Claude's Agent Mode was LEAKED (First Look)

In this episode, I go over one AI news item I can’t stop thinking about, one trend you can build a business around, two tools I’m using, one startup idea you should steal, and one framework to end on. I start with a leak suggesting Anthropic is productizing “agent mode” for Claude with structured task buckets and a progress/context UI. Then I use Hyrox as an example of how I validate trends quickly with search data (and what “low competition + cheap CPC + explosive growth” signals). I wrap by pitching a hotel guest-communication concierge and the “thousand people framework” for getting to clarity on your ICP and what they’ll reliably pay for. Timestamps 00:00 – Intro 00:32 – AI New Item: Anthropic leak: Agent Task Mode for Claude 04:47 – Trend: Hyrox 08:59 – AI App: Krea and Notebook LLM 12:23 – Startup idea: Digital Hotel Concierge 15:59 – Framework: The “1000 People” For founders doing $50k+ MRR+: https://startup-ideas-pod.link/offline-mode Key Points Agent workflows get “productized” when the UI guides the task (not just a blank prompt box). Trend validation can be fast: look for explosive growth + low competition + cheap CPC, then ideate apps around it. NotebookLM’s slide generation is an underrated workflow for turning sources into clean decks. The “Guest Guide” concept is a simple AI/QR wedge: answer repetitive hotel questions and monetize per property. The thousand-people exercise forces clarity: who exactly buys, what they pay yearly, and how you reach them. Section Summaries The Claude Agent Mode Leak I break down a leak claiming Anthropic is preparing a more structured “agent mode” for Claude, organized into buckets like research, analyze, write, and build plus choices like depth, format, and outputs. The big shift is moving from “open chat” to “delegating distinct tasks” with visibility into progress and context. Productized Prompts = Better Output I explain why a blank text box can be daunting, and why UI that scaffolds intent (validate/compare/forecast, quick vs. thorough, doc vs. slides vs. spreadsheet) can make results meaningfully better. To me, it points at a future where you “check in” on agents like teammates. Trend Hunting I use Hyrox, an indoor fitness competition that’s “like the new CrossFit,” as a real example of how I sanity-check whether something is becoming a business opportunity. The workflow is simple: I see it in culture, then I go straight to Idea Browser to pull search/CPC/competition signals. Two Tools I’m Testing I call out Krea as a creative AI subscription bundling multiple models, and then I highlight NotebookLM’s slide/infographic feature as the underrated part—turning a source (including transcripts) into clean, well-designed slides with strong hierarchy. Steal This: Guest Guide I pitch a hotel digital concierge that handles common guest questions via QR-code guides, priced per property with affiliate upside, and I reference Sadie as an adjacent AI hospitality product (more on calls/reservations). Then I close with the “thousand people framework”: define the real ICP, map what they’ll pay yearly, and figure out distribution—because clarity is the driver. The #1 tool to find startup ideas/trends - https://www.ideabrowser.com LCA helps Fortune 500s and fast-growing startups build their future - from Warner Music to Fortnite to Dropbox. We turn 'what if' into reality with AI, apps, and next-gen products https://latecheckout.agency/ The Vibe Marketer - Resources for people into vibe marketing/marketing with AI: https://www.thevibemarketer.com/ FIND ME ON SOCIAL X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/gregisenberg Instagram: https://instagram.com/gregisenberg/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Greg Isenberg?

  Hey everyone. Today's episode, we are going to cover a news item, an AI news item, that I can't stop thinking about. One trend that you can build a business around, one app, one AI app I'm using that I think you should take a look at. I'm going to give you one startup idea, and then we're going to end this episode with one startup framework that I think you'll really enjoy. Let's get right into it.

• 0:32Greg Isenberg?

  So the first news item, we're going to talk about what leaked. So Anthropic is preparing new ingentic task mode for Claude. So you can see here the image. There's actually a leaked video. I'll zoom in here. And what's really cool about it is, so you have basically five different buckets: research, analyze, write, build, and do more. So if you click, let's say, "write," you can pick the format. Do you want a doc? Do you want slides? Do you want spreadsheet? Do you want a step-by-step, first draft, citations?

• 1:12Greg Isenberg?

  If you click "analyze," you can actually pick the approach that you want. So it's gone ahead and productized a lot of the stuff that we're doing anyways. But validate, compare, forecast. You can pick the depth. Do you want it quick? Do you want it thorough? And then build. This is, a lot of us are using Claude, Claude, whatever you want to call it, to actually build a lot of software. So you can have the output as an artifact, a Claude artifact, or code. You can pick the layout. You can pick the theme. And research, which I think is really cool, you can pick, where do you want it to search from? Do you want it to search from the internet? Do you want it to search from different MCPs, your connectors?

