The Startup Ideas Podcast
The best businesses are built at the intersection of emerging technology, community, and real human needs.
“everyone's using the same model, but then you build the agent on top”
What It Means
While AI coding tools may use identical base models, their value and performance differences come from the agent systems that orchestrate tool usage
Why It Matters
Explains why tools using the same AI models can have dramatically different outcomes and user experiences
When It's True
When comparing AI development tools that appear similar on the surface but deliver different results
When It's Risky
When base model quality is the primary limitation rather than orchestration and tooling
How to Apply
Evaluate tools based on actual output quality, not just underlying models
Focus on integration quality and workflow efficiency
Test real-world scenarios rather than relying on model benchmarks
Consider the sophistication of tool orchestration and context management
Example Scenario
“A developer chooses Cursor over Claude Code despite both using Claude 3.5, because Cursor's agent provides better file context management and code editing capabilities”
Related Knowledge
Understanding how to use it, you're going to outperform 99% of people on this planet
Early mastery of AI automation tools creates massive competitive advantages
And I love unfair advantages
Actively seeking tools, platforms, or opportunities that provide disproportionate competitive advantages over others in
Distribution is the new moat
The ability to reach and engage audiences has become more valuable than traditional competitive advantages like product
Human beings don't work 24/7 and voice AI agents can.
The primary business advantage of voice AI is constant availability rather than superior performance
The limiting factor is just great ideas ultimately
As AI tools make execution trivially easy, creative ideation becomes the only meaningful competitive advantage
There's some people that are able to get 100x out of them and other people who are just prompting it
Most people dramatically underutilize AI creative tools due to poor prompting and workflow knowledge