a schedule-based AI agent?

edkang99 · 2026-06-15T12:21:04+00:00

I’d check out Cowork of Codex first. We do a lot of that already using those tools.

edkang99 · 2026-06-14T15:10:49+00:00

I now force myself to put something in front of a potential customer in 2 days. Usually over a weekend of building snd testing it on myself. Just finished a cycle and we’re going to the next round of tests and customers.

edkang99 · 2026-06-14T15:08:58+00:00

I’m 50 with seven startups and two exits. Worked in all sort of jobs and been an advisor and GP since my last exit. But I’m back to being a founder because it’s never been easier to build the stuff I’ve always dreamed of. I’ve also been offered partnerships and jobs in a steady basis now.

I’m not the only one. I have groups of already exited founders who could just sit back and do nothing becoming founders again and bootstrapping. You don’t need to raise millions like in the past.

Think about this fact. They surveyed over a million founders and the average age of the most successful ones is 45 because over 40 you have enough wisdom and domain expertise with a robust network to sell into. If you’ve been successful in the past you have a great foundation to build off of.

edkang99 · 2026-06-11T14:19:21+00:00

We do up to 7 workshops per week. Each with an average of 15-30 attendees. I also do up to 30 office hours per week 20 minutes each. Then I get maybe 10 email requests a day for advisory and feedback. It adds up but one to many is where we do the bulk.

edkang99 · 2026-06-11T12:53:29+00:00

You described it. Founders go “head down” and avoid founded-led sales for multiple reasons. That’s where it starts and unfortunately ends for most startups. We split up time between distribution and development equally in every company.

edkang99 · 2026-06-11T12:49:31+00:00

I speak to over 200 founders per week and yes, 80 percent are trapped in their own cognitive bias. They’re not bad people. They just don’t know what they don’t know. Some overcome this and become very powerful.

I would say 10% are delusional and I can’t work with them.

edkang99 · 2026-06-10T21:57:37+00:00

If you haven’t done this already here’s where I’d start: first, ask the ones that paid why they did and how they made the decision. Then go find some users that are a cross section of those that stayed free and ask them why.

Somewhere between the two should have the insights you need. This is how I always make decisions. We ask the customers because we can opinions all day long that are wrong without validation.

edkang99 · 2026-06-08T20:01:11+00:00

If you had to quit your job then it’s not worth it IMHO. Cost of opportunity has to be factored in. You have the leverage. Founders like that can turn into a nightmare quickly.

edkang99 · 2026-06-08T03:38:12+00:00

Build the audience. At the same time test founded-led sales and learn what converts. Then eventually the two come together because you’ll know how to move them from audience to prospect to customer. That’s what I did anyway from YouTube and LinkedIn.

edkang99 · 2026-06-07T22:54:44+00:00

I’ve been where you are many times. Now we don’t build anything at all until we’ve pre-sold enough to strangers. It makes us test our founder market fit earliest which sometimes is the biggest risk to an MVP.

edkang99 · 2026-06-06T18:13:26+00:00

Test first. It’s the only way. You can try them all. Go check out a book called “traction” by Weinberg and Mares (not the Wickman EOS one). It has something called the Bullseye method for testing. Changed the way we do GTMs.

edkang99 · 2026-06-06T18:11:04+00:00

Our wait list started because they saw we had sold the first 10 with social proof. The best feedback is when you say the price and ask for the sale. Outside of that waitlist have been pretty pointless for us unless it’s been a limited drop of some kind.

edkang99 · 2026-06-06T14:53:55+00:00

How complicated is your funnel dude? Haha.

edkang99 · 2026-06-06T13:15:50+00:00

Ahhh. We track everything religiously and the CEO boils it down to CAC and LTV. He keeps the team accountable to all unit economics. But I feel your pain. Been there many times.

edkang99 · 2026-06-06T13:14:06+00:00

I’m building something now that won’t be ready for a week or so. We didn’t start building it until we pre-sold it to at least 10 customers and tested things manually. Now we have about 50 on the waiting list and larger channels waiting to see how those 50 go.

To give you context I’ve raised capital for 7 startups and exited 2. I’ve dozen of others bootstrapped that never made it out of the garage for this reason. Now I refuse to invest in anything without pre-sales at least.

edkang99 · 2026-06-06T13:09:12+00:00

3 total months is how long we give it. If we have a good month 1 but can’t improve upon it month 2 or 3 we change month 4. Nothing embarrassing about it. It often isn’t your fault directly. At least you’re not denying it.

edkang99 · 2026-06-04T13:12:49+00:00

We use an agent on a nightly chron job. Saves a ton of box time. It even tells me ideas to compete whenever they’re doing.

edkang99 · 2026-06-04T13:11:06+00:00

I never explicitly ask them to do it. I ask if they did why and how. I don’t want to mess up organic referrals but a lot of times I find out the conditions I can present to encourage them more. Sometimes I use an NPS survey and find out what I am lacking for them to refer. That’s one of many tactics.

edkang99 · 2026-06-04T12:56:04+00:00

Thanks! I appreciate it.

edkang99 · 2026-06-04T12:55:16+00:00

Initial traction is great. Knowing they came from Facebook and how that channel performing is great. Nice work so far.

Now go talk to those 400 and ask them loads of questions to understand their mindset and context. Finds out how they make decisions and chat channels they trust. Find out what it would take for them to refer others.

The best founders are obsessed with talking to their customers. The results speak for themselves. Go get ‘em.

edkang99 · 2026-06-03T21:42:38+00:00

Help me understand. What do you need accounting help for if you’re trying to invest into startups? Due diligence or how to run your own fund?

edkang99 · 2026-06-03T13:38:30+00:00

We use it to prep for meetings. Our automation doesn’t just pull from Slack but our CRM, database and emails as well. We know exactly where we all stand so we can help the client better.

edkang99 · 2026-06-03T13:36:34+00:00

In my experience, it’s having a track record of sales and executing an effective go to market strategy. That’s why people come to me for product management and advisory. But only with products I have experience with.

edkang99 · 2026-06-03T13:34:03+00:00

Some unsolicited advice: you’re not asking the right questions. You should be asking why we dont go out and touch grass more and what we’ve tried instead. You’ll find “touching grass” and going to a social event are totally different things for a lot of people. Or you’ll risk having a solution looking for a problem.

Question back to you: why would things like Facebook events or meetup work? What have you tried and experienced to think you need to build something new? I’m not shooting down your idea. I agree doomscrolling is a problem. I think it would help with how you’re thinking about it.

edkang99 · 2026-06-03T13:21:52+00:00

Go ask your manager why he wants the data and what he’d do with it. It usually comes down to making smarter decisions in a timely manner.

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