On the Gregory and Paul Show, we break down the latest in startups, SaaS, AI, and whatever the internet is fighting about this week. ️ Episode 021 – The Future of AI Advertising with Thrad CEO Andrea Tortella On this episode of the Gregory and Paul Show, the duo welcomes Andrea Tortella, CEO and co-founder of Thrad, an AI-native ad platform redefining marketing inside LLMs and chatbots. Together they break down how chat-based advertising works, why OpenAI’s upcoming ad network could be bigger than Google’s, and what it means for brands and agencies everywhere. Episode Highlights ️ From London to San Francisco (0:00)Andrea joins live from San Francisco after relocating from London. The crew talks city vibes, early SaaS days in Soma, and why SF still pulls tech founders back. Introducing Andrea Tortella and Thrad (3:00)Andrea shares how Thrad enables brands to advertise inside chat experiences — reaching users as they engage with AI apps. His background includes Perplexity AI, the Aspen Institute, and UCL. The OpenAI Ad Network Is Coming (6:00)Andrea predicts OpenAI will soon launch the largest ad business in history, democratizing reach for niche advertisers through conversational prompts instead of keywords. How AI Advertising Works (8:50)Ads appear as sponsored chat messages within the LLM interface — native, contextual, and conversational. The goal: ads so good they add value, not distraction. ⚙️ Creative Automation with AI (13:45)Thrad auto-generates ad copy based on user context and brand parameters in real time. Advertisers can preview and approve AI-generated creatives before launch. A New Era for Brand Voices (17:00)Gregory and Andrea discuss how brands can build personality-driven AI personas to chat directly with customers. Luxury brands and challenger brands alike can finally scale 1:1 conversations. Measuring Success: Beyond Clicks (20:00)Thrad experiments with new metrics like Cost Per Turn and Attention Shift, measuring conversation quality instead of clicks — a leap beyond CPM and CPC models. The End of the Click Economy (25:00)As users move from blue links to chat, traditional metrics lose power. Andrea explains how conversational engagement will become the new marketing currency. Attention Shift: The Real Metric (27:30)Thrad tracks topic change before and after ads — proof of genuine influence. Gregory compares it to the golden age of magazine advertising, now reborn inside chatbots. ️ Building at the Speed of Thought (22:00)Thrad claims the world’s fastest campaign setup: from idea to live ad in seconds. Gregory calls it “vibe marketing for AI.” Advertising in the Age of AI (33:00)Andrea and the hosts discuss how chat-based engagement will reshape storytelling, brand education, and customer relationships. Data Centers in Space (39:00)The crew dives into Google’s new plan to build solar-powered data centers in orbit. Paul jokes about the GPUs melting. Gregory says it’s classic “moonshot Google.” Tim Draper Calls OpenAI the AOL of AI (44:00)Tim Draper echoes Gregory’s long-held view that OpenAI is the AOL or Yahoo of this era — massive, early, but destined to fragment. Cluey’s Pivot to Note-Taking (47:00)Gregory and Paul dissect the Cluey controversy: from edgy “cheating app” to serious note-taker. Andrea argues it’s a micro-pivot; Gregory says brand trust is the real issue. Icon.com Becomes a Creative Agency (55:00)Another AI startup pivots to human-led creative. The group debates whether AI ad builders can ever outperform real marketers. Stripe Startup Data (58:00)US startups are pulling ahead — even without AI. Gregory and Paul debate whether this means AI is less revolutionary than hype suggests. Meme of the Week (1:01:00)Gregory debuts two new memes:...