EP 85 - From Carrying a Bag to Building AI Agents: How This Founder Did It скачать в хорошем качестве

EP 85 - From Carrying a Bag to Building AI Agents: How This Founder Did It

In this episode of #StartupsUnedited, Jorge Soto sits down with Aaron Melamed (Founder & CEO of Itero) - a former “carry-a-bag” sales leader turned founder who’s building a new kind of AI-native company. Aaron breaks down the exact moment he realized ChatGPT + autonomous agents could replace traditional sales training and repetitive business ops, and how he’s using agents to scale everything from roleplay enablement to proposal generation (and even automating back-office work most founders hate). If you’re a founder, GTM leader, SDR/AE, or operator trying to understand what “agentic” actually means in the real world - this one’s a blueprint. What you’ll learn: How a non-technical founder navigated product building (and the fear that comes with it) Why AI roleplay + enablement is harder than it sounds - and how Itero approaches it The 2 “North Star” questions Aaron uses to decide what to build next Bootstrapping discipline vs. VC-backed “throw money at it” product decisions Why founders must go horizontal (GTM + product + AI skills) in 2026 and beyond How to operationalize agents - not just “build one in a corner” Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:40 Aaron’s background (Greenhouse, enablement, sales leadership) 02:20 The moment he decided to become a founder 04:50 Building Itero full-time (since Aug 2024) 06:40 Learning product without a technical background 09:00 Why Perplexity helped him learn faster 10:30 “Agents doing real work” - what he automated 16:00 The hardest part of building AI roleplay software 18:55 Unlearning salesperson instincts as a CEO 26:30 The 2 questions that guide what features ship 37:10 Advice for future founders: uncertainty + going horizontal 📌 Connect with Aaron on LinkedIn (best way to reach him):   / aaronmelamed   📌 Follow Jorge Soto for more founder + GTM conversations:   / startupjorge   👍 If this helped, hit like, subscribe, and drop a comment: What’s the first business process you’d automate with an agent? #AI #Startups #B2BSaaS #SalesEnablement #Founders #GTM #AIagents #AgenticAI #StartupPodcast #ColdCalling #SalesTraining