• 1:57Greg Isenberg?

  So then you can see here, "Help me research about testing catalog." And then you'd be able to actually go and do it. So I think that this is a huge leap. For AI in general, this, you know, up into this time, you've basically created, you know, output via just a text box. And I don't know about you, but I go to a chat GPT or a Gemini or any of these LLMs and I find it daunting. I don't know exactly what to put in there. So I think that by having some of this stuff, you're productizing some of this.

• 2:33Greg Isenberg?

  You know, it just, it's gonna get way better output and it, it sort of leads to this idea around you'll have agents actually go and do these things for you. So this is a big piece of leaked news. This isn't out yet.

• 2:48Greg Isenberg?

  Testing catalog is the, is the people that broke the news. You can see here Anthropic is expanding previously discovered Claude agent mode with a multifaceted task delegation interface, positioning the Asinta as a more autonomous tool for structured workflows. The updated interface introduces a toggle for switching between classic chat and agent modes, allowing users to focus on delegating distinct tasks rather than only having open ended conversations. In agent mode, users are agreed with five core sections. We talked about that. Each accessible from the main screen point to specialized capability and use cases. This is really interesting. So it says, "These functions appear alongside a progress tracker and context manager on the right side of the interface.

• 3:32Greg Isenberg?

  The progress view will break down each delegated task, while the context manager lists the resources Claude is using, allowing users to monitor and potentially adjust active inputs. The setup could benefit professionals, students and teams seeking guided step-by-step basis on complex projects." This is the future of, of work. So let's just go ahead back into here, see this. I can imagine you prompting this interface based on the task I want. And then on the left-hand side, seeing these agents actually going and doing it and checking in on them, just like you check in on teammates in Slack, right? I think.

• 4:15Greg Isenberg?

  That's what this is trying to be. And if it works, then it's going to be huge. So I think this is a big deal. I don't know why more people aren't talking about it. But if this actually gets created or this actually gets posted production, this is going to be big. And you heard it first here on the Startup Ideas Pod. Subscribe for more of that sort of stuff in the future. So that's the news item. Okay, let's go to a trend. Let's talk about a trend because, you know, I know that you love that. I know that you guys love, you know, different trends and how to actually, you know, go and build business around them.

• 4:59Greg Isenberg?

  If you have a business that's doing at least $50,000 a month in revenue, I've got something interesting for you. It's called Offline Mode. It's a two-day event that me and my team are putting on at a 20,000-plus-foot-square-foot mansion. Yes, this is what it looks like. On January 23rd and January 24th in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I'll include a link in the description if you're interested in coming. But it's basically for people who have a business that's kind of cranking, but they really want to put it in rocket ship mode. They want to create a set of businesses that generate tons of money, tons of cash flow, tons of product market fit, tons of impact. But they're not just quite there yet. It's also about, you know, making your business AI-first,

• 5:43Greg Isenberg?

  how you can actually, you know, build not just one product, but multiple products. And you're going to leave with, you know, tactical answers to your questions. So if that's you and this sounds interesting, I'll see you there. So I don't know about you, but I've heard this thing recently, over the last few weeks. Hyrox. So Hyrox, which is a global indoor fitness competition, combining eight kilometers of running, split into one kilometer segments with eight different functional workout stations, alternating between running and strength endurance and challenges. Designed as a sport for everybody for fitness levels, from novice to elite athletes. It's basically like the new CrossFit. And I keep hearing about it.

• 6:28Greg Isenberg?

  Keep hearing about it. And because of that, you know, if I hear about something or I see it on TikTok, you know that the first place I go to is Idea Browser. So let's go ahead and check the search data on it and see, you know, is there an opportunity to actually build a business around this trend? So usually what I do is I go to my dashboard. I'll click my trends here. I click research a trend and then you have the ability to do quick check or deep discover. So, you know, I'm just gonna do a quick check 15 seconds. So this is actually going to tell us what, you know, what is the search volume? What is the CPC?

• 7:12Greg Isenberg?

  So, you know, came back already. And this is what you love to see. So you have a low competition. I just changed the search data to all time. Look at this. Basically, no one was searching it a few years ago. And now it's absolutely blown up. 5,525% growth in the last five years. Cheap CPC, low competition. So you know that there's a business to be created here. Maybe there's a mobile app business and we can talk more about that. Usually when I, you know, I do a quick search and I'm more interested, then I'll do a deep research, which is basically goes and just goes and gets more deep, deep insights.

