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#764May 28, 20251:16:40

How I built a $3B AI Startup + 7 AI Business Ideas

About This Episode

Shaan Puri interviews Guillermo Rauch, the founder of Vercel, about his journey from an Argentinian high school dropout to building a multi-billion dollar tech company. They discuss the principles of iteration velocity, the evolution of software from manual coding to AI prompting, and brainstorm several AI-driven business opportunities.

Episode Description

Episode 711: Shaan Puri ( https://x.com/ShaanVP ) talks to Guillermo Rauch ( https://x.com/rauchg ) about building Vercel plus 7 business ideas to start in AI.

Show Notes

  • 0:00Dropout to job offer from Facebook
  • 3:38Genius vs accident
  • 21:04Building Vercel
  • 25:26AI startup ideas
  • 31:38IDEA: V0 for Video Games
  • 33:09IDEA: Doom CAPTCHA
  • 40:04IDEA: AI Typeform
  • 46:54IDEA: AI Camera
  • 54:06IDEA: Auto Complete
  • 58:51IDEA: Granular V0

Check Out Shaan's Stuff

  • Shaan's weekly email
  • Visit
  • Mercury - Need a bank for your company? Go check out Mercury (mercury.com). Shaan uses it for all of his companies!
  • Mercury is a financial technology company, not an FDIC-insured bank. Banking services provided by Choice Financial Group, Column, N.A., and Evolve Bank & Trust, Members FDIC

Key Takeaways

1

Optimize for iteration velocity by reducing the time between a concept and a live URL from weeks to seconds.

2

Bet on technical asymmetries, such as JavaScript's unique position as the only language that runs in every web browser.

3

The next wave of high-value AI startups will involve 'unbundling ChatGPT' into vertical-specific agents that combine traditional software reliability with generative intelligence.

Business Ideas Mentioned

V0 for Video Game Creation

AI & Automation

AI-Native Conversational Form Builder

SaaS

AI Smart Camera App

AI & Automation

OS-Level Contextual Auto-complete

SaaS

Vertical Specific Generative UI Agents

AI & Automation

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Quick Stats

Duration1:16:40
Guests1
Ideas Discussed5
Topics5