I'm feeding my baby while recording this… she's spilling milk, I'm spilling AppSumo updates. Everybody wins.

So we've gone from 140 people down to around 40. Revenue has dropped hard. And for the first time in 16 years, staying in business actually feels uncertain.

So this episode is about what we're doing now. What's working, what's not, and how we're getting things back on track.

I talk about why we're focusing on just 30 great deals instead of hundreds, what AI is actually good for… and where it's total BS. And how I'm thinking about rebuilding the team in a way that actually works long term.

Also sharing a mindset nugget I just heard and loved from an incredibly talented cyclist:

'when it's hard, that's when you're strong'.

Turns out that applies to parenting… and business.

You'll like this one if things feel messy right now and you're trying to figure out your next move.

In this conversation, you'll enjoy 3 BIG things:

• What to do when your business gets cut in half

• How to rebuild a team after layoffs and uncertainty

• Why hard moments are where you level up

Enjoy these 3 things plus many nuggets along the way.

I have also been sharing emails on my brutally honest advice on a variety of topics. People have been loving it. Sign up at noahkagan.com and join 350k other people who get juicy insights every month.

• How we saved $32K/year by killing every AI subscription and going all-in on one platform — and the exact 3-day rollout we used to get full adoption
• The real use cases that are changing how AppSumo operates — deal cards in 60 seconds, BD running everything from one screen, and our CMO shipping 6 AI skills in a single week
• Why the Slack channel #ai_daily became our secret weapon and how horizontal learning (not top-down training) is what actually drives AI adoption

I just turned 44, and we just had our second daughter. Double girl dad. Let's go.

This episode is a mix of life lessons, AI experiments, and some questionable investing decisions. I talk about what having a second kid taught me, why self-belief matters way more when revenue is down, and how getting older has made me care less about awards and more about meaning.

I also tested OpenClaw, gave it real access to my life, and asked it to tell me what to say on this podcast. It lied. Then it admitted it lied. Which honestly felt very human.

In this conversation you'll enjoy 3 BIG things:

• What becoming a dad (again) is teaching me about fear, confidence, and second reps

• Why picking the right partner and calling your parents might be the highest ROI decisions of your life

• How to ignore hype cycles, invest in boring things, and zag when everyone else zigs

Enjoy these 3 things plus many nuggets along the way.

My book Million Dollar Weekend breaks down how to start a business in simple steps you can do in one weekend.

I also send brutally honest emails about business and life. Join 350k people reading them at noahkagan.com.