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Insights & Ideas

Thoughts on AI agents, automation, and building intelligent systems for modern businesses.

I Had an Idea for a Cruise. So I Built the Brand, the Site, and the Software.
June 2, 2026

I Had an Idea for a Cruise. So I Built the Brand, the Site, and the Software.

How an idea for a new kind of trip — Backroads Cruise — turned into a brand, a website, and a custom-built registration platform that replaced thousands of dollars a year in third-party SaaS fees.

Building in PublicRegy ProLand Cruise VacationsCustom SoftwareSaaS Alternatives
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The Voice Agent: How the Encore Hotel Stopped Missing Calls
May 31, 2026

The Voice Agent: How the Encore Hotel Stopped Missing Calls

A 24/7 voice AI that answers every inbound call, quotes rooms live from Cloudbeds, and texts booking links via SMS. Built on ElevenLabs + Twilio for the Berlin Encore Hotel.

Building in PublicVoice AIElevenLabsHotel OperationsCloudbeds
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The Theater Agent: Building a Voice AI for the Box Office
May 30, 2026

The Theater Agent: Building a Voice AI for the Box Office

A 24/7 voice agent that handles show inquiries for the Amish Country Theater. Pulls live show data from VBO, sends ticket links via SMS, and posts QA transcripts to Slack after every call.

Building in PublicVoice AIElevenLabsTheater AgentProduction Systems
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Spam Slayer: Why I Built My Own Email Filter
May 28, 2026

Spam Slayer: Why I Built My Own Email Filter

A multi-tenant IMAP spam filter with a hybrid rules-plus-AI pipeline. Built because every off-the-shelf option was either too aggressive, too quiet, or too expensive at scale.

Building in PublicSpam SlayerAI PipelineEmailProduction Systems
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Where Did the Money Go? Building OTA Reconciler
May 27, 2026

Where Did the Money Go? Building OTA Reconciler

Booking.com and your PMS rarely agree. OTA Reconciler is a Next.js app I built to compare exports against Hostaway and Cloudbeds, flag the mismatches, and auto-draft dispute responses.

Building in PublicOTA ReconcilerHotel OperationsBooking.comHostawayCloudbeds
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Building Gift Cardy: A Custom Gift Certificate Platform
May 26, 2026

Building Gift Cardy: A Custom Gift Certificate Platform

A gift certificate SaaS I built admin-first to replace a third-party platform across the property portfolio. Multi-tenant, Stripe-native, lodging-integrated.

Building in PublicGift CardiSaaS AlternativesCustom Software
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The Three Questions We Ask Before Building Any Agent
May 25, 2026

The Three Questions We Ask Before Building Any Agent

A simple three-question filter for deciding whether an AI agent is the right project at all. If a workflow can't pass all three cleanly, the agent isn't the answer yet.

AI AgentsProcessStrategySmall Business
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The SaaS Stack Is Quietly Dying. Nobody Sent a Memo.
May 23, 2026

The SaaS Stack Is Quietly Dying. Nobody Sent a Memo.

MCP turned every SaaS tool into a callable function. The implications are bigger than anyone is admitting — and they're going to show up first in SMB renewal decisions.

MCPAI AgentsSaaSIndustry
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Anthropic Just Agreed to Pay SpaceX $1.25 Billion a Month. Here's What It Actually Means for You.
May 21, 2026

Anthropic Just Agreed to Pay SpaceX $1.25 Billion a Month. Here's What It Actually Means for You.

Anthropic and SpaceX just signed a $45 billion compute deal — including a plan for data centers in orbit. Strip out the hype and there are real, near-term implications for anyone building on Claude.

AI NewsAnthropicSpaceXComputeInfrastructure
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Voice Agents for Home Services: The Trade That Finally Caught Up
May 16, 2026

Voice Agents for Home Services: The Trade That Finally Caught Up

HVAC, plumbing, and electrical companies were the last holdouts on voice AI. Now they're the fastest adopters — and the ROI math isn't even close.

Voice AIHome ServicesHVACSmall Business
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Your Google Business Profile Is a Lead Engine — Most SMBs Treat It Like a Phone Book
May 2, 2026

Your Google Business Profile Is a Lead Engine — Most SMBs Treat It Like a Phone Book

Reviews, Q&A, and photos on your Google Business Profile drive more local conversions than your website. Here's how an AI reputation agent turns it into a 24/7 lead and SEO machine.

Reputation ManagementLocal SEOAI AgentsGoogle Business Profile
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Most Internal Dashboards Should Be Agents
April 30, 2026

Most Internal Dashboards Should Be Agents

Why the next two years will see most internal tooling replaced with conversational agents — and the three kinds of dashboards that survive.

