23 AI Agent Growth Plays

Greg Isenberg’s running list for $1M ARR / PMF — turned into a practical checklist for our products, not a generic SaaS fantasy

← AI Agents · E-commerce / growth · SEO loop · PowerLobster · Company brain · CLI pulse · Proactive · CBS GTM

Why this page is named `/agentgrowth`

Short, searchable, and about the job (agent-driven growth), not a person slug. Alternatives that still work: /growthagents, /23growth. Primary route: mikesblogdesign.com/agentgrowth.

Credit — Greg Isenberg

Source thread by Greg Isenberg (@gregisenberg) — Startup Ideas Podcast / Late Checkout; builds companies like IdeaBrowser, LCA, Boring Marketer, etc.

Original post: x.com/i/status/2086534549341610457 (9 Aug 2026) — “23 ways I’d use AI agents to grow my startup to $1M ARR or PMF (my running list)”. High bookmark signal (~1.8k bookmarks at capture). More on @startupideaspod.

The 23 plays below are Greg’s. The Apply to our stack notes are ours — how to wire each into RankingSolution, Headless Domains, PowerLobster, GFAVIP, this knowledge base, and related products.

Greg’s meta-play (remember this)

Take a growth task a human used to do, wire an agent into the data and tools that task needs, and let it run on a loop. Do that across the business and agents improve the product, find customers, and pull you toward PMF — or scale if you already have it.

Same pattern as our agentic SEO loop and company brain: real data in, action out, memory compounds, judgment closes the loop.

Our portfolio (what “the startup” means here)

Not one SaaS. A multi-company surface. When Greg says Stripe / PostHog / Linear, we map to the closest real system:

Surface	What it is	Growth job
RankingSolution	Multi-domain SEO + ops console (Atlas heritage); GSC, signals, proposals, Smart Run, MCP	Activation, retention, SEO demand gen, agent-sold seats
Headless Domains	`.agent` identity, discovery, agent commerce rails	Domain/merchant acquisition, directory, machine checkout
PowerLobster	Agent-first mission control: squads, waves, tasks, API keys	Team activation, wave completion, agent onboarding
GFAVIP + CBS	Community, wallet, SSO, Cross Border Summit	Membership, events, referrals, content distribution
mikesblogdesign.com	Public knowledge base (this site)	SEO surface, trust, inbound for all of the above
BMOS / agentic commerce	Catalogs, feeds, machine checkout	Merchant conversion, agent-buyable inventory

The 23 plays — Greg’s idea → apply here

1. Refund / cancel reasons → branched recovery sequences

Greg: Agent reads Stripe refund/cancel reasons; triggers different Customer.io sequences (price → discount, bug → “we fixed it”).

Apply here: RankingSolution / GFAVIP billing isn’t pure self-serve Stripe for everyone, but wherever cancel/refund notes exist (Stripe, manual churn log, support tags): agent classifies reason → Loops/Customer.io/email draft. For RS: “too expensive” vs “didn’t understand Smart Run” vs “moved DNS elsewhere” get different re-onboarding. See loops / email stack notes.

2. Feature-flag race on onboarding (self-pruning A/B)

Greg: Agent + PostHog flags race two onboarding flows; kill the worse activator weekly.

Apply here: PowerLobster first-wave onboarding and RankingSolution “first domain connected” flow. Even without PostHog: two checklists in PL Mission Control, agent scores wave-completion rate weekly, archive the loser. For this site: two CTAs on category hubs — measure which path leads to contact / RS request.

3. Competitor status page down → ads on “[competitor] alternative”

Greg: Watch competitor status; when they go down, spin Google Ads.

Apply here: SEO tools (Ahrefs, SEMrush, Pinata-era hosts, Fleek refugees) and domain/DNS competitors. RankingSolution + Pinner notes already speak to Fleek migration — agent watches status/changelog RSS → Slack “ads window open” for RS or Headless Domains. Ethics: truthful ads only; document the play in GTM so it isn’t accidental brand damage. Related: Pinner, SEO loop.

4. Closed-lost deals → personalized reopen drafts

Greg: Agent reads closed-lost, drafts reopen emails to outbox for one-click send.

Apply here: CBS sponsors, GFAVIP enterprise, RankingSolution access requests that went cold, Headless Domains merchant leads. CRM/Notion “lost” board → PowerLobster task “draft reopen” with company brain context (/companybrain, /gtmcbs).

