Early Adoptr: Making AI Your Unfair Advantage

We're back from the holidays, and we've got a doozy of an episode. The stock market is betting everything on AI, but many organizations are still struggling to turn it into real results. So what’s actually going on? In this episode of Early Adopter, Jess and Kyle welcome back Rich Welsh (founder, tech advisor, and VC investor) to unpack one of the biggest questions in tech right now: Is AI an over...

60% of searches now end without a click. If you’re still optimizing for Google rankings while your competitors are getting cited by ChatGPT, you’re already behind. We originally released this as a two-part series, but AEO is more urgent than ever. With Buy in ChatGPT and the rise of conversational commerce (see our previous episodes on this), the end game is clear: search → recommendation → checko...

We’re off for the holidays, so this is a re-release + stitched double-episode focused on Small Language Models (SLMs) and how to actually use them. Kyle and Jess get hands-on with SLMs, showing you how to set up a private, local AI that runs on your laptop, and why that can be a smarter move than relying on cloud models for everything. If one episode is the “why” (specialist vs. generalist, cost,...

We're off for the holidays so this is a re-release of one of our most popular episodes. Kyle and Jess completely overhaul their most popular episode on prompt engineering, because GPT-5 isn't just faster than GPT-4 - it's fundamentally different. It follows instructions with "surgical precision," handles 800 pages of context at once, and will get confused if you give it contradictory prompts that...

Last week, Disney announced a billion-dollar deal with OpenAI to license 200+ characters into Sora. Everyone's treating this as Hollywood drama, but what Disney actually did is show every IP-based company, whether you're a global studio or a solo creator, the exact playbook for navigating AI. This week, we brought in our friend Rich Welsh to break it down from every angle at once. He's a Hollywood...

Last week, we broke down what vibe coding is. This week, we break down the only question anyone actually cares about: “Okay… so what tool do I use?” The vibe coding ecosystem has gone crazy in the last 12 months, and the amount of choice is overwhelming. But here’s the real ones know: The tool matters way less than your structure....And that’s what this episode is really about. In this episode, we...

Everyone keeps saying AI is transforming software development, but the real story is how vibe coding is quietly rewriting who gets to build in the first place. Over the past year, AI coding tools have gone from cute party tricks to fully agentic systems that can read your entire codebase, plan out multi-step tasks, and scaffold an entire app from a single prompt. But here’s the part that isn’t get...

In part two of our deep dive into agentic commerce, Jess brings back her colleague Nathalie Lethbridge to answer the question every SMB is asking: How do I prepare for a world where AI agents are the middlemen between customers and products? Last week, we explored the power struggle between Amazon's walled garden and OpenAI/Perplexity's open-web vision. This week, we get tactical. Nathalie walks t...

The agentic shopping wars are here. And nobody's paying attention yet. Amazon just sued Perplexity. Google just launched agentic shopping. OpenAI is rewriting how commerce works...all of it is aimed at the holiday season, and all of it means something fundamental about e-commerce is about to shift. But here's what's getting lost in the headlines: this isn't just about the tech. It's a legal story...

The narrative is everywhere: AI is coming for your job. But here's what nobody's talking about. The data shows AI can't even complete 3% of professional tasks yet. So why are companies laying people off left and right? In this episode, Jess and Kyle untangle the messiest contradiction in tech: the gap between what AI companies claim their systems can do and what actually happens when they hit real...

Your entire e-commerce experience is about to change. OpenAI's "Buy with ChatGPT," introduced at the end of September, isn't just a shopping feature. It's the beginning of a complete overhaul of how digital commerce works. For the past 20 years, discovery, curation, and transaction have been fragmented across platforms, but now all of that is collapsing into one place. In this episode, Jess and Ky...

AI browsers are here, and they could completely reshape how we use the internet. OpenAI’s Atlas just launched, instantly putting Google on defense and kicking off Browser Wars 2.0. But this time, it’s not about speed or design—it’s about who controls your digital gateway and the data that powers it. In this episode, Jess and Kyle break down how Atlas works, what it means for privacy, the rise of a...

