Greg Isenberg lists 39 AI startup ideas: redo proven business models for the agent era
FinanceYF5 · x · 2026-10-25
Greg Isenberg lists 39 startup ideas across four themes—AI agents, data, robotics, and personal AI—the core thesis being to rebuild already-proven business models for the AI era.
Highlights:
- Agent infrastructure: Okta for agent identity, Datadog for agent observability, Twilio for agent phone/SMS, Plaid for agent access to banks/airlines/stores, Workday for digital employees, FICO-style trust scores, Geico-style insurance for costly agent mistakes
- Data businesses: Zestimate for valuing corporate data to AI labs, Marie Kondo data cleanup, Ancestry for training-data provenance
- Compute economy: Carfax for used GPUs, Airbnb for idle GPUs, Dell-style on-prem AI appliances
- Personal AI & safety: Norton against AI voice scams, Getty-style licensing of your face and voice, Dropbox for agent memory portability, vertical personal AI for seniors
- New traffic gateways: Google Analytics for agent visitors, Google Ads to be agents' preferred answer, Upwork for hiring agents per task
Also included: crowdsourced robot training videos, robot rentals, "organic certification" for human-made content, and loyalty programs designed for agents.
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