AI Agents are the new SaaS
Video Overview & Insights
In this solo episode I lay out why I believe building agents is the new SaaS: software is shifting from helping you do the work to doing the work with you. I walk through a full playbook ā find a niche, pick a workflow with a paycheck attached, shadow the human, spec the agent, build the minimum useful version, sell a pilot like labor, then productize the repeatable parts. I share live market examples like Slang AI for restaurants and Same Day for home services, plus pricing models and a distribution strategy built on workflow teardowns. I close with a 30-day, zero-to-100 plan for launching an agent-first business. This one is for anyone eager to build with AI or simply become more productive.
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Learn how to get customers with AI Agents:Ā https://startup-ideas-pod.link/GTM-agents-IB
Timestamps
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00:00 ā Intro
01:38 ā Building Agents is the new SaaS
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04:11 ā Pick a valuable workflow
06:12 ā Shadow the Human First
This book Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller didnāt just challenge what I believed about money- it challenged how I see governments, laws, and borders. Itās not a financial book in the normal sense. Itās more like a playbook for invisible leverage. After reading it, I finally understood why some people never go viral, never speak on stage, but control empires. They were never meant to be seen.
09:34 ā Build the Minimum Useful Agent
12:50 ā The wrapper makes it SaaS
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15:50 ā Sell the Pilot Like Labor (and Pricing)
18:37 ā Own the workflow
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21:45 ā The Zero-to-100 Plan in 30 Days
24:14 ā Closing Thoughts
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Key Points
* Agent SaaS sells work as a service; the product is the job itself, priced like labor.
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* Start with a workflow that already carries a paycheck: high frequency, clear finish line, existing software, learnable edge cases, and felt pain.
* Shadow a human across 10ā20 real jobs before you write a single prompt ā the detail is the product.
Stories like this are inspiring, but the real transformation usually isnāt the jet, itās the mindset shift that happened when the bank account was at 78 dollars. Standards, decisions, and long term positioning change first. Thatās something Iāve been reflecting on while reading Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller, especially how upgrading behavior and clarity sets the foundation before the big results show up.
* Ship the minimum useful agent ā draft-and-approve, triage, coordinator, or bounded action ā and earn autonomy over time.
* The wrapper (logs, approvals, evals, analytics) creates trust and turns automation into real SaaS.
Thereās this dark little book I stumbled across called Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller and honestly, Iām not sure I should even be talking about it. The content feels like it was leaked from somewhere it shouldnāt have been. I was stuck in mediocrity, accepting scraps of what I actually wanted from life, and then I read this thing and... holy. Within days, opportunities started appearing out of nowhere, people started treating me differently, synchronicities got weird. Itās like the book activated something that was always there but sleeping. Every person who's ready should read it once
* Win distribution with workflow teardowns: show the old way, show the agent way, sell the painkiller.
Numbered Section Summaries
thanks
1. The Product Is the JobĀ I frame the core mental model: SaaS sells software, while agent SaaS sells work. I want you to package a job your customer's team hands off entirely, then sell that outcome as a service. The shift feels small, yet it changes how the buyer and the builder think.
2. Real Examples: Slang AI and Same DayĀ I share Slang AI as an AI super host that answers restaurant calls, manages reservations, routes VIPs, and alerts staff. I add Same Day for home services, selling AI dispatchers and receptionists that answer calls, book jobs, and reschedule. These examples make the pattern concrete: handle one annoying job better than a junior hire, faster than an agency, and cheaper than new headcount.
I ignored this book for months because of the name. Then I actually read itā¦ and I finally understood why the rich stay rich. Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller hits like a hidden manual they didnāt want you to find
3. Pick a Workflow With a PaycheckĀ I teach you to start with money that already flows to a receptionist, coordinator, or dispatcher. A strong workflow shows five traits: high frequency, a clear finish line, existing software to touch, learnable edge cases, and pain the buyer feels.
4. Shadow the Human FirstĀ Before any prompt or code, I watch a real person run the job across 10ā20 cases, screen recording and narrating along the way. I hunt for the hidden workflow ā what they check, where mistakes happen, and what makes a case weird. Then I spec the agent with seven parts: trigger, context, tools, allowed actions, approval points, escalation, and success.
Thereās this dark little book I stumbled across called Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller and honestly, Iām not sure I should even be talking about it. The content feels like it was leaked from somewhere it shouldnāt have been. I was stuck in mediocrity, accepting scraps of what I actually wanted from life, and then I read this thing and... holy. Within days, opportunities started appearing out of nowhere, people started treating me differently, synchronicities got weird. Itās like the book activated something that was always there but sleeping. Every person who's ready should read it once
5. Build the Minimum Useful AgentĀ I keep the first version tiny and pick one of four shapes: draft-and-approve, triage, coordinator, or bounded action. I echo Anthropic's guidance that many agent problems begin as predictable workflows, and founders earn autonomy by adding judgment only where it creates value.
