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Sep 10, 2026 · 22m · startup-ideas

GPT-6 Astra: How I’d Make Money With It

Michael Shemelis · 11m spoken Greg Isenberg · 8m spoken
0:00 / 0:00
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Host Greg Isenberg and technologist Ross Mike break down high-leverage commercial and engineering applications for OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra, covering software optimization, business automation prompts, and the emerging wave of AI-driven physical hardware manufacturing.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Greg holds 42.4% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Greg as informed peer 4.0 Guest teaching 3.5 Guest disagreement 0.0 Greg pushing back 0.0
05100:0010:0020:000:53–4:06 · Greg as informed peer 2/10 Optimizing Software: Performance Audits, Security, and Computer Use Michael shares detailed technical workflows on Astra's efficiency, security audits, and performance tuning from 800ms down to 20ms. Greg mostly listens and offers supportive banter without challenging.4:06–11:51 · Greg as informed peer 7/10 Nine Actionable Astra Prompts for Business Automation and Revenue Greg drives the segment by presenting his nine business-focused prompts for turning agencies into software and automating operations. Michael validates each idea enthusiastically with zero friction.11:51–18:28 · Greg as informed peer 1/10 Building a DIY AI Smart Speaker with Blender and Astra Michael conducts an extended technical walkthrough of building an AI smart speaker using Blender schematics and an automated GitHub pull request. Greg sits back and lets the guest demonstrate the entire process.18:28–21:16 · Greg as informed peer 6/10 The Emergence of Vibe Manufacturing and Niche Hardware Businesses Greg synthesizes the hardware workflow into a broader market thesis on 'vibe manufacturing' and niche $1M hardware businesses. Michael enthusiastically builds on this by highlighting the massive model subsidies.0:53–4:06 · Guest teaching 4/10 Optimizing Software: Performance Audits, Security, and Computer Use Michael shares detailed technical workflows on Astra's efficiency, security audits, and performance tuning from 800ms down to 20ms. Greg mostly listens and offers supportive banter without challenging.4:06–11:51 · Guest teaching 1/10 Nine Actionable Astra Prompts for Business Automation and Revenue Greg drives the segment by presenting his nine business-focused prompts for turning agencies into software and automating operations. Michael validates each idea enthusiastically with zero friction.11:51–18:28 · Guest teaching 6/10 Building a DIY AI Smart Speaker with Blender and Astra Michael conducts an extended technical walkthrough of building an AI smart speaker using Blender schematics and an automated GitHub pull request. Greg sits back and lets the guest demonstrate the entire process.18:28–21:16 · Guest teaching 3/10 The Emergence of Vibe Manufacturing and Niche Hardware Businesses Greg synthesizes the hardware workflow into a broader market thesis on 'vibe manufacturing' and niche $1M hardware businesses. Michael enthusiastically builds on this by highlighting the massive model subsidies.0:53–4:06 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Optimizing Software: Performance Audits, Security, and Computer Use Michael shares detailed technical workflows on Astra's efficiency, security audits, and performance tuning from 800ms down to 20ms. Greg mostly listens and offers supportive banter without challenging.4:06–11:51 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Nine Actionable Astra Prompts for Business Automation and Revenue Greg drives the segment by presenting his nine business-focused prompts for turning agencies into software and automating operations. Michael validates each idea enthusiastically with zero friction.11:51–18:28 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Building a DIY AI Smart Speaker with Blender and Astra Michael conducts an extended technical walkthrough of building an AI smart speaker using Blender schematics and an automated GitHub pull request. Greg sits back and lets the guest demonstrate the entire process.18:28–21:16 · Guest disagreement 0/10 The Emergence of Vibe Manufacturing and Niche Hardware Businesses Greg synthesizes the hardware workflow into a broader market thesis on 'vibe manufacturing' and niche $1M hardware businesses. Michael enthusiastically builds on this by highlighting the massive model subsidies.0:53–4:06 · Greg pushing back 0/10 Optimizing Software: Performance Audits, Security, and Computer Use Michael shares detailed technical workflows on Astra's efficiency, security audits, and performance tuning from 800ms down to 20ms. Greg mostly listens and offers supportive banter without challenging.4:06–11:51 · Greg pushing back 0/10 Nine Actionable Astra Prompts for Business Automation and Revenue Greg drives the segment by presenting his nine business-focused prompts for turning agencies into software and automating operations. Michael validates each idea enthusiastically with zero friction.11:51–18:28 · Greg pushing back 0/10 Building a DIY AI Smart Speaker with Blender and Astra Michael conducts an extended technical walkthrough of building an AI smart speaker using Blender schematics and an automated GitHub pull request. Greg sits back and lets the guest demonstrate the entire process.18:28–21:16 · Greg pushing back 0/10 The Emergence of Vibe Manufacturing and Niche Hardware Businesses Greg synthesizes the hardware workflow into a broader market thesis on 'vibe manufacturing' and niche $1M hardware businesses. Michael enthusiastically builds on this by highlighting the massive model subsidies.

