Podcast
Leveling Up with Eric Siu
Hosted by Eric Siu · EN
Leveling Up is a weekly interview series with entrepreneurs and marketers on the latest in business and marketing. Learn actionable strategies & tactics on how you can make your business grow and mistakes to avoid during your journey. Learn from individuals who have founded billion dollar companies to best-selling authors. Entrepreneur and host Eric Siu also shares insights and learnings along the way.
41episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
OpenClaw Just Replaced My ENTIRE Cold Email Operation
1w ago00:11:47Tap to summarizeHere’s how one person can now run cold email infrastructure that used to require an entire team. Most outbound systems break because there are too many moving parts. You need lead sourcing, email verification, inbox warmup, campaign management, copywriting, optimization, and reporting all happening at once. In this video I show how agents inside a “single brain” system handle most of that work end-to-end while a human stays focused on judgment, strategy, and approvals. I also walk through how we’re using OpenClaw, Instantly, Whisper Flow, and recursive scoring systems to rewrite campaigns, manage infrastructure, QA sequences, and launch campaigns in parallel without needing multiple operators. Chapters (00:00) Why cold email used to require a full team (00:32) How the “single brain” system works (01:18) Reviewing Instantly campaign performance (02:09) AI rewriting and scoring email sequences (03:06) Why humans still need to stay in the loop (04:21) Incentives, personalization, and reply rates (05:41) Running multiple campaign workflows in parallel (06:28) Managing lead distribution and infrastructure (07:07) Reviewing campaigns inside Instantly (08:05) Fixing ICP targeting and send settings (09:01) Live feedback and campaign optimization (10:07) Why one person can now operate like a full outbound team (10:49) How companies are building “world brains”
Transcribe →Is It Game Over For OpenClaw
1w ago00:11:00Tap to summarizeHere’s the real state of OpenClaw right now. OpenClaw became a critical part of how our team operates, but over the last couple months the reliability has noticeably dropped. Messages fail, automations break, gateways hang, and teams start losing trust in the system when it stops responding consistently. In this video I walk through Peter Steinberger’s public apology, the exact issues we’re seeing inside Slack and Telegram, why reliability matters more than features, and how we’re thinking about Hermes vs OpenClaw moving forward. I also break down the “brain vs execution” model, why competition between the two is actually healthy, and why I still believe autonomous agents are the future despite the current issues. Chapters (00:00) Is it over for OpenClaw? (00:46) The reliability problems we’re seeing (02:08) Peter Steinberger’s apology (04:20) Why SSR matters (secure, stable, reliable) (05:05) The single brain + agent fleet setup (06:34) Real Slack failures inside our team (08:05) Telegram failures and broken responses (09:09) Hermes as the alternative (10:41) Brain vs execution model (12:03) Why OpenClaw still matters (13:34) Website deployed using OpenClaw (14:52) Final thoughts on the future of agents
Transcribe →This Happened 3 Times In 125 Years. AI Just Did It Again
2w ago00:07:12Tap to summarizeHere’s why the “AI will cause mass unemployment” narrative is probably wrong. Every major wave of technology has triggered the same fear, and every time it’s played out differently. AI doesn’t just replace jobs, it shifts them. It removes repetitive work, increases productivity, and creates entirely new roles that didn’t exist before. In this video I walk through real historical data from radiology, agriculture, spreadsheets, and ATMs to show how job displacement actually works, why demand often increases, and how AI acts as a multiplier rather than a replacement. Chapters (00:00) The mass unemployment narrative(00:22) Radiology example (AI vs jobs)(01:08) AI as a demand multiplier(02:06) Drivers and task vs job thinking(02:28) Agriculture automation (tractor era)(03:46) Spreadsheets and job evolution(05:25) ATM prediction vs reality(05:42) Creative destruction explained(06:36) Why AI likely creates more opportunity
Transcribe →I Spent $7,500 on Claude Last Month (Here's The ROI)
2w ago00:08:45Tap to summarizeHere’s why I spent $7,500 on AI tokens in a single month and why it was worth it. Most people hear that number and think it’s insane. But that spend replaced work that would’ve cost way more in headcount, made our team significantly more effective, and even uncovered $500K in savings that I acted on within days. This isn’t just “AI cost” it’s leverage across sales, coaching, product, and operations. In this video I break down what that spend actually gets you, real examples of how it’s used inside the company, the ROI behind it, and how to think about cost vs speed when choosing models. Chapters (00:00) Why I spent $7,500 on tokens(00:38) What that spend actually buys(01:41) Using AI to coach your team(03:23) ROI breakdown and savings(04:19) Product and dev leverage(05:07) What the first 3 months look like(05:41) The “single brain” effect(06:07) Frontier vs cheaper models(07:53) Why you need to start now
