Names matter because they set expectations, and expectations drive momentum. We open with a playful roast of our working title and turn it into a real exercise in clarity. Why a simple, memorable name can act like a launch ramp instead of a speed bump. From there, we bring in Ryan Carson, a three-time founder who helped a million people learn to code, to talk about the biggest shift he’s seen: AI as a new kind of compute that lets tiny teams ship at enterprise scale. Ryan breaks down t...

We run a live branding workshop to evolve our show from a technical niche to a hub for builders who want customers. We align on audience, mission, naming strategy, and a visual system that supports clarity, distribution, and growth. • shifting focus from code-heavy identity to traction for indie builders • two-second test for who it is for and what it does • how brand, SEO, and paid work together • why confusing taglines kill conversion • choosing a name with SEO and trademark in mind • deci...

A new chapter begins as Mallory joins the crew as a co host and sharpens our focus on the brand, community, and content moves that actually compound for AI startups. We swap stories about stamina and setbacks, from API approval limbo to error loops and locker-room fatigue and why recovery is a growth habit, not a luxury. Then we dive into one of the cleanest startup playbooks we’ve heard in a while with hackathon winner and builder extraordinaire, Sukhpal Saini, the winner of the Lovable Hack...

Tired of AI products that all sound the same? We sat down with brand and community powerhouse Mallory Lore (formerly Bolt.new and Discord) to unpack how real brands are built in a crowded market & why the “vibe” only works when it’s backed by clarity, consistency, and care. From picking a narrow target to speaking in users’ own words, Mallory shows how positioning and language can turn a tool into a movement people want to join.<br><br>We dig into practical brand metrics—aware...

In this episode, Conor and Charlie talk about their careers before getting into AI, their backgrounds in digital marketing agencies (and before that!) and how they met.

In Episode 20 of AI Code Central, Charlie and Conor sit down with Joseph Perla, CEO of Hangout.FM, to explore the tension between human connection and artificial intelligence in product design. Joseph, a Princeton ML researcher who helped build Facebook’s News Feed and self-driving systems at Lyft, has taken a bold stance, his new music discovery platform says “no” to AI recommendations. The conversation dives into Hangout’s recent build-a-thon with Lovable, the “humans-only” philosophy behin...

In Episode 19 of AI Code Central, Charlie and Conor sit down with Pete McPherson, founder, builder, and the voice behind Do You Even Blog. Pete has launched and sold multiple AI apps, and he shares practical insights on how to move from idea to exit. The conversation covers choosing the right stack, working with AI models, and striking the balance between product features and business goals. Pete opens up about the reality of pricing AI tools, finding early traction, and the difficult decisio...

At just 19 years old, Mark Vassilevskiy is running the top design agency in Silicon Valley, closing clients like ClickUp, Contra, and Bolt.new. But what really caught our attention is the claim that one of his websites helped a startup reach a $67 million valuation without an app, users, or a marketing budget. In this episode of AI Code Central, Charlie sits down with Mark to unpack how design can transform startups, accelerate fundraising, and even make VCs stop scrolling. Mark shares his jo...

Description: Colin Lawlor went from marketing Guinness in Dublin to building Sleep.ai - the company with the world's largest sleep dataset and fresh $5.5M in funding. Instead of selling another $300 sleep ring, they power other companies with AI sleep intelligence. In this episode, we dive into: How smartphone sonar technology turns any phone into a clinical-grade sleep monitorBuilding an 800+ million hour sleep dataset as a competitive moatTechnical integration for developers - APIs, SDKs, a...

In this episode of AI Code Central, Conor & Charlie break down how to use email marketing to get your first customers and turn signups into paying users. Conor walks through the essentials of email strategy for early-stage AI apps, covering why email still delivers the highest ROI, how to build a simple signup form, and how to launch a 3-email welcome flow that converts. Charlie jumps in with the questions every founder is thinking: “Isn’t email outdated?” “What if I don’t have content ye...