speaking balance: gold is Greg, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Greg 49.8% · guest 50.2%0:00 · Greg 49.8% · guest 50.2%3:00 · Greg 46.5% · guest 53.5%3:00 · Greg 46.5% · guest 53.5%6:00 · Greg 81.2% · guest 18.8%6:00 · Greg 81.2% · guest 18.8%9:00 · Greg 64.1% · guest 35.9%9:00 · Greg 64.1% · guest 35.9%12:00 · Greg 0% · guest 100%12:00 · Greg 0% · guest 100%15:00 · Greg 0% · guest 100%15:00 · Greg 0% · guest 100%18:00 · Greg 59.4% · guest 40.6%18:00 · Greg 59.4% · guest 40.6%21:00 · Greg 39.6% · guest 60.4%21:00 · Greg 39.6% · guest 60.4%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 5:55 Michael dismisses lazy landing page generation

In a very collaborative episode, Michael offers his sharpest critique by calling the use of Astra for basic landing pages a sad waste of frontier model intelligence.

 Hardest push from Greg ▶ 4:01 Greg interrupts to take control of the agenda

Greg halts Michael's transition to hardware so he can take the floor and present his own vetted Twitter list of prompts.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 13:30 Michael explains Blender hardware visualization and PR generation

Michael educates the host and viewers on how Astra mapped out physical circuit connections in 3D and directly pushed working driver code to GitHub in minutes.

 Greg holds their own ▶ 18:29 Greg introduces the vibe manufacturing thesis

Greg demonstrates strong product and market foresight by contextualizing Michael's prototype into the broader trend of AI-driven physical manufacturing.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicGreg as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementGreg pushing backWhy
Optimizing Software: Performance Audits, Security, and Computer Use 2400 Michael shares detailed technical workflows on Astra's efficiency, security audits, and performance tuning from 800ms down to 20ms. Greg mostly listens and offers supportive banter without challenging.
Nine Actionable Astra Prompts for Business Automation and Revenue 7100 Greg drives the segment by presenting his nine business-focused prompts for turning agencies into software and automating operations. Michael validates each idea enthusiastically with zero friction.
Building a DIY AI Smart Speaker with Blender and Astra 1600 Michael conducts an extended technical walkthrough of building an AI smart speaker using Blender schematics and an automated GitHub pull request. Greg sits back and lets the guest demonstrate the entire process.
The Emergence of Vibe Manufacturing and Niche Hardware Businesses 6300 Greg synthesizes the hardware workflow into a broader market thesis on 'vibe manufacturing' and niche $1M hardware businesses. Michael enthusiastically builds on this by highlighting the massive model subsidies.

Statements from this episode (7)

Assertion Partly supported
Ross Mike: GPT-6 Astra is OpenAI's priciest model, priced similarly to Fable
“OpenAI's most expensive model. It's on par with Fable in terms of pricing, but if you have a codec subscription, very subsidized, and not only that, it's also very efficient, meaning it doesn't take as many steps to complete a task.”
Michael Shemelis Sep 10, 2026 ▶ 1:57
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Ross Mike: Astra performance review cut app latency from 800ms to 20–30ms
“I did that for one of my apps and speeds went from 800 milliseconds to literally 20 to 30 milliseconds, right?”
Michael Shemelis Sep 10, 2026 ▶ 2:36
Disclosure
Isenberg assesses if an AI agent can do the job before hiring
“This is just how I, by the way, side note, this is how I'm thinking before I hire anyone. I'm like, should I just do, get an agent to the, To do this. Sometimes yes, sometimes no, but that's been the default of how I've been thinking as I'm building my company…”
Greg Isenberg Sep 10, 2026 ▶ 7:56
Opinion
Ross Mike: GPT-6 Astra computer-use automation is surprisingly effective
“Like, I, like, I'm so bullish on computer use. Like, I really, like, a lot of, and a lot of people might think it's, like, insane, or it doesn't work, or it breaks. Like, you'll be surprised how good, like, Astra is.”
Michael Shemelis Sep 10, 2026 ▶ 8:53
Opinion
Ross Mike: Using GPT-6 Astra to build landing pages wastes its intelligence
“What makes Astra amazing is for these, like, insane hardware projects, this next level software. So again, if you're using Astra to build a landing page, It's a sad use of intelligence”
Michael Shemelis Sep 10, 2026 ▶ 16:36
Opinion
Ross Mike says he would cancel Claude subscription for Astra
“Anthropic is sweating for sure because for the first time I would like, if I, if someone asked me pick a subscription, I would cancel and drop my Anthropics subscription. I would cancel Claude. Astra's that good.”
Michael Shemelis Sep 10, 2026 ▶ 21:28
Disclosure
Ross Mike used $24,000 in model costs on two $200 subscriptions
“Like I asked my Astra agent to calculate how much of how much I've been using, like the subscription price, but also like in terms of API price, how much like I've been using in terms of model costs. And in the last week I've spent over 24,000 dollars. Mind yo…”
Michael Shemelis Sep 10, 2026 ▶ 21:54
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