $23K/month—all as a solo founder. He built on a rising platform (Airtable), solve a real workflow pain, use marketplaces for distribution, and keep it simple. Andy shares a six-step validation framework, smart use of content marketing, and how AI tools like Claude help him stay focused.

Solving a specific, persistent problem on top of a growing platform like Airtable can be more than enough. With built-in distribution, a focused product, and consistent user feedback, he turned a simple tool into a $23K/month business. His framework is less about inspiration and more about execution—exactly what most solo founders need.

TL;DR: Zapier just dropped a plug-and-play content system that automates your entire short-form video pipeline—from trend research to scripts to Slack notifications. It’s built on Zapier’s new AI Agents, runs on a daily schedule, and delivers production-ready ideas into a Google Doc. All you have to do is film.

Most creators lose because they spend too long in idea mode and miss the timing window. This setup solves that by running daily, staying on trend, and handing you a done-for-you content brief every morning. Whether you're an agency operator, solo creator, or startup founder, this turns content into a system, rather than a guessing game.

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