Staying one step ahead of the bots: Interview with Anthony Castrio, Founder of Bot Eat Brain

Welcome to the Replicate Codex interview series, where I bring you insights from the brains behind the most innovative AI projects. I'm excited to chat with Anthony Castrio, the founder of boteatbrain.com, a popular AI-focused newsletter. At the time of this writing, Bot Eat Brain has 3,000 subscribers, all looking to stay "one step ahead of the bots."

Let's dive into Anthony's journey and learn more about Bot Eat Brain!

Hey Anthony! Can you give us a quick intro to how you came up with the idea for boteatbrain.com?

Bot Eat Brain started last year around the launch of DALL•E. It was so cool. It seemed like every day there were no breakthroughs in generative AI. I got major FOMO. I wanted to build something in the AI space too, but I realized I had no idea where to start.

Then I thought: “I bet a lot of founders have FOMO. I bet a lot of founders don’t know where to start." That’s why I started writing Bot Eat Brain, to educate myself and scratch my own itch.

We're curious to know - what are your big goals for boteatbrain? Where do you see it headed in the future?

My goal this month is 5,000 subscribers. My goal this year is 100,000. I want to write the best possible daily newsletter covering Artificial Intelligence, get more people reading it, and make a bunch of money from sponsorships or a paid community.

After that, I want to launch AI projects of our own and use the newsletter to help with distribution. I’d love to launch a small product studio/research lab to build projects and invest directly in the space.

Why should someone subscribe?

A couple of months ago, knowing how to use AI was cool, but not really necessary. Now, it’s hard to imagine how any indie entrepreneur could stay competitive without leveraging AI tools. It’s a huge force multiplier on everything you do: code faster, write faster, design faster, ideate faster, ship faster, grow faster!

Bot Eat Brain exists to keep you up to date on the latest tools, techniques, and trends. It’s a short daily read that over time will make you very well-informed. Almost everything in AI seems to grow exponentially so if you’re trying to keep up you better invest in growing your knowledge and understanding exponentially too.

Being an indie entrepreneur, you've got a bunch of cool projects going on! How do you manage your time between Bot Eat Brain, indieworldwide, and your other ventures?

My calendar doubles as my to-do list. Everything I need to get done gets added to the calendar. That way it’s impossible to add something to my to-do list without acknowledging the time it will take to get it done.

I try to overestimate the average task to account for the 1 in 5 or so that end up taking way longer than expected.

Picking what to work on next comes down to what’s urgent, what’s interesting, and what I think could have the biggest impact on my businesses.

I love the concept of speedrun1000.com! How did you get inspired to start it, and what has the response been like so far?

Speedrun1000 is the latest in a series of challenges I’ve run for the Indie Worldwide community. The concept came from my own need to learn more about the newsletter business.

Our first challenge was called 100 in 100: https://100in100.co/, and focused on founders getting 100 new customers in 100 days or less.

Our next challenge kickoff off soon is Tweet Streak 30 a 30-day gamified Twitter growth challenge.

Lastly, Anthony, any advice for aspiring indie entrepreneurs out there who want to start their own projects?

Don’t go broke!

That’s your number 1 priority as an indie maker. VC-backed founders get a huge war chest up front that they can use to pay their bills with.

You don’t have that.

How you get it:

1. Work a job (or freelance).
2. Save money.
3. Start working part-time on your idea.
4. Once you’ve got 6-12 months of runway and at least one sale for your indie business, then you can consider quitting (optional) to work on it full time.

Conclusion

That wraps up our interview with Anthony, the founder of Bot Eat Brain! It was a pleasure to learn about Anthony's journey, his vision for Bot Eat Brain, and his insights on the importance of AI tools for indie entrepreneurs. Whether you're an AI enthusiast or an entrepreneur looking to leverage AI in your ventures, don't forget to subscribe to Bot Eat Brain to stay informed on the latest AI trends.

If you're on the hunt for the perfect AI model for your project, be sure to explore Replicate Codex, the go-to platform for discovering AI models. Thanks for joining us, and until next time, keep innovating!

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