The Startup Ideas Podcast

I sit down with my dear friend Vin (Internet Vin) for a deep, hands-on walkthrough of how he uses Obsidian and Claude Code together as a thinking partner, idea generator, and personal operating system. Vin demonstrates live how Claude Code can read, reference, and surface patterns across an entire Obsidian vault of interlinked markdown files — turning years of personal notes into actionable insights, project ideas, and even custom commands. This episode covers everything from the basic setup to advanced workflows like tracing how ideas evolve over time, generating contextual startup ideas, and delegating tasks to autonomous agents. If you are serious about getting the most out of LLMs, this is the episode that shows you how your own writing becomes the fuel.

Link to Vin's skills and my notes: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/obsidian-commands

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

02:10 – What Is Claude Code?

06:45 – What Is Obsidian?

10:28 – Obsidian CLI: Giving Claude Code Access to Your Vault

14:53 – Thinking Tools: Ghost, Challenge, Emerge, Drift, Ideas, Trace

22:51 – The Role of Reflection in Building a Powerful Vault

25:15 – How This Relates to OpenClaw (Autonomous Agents)

29:13 – Live Demo: /Connect — Bridging Two Domains

31:25 – Meeting Notes & External Info

33:23 – Why Vin Keeps a Strict Separation: Human-Written vs. Agent-Written

35:42 – How Claude Code uses Obsidian

41:46 – Live Demo: /Ideas — Generating Actionable Ideas from Your Vault

47:10 – The /Graduate Command

50:29 – Why Obsidian Is the Missing Link for AI Companies

54:53 – The Alpha: Why 99.99% of People Won't Do This

57:38 – Closing Thoughts & Where to Follow Vin

Key Points

Claude Code is a command-line agent that can control your computer through natural language — and its power multiplies when you feed it rich, persistent context files instead of re-explaining projects every session.

Obsidian is uniquely valuable because it sits on top of interlinked markdown files; the new Obsidian CLI lets Claude Code see both the files and the relationships between them.

Vin built custom slash commands (/trace, /connect, /ideas, /ghost, /drift, /challenge) that let him use Claude Code as a thinking partner — surfacing latent patterns, contradictions, and ideas he would never see on his own.

Writing and daily reflection are the engine of the entire system: the more you write, the more context the agent has, and the more it can do for you.

Vin maintains a strict rule that only he writes into the Obsidian vault — the agent reads and generates outputs separately, so pattern detection always reflects his own thinking.

Markdown files are the real oxygen of LLMs; if you are serious about building a personal OS with AI, a centralized note-taking tool built on markdown is foundational

The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com

LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/

The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/

FIND ME ON SOCIAL

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg

Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

FIND VIN ON SOCIAL

X: https://x.com/internetvin

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@otherstuffpod

Personal Website: https://internetvin.com/Index

I sit down with Nick Vasilescu, founder of Orgo, to break down exactly how people are turning OpenClaw — the open-source computer use agent — into a real revenue stream. Nick walks me through live demos of deploying OpenClaw for business clients, shows how sub-agents and parallelization multiply output, and shares his design-thinking framework for identifying and automating high-value workflows. We even build a TikTok trend-hunting agent from scratch during the episode to prove how fast you can go from idea to working prototype.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

02:50 – Getting Set Up with OpenClaw

05:02 – Finding the Wedge: Automating Real Business Outcomes

07:39 – The Upwork Hack: Finding Paid Automation Jobs

09:41 – Andreessen Horowitz on Computer Use Agents

11:01 – Setting Up a Client Workspace in Minutes

12:41 – Design Thinking: Mapping Value vs. Effort

15:23 – Using OpenClaw to Prioritize Automations

17:57 – Building Automation Pipelines with Claude Code

19:33 – Sub-Agents vs. Tasks vs. Skills

23:22 – Automation Possibilities are huge

24:54 – Live Build: TikTok Trend Hunter from Idea Browser

32:09 – Start with an MVP Skill, Then Iterate

32:41 – Architecture of the TikTok Agent Script

36:59 – The Arbitrage Opportunity: Most Businesses Still Need Help

40:30 – Agents Are the New SaaS

42:42 – Demoing TikTok Trend Hunter

44:11 – Building Assets & the Abundance AI Will Bring

47:58 – Closing Advice: Get Your Hands Dirty

Links Mentioned:

Orgo: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/orgo

Key Points

OpenClaw is more than a personal assistant — it is a deployable business tool that can automate end-to-end workflows for paying clients.

