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Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/ Want to recruit great marketers? Find them here: https://marketingschool.io/hire Eric opens with a Jeff Bezos maxim from a Walter Isaacson interview: never hire your friends if you're under 40, but always hire them after 40, once you have the pattern recognition to know who to trust. Neil adds his own rule: hire deep specialists over generalists, down to the specific platform. The conversation then breaks down Ramp's data on AI token spend — how the same budget buys wildly different volumes across model tiers — and builds the framework: cheap models for routine work, frontier models only for genuinely ambiguous, high-stakes problems. The episode closes on token waste, "AI theater" inside companies, Eric's "nail it before you scale it" rule, and why AI-enabled agencies are trading at 22-30X multiples. Key takeaways ◾ Under 40 you lack the pattern recognition to hi

Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/ Want to recruit great marketers? Find them here: https://marketingschool.io/hire Eric and Neil unpack Greg Isenberg's tweet on the most valuable marketing skills right now, working through community building, storytelling, the forward deployed marketer model, data literacy, and relentless experimentation. They flag the "abdication of intelligence" trap: using AI without judgment turns capable marketers into slop cannons, while people who can show real agent deployments separate themselves from the pretenders. Neil makes the case for deep networking as an underrated force multiplier, then Eric raises Aaron Levie's prediction that agents will use software 100x more than people, shifting the game toward agent-ready content, products, and skills libraries. A practical episode on building the AI-native marketing skill set before everyone else does. Key takeaways ◾ The

Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/ Want to recruit great marketers? Find them here: https://marketingschool.io/hire Neil and Eric open by dissecting LVMH's 16 straight quarters of decelerating growth, arguing the COVID spike distorts the story and that 172-year-old brand power, not a handbag, is what makes luxury houses durable. They break down Sundar Pichai's warning that anyone who skips learning to orchestrate AI agents today will spend 2027 playing catch-up, then dig into Google actively building AI spam defenders to keep generative slop out of AI Overviews. Eric closes on Eli Schwartz's viral post that reduces all of AEO to three plain words: be unique, be helpful, be agent-ready. A sharp episode on brand moats, the compounding AI agent gap, and the only SEO play with a real shelf life. Key takeaways ◾ Brand power compounds over centuries, not quarters — LVMH's dip looks worse than it is once

"No one's prompting anymore. Everyone just uses loops." That one line from Matt Van Horn kicked off a 3.4M-view firestorm, so Eric Siu sat him down to explain what he actually meant. Chapters 00:00 "Nobody's prompting anymore" — and who Matt Van Horn is 03:00 What a loop actually is 04:57 The AI "money printer" that made $0 06:05 Why the barrier to building anything just collapsed 08:30 How to point loops at your own business 10:50 Printing Press: hidden APIs + self-learning CLIs 18:00 Last 30 Days: the agentic search engine 23:04 Watch: the "Flight Goat" launch video (1.3M views, built with Hyperframes) 27:30 The "MVH skill" — one skill to automate everything 34:30 Agent Cookie: always-logged-in agents 41:00 Terminal apps & why CLI beats clicking 46:00 AI inequality & the cost advantage 47:00 The one move: start now, be the nerd Connect with Matt Van Horn: @mvanhorn on X · printingpress.dev Marketing School is the daily marketing podcast with Eric Siu & Neil Patel. Subscribe for the tactics, tools a

Need Marketing Help? https://npdigital.com/ Neil Patel breaks down what's actually changed in e-commerce, and why the brands winning right now are the ones adapting to AI search before everyone else. In this session, Neil shares the data behind the new buying behavior: why AI search (GEO) is quietly becoming the highest-converting channel he's ever measured, how shoppers now research and buy across ChatGPT, Reddit, Instagram, and Amazon, and the exact things you need to fix so AI agents actually recommend your products. Chapters: 00:00 Intro: 25 years of marketing data 00:50 The new e-commerce landscape 03:45 Why buyers need multiple touchpoints 05:25 Buy now, pay later & economic uncertainty 07:30 How each generation shops and spends 09:35 Trust: the real conversion lever 10:50 AI search (GEO) is reshaping discovery 13:45 The invisible conversions you're missing 15:00 AI search: the highest-converting channel 16:15 Why people really buy on social 18:45 Social commerce habits by generation 20:50 Using infl

Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/ Want to recruit great marketers? Find them here: https://marketingschool.io/hire Eric reveals how he's restructuring his entire company around AI agents, building what he calls a "single brain" that connects every tool and data source into one unified intelligence. He breaks down the four levels of AI adoption, why 91% of enterprises are failing at implementation, and how an org chart of specialist agents, fleet commanders, and closed loops lets one human operate like a 10x team member. Along the way he shares practical tactics: spinning up hundreds of ad creative variations, building cold email infrastructure, finding $500K in savings with a CFO agent, slashing token costs, and optimizing for the coming wave of agent-driven buying (B2A). Key takeaways ◾A connected "single brain" beats isolated AI tools ◾One human plus five agents equals a 10x team member

Everyone's pouring money into shiny AI marketing. Neil Patel and Eric Siu think most of it is a trap. Live from the Social Commerce Summit, they break down what AI will NEVER replace, the "boring and ugly" tactics still quietly printing money, and the moves you should actually be making instead. In this episode: - The "clipping economy" and why a 10-person podcast is on track for $30M - Why boring, ugly fundamentals still beat the sexy AI use cases - The email "make money button" that's made one marketer millions - What AI can't take away: distribution, brand, strategy, community and the human touch - How social commerce is quietly rewriting the org chart (armies of creators) - Using AI to expand globally fast (and where the easy revenue actually is) Chapters: 0:00 10 years of Marketing School, live on stage 0:35 The clipping economy (TBPN, $30M, OpenAI) 2:18 Why boring & ugly still beats shiny AI 4:54 What AI won't replace: distribution & brand 5:07 Stop building "AI theater" — automate what already works

Neil Patel and Eric Siu go deep on what's actually changing in business right now: why trading ideas faster (not a bigger brain) is the real unfair advantage, how AI agents like Hermes and OpenClaw break when you overload them, and the hidden token bill that's quietly eating the savings companies expected from replacing headcount. They also cover how to show up inside ChatGPT and AI search, where agencies still earn their fees, the comeback of Dell and on-prem AI infrastructure, and when reinventing (or even selling) a business is the highest-leverage move you can make. Chapters 00:00 Why trading ideas (not bigger brains) drove human progress 16:26 7 ways to show up in LLMs and AI search 17:28 Where agencies still earn their fees in the AI era 33:56 Using AI agents (Hermes, OpenClaw, Picasso) without overloading them 49:41 The hidden token bill eating your AI savings 50:10 The comeback of Dell and on-prem AI infrastructure 1:05:09 Reinventing your business by mode: startup, growth, mature 1:05:34 When selli

Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Eric and Neil break down why token maxxing is dead. Cognition is betting that AI should be priced on outcomes rather than token usage, with adaptive routing, spend attribution, and an AI productivity guarantee that funds your usage if Devin delivers less value than you pay for. They unpack the rise of the forward-deployed marketer, the most valuable hire in marketing that almost nobody is staffing for, why AI only matters when it moves real KPIs, and the one question that compounds your results over a decade: what is the highest-leverage thing I can do with my time today? Key Takeaways: • Token usage is a poor way to measure productivity. Price AI on business outcomes instead. • The forward-deployed marketer owns the client outcome while agents do the labor, and it is the hire almost nobody is staffing for. • Ask one question every day: what is the highest-leverage thing I can do with my time? Compound that for 10 years. Chapters: 00:00 Token Max

Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/ Want to recruit great marketers? Find them here: https://marketingschool.io/hire Eric and Neil rank the latest AI tools they've tested for marketing, from autonomous agents like Hermes, OpenClaw, Codex, and Cloud Code to MCPs from HeyGen, Riverside, and Beehiiv. They break down why overloading agents makes them degrade fast, the real dollar value behind $200/month ChatGPT Pro vs Claude Max subscriptions, and how token costs are quietly blowing up company budgets. Plus the Anthropic IPO winners, smart token routing, and why selling AI services feels completely different from selling agency work. Key takeaways ◾Overloading AI agents makes them degrade fast ◾ChatGPT subsidizes far more value than Claude per dollar ◾Token costs are quietly wrecking company budgets Chapters 00:00 Ranking the latest AI tools 01:30 Forking agents to build cold outbound 0

Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/ Want to recruit great marketers? Find them here: https://marketingschool.io/hire Neil and Eric dig into McKinsey shifting a quarter of its fees to outcome-based pricing and what that means for agencies built on billable hours. Then they run through seven AI marketing trends for 2026: hiring AI-pilled marketers, optimizing for agents instead of just LLMs, AI-built sites and landing pages, integrating directly into LLMs over chasing their traffic, the documentation boom, the backlash against using AI to market to AI, and why HTML artifacts are becoming the new way to package and share ideas. Key takeaways ◾Outcome-based pricing is reshaping how agencies charge ◾Optimize for agents and integrations, not just LLM traffic ◾Using AI content to win inside LLMs will get discounted Chapters 00:00 McKinsey goes outcome-based pricing 01:01 How outcome-based dea

Growth Newsletter: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Need marketing help? Visit: https://www.singlegrain.com/ and https://npdigital.com/ Want to recruit great marketers? Find them here: https://marketingschool.io/hire Neil and Eric open with a fascinating look at how human progress accelerated 50,000 years ago — not because our brains got bigger, but because we started trading ideas. Key Takeaways ◾ Intelligence is a network property — the more ideas you trade, the smarter and faster you move ◾ 68% of Google searches now result in zero clicks, making brand citation the new ranking goal ◾ Seven AEO/SEO tactics still drive results: brand mentions, structured data, fresh content, longtail queries, third-party reviews, direct answers, and omnichannel Chapters 00:00 Human brains haven't changed in 200,000 years 02:30 Trading ideas as the engine of progress 05:10 AI accelerating idea exchange 07:20 Isolation regresses intelligence 09:45 Gatekeeping information kills momentum 11:00 Anth

Neil and Eric discuss the biggest AI bottleneck for companies: extracting internal knowledge and turning it into usable company context. They break down AI cost optimization, DeepSeek vs. frontier models, AI productivity guarantees, rising demand for AI implementation experts, and why channels like SEO, email marketing, SMS, direct mail, and live events still drive growth. They also cover how podcast mentions generate revenue and why AI is changing tasks more than eliminating jobs. Key Takeaways:• Company knowledge extraction is the next AI growth unlock.• AI adoption is shifting from token usage to measurable business output.• SEO, email, SMS, direct mail, and live events remain powerful marketing channels. Chapters:(00:00) AI’s Biggest Bottleneck(01:26) Knowledge Extraction Opportunity(02:09) AI Cost Optimization(04:43) AI Productivity Guarantee(06:02) AI Model Pricing Trends(08:48) Podcast Revenue Impact(10:21) AI Jobs And Hiring(12:37) Marketing Channels That Win(12:45) Direct Mail Marketing(13:11 Email

Neil and Eric break down Google’s latest AI search guidance, AEO and GEO myths, AI search optimization data from Ahrefs, ChatGPT citation trends, Google AI Overviews, and why YouTube visibility may matter more than traditional SEO signals. They also discuss the future of AI-powered shopping, agency growth opportunities, global marketing events, and lessons from international business travel. Learn what’s changing in SEO, how AI search is evolving, and where marketers should focus next. Key Takeaways:• SEO remains the foundation of AI search visibility.• YouTube mentions strongly correlate with AI brand visibility.• AI Overviews are reshaping informational search traffic. Chapters:(00:00) Google AI Search & SEO(02:01) AI Search Optimization Data(05:08) Schema Markup & AI Citations(05:43) YouTube Visibility Insights(06:18) AI Shopping Search Future(09:57) Jakarta Business Lessons(12:33) Web Summit & Agency Growth(13:06) Creative Agency Economics(15:43) Travel, Health & Productivity(17:08) Final Thoughts & Wra

Neil and Eric discuss why AI may be creating more jobs than it replaces, breaking down new JOLTS job openings data, AI’s impact on engineering and marketing teams, the rise of AI-powered product development, and why businesses are hiring more to keep up with faster innovation. They also explore AI agents, bot traffic surpassing human traffic, and what marketers must do to optimize for the future of search and growth. Key Takeaways: • AI is creating new job categories while increasing productivity across teams. • Faster product development is driving demand for more engineers and marketers. • Businesses must optimize for AI agents, bots, and humans simultaneously. Chapters: (00:00) AI and the Job Market (01:40) AI Creating More Jobs (03:02) Free Tools Growth Strategy (05:04) Engineering Productivity with AI (06:34) Why AI Drives Hiring (07:35) AI and B2B Software Growth (09:11) Product Marketing Becomes Critical (11:09) AI-Powered Team Communication (12:33) Personality Tests and Team Alignmen