AI AgentsInternal ToolsEngineeringProductivity
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GEO Is the New SEO: Showing Up in ChatGPT, Claude, and Google AI Overviews
April 25, 2026

GEO Is the New SEO: Showing Up in ChatGPT, Claude, and Google AI Overviews

Generative Engine Optimization is how brands earn citations inside AI answers. Here's the playbook for businesses that want to be the answer, not just a search result.

SEOGEOContent StrategyAI
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The First AI Agent You Should Hire (and How to Know When You're Ready)
April 18, 2026

The First AI Agent You Should Hire (and How to Know When You're Ready)

Most small businesses pick the wrong first agent. Here's a simple framework for identifying the highest-ROI starting point — and the signs you're actually ready for one.

AI AgentsSmall BusinessStrategy
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Anthropic Managed Agents Is the Infrastructure Shift Nobody Saw Coming
April 11, 2026

Anthropic Managed Agents Is the Infrastructure Shift Nobody Saw Coming

Anthropic just launched Managed Agents — a fully managed cloud runtime for long-lived autonomous Claude agents. Here's why it changes how AI gets built.

AnthropicAI AgentsManaged AgentsInfrastructure
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Meta's New AI Division Just Dropped Muse Spark — and It's Genuinely Impressive
April 4, 2026

Meta's New AI Division Just Dropped Muse Spark — and It's Genuinely Impressive

Meta Superintelligence Labs released Muse Spark, its first reasoning model. It's free, fast, multimodal, and it just beat every other frontier model on medical benchmarks.

AI NewsMetaMuse SparkMultimodal
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Anthropic's Most Powerful Model Just Leaked — And It Can Find Zero-Days in Every Major OS
March 28, 2026

Anthropic's Most Powerful Model Just Leaked — And It Can Find Zero-Days in Every Major OS

A CMS misconfiguration revealed Anthropic's secret "Mythos" model before its official launch. Here's what we know about the most capable AI model ever built — and why it's not for sale.

AI NewsAnthropicClaudeCybersecurity
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OpenAI Just Raised $122 Billion. Here's What That Number Actually Means.
March 21, 2026

OpenAI Just Raised $122 Billion. Here's What That Number Actually Means.

OpenAI closed the largest private funding round in history at an $852 billion valuation. We break down who paid, why, and what it means for the AI market.

AI NewsOpenAIFundingIndustry
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SpaceX Just Bought an AI Company for $1.25 Trillion and Nobody Is Talking About It Enough
March 14, 2026

SpaceX Just Bought an AI Company for $1.25 Trillion and Nobody Is Talking About It Enough

Elon Musk merged SpaceX and xAI in the largest acquisition in history. Here's what orbital AI infrastructure actually means and why it matters.

AI NewsxAISpaceXInfrastructure
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March 8, 2026

AI News Roundup: March 2026 is Already Unhinged

DeepSeek V4, Apple's Siri reboot, OpenAI's $110B, China's five-year plan, and the vibe shift from benchmarks to production.

AI NewsIndustry TrendsModels
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OpenClaw: The Open-Source AI Agent That Took Over the Internet (and Then Got Acquired)
March 7, 2026

OpenClaw: The Open-Source AI Agent That Took Over the Internet (and Then Got Acquired)

From side project to 247K GitHub stars to OpenAI acquisition — the wild story of OpenClaw and why it matters for the future of AI agents.

OpenClawOpen SourceAI AgentsSecurityOpenAI
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Claude Cowork Changed How We Run Our Entire Business (Not Just Code)
March 7, 2026

Claude Cowork Changed How We Run Our Entire Business (Not Just Code)

Anthropic took Claude Code — the tool developers fell in love with — and made it for everyone else. Here's what it's actually like to use day-to-day.

ClaudeAnthropicProductivityAI ToolsCowork
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The AI Model Race Is Getting Absurd (A Recap of Everything That Just Happened)
March 6, 2026

The AI Model Race Is Getting Absurd (A Recap of Everything That Just Happened)

GPT-5.2, Claude Opus 4.5, Gemini 3, Llama 4, DeepSeek, and more. Here's what dropped, what matters, and what's actually hype.

AILLMsGPT-5ClaudeGeminiLlama
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Why Voice Agents Are the Best Investment You'll Make This Year
March 4, 2026

Why Voice Agents Are the Best Investment You'll Make This Year

Voice AI isn't some far-off future thing anymore. It's here, it works, and the ROI is kind of insane. Here's why your business should care.

Voice AIBusinessROIAutomation
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