From LinkedIn posts about abandoned pilots to earnings calls where CEOs walking back their AI promises on earnings calls, are we witnessing the crash after the hype? Welcome to the Trough of Disillusionment – and it might be the best thing that's happened to AI. This isn't the death of artificial intelligence. It's the birth of something sustainable. While media headlines turn negative and executi...

The internet is drowning in AI-generated garbage. From Meta's Vibes to Sora 2 to that clearly ChatGPT generated email from your colleague, businesses are losing an estimated $9 million per 1,000 employees annually to low-quality AI content cluttering their workflows. This isn't about AI being bad. It's about automation without oversight creating an exponential pollution problem that's actively deg...

OpenAI just launched "Buy It in ChatGPT" - letting users complete purchases without ever visiting your website. If you're not cited by AI engines, you don't just lose traffic. You lose the entire sale. This is Part 2 of our Answer Engine Optimization series. Last week we covered why AEO matters. This week, we're getting tactical. We break down the exact three-pillar framework you need: on-site opt...

60% of searches now end without a click. If you're still optimizing for Google rankings while your competitors are getting cited by ChatGPT, you're already behind. Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) - also known as GEO, GSO, AIO - is fundamentally changing how customers find businesses. Instead of ranking #1 on Google, you need to become the source that AI engines quote when someone asks a question....

In this episode, Kyle and Jess tackle the elephant in the room that's sabotaging AI implementations everywhere: AI hallucinations. If you've ever wondered why ChatGPT confidently tells you complete nonsense, or why that "perfect" AI-generated content turned into a business nightmare, this episode breaks down exactly what's happening under the hood and gives you tips and strategies to help minimise...

In this episode, Kyle and Jess continue their deep dive with data veteran Eric Callahan, exposing the truth about how most businesses actually handle their data. It's messier than you think, and that's exactly why your AI initiatives keep failing. Eric talks us through his "duct tape analogy" - a brutally honest take on why most companies are digital Frankensteins, we get real about technical debt...

In this episode of Early Adoptr, Kyle and Jess bust the biggest AI myth of all: “We don’t have enough data.” The truth? You’re already swimming in it. From emails to spreadsheets to customer conversations, every business has more than enough information to start building AI-powered insights. To prove it, they bring in data veteran Eric , who’s spent 15+ years cleaning up messy data for startups an...

In this episode, Kyle and Jess tackle the biggest myth in AI adoption: "I don't have enough data." The reality? Every business owner is sitting on a goldmine of untapped information - they just don't know how to see it or use it. From email threads to customer support tickets to that "Bible spreadsheet" you've been updating for three years, your business is generating incredible amounts of data ev...

In this episode, Kyle and Jess are completely overhaul their most popular episode on prompt engineering, because GPT-5 isn't just faster than GPT-4 - it's fundamentally different. It follows instructions with "surgical precision," handles 800 pages of context at once, and will get confused if you give it contradictory prompts that older models would just ignore. Not to mention there's been a whole...

In this episode, Kyle and Jess get hands-on with Small Language Models (SLMs) - showing you exactly how to set up your own private AI that runs entirely on your laptop. If last week was the "why," this week is all about the "how," complete with real business use cases and a step-by-step quick win you can try today. We dive deep into LM Studio, walk through analyzing business documents without send...

In this episode, Kyle and Jess explore the world of Small Language Models (SLMs) - the focused, cost-effective AI alternatives that might be perfect for your small business. While everyone's talking about expensive enterprise AI solutions, we dive into why smaller, specialized models could be the smarter choice for most business owners. We break down what Small Language Models actually are (hi...

In this episode, Kyle and Jess dive deep into OpenAI's much-hyped ChatGPT Agent feature - and spoiler alert: the reality doesn't quite match the marketing. After Kyle spent a week testing everything from flight booking to DMV appointments, we deliver our take on what works, what doesn't, and why you probably shouldn't connect your email just yet. We also cover some critical AI news...

In this episode, it's the final part of our three-part series with Sean Bhardwaj from Breakthrough Growth Partners. If you missed parts one and two, we highly recommend going back to listen - they set the foundation for today's practical framework. This week, we're diving into the solution: how to actually create an AI policy framework that protects your business while enabling confide...