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OpenClaw + Hermes is INSANE
3w ago00:08:52Tap to summarizeHere’s why I’d take OpenClaw + Hermes over most marketers I’ve hired. The problem was never just talent — it was consistency. People forget things, need managing, and plateau once they get comfortable. These agents don’t. Hermes acts as the brain that monitors, improves, and keeps everything running, while OpenClaw handles execution. Together, they create a system that can run workflows like SEO, outbound, and content end-to-end with built-in accountability and continuous improvement. In this video I break down how they work together, what they actually replace inside a company, the limitations you need to be aware of, and how to start building your own setup. Chapters (00:00) Why most marketers hit a ceiling(00:25) OpenClaw vs Hermes (execution vs brain)(01:50) Example workflows (SEO + outbound)(03:26) Brain vs builder mental model(04:17) Memory layer (Obsidian)(04:47) Limitations and tradeoffs(06:14) How to get started(07:53) Why this is the future
Transcribe →OpenClaw's New "Revenue Agents" Are INSANE
3w ago00:11:02Tap to summarizeIn this video I break down how we’re building this at Single Grain, how a fleet of agents sits on top of that brain to handle sales, SEO, content, recruiting, and ops, and why memory systems like Obsidian are critical to making it actually work. I also walk through what the first 90 days look like (it’s messy), how this system compounds over time, and real examples of how it’s already driving cost savings, pipeline, and inbound from enterprise companies. Chapters (00:00) What the “world brain” is (00:39) How a single brain connects all your data (01:12) From insights to execution with AI (01:52) The agent fleet running on top (02:32) What the first 3 months look like (03:23) Turning SOPs into AI “skills” (04:08) Fat skills, thin harnesses explained (04:40) Why memory systems matter (Obsidian) (06:09) Infrastructure and local setup (07:21) Agent fleet and sandboxing (08:25) Real-world results and savings (09:37) Why this becomes a massive advantage
Transcribe →I Just Built A Full Fleet of Revenue Agents Inside My Computer (Full Breakdown)
4w ago00:10:32Tap to summarize👉 Growth Newsletter for top marketers: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe I have 12 AI agents running inside my company right now. They handle sales, content, SEO, and recruiting without my team touching it. One of them even saved me $500K the first time I used it. In this video, I break down the exact playbook my company is using to win with AI, including: ⬛ Singlebrain: revenue agents that run cold email end-to-end, from lead scrubbing to sequences ⬛ Flash: a content repurposing agent that drove 348K views and real pipeline from multi-billion dollar companies ⬛ Oracle: an SEO agent that collaborates with the team inside Slack on workflows ⬛ How to train agents with soul.md, memory.md, and lessons.md for persistence and self-correction ⬛ The 24/7 company: cron jobs firing at 2 a.m. for content ingestion, outbound, and deal resurrection The gap between businesses that get this and the ones still experimenting is opening fast. If you're a founder, leader, or operator who still thinks of AI as a side project, this will change how you think about what's possible inside your company right now. Chapter (00:00) The AI Playbook Winners Use (00:29) Agents That Replaced Real Roles (01:07) Singlebrain Revenue Agents (01:44) Flash: Content Repurposing Agent (02:56) Oracle SEO Agent (03:30) How To Train Your Agents (04:25) Free Open Source AI Skills (04:47) The Real Margin Play (06:00) Building The 24/7 Company (07:02) Intelligence vs Judgment (08:10) Where AI Infrastructure Is Going (09:30) Final Thoughts How to Connect IG: / ericosiu X: / ericosiu 👉 Get 25k Words of AI-Powered SEO Content: https://clickflow.com/ 👉 Growth Newsletter for top marketers: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe 👉 Single Grain - Ad Agency focused on innovation https://www.singlegrain.com
Transcribe →These AI Marketing Skills Repo Will Change Your Business (1.8K Stars)