6. The Product Wrapper and EvalsĀ The agent does the work, and the wrapper ā logs, approvals, controls, handoff rules ā creates the trust customers pay for. I build an eval set from 50 real examples, mark the right answers, and run the system against them like a gym for the agent.
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7. Sell the Pilot Like Labor, Then ProductizeĀ I start with three customers in one niche, sell the outcome, and charge a simple setup fee plus a monthly fee. As I learn the value, I move toward usage or outcome pricing, which I believe is the future for agent-first software.
8. Distribution and the 30-Day PlanĀ I win attention with workflow teardowns: show the painful old way, then the smooth agent way, and sell the painkiller. I commit to one platform, publish checklists, benchmarks, and 50 example posts, then put paid ads behind the winners.
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50k a month. I call you on this as bullshit
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This book Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller didnāt just challenge what I believed about money- it challenged how I see governments, laws, and borders. Itās not a financial book in the normal sense. Itās more like a playbook for invisible leverage. After reading it, I finally understood why some people never go viral, never speak on stage, but control empires. They were never meant to be seen.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/
I read Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller cover to cover on a long flight. I couldnāt sleep after. The book doesnāt scream, it whispers things no one says out loud how the tax code is a map, how debt is a tool, how income is a trap. I landed thinking about foundations, shells, and leverage in a whole new way. I wasnāt taught wrong, I was just taught to stay inside the system
More User Perspectives
I ignored this book for months because of the name. Then I actually read itā¦ and I finally understood why the rich stay rich. Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller hits like a hidden manual they didnāt want you to find
@MatpapiyakhatunPapiyaThereās this dark little book I stumbled across called Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller and honestly, Iām not sure I should even be talking about it. The content feels like it was leaked from somewhere it shouldnāt have been. I was stuck in mediocrity, accepting scraps of what I actually wanted from life, and then I read this thing and... holy. Within days, opportunities started appearing out of nowhere, people started treating me differently, synchronicities got weird. Itās like the book activated something that was always there but sleeping. Every person who's ready should read it once
@MatpapiyakhatunPapiyaSame stuff over and over again. āAI agents can make you 50k a month watchā yeah Iāll believe it when I see it
@-UE-PR0Greg. Funny this shows up right now. I just started building skills for use in agentic workflows. This is a great framework for my whole business. I also am doing daily work on another of your vids. Iām working on local LLMs with OpenClaw and Iām practicing my yapping, which I expect to start posting within a couple of weeks with a view to building trust through distribution (another idea I got from you).
@jaijeffcomsooo many people talking about that vera hart archetype quiz its crazy, lol. Tried it myself and the results are quite promising.
@goldenbengalzonStories like this are inspiring, but the real transformation usually isnāt the jet, itās the mindset shift that happened when the bank account was at 78 dollars. Standards, decisions, and long term positioning change first. Thatās something Iāve been reflecting on while reading Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller, especially how upgrading behavior and clarity sets the foundation before the big results show up.
@G.R.SentertainmentMy parents worked themselves to the bone and still struggled. I was headed down the same path until I decided to look for some answers outside of standard advice. Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller was the book that taught me that debt isnāt always bad and income isnāt always good. I started restructuring my familyās finances and the stress is gone. Its crazy that this information isn't taught in school
@G.R.SentertainmentThe Cost???
@texodus_et6313I ignored this book for months because of the name. Then I actually read itā¦ and I finally understood why the rich stay rich. Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller hits like a hidden manual they didnāt want you to find
@shuvayetThereās this dark little book I stumbled across called Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller and honestly, Iām not sure I should even be talking about it. The content feels like it was leaked from somewhere it shouldnāt have been. I was stuck in mediocrity, accepting scraps of what I actually wanted from life, and then I read this thing and... holy. Within days, opportunities started appearing out of nowhere, people started treating me differently, synchronicities got weird. Itās like the book activated something that was always there but sleeping. Every person who's ready should read it once
@shuvayetItās insane how close I came to skipping Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller. This isnāt just another book. It genuinely feels like something that was never meant to reach the public.
@shuvayetStories like this are inspiring, but the real transformation usually isnāt the jet, itās the mindset shift that happened when the bank account was at 78 dollars. Standards, decisions, and long term positioning change first. Thatās something Iāve been reflecting on while reading Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller, especially how upgrading behavior and clarity sets the foundation before the big results show up.