The fastest path to revenue is finding automation jobs on Upwork (RPA, desktop automation, workflow building) and fulfilling them with OpenClaw and Claude Code.

Sub-agents allow your main OpenClaw instance to delegate specialized tasks, keeping the orchestrator free and multiplying throughput through parallelization.

A design-thinking approach — mapping automation opportunities by value vs. effort — is essential before building anything.

Verticalizing computer use agents for a specific industry (manufacturing, real estate, distributorships) is the major startup opportunity Andreessen Horowitz is calling out.

Always start by building a lightweight MVP skill, test it, debug, and iterate before scaling.

The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com

LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/

The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/

FIND ME ON SOCIAL

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg

Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

FIND NICK ON SOCIAL

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nickvasiles

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nickvasilescu/

Personal Website: https://www.nickvasilescu.com

I sit down with Frey Chu to go deep on how to use Claude Code to build AI-coded directories, specifically how to tackle the hardest part: getting valuable data. Frey walks us through three real-world directory examples (a funeral home directory, a senior living directory, and GasBuddy), we play a game guessing their traffic and monetization, and then he does a full live walkthrough of the seven-step process he used to build a luxury restroom trailer directory in four days for under $250. I also ask him about the future of directories in a world where LLMs are changing how people search.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro

02:15 – What you’ll learn

03:00 – Directory Game:Parting(Funeral Home Directory)

05:42 – Directory Game: A Place for Mom (Senior Living Directory)

08:00 – Directory Game: GasBuddy (Crowdsourced Gas Price Directory)

12:32 – The Data Moat Thesis

14:02 – Luxury Restroom Trailers: The Niche Directory Demo

15:52 – Before & After: WordPress Directory vs. Claude Code Directory

19:04 – Cost Breakdown: Built in 4 Days for Under $250

21:23 – Step 1: Scraping Raw Data with Outscraper

22:25 – Step 2: Cleaning Data with Claude Code

23:27 – Step 3: Using Crawl4AI for Automated Website Verification

28:01 – Step 4: Enriching Trailer Inventory Data

31:33 – Step 5: Scraping & Verifying Images with Claude Vision

36:33 – Step 6: Amenities, Features & Filter Data

38:31 – Step 7: Service Areas

39:15 – Niche Directory Ideas: Dementia Care, ADA Bathrooms, Tap Water Quality

43:38 – For Naysayers: Is Building a Directory Worth It in 2026?

47:51 – LLMs, AI Search & the Future of Directories

Links Mentioned:

Outscraper: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/outscraper

Crawl4AI: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/crawl4AI

Key Points

Data is the moat for any successful directory — and with Claude Code plus Crawl4AI, the hardest part (data cleaning and enrichment) is now dramatically faster and cheaper.

Every successful directory helps people save time, save money, or make money — and price transparency is a massive, underserved opportunity across boring niches.

Frey built a fully enriched luxury restroom trailer directory in four days for under $250, a process that would have taken 2,000+ hours of manual work.

Monetization depends on the niche: lead generation, vertical SaaS, agency services, ads, debit cards, affiliate, and marketplace models all work.

Directories remain strong in an AI search world because users browsing a directory are in the decision-making phase, especially in high-stakes niches like health, legal, finance, and senior living.

Building a directory is one of the best playgrounds to learn Claude Code, SEO, and lead generation — even if the first one is just a learning exercise.