• 7:54Greg Isenberg?

  This takes longer, but you know, it gives you this sort of report around it. And but the point here is there's something here. There is something here. So if you want to create a mobile app, you know, maybe it allows you to track your HiRox workouts. Maybe it's recommendations on products. Maybe it's your HiRox, you know, buddy that every day checks in with you and gives you and tells you something to do or compares you. So there's a lot of opportunity to, you know, just when I, like I said, when I see something like this and I see this amount of growth with low competition, it's a gift.

• 8:36Greg Isenberg?

  So it's a gift for not just, not just me. I'm giving it to you and I hope you do something with it and, you know. Let me know in the comment section if you've heard of HiRock before. I've only actually started hearing about it for the last few weeks. So I don't know if I'm late to the party, but here we go. The next thing I wanted to talk about is, you know, I'm actually going to give you two apps that I've been using. One's kind of, you know, an app you might have heard of, but you haven't played with recently. And one's maybe that you haven't heard of. So one app is Creo. So this is probably something that you haven't used.

• 9:22Greg Isenberg?

  I just started using it over the last little bit. So I wouldn't say I'm a pro with it, but it is one of those creative AI tools that brings in, you know, VO3 and Topaz and all these different, you know, video 3D creative models in one subscription. I've done a review on Glyph before, which is a similar sort of idea.

• 9:50Greg Isenberg?

  But I want to play with this a little bit more and just see how it does. Cause I've been hearing that it's, it's absolutely amazing. And, you know, just like seeing, you know, on the website, it looks, it looks really good. I'm not affiliated with these people at all.

• 10:07Greg Isenberg?

  You'll know when I'm affiliated with something. But I just think that like on the website, it looks really cool. You know, can it actually do the output here that as good as it say? I don't know. But I wanted to put that on your radar as a tool that I'm checking out right now. The other product I wanted to talk about is, and you've, you've probably heard of it. It's Google Notebook LM. But there's a feature that you probably haven't looked at, which is the slides feature. So they've added a new feature for infographics and slide deck. So what can you do? So how do you use this?

• 10:52Greg Isenberg?

  You basically, you know, put in a source. Can be like, it could actually be an image. It could be a blog post, it could be a transcript on YouTube, right? You can go and use perplexity comment transcript to YouTube, you know, video and put it in here, or just put the YouTube video right here. You can upload things from Google Drive. And then you can do fast research and deep research. But the cool thing here is you can actually generate a slide deck and it looks pretty good. So I actually did a whole episode on how you can 10x prompt better using tools like Claude and stuff like that.

• 11:37Greg Isenberg?

  And I just find like these, these on the right hand side, like these are really beautiful designed slides. I think it's clear, I think it's, you know, the hierarchy is really nice. So I think a lot of people know Notebook LM for just like, you know, you put in a source and you get a podcast out of it. But using it as a AI slide designer is super, super underrated. And I want to tell you about it. I want to tell you about it and I'm really enjoying that. So those are the two apps. Well, one app that you probably haven't heard of and one app that's a bone and a feature

• 12:20Greg Isenberg?

  you probably haven't heard of, but an app that you've probably heard of. The next section is I wanted to give you a startup idea to get your creative juices flowing. So I saw this startup idea, which I actually funded in 2011. I funded an app that did this and it didn't work out, but I think the timing was wrong. And now the timing is right. So someone please steal this idea. So a digital concierge platform that automates guest communication for hotels. Hotel managers waste hours answering repetitive guest questions like, what's the wifi password? When is breakfast served? Where should we eat nearby? Guest guide creates interactive digital guide to handle 90% of guest inquiries automatically.

• 13:04Greg Isenberg?

  Guests scan a QR code. At check-in to access everything they need, walk through videos, local recommendations, amenity instructions, bridge contacts. So you basically charge hotels $29 to $79 per property based on features. And then you do affiliate partnership with local businesses. I think this is an interesting business. I think hotel messaging, like being the, also creating like a AI concierge for hotels is a huge opportunity. And when you look at hotel messaging, look at that volume, right? It's absolutely, absolutely crushed it. So I just think that there's an opportunity to use AR, AI, use QR codes to help guests

• 13:47Greg Isenberg?

  in their stay. And there are people who are doing, you know, versions of this. I saw that there was a company that Valsaw funded. Valsaw is a conglomerate. I forget the name of the company, but Sadie, yeah. So that, you know, Sadie is a company that, you know, convert your missed calls into booking. Sadie is the market-leading AI host built for hospitality, answering every call taking reservation orders. So this feels like more around like the sales side. But I do think that there's an opportunity to do something more on like the guest experience

• 14:32Greg Isenberg?

  side. And that's why I do like that idea. It gives you, you know, it gives you some ideas around how you can structure the offer. I always click, I always try to, this always gives me ideas. So you can create a lead magnet, which is like an interactive digital welcome guide template. Your front-end offer could be something like a basic digital guide subscription, a pro offer with video tutorials, you know, then you do your local and affiliate offers, and then you do your enterprise plan with custom integrations. So that's your backend offer.

• 15:10Greg Isenberg?

  I always try to structure my businesses with a value ladder. Why value ladders work builds trust incrementally and maximizes customer lifetime value, helps segment your audience and creates predictable revenue. So whatever it is you're creating or building, I do think that a value ladder is worth your time. And there's something here in the AI hotel space. And by the way, this is a free idea. You can grab it on Idea Browser. We're doing 24 days of startup ideas. So you know, usually, you know, sometimes we charge for for for ideas. These are 24 free ones that you can keep forever.

• 15:49Greg Isenberg?

  So I'll include link in a link of where to get that and where to get your free ideas in the description. The last thing I want to talk about is a framework. You know, I love, I love a good framework. And this one is I'm calling the thousand people framework. How do you, you know, how do you find a small market and create a clear solution for it? So, you know, I think that we all want to build big things. We all want to make, you know, millions of dollars, create huge amount of impact. But it's just so helpful to actually get to know and dial into the thousand people who are the same.

• 16:31Greg Isenberg?

  So whatever it is you're building, think about who are the thousand people? Who is your ICP? And when I say ICP, ideal customer profile, I don't mean the millions of people that could buy your thing. Who are the people who are most likely to buy your product? And, you know, what is, you know, try to picture them. And, you know, one thing that I like to do is I'll go to a Gemini, ChatGPT, whatever, and I'll be like, you know, create personas for these people, you know? What do they do on a daily basis? You know, what is their job? How much money do they make? What do they like about their job? What do they hate about their job? Really get to know these people. Then ask, what will they pay fifty to a hundred dollars for every year?

• 17:15Greg Isenberg?

  And you know, some people here are built, you know, for the thousand people. Maybe it's more than a hundred dollars a year. Maybe it's they're selling enterprise and it's a million dollars a year. But whatever it is, like, what will they pay some amount of money for every year? Keyword every year. And then, and then ask yourself, well, how do I reach all those thousand people? How, how do I reach all those thousand people and come up with ideas for that? And this is like a prompt for you to get really clear about who these people are. What are their most painful problems that they have? And how you can reach them? And I think as we're getting into 2026, it's important to actually dial into this. The clarity is the most important.

• 18:00Greg Isenberg?

  The clarity is what's going to help you actually increase the probability of success in whatever business you're going to create. It's not the best product. It's not the best marketing. It's ultimately the clarity. The clarity is going to drive everything, right? Yes, it actually, you know, it will actually end up creating the best marketing and the best product of it. Cause if you have good clarity, you will be able to do it. But it all starts, my point, I guess, is it all starts with clarity. In the thousand people framework, it's going to help you. And you can use this with your co-founder and do this as an exercise with your co-founder. You can do this with chat GPT or an LLM as your partner and try to figure this out.

• 18:44Greg Isenberg?

  Or, and/or you can also just speak to your target audience. But you know, a lot of people are busy and they don't have time to just answer surveys and stuff like that. So I don't know if you'll be able to speak to all a thousand, but kudos if you can. So thousand people framework. Hope you, hope you enjoyed that one. So that's the episode. That's the episode. I thought, this is the second time I've done this sort of episode where, you know, I'll give you a news item like the Anthropic leak that I think that a lot of people don't know about. I'll give you a trend that I think is underrated and there's an opportunity to build businesses

• 19:26Greg Isenberg?

  with. I'll give you an app that I'm using that I think is interesting and underrated. I'll give you a startup idea that I want you to steal and go build something from it, or at least like get your creative juices flowing there. And then I'll give you a framework so you have the foundation for actually building out these ideas. This is the Startup Ideas Podcast in a nutshell. My goal with it is to increase the probability of your success in whatever it is you're doing, either if you're working at a startup, you're working at a big company, or you want to build something of your own one day or doing it right now. And that's what I'm here for. I'm, I'm rooting for you. If you like this format and you want

• 20:08Greg Isenberg?

  me to do more of it, please let me know. I read every single comment. I appreciate every single like. And if you want more of it, you know where to subscribe. And well, I guess we can end it here. You can get, you can get back to building and I'll get back to building too. Catch you later. Thanks, everyone.