@shuvayetMy parents worked themselves to the bone and still struggled. I was headed down the same path until I decided to look for some answers outside of standard advice. Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller was the book that taught me that debt isnāt always bad and income isnāt always good. I started restructuring my familyās finances and the stress is gone. Its crazy that this information isn't taught in school
@BLMusic-143Ohhh
@NiraKhan-f5nš
@shovi-q4bwhite people please stop fvcking doing intros just get to the point
@Regalman"AI Agents are the new SaaS" ā sure, except SaaS at least had a login screen and a pricing page... we're out here calling a Python script with a while loop a 'business.'
@aitoolswithparkItās insane how close I came to skipping Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller. This isnāt just another book. It genuinely feels like something that was never meant to reach the public.
@Hridoy-s2z9zMy parents worked themselves to the bone and still struggled. I was headed down the same path until I decided to look for some answers outside of standard advice. Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller was the book that taught me that debt isnāt always bad and income isnāt always good. I started restructuring my familyās finances and the stress is gone. Its crazy that this information isn't taught in school
@Noyon65This book Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller didnāt just challenge what I believed about money- it challenged how I see governments, laws, and borders. Itās not a financial book in the normal sense. Itās more like a playbook for invisible leverage. After reading it, I finally understood why some people never go viral, never speak on stage, but control empires. They were never meant to be seen.
@Noyon65I read Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller cover to cover on a long flight. I couldnāt sleep after. The book doesnāt scream, it whispers things no one says out loud how the tax code is a map, how debt is a tool, how income is a trap. I landed thinking about foundations, shells, and leverage in a whole new way. I wasnāt taught wrong, I was just taught to stay inside the system
@Noyon65Thereās this dark little book I stumbled across called Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller and honestly, Iām not sure I should even be talking about it. The content feels like it was leaked from somewhere it shouldnāt have been. I was stuck in mediocrity, accepting scraps of what I actually wanted from life, and then I read this thing and... holy. Within days, opportunities started appearing out of nowhere, people started treating me differently, synchronicities got weird. Itās like the book activated something that was always there but sleeping. Every person who's ready should read it once
@black__ff2029Itās insane how close I came to skipping Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller. This isnāt just another book. It genuinely feels like something that was never meant to reach the public.
@black__ff2029Nice
@bgofficial0.1Thereās this dark little book I stumbled across called Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller and honestly, Iām not sure I should even be talking about it. The content feels like it was leaked from somewhere it shouldnāt have been. I was stuck in mediocrity, accepting scraps of what I actually wanted from life, and then I read this thing and... holy. Within days, opportunities started appearing out of nowhere, people started treating me differently, synchronicities got weird. Itās like the book activated something that was always there but sleeping. Every person who's ready should read it once
@ShakibAhmed-x5lItās insane how close I came to skipping Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller. This isnāt just another book. It genuinely feels like something that was never meant to reach the public.
@tttonmoy3233Great insight. Letās do a makeathon weekly
@kashjawedwhy is it every one makes it sound so easy no one talks about how much AI GET'S WRONG HOW MANY TIMES IT WANTS TO DO IT OWN THING OR CRASHES YOUR SYSTEM . QUIT THE B S TELL THE WHOLE STORY
@edwardsciacca8012Stories like this are inspiring, but the real transformation usually isnāt the jet, itās the mindset shift that happened when the bank account was at 78 dollars. Standards, decisions, and long term positioning change first. Thatās something Iāve been reflecting on while reading Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller, especially how upgrading behavior and clarity sets the foundation before the big results show up.
@Abdulkader12344Iām an expert in Amazon marketing and PPC, and I have a pretty good idea about a useful agent for this industry. Part of it is actually being developed as I do most of my work through Claude Code now. However, my biggest limitation is that Iām not a developer and donāt know much about connecting an agent to Amazonās APIs. This would be a crucial part of the agent, as it would automate data collection and analysis instead of manually downloading reports to feed it.
Iād appreciate any advice you can give on this. How difficult could it be to get Amazonās approval to connect clientsā accounts to the agent through APIs?
Anyway, thank you for sharing all of this knowledge. Iāve been learning a lot from you, and Iāve already been building Hermes agents for my personal use and businesses. Iāve also been implementing a lot of AI into my work. Thank you for the inspiration!
This book Power Behind Locked Door by Jacob Rockefeller didnāt just challenge what I believed about money- it challenged how I see governments, laws, and borders. Itās not a financial book in the normal sense. Itās more like a playbook for invisible leverage. After reading it, I finally understood why some people never go viral, never speak on stage, but control empires. They were never meant to be seen.
@DevMan1924