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Greg Isenberg
9 biggest Startup Opportunities in the AI Boom
⏱ 68 min video · 3 min read18 May 2026Worth watching
TL;DR
Greg Isenberg and Jonathan Courtney (J Ice Cream) break down 9 startup opportunities in the AI era, covering action apps, elder tech, loneliness solutions, personalized nutrition, pet health, and more. Each opportunity is grounded in real examples, business models, and first-hand experiments from the hosts.
Key points
1
Action apps are the agent-first reinvention of mobile: instead of apps humans stare at, AI agents do tasks like clearing inboxes, booking calendars, and filing expenses on your behalf
2
Loneliness is a massive underserved market with ~22% of Americans reporting fewer than one close friend; companies like 222 and Fabric are building profitable membership businesses around IRL community events
3
Elder tech (65+) is dramatically underfished: 70M+ boomers in the US have pain points around hearing, mobility, memory, and social connection that almost no startup is targeting
4
Personalized nutrition verticalized around specific conditions (e.g. GERD affects 60M Americans) is a huge gap; Zoe is a broad example but deep vertical plays around single conditions remain wide open
5
Live, unscripted creator content is growing as an anti-AI differentiator, with small audiences of 1,000-2,000 viewers capable of generating $400,000-500,000/year through memberships, events, and merch
Actionable insights
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To build an action app, pick a specific job title and vertical, ask ChatGPT or Claude to list all 50 jobs-to-be-done for that role, then build agents that handle those tasks at a fraction of the cost of hiring
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For loneliness/community businesses, the winning formula is: niche identity (e.g. dads) + specific hobby or game + recurring membership model; the domain JuniorEmployees.ai was called out as available and ready to build
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To find health verticals worth building in, walk into a CVS and look at which over-the-counter categories have entire shelf rows dedicated to them (e.g. antacids for GERD, migraine remedies) — those are your market signals
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Pet health is still under 2% smart-monitoring penetration despite being a $140B industry; the playbook is to take any human wellness product (e.g. Athletic Greens) and build the pet equivalent
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Targeting entrepreneurs specifically inside any niche (retreats, hobbies, communities) dramatically increases revenue potential vs. targeting the general public, as demonstrated by a painting retreat generating $110,000
Notable quotes
“Almost a quarter of Americans have no close friends. From an impact perspective, we need to do something about this. From a business perspective, you can actually create a bunch of great businesses that help people with loneliness.”
“Everyone is fishing for gamers between 13 and 25. Fish where the fish are. The dad is way underserved. And where is the grandpas of Marathon at?”
“I do it for the love of the game.”
Worth watching?
✅
Worth watching the full video?
Watch if you want the live product demos and back-and-forth riffing on each idea — but if you are just looking for the core opportunities and how to act on them, everything useful is captured here.
Saved you some time? The creator still deserves a like.
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