4w ago00:10:42Tap to summarize👉 Growth Newsletter for top marketers: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe These secret Claude skills are going to generate more revenue for you. This isn't AI theater. One of these skills saved me $500,000 the very first time I used it. In this video, I break down the open-source Claude Code skills repo I'm giving you for free — 21 complete workflows, scoring algorithms, expert panels, and automation pipelines across: ⬛ Growth Engine – autonomous marketing experiments that run, measure, and optimize themselves ⬛ Finance Ops – an AI CFO that finds hidden costs in 30 minutes (this is the one that saved me $500k) ⬛ Outbound Engine – fully automated cold outbound from ICP definition to inbox ⬛ Sales Pipeline, Content Ops, and SEO Ops skills you can plug in today These aren't prompts. They're production-grade systems you can fork into your own repo and run right now. If you're a founder, marketer, or operator who thinks "I don't know how to code" — neither do I. Just hit copy and go. Chapters 00:00 Secret Claude Skills That Print Revenue 00:17 The Free AI GitHub Repo 00:41 21 Skills Across 6 Categories 01:40 Auto Growth Engine Explained 02:46 How To Fork And Use The Repo 04:25 Why You Should Open Source Your Skills 05:00 The AI CFO That Saved Me $500K 06:31 Gross Margin, Runway, And Risk Analysis 07:19 Cold Outbound Optimizer With Expert Panels 08:30 Working With Skills In Slack And Telegram 09:07 How Skill.md Files Actually Work 09:23 The Meme Factory Skill 10:07 Use These Skills Or Fall Behind 10:21 How To Work With AI The Right Way How to Connect IG: /ericosiu X: /ericosiu 👉 Get 25k Words of AI-Powered SEO Content: https://clickflow.com/ 👉 Growth Newsletter for top marketers: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe 👉 Single Grain - Ad Agency focused on innovation https://www.singlegrain.com
Transcribe →If You Don’t Understand Agents, You Don’t Understand AI
Apr 1300:07:15Tap to summarize👉 Growth Newsletter for top marketers: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Everyone's talking about AI, but almost nobody is talking about how to actually use agents. And that's exactly why most people are going to get left behind. In this video, I break down how I'm actually using autonomous agents inside my business right now: ⬛ An agent that crawls conferences and upgrades our SEO scaffolding automatically ⬛ A product-qualified lead agent that surfaces upsell angles from in-app usage ⬛ A CFO agent that helped me cut $500,000 in costs ⬛ How to limit the "blast radius" so agents don't blow up your business If you're a founder or leader and you don't understand how agents actually work, you don't understand where AI is going. This video will change that. Chapters 00:00 Why Most People Will Get Left Behind 00:29 What An Autonomous Agent Actually Is 01:06 Upgrading Our SEO Agent In Real Time 01:48 The Product Qualified Lead Agent 02:29 Unbottlenecking Your Entire Company 02:48 Autonomy vs Risk Tradeoffs 03:10 We're Hiring At Single Grain 03:48 Do You Need To Know How To Code? 04:33 Limiting The Blast Radius 05:24 The CFO Agent That Saved $500K 05:41 This Is Your Business Right Now 06:18 Automate Your Job, Get Paid More How to Connect IG: / ericosiu X: / ericosiu 👉 Get 25k Words of AI-Powered SEO Content: https://clickflow.com/ 👉 Growth Newsletter for top marketers: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe 👉 Single Grain - Ad Agency focused on innovation https://www.singlegrain.com
Transcribe →Getting Customers with AI Just Got Unfair
Apr 900:11:40Tap to summarize👉 Growth Newsletter for top marketers: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe Everyone's still working with AI the old way. In this video, I screen share the real work I'm doing and show you the new way of working that's going to change how you run your business forever. I walk through how I'm using AI to build an entire B2B visitor ID to outbound system in under 10 minutes, something that would normally take developers weeks to ship. Here's what I build live on screen: ⬛ A B2B visitor identification system across three websites ⬛ Automated cold email sequences wired into Instantly ⬛ RB2B + Instantly + HubSpot integration with reply sync ⬛ Suppression pipelines so we don't email existing customers This isn't theory. I'm prompting, reviewing, troubleshooting, and shipping in real time, all through natural language. If you're a founder, operator, or marketer still stuck in the old workflow, this will change how you think about what's possible right now. Chapters 00:00 The New Way of Working With AI 00:19 The B2B Visitor ID to Outbound Spec 01:26 Prompting Alfred to Build the System 02:17 Too Many Threads, Staying Focused 03:01 Answering Clarifying Questions 04:42 Why Context Matters When Planning 05:33 Letting the Agents Work in Parallel 06:13 Reviewing What Got Built 07:10 Clickflow for AEO and SEO 07:28 Spot Checking the Email Sequences 08:14 Hooking RB2B Into Instantly 09:08 Unblocking Myself in Real Time 09:38 Connecting Instantly to HubSpot 10:11 Logging It All in Slack and Google Docs 10:51 The Technology Is Already Here 11:02 Cutting AI Token Costs How to Connect IG: / ericosiu X: / ericosiu 👉 Get 25k Words of AI-Powered SEO Content: https://clickflow.com/ 👉 Growth Newsletter for top marketers: https://levelingup.beehiiv.com/subscribe 👉 Single Grain - Ad Agency focused on innovation https://www.singlegrain.com
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