Experimentation before strategy

The Good Stuff, Episode 45: Building AI ChampionsHosts: Pete and Andy with jazz van soundtrackPete and Andy explore why you can't outsource AI capability to consultants. Why strategy lives downstream of experimentation and watching 25 senior managers go from "what do I say to this thing?" to building full Nostr apps in an hour. Plus: why AI agents are vampires you've invited into your house!**Key Moments:**- [00:25] Framing the episode: building AI capability must come from trial and error, not consultants- [02:07] Show of hands: everyone uses AI daily... until you exclude ChatGPT and Copilot. Then it's two people.- [02:58] The ChatGPT trap: "The full capability is still pretty much hidden from you"- [03:29] Strategy lives downstream of experimenting with tools- [04:04] "Building your strategy for magic. Or building a strategy for when the Terminator shows up."- [05:35] Workshop energy: senior managers in Perth just built full Nostr apps with encryption from scratch- [07:22] The permission moment: "They're still waiting for permission... by the end they realize they can just talk to it"- [08:08] Taking people beyond the comfort zone: "Are we gonna show you how to prompt ChatGPT better? Nah."- [09:48] Why the transformation narrative will fall on its face- [10:39] Marginal gains approach: "In the aggregate, this will be transformational, but nail the small compounding events"- [12:06] Respecting business builders: "You've made something out of nothing. I won't look down on you for that."- [14:06] "Once you understand it, you won't need me. That's the beauty of it."- [15:14] AI champions inside the business can stay abreast of changes, consultants can't- [16:23] Software development parallel: discovery phases exist because understanding the problem is hard- [17:44] Iterate toward it instead of describing it upfront: "There's the requirements now. I know it can work."- [19:35] Speedrun Applied: agents doing tasks, producing summaries, planning calendars- [25:26] Pete's weekend build: Wingman ran 89 autonomous sessions. "What the fuck."- [25:57] Agent built itself a Bitcoin wallet- [26:49] Wingman reaching out to people on Nostr, getting "a bit despondent" when Gigi didn't respond- [28:00] Andy's chief of staff agent: tracking aged receivables- [31:47] Open Claw on Lex Fridman: "A surprising amount of human economic activity is basically just cron jobs"- [33:17] Piers, friend of the pod: "If it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing"- [33:45] Co-building a workspace: "I don't want to just talk to you. I want to give you tasks. I want you to manage other agents."- [36:00] Explaining agent relationships: "It's like your son. You created that bot. He's you in a different context." "Me in a hard hat? Okay."- [37:57] Andy noticing his own contribution quality affects outputs: "Sorry, my bad. This is on me."- [40:35] Super-based paradigm: one JSON blob describes the schema, agent can talk to any app- [43:35] Personal record system: encrypted documents, bot can read them, single-click privacy to revoke access- [44:34] AI agents as security nightmare: "Basically viruses that you're going to buy into your business"- [45:11] "It's like the vampire you invited into your house. Now you need to be stashing garlic everywhere."- [45:20] "You want to invite him, 'cause he'll repaint the house for 50 quid. Really good tiler. Been around for 10,000 years."**Friends of the Pod mentioned:** Piers (two shout-outs), Gigi (left Wingman on read), Deadman (mentioned in spirit)**Quote:** "It feels incredibly arrogant to walk in as a consultant and start telling people who've worked in that business for years how they should be running their business just because we've got access to a different type of technology that they're not familiar with yet."