Product Growth
Product Growth Podcast
Building in Public: The 7 AI Tools I'm Using in My $1M+/Yr Business
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Building in Public: The 7 AI Tools I'm Using in My $1M+/Yr Business

I'm not gatekeeping anything. Here's the 7 AI tools I use most in my business (with the demo of how I use them)
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Brought to you by:

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  4. Parlance Labs: Practical consulting that improves your AI


Today’s Episode

9/10 people I meet are still underestimating how much AI can change your business.

I’ve been using 7 AI tools that have helped me save me something like $400K in costs, and are the cornerstones behind my $1M/year online business.

Let me walk you through the workflow and exactly how I use them:

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Workflow One - AI Email Agent

Tools: Zapier + Claude
Saves: $1,200/month in virtual assistant costs

My inbox used to be a time sink: full of sponsorship requests, newsletter support, and podcast bookings.

Now AI takes the first pass at all of them.

Here’s how it works:

  • Every 2 minutes, Zapier checks my inbox for new emails

  • It sends the email content to Claude (Anthropic)

  • Claude uses a system prompt to categorize the message (e.g. sponsorship, podcast guest, PPP request)

  • Based on the category, it drafts a tailored response using my tone, brand, and preferred links

  • I either review and send or let it auto-send if it’s high confidence

This one workflow cut down >50% of my email load.

Even better: it’s fully modular.

I can update the Claude prompt, add filters, or expand the logic using Zapier’s AI co-pilot.

Instead of a VA at $1,200/month, I pay ~$25 for Zapier + Claude credits.

That’s $14,000+ saved annually, just on email.


Workflow Two - AI Prototyping

Tools: V0 + Claude
Saves: $5K–$10K per product idea

When I want to build a new product, I don’t hire a dev (first).

I open Claude and type:

“Act as a prompt engineer. Generate a prompt to build a $3/month invoice tool for freelancers. It should use clean UI, support tax calculations, and generate downloadable PDFs.”

Then I plug that prompt into 3 AI prototyping tools:

  • V0

  • Bolt

  • Lovable

All 3 generate a full functional frontend, with working buttons, forms, PDF generators, and more.

Then I:

  • Pick the best one

  • Give feedback (“make design more professional” or “add address input field”)

  • Watch the tool regenerate the UI in real time

What would’ve taken a frontend dev 2 weeks or $5,000 from a dev shop…

Now takes me 30 minutes and zero code.

Even if I end up not launching the product, I’ve prototyped and validated it without spending a dollar.


Workflow Three - AI Coding Agent for Backends

Tool: Cursor
Saves: $96K/year vs hiring a senior developer

Once the frontend is ready, I need the backend.

Enter Cursor, my coding copilot. It’s like VS Code with a built-in AI dev assistant.

Here’s what I do:

  • Download the prototype code from V0

  • Load it into Cursor

  • Start a conversation:

    • “Add Stripe payments”

    • “Fix this bug”

    • “Deploy this to localhost”

  • Every error or dependency issue I hit? I just paste it into the Cursor chat, and it walks me through fixing it

The key here isn’t that Cursor writes perfect code.

It’s that I don’t need to hire a backend engineer. I can ship real features without giving up equity or cash.

I’ve used Cursor to:

  • Add billing logic

  • Store invoice history

  • Build internal tools that would’ve cost $10K+

For solo founders or small teams, Cursor replaces the backend bottleneck.


Workflow Four - AI Ad Generator

Tools: Gemini + Veo 3
Saves: $10K–$20K per video campaign

When I was developing product ads at thredUP, we paid thousands for marketing videos.

Now I create high-quality video ads with a simple workflow:

  • Use Gemini to brainstorm 5 ad ideas and storyboards for my product

  • Choose the best one

  • Feed the storyboard into Veo 3, Google’s new AI video tool

  • Generate a 10–60 second ad, complete with visuals, animations, and sound

Once I have the draft, I can:

  • Iterate on each scene

  • Add calls to action

  • Experiment with viral openings or new product hooks

Instead of a creative agency charging $10K per video, I pay $20/month for Gemini and free access (for now) to Veo.

This workflow powers:

  • Landing page explainer videos

  • UGC-style TikToks

  • Pre-roll ads for YouTube

It’s changed my entire go-to-market playbook when I work with startups.


Workflow Five - AI Content Marketing Team

Tool: Lindy
Saves: $2,400/month in content ops

Lindy is like Zapier meets GPT but built for marketing.

Here’s how I use it:

  • Automatically turns podcast episodes into blog posts using Claude

  • Takes my LinkedIn posts and converts them into X threads

  • Schedules posts via Typefully

  • Updates my Substack drafts with episode summaries and CTAs

All of this used to be handled by two different freelancers. Now I use one, who is powered by this system.

I create once → it repurposes, formats, schedules, and even personalizes the tone per platform. The single freelancer edits it.

I used to spend $2.4K on the other freelancer.

Now I spend $50/month on Lindy.

This AI marketing system is what powers the flywheel behind all my content.


Workflow Six - AI Podcast Editor

(See the options in the right under AI Producer)

Tools: Riverside AI + Opus Clips
Saves: $5,500/month

If you’ve ever tried producing a podcast, you know:

  • Editing takes 3–5x the recording time

  • Audio balancing is tedious

  • Clips are a full-time job

Riverside changed everything for me:

  • “Magic Episode” creates smart layouts and scene switches

  • “Tracks AI” cleans audio, removes filler, and improves voice quality

  • “Magic Clips” automatically finds 5–10 great clips with hooks and subtitles

  • I feed those into Opus Clips to further format them for virality

I do it all with $50/month in tools.

And the best part? This podcast now generates $18K/month in revenue - which I have re-invested into humans making edits after the AI.

But at the beginning, I could never have scaled it without these AI workflows.


Workflow Seven - AI Podcast Strategist

Tool: Claude Projects
Saves: $3,000/month in strategy, research, and outreach

This is the cherry on top.

Claude Projects lets me create a persistent, memory-rich copilot just for my podcast.

Here’s what it knows:

  • My podcast audience, goals, stats

  • My past guests and topics

  • My outreach tone, booking link, and interview length

With that context, I can ask Claude to:

  • Recommend guests (and rate them)

  • Draft cold outreach messages

  • Suggest angles, episode titles, and interview questions

  • Track topic trends and gaps

I even gave it examples of Dwarkesh and Lex Fridman podcasts for inspiration.

It’s like hiring a strategist, a booker, and a researcher, all rolled into one.

And it costs me $20/month instead of $3,000 (that’s literally what strategists cost, I’ve had them quote).

And that’s it for the AI tools behind my business!


Related Podcasts

  1. How I make $18K/mo with a niche podcast (STEAL THIS)

  2. This PM Built a Six-Figure ($100K+) AI Side Hustle

  3. He Built a $2M/Yr One-Person Business - Steal His Playbook

  4. This PM was Laid Off - Now he has 125K followers

  5. Her Layoff Went Viral - Now She has 300K+ Subscribers


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