The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com

LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/

The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/

FIND ME ON SOCIAL

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg

Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

FIND FREY ON SOCIAL

X/Twitter: https://x.com/freychu

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FreyChu/featured

ShipYourDirectory: https://www.shipyourdirectory.com/

I sit down with Jonathan Courtney, host of Unscheduled CEO Podcast, to talk about the gap between building AI-powered products and actually making money from them. Jonathan walks through his four-step "Promoter Blueprint" — traffic, holding pattern, selling event, and conversion — and shows exactly how he uses Claude and Claude Code to execute each phase. This one is a wake-up call for any founder spending more time optimizing automations than promoting what they sell.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro and Welcome Back

04:13 – The Founder’s Real Job: Promotion, Period

09:23 – The Promoter Blueprint (Screen Share)

19:38 – Using AI with Promoter Blueprint

22:52 – Inside Claude: Jonathan's Claude Workflow

28:41 – Moving from Claude to Claude Code for Builds

30:55 – Building a $450K Webinar Campaign with Claude

37:30 – Scale Up, Abundance Over Efficiency

43:57 – Final Advice: Embrace Your Role as Promoter

Key Points

A CEO's primary job is promoting the business — building is secondary to getting people in the door.

AI tools become "procrastination machines" when builders optimize systems that have zero customers.

Every revenue engine follows four phases: traffic, holding pattern, selling event, conversion (and a loop back).

Claude projects combined with Claude Code create a fast workflow for going from research to a shipped marketing asset in under an hour.

The current play is abundance and scale, using AI to run five campaigns instead of one, rather than cutting headcount for efficiency.

Off-the-shelf solutions still beat custom builds in many cases — always ask before you spend three days vibe-coding something.

The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com

LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/

The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/

FIND ME ON SOCIAL

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg

Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

FIND JONATHAN ON SOCIAL

Unscheduled CEO Podcast: https://www.unscheduledceo.com/

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jicecream

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-courtney-4510644b/

I sit down with James Dickerson, a growth marketer, Claude Code power user, and the mind behind The Boring Marketer, to watch him build an entire marketing system live from the terminal. James walks me through his full workflow: deep research with the Perplexity MCP, positioning angle discovery, direct response copywriting, landing page creation, lead magnet design, ad creative generation with Remotion, and traffic strategy — all inside Claude Code using stacked skills and MCPs. By the end, we have a conversion-ready funnel for a fictional AI marketing agency serving boring local businesses, and James shares the free playbook he created from a two-hour recorded session so listeners can replicate the process themselves.

Timestamps

00:00 – Intro and Camera Setup Chat

02:57 – Episode Preview: Building a Vibe Marketing System

06:33 – Perplexity MCP for Market Research

08:13 – Live Demo: Researching an AI Marketing Agency Niche

09:48 – Positioning Angles Skill

11:34 – Direct Response Copywriting Skill

15:43 – Playwright MCP for Competitive Intelligence

17:37 – Keeping Your MCP Stack Simple (Perplexity, Firecrawl, Playwright)

20:59 – Anthropic's Front End Design Skill

25:51 – Remotion: Creating Video Ads from the Terminal

28:47 – Landing Page Review: "Boring Money" Agency

30:43 – Orchestrator Skill: Deciding What to Do Next

34:10 – Lead Magnet Skill

34:10 – Are Skills Underrated

39:08 – Claude Code Costs: $200/Month Max Subscription

42:03 – Live Lead Magnet Review

43:28 – Keyword Research and Traffic Strategy Skills

45:23 – The Evolution of Vibe Marketing

47:11 – Remotion Setup and Ad Creation Demo

54:47 – Final Ad and SEO Page Review

57:25 – Final Thoughts

Links Mentioned:

Vibe Marketing Playbook: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/vibe_marketing_playbook

Vibe Marketing Skills: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/Vibe_marketing_skills

Key Points

Spending an hour on upfront research with the Perplexity MCP produces dramatically better marketing outputs than jumping straight into prompting.

Skills are instruction manuals for your AI agent — the expert perspective you build into them (the last 10–20%) is what separates great output from generic AI slop.

You can build a complete marketing funnel — landing page, lead magnet, ad creative, SEO content, and traffic strategy — in a single Claude Code session.

Remotion lets you create programmatic video ads directly from the terminal at zero cost, in multiple formats, with custom branding.

An orchestrator skill can guide you through what to do next, removing the "I have a landing page, now what?" paralysis.

The same Claude Code environment where you build products can also ship your entire marketing system — research, copy, design, and deployment in one place.

The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com

LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/

The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/

FIND ME ON SOCIAL

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg

Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

FIND JAMES ON SOCIAL

X/Twitter: https://x.com/boringmarketer 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jadickerson/