Building an AI Media and Software Empire - Ep. 31 with Brandon Gell

We’re building a mini-AI media and software empire at Every. 

Today on AI & I, Brandon Gell joins the show to turn the tables on me and act as podcast host to explore what we’re doing as a company, how we got here, and where we’re going.

Brandon is Every’s first entrepreneur in residence, and he was the perfect person to host, because he’s one of the key reasons for our recent acceleration.

Before joining Every, Brandon was the cofounder and CEO of Clyde, a startup that helped brands launch their own insurance and warranty programs, where he raised $50 million and led a team of 100 before selling it to global insurance tech company Cover Genius in early 2023.

In this episode, he interviews me about how I learned to code in middle school, how I built and sold my first startup coming out of college, and how it all led to Every.

We also talk about Brandon’s story. He joined Every just four months ago—and it feels like we’ve done the work of years since. We’ve launched two new AI products, an incredible amount of great writing, a new course, and more.

We get into my candid thoughts on entrepreneurship in the AI age—including why you should ship fast, and how not to be misled by metrics like TAM; how AI startups can find valuable niches—and live demos of our apps Spiral and Sparkle; Brandon’s hard-earned lessons from running a insuretech business for seven years; the confusing realities of being an exited founder, and how we navigated through those times; what brought Brandon to Every—including the email he sent me before joining; and Every’s master plan and what we hope to build over the next few months and years

This is a must-watch for anyone interested in building a calm, profitable business empire in the age of AI. 

If you found this episode interesting, please like, subscribe, comment, and share! 

Want even more?

Sign up for Every to unlock our ultimate guide to prompting ChatGPT. It’s usually only for paying subscribers, but you can get it here for free.

To hear more from Dan Shipper:

Subscribe to Every: https://every.to/subscribe 

Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/danshipper 

Links to resources mentioned in the episode:

Brandon Gell: https://twitter.com/bran_don_gell

The piece Dan recently published about Every’s Master Plan: https://every.to/chain-of-thought/every-s-master-plan 

Dan’s piece about the unbundling of Excel, and why it serves as an important story in the age of AI: https://every.to/chain-of-thought/the-great-ai-unbundling 

Tomasz Tunguz, the VC who has also written about Excel: https://tomtunguz.com/ 

Every cofounder Nathan’s word processor, Lex: https://lex.page/ 

Spiral, the app that automates 80 percent of repetitive creative work: https://spiral.computer/ 

Sparkle, the app that automatically organizes your files: https://makeitsparkle.co/ 

What is AI & I?

Learn how the smartest people in the world are using AI to think, create, and relate. Each week I interview founders, filmmakers, writers, investors, and others about how they use AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Midjourney in their work and in their lives. We screen-share through their historical chats and then experiment with AI live on the show. Join us to discover how AI is changing how we think about our world—and ourselves.

For more essays, interviews, and experiments at the forefront of AI: https://every.to/chain-of-thought?sort=newest.