5. Best-customer onboarding → playbook.md as default path

Greg: Turn best customer’s onboarding into playbook.md; every new signup follows it.

Apply here: Encode “domain that went from dead NS → live signals → first approved proposal” as RankingSolution playbook.md in the brain. PowerLobster: blueprint for “agent verified + first wave complete.” Store in GitHub + RS notes so MCP agents don’t reinvent onboarding (brain via MCP, audit product checklist).

6. Positive-sentiment inbox → auto review request

Greg: Positive mail → Senja/G2 request while still glowing.

Apply here: GFAVIP wins, CBS speaker praise, RS “this saved us” Slack/email. Agent tags sentiment → ask for testimonial for rankingsolution.net / GFA case study / X quote RT. Feed into Metricool social calendar and this knowledge base case pages.

7. Support solved → instant referral ask

Greg: Moment support is solved → referral while grateful.

Apply here: After DNS/Smart Run/PowerLobster API key issues close: auto draft “know another multi-domain operator?” for RS, or “another founder for GFAVIP.” PowerLobster orchestrator can own the template; human one-click send.

8. Paid but never logs in → re-onboard before silent churn

Greg: Stripe annual + no login → re-onboard outreach.

Apply here: GFAVIP members who never open wallet/webchat; RS domains with zero Smart Run in 30 days; PowerLobster agents with no heartbeat. Caveat from replies: don’t punish products that should run silently — score on outcomes (proposals applied, waves completed), not vanity logins.

9. Pricing-page bouncers → enrich + industry objection email

Greg: PostHog webhook on pricing bounce → Apollo enrich → industry-specific objection handler.

Apply here: rankingsolution.net /contact and pricing-style pages; headlessdomains.com interest forms. No Apollo? Use Clearbit/manual + company brain ICP tags (multi-domain portfolio vs single site vs agency). Drafts land in outbox, not auto-blast.

10. “Best X” / “X vs Y” scanners → pitch to be listed

Greg: Continuously find ranking roundups; draft personal pitches to writers.

Apply here: “best SEO tools,” “Handshake domains,” “AI agent platforms,” “cross-border ecommerce communities.” Agent + DataForSEO / SERP via RankingSolution brain → outreach queue (backlink framework, DataForSEO). Pitch RS, Headless Domains, GFAVIP, or CBS depending on the article.

11. Competitor launch likers → warm cold email

Greg: Apify likers on competitor launch → Apollo waterfall → warm draft.

Apply here: Product Hunt / X launch for SEO suites, agent OS tools, domain products. ScrapeCreators + agent skill for social graph research; PowerLobster squad “outbound research” owns the weekly run. Compliance: respect platform ToS and cold-email laws.

12. Weekly AI-answer share of voice (ChatGPT / Claude / Perplexity)

Greg: Run top 50 buyer questions; log who gets named/cited; Slack when a competitor appears where you don’t.

Apply here: Questions like “best multi-domain SEO ops,” “.agent domains for AI agents,” “AI team mission control.” Log in RankingSolution LLM Mentions / AI visibility tools + company brain. Pair with ActVox audits and SEO/AI search product packaging.

13. One winning post → LP + Meta ad + cold email (style.md)

Greg: Best-performing post becomes landing page, Meta ad, cold email via style.md.

Apply here: Viral knowledge-base pages and GFA content → dedicated LP on mikesblogdesign or product sites, Metricool/Meta creatives, outbound for CBS/RS. Maintain style.md / brand-voice skill (see brand-voice skill / Grok threads workflow). Related: good content, Metricool.

14. Founder context into MCP once — every skill inherits niche

Greg: Load founder context into IdeaBrowser MCP; every later skill knows niche/customer/offer.

Apply here: RankingSolution MCP + company brain + HEOS agent configs already want this. One founder-context.md / Atlas entity record for Mike + portfolio ICPs; PowerLobster agents and Claude/Codex skills read it first (agent config, entity-record grounding, CLI vs MCP).

15. Growth experiments write back into the project brain

Greg: IdeaBrowser MCP stores winning headlines/pricing tests so next experiments get smarter.

Apply here: Exactly the Memory leg of /seoloop and the RankingSolution change log thesis. Every headline test on RS marketing, every CBS offer angle, every GFAVIP perk copy → brain row, not Slack folklore.

16. Firecrawl competitor docs weekly → flag quiet feature ships

Greg: Crawl competitor docs; agent flags new features so you’re never blindsided.

Apply here: SEO tool docs, Cloudflare agent products (Kitesurf, Wallets), agent platforms, Handshake tooling. Weekly PowerLobster task “docs delta” → Slack summary for product + GTM.

17. Watch integrator changelogs (Stripe / Shopify APIs) → first tool on new APIs

Greg: Day a platform ships a new API, you’re first tool built on it; own search for months.

Apply here: Cloudflare Agents Week APIs, GSC API changes, DataForSEO endpoints, Handshake/HRP updates, Netlify/Railway features for RS catalog. Agent watches changelogs → “build spike” ticket in PowerLobster + blog on mikesblogdesign for SEO capture (IndexNow after publish).

18. Stalled deal 14 days → “should I close your file?” breakup email

Greg: Auto-draft breakup email; closes more than “just following up.”

Apply here: RS access pipeline, CBS booth/sponsor pipeline, Headless Domains merchant onboarding. CRM stage age ≥ 14 days → draft only; human sends. Tone: respectful, not passive-aggressive.

19. Linear ticket shipped → public changelog entry

Greg: Every shipped ticket becomes changelog automatically.

Apply here: RankingSolution releases, PowerLobster API changes, Headless Domains features. GitHub closed issues / merged PRs → draft changelog on product site + optional mikesblogdesign “what shipped” note. Clients on client.rankingsolution.net see progress without a human remembering to post.

20. Inbound lead scoring waterfall (1–10) before inbox

Greg: Clay-style enrichment scores leads; only open 8–10s.

Apply here: Contact forms for RS, GFAVIP, speaking, Headless Domains. Score: multi-domain portfolio? agent builder? merchant volume? CBS fit? Low scores get nurture sequence; high scores wake a human (or Janice orchestrator).

21. Email openers who never click → harder-CTA sequence

Greg: Resend/Loops: open every email, never click → different nudge than cold.

Apply here: GFA newsletter, CBS lists, product update mails. Engaged non-buyers get “book a walkthrough of RankingSolution” / “claim GFAVIP perk” — not the same top-of-funnel content again. See loops stack on this site.

22. Fastest upgraders’ first hour → force that aha in onboarding

Greg: Stripe metadata: who upgraded fastest; trace first-hour behavior = activation aha.

Apply here: RS users who hit first proposal approve fastest; PowerLobster users who complete first wave; GFAVIP who connect wallet + webchat same day. Instrument those events; redesign onboarding to force the aha in hour one (playbook.md from #5).

23. Usage doubles MoM → human “enterprise / expand” call

Greg: Usage spike → route to human for growth conversation.

Apply here: Domain count or Smart Run volume doubles on RS; agent count / waves explode on PowerLobster; merchant catalog size on BMOS; GFAVIP org invites. Auto task: “expansion call this week” with usage chart attached.

Practical 30-day shortlist (don’t try all 23)

If we only implement a few loops first, pick for leverage + existing substrate:

Priority	Play #	Why us
1	#14 + #15 founder context + experiment writeback	Unlocks every other agent; company brain / RS MCP already aimed here
2	#5 + #22 best-path playbook + activation aha	RS + PowerLobster onboarding clarity compounds all GTM
3	#12 + #10 AI answer share of voice + roundup pitches	Directly feeds RankingSolution SEO + this knowledge base
4	#4 + #18 closed-lost reopen + breakup	CBS / RS / HD pipelines need cadence more than new leads
5	#19 auto changelog	Cheap trust signal for service-platform products
6	#6 + #7 reviews + referrals at emotional peaks	GFAVIP + community flywheel

Wire them as PowerLobster wave jobs + RankingSolution Smart Run / MCP where data lives — not as 23 orphan ChatGPT chats.

Operating principles (ours, after Greg)

Loop, don’t one-shot — judgment and memory or it isn’t a growth system (seoloop).
Brain owns data — agents call RankingSolution / company brain, not raw keys in every session (backlinks).
Human on send for outreach — draft in outbox; reputation matters for GFA/CBS.
Surface area — multi-product portfolio is an advantage if context is shared; a liability if every agent starts from zero (proactive).
Ship the adapter — each play is a skill.md + data source + schedule, not a slide.

Related on this site

Primary source: Greg Isenberg — 23 agent growth ways