123 Setting aside SaaS for Consulting

Christian started GXB with Ricky. We talk agents, Mac Studios, and whether you still need to hire engineers.0:00 Intro1:51 New AI models3:56 GXB10:08 Horizontal products16:34 Scaling without hiring26:33 Robots36:32 Simulation46:36 AI in daily life56:26 The next decadeLinks131 is amazing: https://131isamazing.comPermutable primes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permutable_primeChile ambulance 131: https://www.consulado.gob.cl/emergencias-en-chileGenghis Khan statue: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equestrian_statue_of_Genghis_KhanGXB: https://gxb.vcLast episode (130 Job Search Update): https://youtube.com/watch?v=nphbifI9w6sClaude Opus 4.6: https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-opus-4-6Jev (TypeSafe AI): https://typesafe.ai/blog/introducing-system-one-models-and-jevJev playing Doom: https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/09/16/typesafe-ai-debuts-model-for-machines-that-plays-doom/5296711Marc Andreessen, AI as alchemy: https://a16z.com/the-techno-optimist-manifesto/The only four jobs left (slop cannon, SRE, hot people, adults): https://99d.substack.com/p/there-will-only-be-four-jobsUncle Bob on throwing out a specialized harness: https://x.com/unclebobmartin/status/2098432570887217520OpenAI on Navier-Stokes: https://openai.com/index/navier-stokes-solution/Anthropic consulting JV: https://www.anthropic.com/news/enterprise-ai-services-companyOpenAI Deployment Company: https://openai.com/index/openai-launches-the-deployment-company/DHH, Fortune 5 million: https://indiefounder.substack.com/p/full-transcript-of-dhhs-classic-startupAnthropic researcher, >10% chance AI kills everyone: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckgwy1k42w4oJason Cohen, Hidden Multipliers: https://shop.hiddenmultipliers.com/Smart Bear Live: https://www.youtube.com/@asmartbearThe Rest Is Science (Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens): https://therestis.com/scienceChristian's Clippings: https://podcasts.gxb.vc/christians-clippings/index.htmlGXBerience: https://podcasts.gxb.vc/gxberience/index.htmlYann LeCun, AMI Labs / world models: https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/19/yann-lecun-confirms-his-new-world-model-startup-reportedly-seeks-5b-valuation/Nick Bostrom, simulation argument: https://simulation-argument.com/Ditto (AI dating agents, Hang the DJ): https://ditto.ai/Christian on implementing a Black Mirror episode: https://x.com/cgencoPolymarket on Ditto: https://x.com/Polymarket/status/2099865319854559525Black Mirror, Hang the DJ: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hang_the_DJFruit fly connectome: https://research.google/blog/a-connectomics-milestone-mapping-the-complete-male-fruit-fly-brain/Fruit fly brain in Minecraft: https://x.com/sowmay_jain/status/2096596676534489134Planck length: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_lengthPlato, allegory of the cave: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_caveoMLX: https://omlx.ai/MLX: https://github.com/ml-explore/mlxFrigate NVR: https://frigate.video/Google Coral: https://coral.ai/Kaggle: https://www.kaggle.com/Tailscale: https://tailscale.com/Chris Achard: https://x.com/chrisachardRails World 2026 (Austin, Sep 23-24): https://rubyonrails.org/world/2026/PyTorch Conference (San Jose, Oct 20-21): https://pytorch.org/event/pytorch-conference-2026/NeurIPS 2026 (Sydney, Paris, Atlanta): https://neurips.cc/

Chris gets a new little toy. Christian gives a job search update. Then we talk about what Christian is really interested in right now: AI Agents and MCP.0:00 Intro3:11 Dust blowers5:12 Allergy testing10:55 Drawing SVGs with LLMs Kaggle competition18:42 Christian's job path forward26:30 Consulting updates28:28 Another SaaS30:14 Autonomy, mastery, purpose33:45 FileInbox39:06 AI Agents with MCP: Model Context Protocol54:40 What I really want1:01:03 Building games with LLMs

Chris finished his CS masters! Christian tries to figure out if he wants a "real" job, and what that might look like.0:00 Intro2:10 Chris finished his masters4:50 Santa Kaggle competition9:30 NVIDIA Blackwell15:45 Smart vs dumb light bulbs19:30 Christian had a rough month21:20 How to better manage consulting projects39:42 No longer a co-founder of Rootabl1:02:06 Potential benefits of a "real" job1:07:16 What kind of job would Christian want?1:18:42 Different work options1:24:20 Option 1: Consulting1:31:30 Option 2: Get a job1:41:47 Option 3: Start another SaaS1:46:02 Ideal plan1:48:00 How to look for a non-technical co-founder1:49:23 Next steps

Chris got a puppy and is almost done with his masters.Christian switches back to Ruby on Rails, and tries to convince Chris to use more AI to write code.0:00 Intro1:24 Chris got a puppy5:20 Why do people like pets?11:59 Are AI coding assistants worth it?42:07 How Chris' job is going47:14 Finishing up a CS masters54:20 Fatherhood1:03:07 Consulting for Stacks and paying people1:10:00 Rootabl and affiliate programs1:19:37 Ruby on Rails vs Serverless js1:39:59 Going through the pain to get better1:46:01 Fileinbox rewrite in Laravel ???1:57:46 Bluesky2:02:32 Outro

Christian had a baby! and Chris is now a Kaggle Grandmaster.

Muppets Treasure Island is the best movie ever. Chris just got back from Iceland and just re-started his masters classes. He's also considering getting a 3d printer (which Christian is definitely in favor of). Christian's experiments to find new customers aren't going great. Pricing is hard. Christian expands his consulting practice.

Christian continues to try to reach target customers for FileInbox. He's also still full steam ahead on the serverless transition before his baby gets here. Chris is prepping for a trip to Iceland.

Christian tries to outsource some development tasks. Chris built a photo frame and is getting ready for a trip to Iceland.

Chris is prepping for a couple of photo trips. Christian is trying to figure out how to talk to his ideal FileInbox customer. He's also wondering how much consulting to do and what that means for his time working on his own SaaS.

Chris and Christian both went on vacation. Chris is getting back into Photography. Christian is creating user personas for FileInbox, and is getting more consulting gigs too.  correction at 27:45 NVIDIA doesn't even manufacture their own GPU chips! They rely on 3rd party manufacturers too.   0:00 Fun number fact 122: Ozymandias  8:13 Chris vacation update  13:00 Photography as a hobby  23:42 tinygrad ML framework  28:28 Fileinbox user personas  36:15 Christian consulting  44:36 Home Depot adventure