The Panel

Justin and Jordan talk about how Jordan made a change to their funnel and increased sign ups dramatically, improving team communication, conducting better employee reviews, and developing better workflows for project handoffs between employees when AI is being used.Timestamps:YOU ARE THE PANEL – send us your thoughts 🗣️🎤 Send us an audio or video message📧 Email us: panelpodcastshow@gmail.com📺 Leave a comment on YouTube 🦋 Reply on Bluesky Links mentioned in this episode:Transistor.fmHeyRosyClaude AIVictor's Post on Market PullRyan CohenTony FadellCardhookThe Walt Disney Company | Acquired

Important: we're no longer livestreaming on Justin's personal YouTube channel. Make sure you're subscribed to ​The Panel's channel​ to get notified when we go live:Subscribe to The Panel YouTube here -->Join us FRIDAY (tomorrow, Feb 20) at 11 AM Pacific (2 pm EST) for a surprise announcement:https://www.youtube.com/live/sxASjnzAYkwWe'll be announcing:- A new ███████ ██████ ████- And a brand new ████ ███████- New livestream/recording time: Friday, 11 am Pacific- Livestreams will now be streamed from ​The Panel YT channel​, not Justin's personal channel

Come meet the crew of AI agents Brian has working for him, Justin's building fake apps to experiment and find out what he wants for real apps, and why don't we feel like we can relax now that we're doing ok?Timestamps:(00:45) - What we're talking about this episode (03:14) - Brian's OpenClaw setup (11:57) - The cost of token usage with OpenClaw (17:32) - What makes the memory better in OpenClaw? (22:38) - What about Cowork? (25:21) - Working with multiple agents in OpenClaw (27:07) - The problem of Siri (29:25) - The challenges of working is the same across AI or hiring (31:28) - The importance of thinking of AI as an employee (35:03) - What you'll miss by using AI instead of hiring a human (44:14) - Why Justin thinks it's important to build fake products (49:57) - Justin's app to publish a video as a podcast (53:41) - Building a company to compete with yourself like Freshbooks (55:39) - How might Transistor change bringing in new features? (01:04:07) - Design OS updates (01:09:01) - Why is Brian working all the time and feeling urgency? (01:16:26) - Marketing for developers in 2026 (01:30:37) - Founder led marketing is key (01:36:27) - Where are the real products being built with AI? Is AI actually speeding me up? (01:46:31) - Do I need to make as much money as possible now? YOU ARE THE PANEL – send us your thoughts 🗣️🎤 Send us an audio or video message📧 Email us: panelpodcastshow@gmail.com📺 Leave a comment on YouTube 🦋 Reply on Bluesky Links mentioned in this episode:OpenClaw (Clawdbot)Brian’s crew of AI agents that live on his Mac MiniOpenClaw popularity on GitHub over timeDemo of Justin’s video hosting appThe story of how Freshbooks created a fake company to launch a new version of their productCaleb Porzio - Everything I feel about AI right nowJeffrey Way - I'm doneAdam Wathan - ui.sh

Now that the holiday break is over, how are we feeling about 2026? We're talking about the new ideas we have to build or work on, as well as predictions for 2026 in AI, building, normal tech usage, and social media.Timestamps:(00:07) - New year, new excitement (01:40) - What has changed since the holiday break? (06:18) - Is Justin going to republish Marketing for Developers? (11:30) - Building a membership site in Ghost (18:37) - How Justin might release the updated content and podcast (24:42) - Focus on original instead of the average (37:25) - How Brian used Claude to generate visuals for a course on Claude Code (46:43) - If everyone is jumping on AI coding in 2026, how is Brian set up to meet the demand? (01:00:56) - Prediction for 2026: Standing out from the crowd is going to be key (01:05:31) - What's stressing Brian about social media in 2026 (01:09:36) - Partnerships are going to be very important in 2026 (01:11:01) - The new media will just become the media (01:15:14) - OpenAI will fade from the lead position (01:20:36) - AI adoption by normal people needs a better paradigm (01:27:13) - AI in music and tv wont' be significant (01:29:44) - The problem or the blessing of building even faster with AI in a year (01:38:29) - Bootstrapping will become the norm again in 2026 (01:42:12) - Meta is going to have a big year in 2026 YOU ARE THE PANEL – send us your thoughts 🗣️🎤 Send us an audio or video message📧 Email us: panelpodcastshow@gmail.com📺 Leave a comment on YouTube 🦋 Reply on Bluesky Links mentioned in this episode:Marketing for DevelopersGhost CMSTechnical knowledge to build an appAcquired 10th anniversaryAcquired sponsorship ratesAdam's morning walk episodeAdam's tweetBrian's Claude Code courseClaude Skills / Design World

Justin shares his thoughts on competition crushing his business, Brian contemplates open sourcing an idea for front end AI tooling, and when should you run with a new idea vs knowing when to drop it.Timestamps:(00:00) - Get into it! (00:47) - A founder has to worry about threats and opportunities (17:55) - What got us here won't get us there (28:42) - Why are trials increasing in 2025? (34:20) - An update on Builder Methods (40:11) - Deciding when to drop or maintain a project (51:07) - People want AI on rails (01:12:28) - 37Signals new product Fizzy (01:15:52) - What's the benefit to open sourcing a project? (01:32:59) - Leaving some value on the table YOU ARE THE PANEL – send us your thoughts 🗣️🎤 Send us an audio or video message📧 Email us: panelpodcastshow@gmail.com📺 Leave a comment on YouTube 🦋 Reply on Bluesky Links mentioned in this episodeAdam’s morning walk podcastBrian’s personal siteBrian’s DesignOS announcement37signals FizzyNathan Barry “Leave some value on the table”Tailwind CSS InsidersRework podcast “picking a price”