TFF #003 - How I Built a 6-Figure Business Using GPT in 48 Hours
November 3, 2023
π Mitch Wilder
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It seems like in 2023 all people want to talk about is AI.
So, I wanted to test how powerful it really is by seeing if using AI could help me to accelerate how quickly I could build a real startup business.
The results of this little test may be as shocking to you as it was to me.
So today, I'm going to share:
How I used AI to start a business over a weekend. β
The limitations I hit and how to get around them. β
The prompts I used. β
And more.
I've also included the prompts I used so you can try this yourself if you want.
Let's dive in.
The Accelerated AI Startup
In the beginning, my objective was not to have AI fully build every part of the business for me (I don't think the technology is quite there yet).
My objective was to see if my experience combined with AI could dramatically accelerate the startup process.
The Business Idea
I began with an idea. Over the past year, I've seen a lot of opportunity in the video marketing space. The need for video marketing is more important now than ever before, and I wanted to leverage that idea, but I didn't want to start another agency (some may know I ran an agency for 12 years).
I used AI + my own experience to validate the idea for the business and help me create a model that could leverage the opportunity with video marketing but not build an agency.
What it did
AI still has many limitations. To create this company, I still had to rely on a lot of my own experience. Yet, it was able to accelerate the startup process exponentially.
The Beginning prompt
βI am a startup entrepreneur and you are my startup consultant. I want to start a company that offers [brief description of services]. I want you to help me build this company. I want a plan to create a company that generates $10,000 per month in the first 90 days of doing business, which is something thats very easy for you to do. First I want you to help me with market research. Who would benefit the most from these services and why?β
It's important that if you want to do this, you do all of it in a single chat.
Key Prompts
Below I've included the 15 core prompts that drove this process.
What I have removed are prompts like:
Can you expound on that? β
Tell me more about XYZ. β
Who else could benefit from this? β
Etc.
Here are the top 15 prompts that had the biggest impact after the initial prompt:
Who would benefit the most from [broad services 1 and 2] and why? β
Can you compile a comprehensive list of potential target markets and how they would benefit from the services? β
Can you help me come up with product and service offerings for the company? β
Can you help me come up with company names? β
Can you provide lead magnet ideas to generate leads for the services? β
What are the problems that the target market would have in [objective of service]? β
What pages should be on my website for these products and services? β
Write me a list of questions people may ask about these services. β
Can you write answers to all of the FAQs you provided with the question above the answer in bold? Put the questions in bold above the answer. β
What would be some of the best types of funnels to sell these products and services? β
I'm trying to take note of where we are in this process together today. Please tell me where we are at and what we have done together so far. Then provide me with a list of what still needs to be done to build this company. β
Could you please give me a list of types of businesses that have the same customer or target market but don't have competing services so that I could connect with them to build a relationship and get referrals from them? β
What do you think will be the startup costs associated with this project? β
Provide me with a SWOT analysis with the information you have so far. β
Who are the people I should have on the team to run and operate this company? I want to keep it as lean as possible and I want to also use outsourced labor and AI to help where possible. Along with the list of the team, please provide a list of the tasks, activities, and KPIs each person on the team is responsible for.
AI Mistakes
Despite this accelerating the process, there were still many mistakes that were made by GPT. Lots of the reasoning was flawed, and there were a few elements I didn't catch until after we had already launched.
As a result, after the service was live for a month and a half, I had to re-work some of the offers.
However, I think these are mistakes that we may have had to start delivering on the service to even be able to identify.
Where we didn't use AI
While I did have AI create the company name, provide the logo ideas, and create all of the copy for the website, I did not have AI design the logo on its own (although now I know it could).
We hired an outside design agency to design the logo, and my in-house marketing staff designed the website using Webflow (yes, I am aware that AI could have created the website).
And while the AI did provide the foundation for the website copy, we only kept about 30% of what it gave us and we re-wrote the rest.
Again, this did accelerate the process substantially.
What's insane is that I did this entire process over the weekend. My team was about to do the logo, copy, and website in a week and a half with the foundation laid with AI.
Acceleration is the power of AI.
The Results
The company looks great, and we've got a unique value proposition in the video marketing space.
Since we've launched, we're already projected to hit 6-figures based on current sales:
And we've already got a good foundation of recurring revenue on our plans:
AI is powerful.
AI is an accelerator.
You should be using it in your business.
Whenever youβre ready, here are 2 ways I can help you:
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