McCanulty: AI builders are one to two years ahead of average users
Brian McCanulty · Nobody Wakes Up Excited to Use Software - So He Built This Instead · Sep 1, 2026 · at 29:24
Heights Platform founder Brian McCanulty explains why software companies must spend significant effort educating customers on how to use AI features.
0:00 / 0:14exact quote · 14.2s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“A lot of like builders and probably people like listening or watching a show like this, like we're like a year or two ahead of the average user, even if they're an entrepreneur, most cases, because there there's just such a quick advancement in how these things are changing.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Brian McCanulty
Creators should start with one-time pricing before moving to recurring subscriptions
“And for most creators, then what I think is better is to start with a one-time price, get really everything like dialed in and optimized and then decide like, okay, is this right to move into a subscription model in the future?”
Creator SaaS requires users to adopt a new identity to use it
“I think I think I picked a, in some ways a challenging business because it's a software as a service where the customer has to like truly make a decision to become somebody in order to be using your product.”
Time-bound challenges are ideal for activating knowledge business customers
“One of the best ways to do that, I think for people involved in some kind of knowledge business is with the online challenges. Online challenge, I would define as like some kind of A fixed calendar date online course experience that like people are going throu…”
Sticky software products must provide passive value merely by existing
“In every, every product you have to think about what are the things where you can be providing some kind of value for the product to just exist for the person and which will like make it more sticky for the user.”
Sub-$100 creator products are entry-level lead magnets, not flagship offers
“If like, if you see somebody out there with like a 99 dollar or less product, that product is not like, if they're successful in their business, that product is not their flagship product. That is like an entry level offer to capture leads and to the price of …”
Creators should add value to charge more, not compete on price
“And so I think most creators should aim not to compete on price and be the cheapest product, but instead, how can you deliver more value to charge more for your product? Because getting customers is hard, no matter what. And so I would rather take the approach…”