Zero to Traction
Zero to Traction
AI will fix it!
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AI will fix it!

If your AI strategy boils down to “GPT will save us,” congratulations — you’ve built a hallucination engine with no customers and a delusion score of 8.7.

Will AI fix your startup? Only if your real problem is a lack of buzzwords.

In this episode, JDM and Cameron take on the all-too-common delusion that slapping AI on your pitch deck is a business model.

Spoiler: it’s not.

Join the guys as they roast three very 2025 startup ideas — each wielding AI like a glowstick in a boardroom — and assign each one a “Delusion Score” on a scale from “surprisingly solid” to “should be illegal in several markets.”

Plus:

  • When AI actually creates customer value — and when it’s just cover for product confusion

  • The difference between an innovation and a vibe-powered hallucination

  • Why “emotionally intelligent” AI usually means “massively scalable bias”

  • The tyranny of sentiment analysis, and why your Slack emojis aren’t a performance metric

  • And the eternal truth: If no one pays for it, it’s not a business — it’s a hobby with a website

Startup Pitches Reviewed

1. AI Hiring Assistant

  • Parses resumes, predicts cultural fit (yikes), generates interview questions

  • Delusion Score: 8

“You’re not removing bias — you’re just giving it a LinkedIn scan and a lightsaber.”

2. Manager Mood Oracle

  • Analyzes Slack to predict employee vibes, nudges managers to act nice

  • Delusion Score: 5 (Cam) to 9 (JDM), settled on an 8

“Just because the AI tells you to compliment Anna doesn’t mean you’re a good manager.”

3. Fridge Whisperer for Home Cooks

  • Scans your fridge, suggests recipes, coaches you while you cook

  • Delusion Score: 4

“Seen it a thousand times. Still no business model. But hey, at least dinner’s covered.”

Frivolous Thoughts

  • Cam: Reassembling life (and closets) after 18 weeks away from home = grown-up Legos

  • JDM: New Whoop band is cool, except for the part where it tells you you’re aging faster because you stayed up one night watching bad TV

  • Bonus Tip: Zero to Traction may not actually extend your life, but it will absolutely lower your startup’s mortality rate

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