#2287 AI made a “no code” founder into a coder

#2287 AI made a “no code” founder into a coder

Author: Andrew Warner December 8, 2025 Duration: 0:00
Ben Tossell used to listen to Mixergy interviews as he hunted for a big idea to launch. Then he nailed it. MakerPad, an educational company for people who wanted to build using no code. It did so well that he sold it for life-changing money. Then he started coding. Because of AI. This is his story.

Ben Tossell is the founder of Makerpad, the no-code education platform he sold to Zapier. Today he’s the Head of Developer Relations at Factory, where he helps shape the AI coding agent used by developers worldwide. When he’s not working, he’s hanging with his twins.

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Behind every successful company is a founder with a story, and those stories are rarely simple or straightforward. Startup Stories-Mixergy digs into the complex reality of building a business, moving past polished success narratives to find the real decisions, failures, and pivotal moments that define a journey. Host Andrew Warner engages guests with a direct and curious interviewing style, asking the challenging questions that reveal how things actually happened. When you listen, you’ll hear entrepreneurs recount the specific struggles they faced in marketing, management, and company culture, providing practical lessons rather than abstract theory. This podcast operates on the belief that the most valuable education comes from honest, detailed case studies of what worked and what didn’t. It’s for anyone who wants to understand the human effort behind business headlines, offering insights across categories from technology and finance to societal impact. Each episode is a deep dive into the mechanics of growth, making this an essential resource for aspiring founders, seasoned executives, and simply the curious. The conversations are built on research and a genuine desire to unpack the truth, ensuring every story delivers substance you can apply to your own ambitions.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 43

Startup Stories - Mixergy
Podcast Episodes
#2283 How Dan Shipper uses AI to build artisanal AI apps [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
“Why did you launch yet another voice dictation app?” I asked Dan Shipper, founder of Every. I thought he’d tell me that there was some kind of research that showed people needed another one. Nah. It came down to his tea…
#2282 Neil Patel’s insanely powerful AI sales machine [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
I’ve been talking with founders who used AI to build companies, but aren’t getting enough customers. I found the perfect person to show them how to grow. Neil Patel has been on the cutting edge of AI marketing. He’s goin…
#2280 Read.ai is adding 50k users per day [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
How can Read.ai keep growing when 1) there are loads of meeting note taking apps, and 2) platforms like Zoom keep adding note-taking features? That’s what I asked its founder David Shim David Shim is the founder and CEO…
#2279 How are there so many AI agencies? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
I keep seeing AI agencies pop up everywhere, offering to AI-ify businesses. But what are they AI’ing? How are they doing it? Seems too general and unfocused to work. Still, they do. I wanted to understand how, so I inter…
#2278 How to build a $15M/year AI company. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
Pavel Doležal built Keboola to $15 million per year. How he did it: 1. Start with consulting, so clients tell you what they need 2. Build software that makes companies’ chaotic data accessible. NO agents yet. 3. Create a…
#2277 My Body Tutor: Remote Coaching as a Service [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
Ever wish someone would text you every day to make sure you stuck to your goals? That’s exactly what Adam Gilbert built — first for fitness, now for business. He’s the founder of My Body Tutor and DoneDaily, two remote c…
#2276 Close: The $50 Million / Year CRM [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
How is Close doing so well in the CRM space against such big competitors? The answer: focus. Instead of chasing enterprise clients or trying to build a CRM that does everything from web hosting to calendaring, Steli Efti…
#2275 He’s doing SEO on ChatGPT [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
Have you noticed how AI search results are now linking to websites? Today’s guest runs an SEO agency that helps his clients’ sites show up in those chat responses. I invited Chirag Kulkarni founder of Taco to talk about…
#2274 1440: $20+mil / year newsletter [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
After closing a company that failed, Tim Huelskamp decided to keep it simple. He launched an email newsletter that briefed smart people about the day’s top news. Today his company, 1440, has over 4 million subscribers an…