This week on AI Code Central, Caz & Charlie sit down with David Bressler, founder of FormulaBot, the AI tool that turns plain English into Excel formulas, charts, and full-blown data analysis. David shares how he built the MVP during paternity leave, survived a $5,000 API bill, dealt with Microsoft’s cease-and-desist letter, fended off copycats, and turned user emails into a product roadmap. From scrappy ESPN Excel ads to scaling past ChatGPT competition, David’s story is a masterclass in...

In Episode 14, Charlie and Conor take a hands-on approach to one of the most important parts of setting up analytics: event tracking in Google Analytics 4 (GA4) using Google Tag Manager (GTM). After some weekend stories about concerts and mountain biking, the hosts jump into a practical, step-by-step walkthrough of how to correctly configure event tracking. Conor explains what events are in GA4, why the data layer matters, and how to track actions that go beyond simple page views like form fi...

In Episode 13, we sit down with Mindaugas Petrutis (MP) from Lovable, a dynamic leader at the intersection of growth, collaboration, and creative marketing. From working with influencers and handling high-level partnerships to building robust marketing strategies, MP gives us a look inside his multifaceted role at the company everyone in AI is talking about.

Join Charlie and Conor in this hands-on educational episode as they build a high-converting landing page for their AI app, Campaign Lens, using Lovable. Charlie shares his screen while Conor guides the process, breaking down the fundamentals every AI app builder needs to know for getting cold traffic to convert. What we covered: Above the fold essentials - crafting headlines, value props, and CTAs that convert visitors instantlyKeyword research for AI apps - finding the terms your potential c...

Join Caz and Charlie on this hands-on episode of AI Code Central Podcast as Caz takes on her first agent-building challenge! As a complete beginner to the world of AI automation, Caz walks through the entire process of conceptualizing and planning an AI agent to automate their podcast research.

Join Caz and Charlie on this exciting episode of AI Code Central Podcast as they sit down with the incredibly insightful Christopher Brereton! From his fascinating career journey spanning music licensing to leading product in Bitcoin mining and now heading investments at Mohara, Chris shares his unique perspective on how technology, especially AI, is shaping our world. In this episode, we chat about: Chris's unconventional career path and the guiding philosophy behind his impactful choices.Co...

You built the app, now it’s time to get customers. In this Friday “education drop,” Charlie and Conor break down the analytics stack every AI web app needs on Day 1. You’ll learn what Google Search Console (how you get found) and GA4 (what users do) actually tell you, and how to use Google Tag Manager to track real behaviors like sign-ups and CTA clicks, so you can move from vibes to verifiable growth. What you’ll learn Why “build it and they will come” fails, and how data fixes itGSC b...

In this episode of AI Code Central, we sit down with Meg Faibisch Kuhn, AI educator, founder of Aioli, and community leader of Women Building with AI. Meg has made it her mission to help non-technical founders, marketers, and creatives move beyond the hype and actually ship AI-powered projects. We chat about her journey from marketing to AI education, her early experiments that turned curiosity into conviction, and the practical workflows she now teaches through her communities and courses. T...

In this episode of AI Code Podcast, we welcome our new Chief Marketing Officer, Conor Douglas (founder of Astoria Advertising Co) with over $100M in revenue generated for his clients, Conor now brings his expertise into the SaaS & AI world. He shares lessons learned from scaling high-performing campaigns and breaks down how to apply them to building AI and SaaS products. From finding true product-market fit to using data analytics for smarter decision-making and creating sustainable custo...

In this episode, we talk with Adrian Humphrey, Founder and CEO of Tailored Labs and grand prize winner of the world’s largest hackathon put on by Bolt. Adrian built an AI-powered video editor that turns full-day editing sessions into quick 8-minute uploads. He shares the problem that inspired Tailored Labs, the technical approach to conversational video editing, and the strategy that helped him stand out among hundreds of thousands of competitors. We also discuss how the platform is attractin...