Neil and Eric discuss extreme startup culture, whether founders must work seven days a week to win, and the tradeoffs between success, longevity, and personal fulfillment. They break down lessons from a fast-growing startup, debate paid work trials, and explore how AI is creating high-leverage employees. The conversation also covers AI-powered content creation, social media growth, productivity, and why being early on trending topics often beats perfection. Key Takeaways:• Startup success often requires intensity, but sustainability matters.• AI boosts leverage, but original thinking still wins.• Speed and trend timing can outperform perfect execution. Chapters:(00:00) Startup Culture and 7-Day Workweeks(02:18) Success, Failure, and Life Goals(09:34) Hiring, Work Trials, and Talent(12:44) AI and the Rise of Super Employees(15:32) AI Content Creation Challenges(20:06) Building an AI Content Machine(24:06) Social Media Growth and AI Trends(25:22) Why Timing Beats Perfection

Hosted by Neil and Eric, this episode explores Meta advertising data, the 80/20 rule in e-commerce, Jeff Bezos’ views on AI and business impact, Claude Opus 4 dynamic workflows, AI-powered revenue opportunities, networking strategies for entrepreneurs, and how LLM traffic compares to traditional SEO traffic. Learn how top advertisers scale creative production, how AI can improve business operations, and why building a strong professional network matters more than ever. Key Takeaways: • Top Meta advertisers drive massive results through creative diversification. • Claude Opus 4 dynamic workflows can unlock new revenue opportunities. • Strong networks are built through content, events, and direct outreach. Chapters: (00:00) Meta Ads and the 80/20 Rule (02:05) Jeff Bezos on AI (03:41) Space Industry Competition (05:14) Business Impact vs Philanthropy (06:34) Claude Opus 4 Workflows (08:44) AI Revenue Opportunities (11:43) Building Your Network (17:29) LLM Traffic vs SEO Traffic

70% of SEO teams still haven’t restructured for AI, and Neil and Eric explain why that’s creating massive opportunities for AI-native professionals. They discuss how companies are struggling to adopt AI effectively, why most organizations already have the tools they need but fail to use them, the growing AI mindset gap between the US and China, and how businesses can build AI training systems that scale knowledge across teams. Learn how AI is reshaping hiring, SEO, marketing, and workplace productivity. Key Takeaways: • Most companies have AI tools but don’t fully use them • AI-native workers are gaining a major hiring advantage • Every company needs a system for AI training and skills sharing Chapters: (00:00) Why SEO Teams Aren’t Ready (00:33) The GEO Knowledge Gap (01:51) Why AI-Native Workers Win (03:08) AI Fraud and Security Risks (05:06) Companies Ignore Their AI Tools (08:01) What Chinese Teams Do Better (10:17) Why Young Workers Resist AI (11:53) Building an AI Skills Dojo (14:35) AI

Neil and Eric break down how ChatGPT and Google treat Wikipedia differently, why AI search is reshaping SEO, and where AI-generated content wins or fails. They discuss AI content marketing, Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT citations, AI SEO workflows, content automation, 100x employees, ClickUp layoffs, and how creators can use AI for thumbnails, content updates, translations, and scaling marketing without sacrificing quality. • ChatGPT vs Google AI search signals • AI content marketing automation workflows • Why human-edited AI content wins Chapters: (00:00) ChatGPT vs Google Citations (01:31) AI Content Marketing Implications (03:25) Automating SEO Content Updates (05:41) Where AI Content Wins (09:53) AI Content Marketing Examples (13:48) ClickUp, AI, and Layoffs (15:52) The 100x Employee Debate (20:57) AI Stock Market Narratives (23:56) Building the 100x Organization

Neil and Eric discuss AI in business, hiring, marketing, and self-driving technology. They break down the trade-offs between Tesla and Mercedes autonomous driving, why AI should enhance employees instead of replace them, and how companies can use AI apprenticeships to scale talent faster. They also explore AI-powered workflows, marketing efficiency, Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT visibility, and the future of AI-driven business growth. Perfect for entrepreneurs, marketers, founders, and anyone adapting to the AI era. Key Takeaways: • AI creates leverage for employees who use it effectively • Marketing teams need more output, not just lower costs • Google AI Overviews cite brands more often than ChatGPT Chapters: (00:00) New Home and Tesla Trade-Offs (00:42) Business Trade-Offs Explained (03:02) AI Mastermind Costa Rica (05:17) AI Apprenticeship Strategy (07:50) Hiring Success and Failure Rates (09:15) AI Workflow Automation (10:53) Marketing Event in Colombia (11:44) AI and Marketing Jobs (14: