EP 85 - From Carrying a Bag to Building AI Agents: How This Founder Did It

Описание: In this episode of #StartupsUnedited, Jorge Soto sits down with Aaron Melamed (Founder & CEO of Itero) - a former “carry-a-bag” sales leader turned founder who’s building a new kind of AI-native company.

Aaron breaks down the exact moment he realized ChatGPT + autonomous agents could replace traditional sales training and repetitive business ops, and how he’s using agents to scale everything from roleplay enablement to proposal generation (and even automating back-office work most founders hate).

If you’re a founder, GTM leader, SDR/AE, or operator trying to understand what “agentic” actually means in the real world - this one’s a blueprint.

What you’ll learn:

How a non-technical founder navigated product building (and the fear that comes with it)

Why AI roleplay + enablement is harder than it sounds - and how Itero approaches it

The 2 “North Star” questions Aaron uses to decide what to build next

Bootstrapping discipline vs. VC-backed “throw money at it” product decisions

Why founders must go horizontal (GTM + product + AI skills) in 2026 and beyond

How to operationalize agents - not just “build one in a corner”

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:40 Aaron’s background (Greenhouse, enablement, sales leadership)
02:20 The moment he decided to become a founder
04:50 Building Itero full-time (since Aug 2024)
06:40 Learning product without a technical background
09:00 Why Perplexity helped him learn faster
10:30 “Agents doing real work” - what he automated
16:00 The hardest part of building AI roleplay software
18:55 Unlearning salesperson instincts as a CEO
26:30 The 2 questions that guide what features ship
37:10 Advice for future founders: uncertainty + going horizontal

📌 Connect with Aaron on LinkedIn (best way to reach him):   / aaronmelamed  

📌 Follow Jorge Soto for more founder + GTM conversations:   / startupjorge  

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What’s the first business process you’d automate with an agent?

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