Chapter 1: What blueprint does the host propose for making $1M with AI?
I became a cash millionaire at 27 years old with software. But if I had to go back and make my first million dollars in the next 12 months with AI, this is exactly what I'd do. It's the same proven process that I took all my AI companies at Martell Ventures through over the last year. And three of those companies are already at a million dollars in revenue in less than 12 months.
So if you've been thinking about building an AI company or already have one and want to scale past the million, this video is your blueprint. And if at any point in this video, you think to yourself, I can't do this, you might not be cut out to make a million with AI. But if you're one of the select few that are willing to do the work, this video is for you. Welcome to the Martell Method.
I went from rehab at 17 to building a $100 million empire and being a Wall Street Journal bestselling author. In this podcast, I'll show you exactly how to build a life and business you don't grow to hate. My bestselling book, Buy Back Your Time, is out now. Grab a copy at buybackyourtime.com or at any of your preferred online retailers. Starting with step one, sell before you build.
Let me tell you the fastest way to go broke with AI. Spend the next six months building a tool, then find out nobody wants it. You actually gotta flip it. You need to sell it first, then build it. I call it pre-selling. Here's how it works. The first thing is we have to find 10 potential customers and ask them for advice.
I'm gonna give you the question to make this really easy because I learned a long time ago, if you talk to a potential customer and ask them for money, they'll just give you advice on why maybe you're not ready. But if you ask for advice, they give you feedback and then they sell themselves into buying from you.
So the question you want to ask them is what has been hard about your business that if you could automate with AI, you would love to get that set up for yourself, right? Just ask them those questions. And when they give you the answer, then you create the offer, which brings us to step two. That's usually when people say, well, how much should I charge?
My rule is, is whatever you would charge for the year, give them a 50% discount. And the reason you're giving the discount is because you're going to ask them for a case study. But what they're giving you in return is the permission to use their name to then use that when you go talk to other customers. And finally, you have to decrease the first time to value for your customer.
Meaning you have to build a plan that goes from like they gave you money to they got something as fast as possible. That's pre-selling and it's easier than you think. But now that you understand you have to pre-sell, how do you find the people to sell to? Which brings us to step two, pick a boring market. I have a rule. I don't like to sell to hot, exciting, flash-in-the-pan industries.
Things like marketing and technology, crypto, e-com, course selling. And I'm not saying they're an absolute no. The problem is that when you get into these shifts and fads, the fad could go away and you build a whole business against something that won't be there in three or four years.
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Chapter 2: Why is pre-selling crucial before building an AI product?
So now that you know the market you want to be in next, we have to lock in the math that keeps you rich, not just busy. Step number three, pick your high margin model. Now, margin is a weird word. A lot of people don't understand it, but it's very simple. If I sell a product for $5 and it costs me a dollar to make, my margin is $4. The challenge is most people focus on revenue and it's a vanity.
How much money did you make last year? Oh, I made a hundred grand. Well, if it costs you a million to make a hundred grand, it's not a business you wanna be in. And unfortunately, most people don't understand how to build the business in a way that can make them a lot of profit. And why AI is so powerful for this
is that it can take your delivery costs, where in the past you'd have to pay somebody to do it, and bring it down to almost zero because AI can automate it. You want your AI business to feel like that. High price, tiny cost. Charge a lot for what you do, very low cost to deliver. And look, I've done the research for you. So here are the highest margin AI business models for 2026.
The lowest one is AI services around 70% margin. Again, you can Google or search on AI any one of these. The next level up is AI consulting around 80% margins. Then we go to AI digital products around 90% margins. And then the one that I'm in and I love is AI software, a little bit more complicated to do.
And they have around 95% margins where I spent personally 93% of my time all week building these companies. If I had to get rich with AI this year, here's what I would do. First, I would start with an AI service or consulting. That way it gets me in the conversation with the customers.
I learn the AI to automate, but then I would try to productize it into a light software that takes the workflow that I've documented and systematized and packages it into a software that other people can buy without me even talking to them. That's how we get to 95% margin. So now we've got a boring market figured out and a high margin model so you can make some profit.
Now you need to find the right person to sell it to. Thanks for listening to the Martell Method. Before we get back to the episode, if you're like a real AI founder and you have a product and customers who are paying you and you want to scale fast, here's the deal. I want to work with you at Martell Ventures. You don't need another investor.
What you need is a partner with distribution, proven playbooks, most importantly, connections. We'll focus on adding customers instead of you wasting all your time fundraising. So if you want to work with me, just go to danmartell.com forward slash ventures.
Step number four, create a high cashflow offer. Most people sell AI, truth is nobody wants AI. A business wants customers, a business wants productivity, a business wants to reduce its costs. It doesn't care if that's AI or fricking a thousand people, as long as what they're paying and what they're getting, there's an ROI.
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Chapter 3: How can you identify a boring market for your AI business?
No, not yet. And I'm like, you spent all your time on functionality to make it look good, but never asked, does it actually deliver value for the customer? So what I want to share with you is how to build an MVP that actually gets results, not just looks good. Best part is you only have three options. The last one's the most advanced, but it's where I spend most of my time.
The first is a no-code platform. When you look into these tools like a Zapier or a Make.com or N8n, Essentially, you can take any manual process using AI and automate it. There's even tools like Go High Level that are CRM and funnel builders or things like Lovable where you can just type to it and it'll build apps that solve problems for customers.
The key is spend the least amount of time configuring your automation so that it gets a result for a customer. If you have to do it manually first, so you just even learn the steps of how it needs to be automated, that's probably a better place to start than to just pay somebody to come in and build you something super custom encoded. The second option is to use an AI-assisted code platform.
It's called the Gentic programming. Those are tools like Replit or Cursor or Google's anti-gravity platform. It's not as simple as just prompting like a lovable, but it's way more configurable. Every one of my engineers in my venture studio uses one of these platforms to write the code. The third option is to hire an AI developer to build it for you.
Now, most people get burned because they hire somebody, they say they can build the thing, they give them all their money, and then all of a sudden the product they get back is crappy, buggy, or just doesn't work. The best way to test for this is if you're gonna hire a developer, give them a tiny test project first. I like to look on upwork.com or call my local college.
The key is the MVP not only has to be simple, but it has to add value. If you don't show it to a customer and they go, oh, that's cool, then it doesn't work yet. So now you have an MVP, your AI system works, either through automation or custom code. But the next problem is if you don't automate the delivery after you sell a customer, you will drown in client work.
Before we get back to the episode, if you wanna jumpstart your week with my top stories and tactics, be sure to subscribe to the Martell Method newsletter. It's where you'll elevate your mindset, fitness, and business in less than five minutes a week. Find it at martellmethod.com. Step number six, automate delivery.
The biggest mistake that happens for entrepreneurs is not being prepared for success. One customer, no problem. Three customers, I can get it. Five to 10, now I have to use project management software. I have to have a support email, maybe a support phone call. And if you don't get ahead of it to automate it, that pressure can actually take you out of business. Here's my rule.
Automation can turn your business into a machine, one that works while you sleep. So here's how you map your four-step delivery system. First is the purchase. The moment somebody checks out, okay, so you're probably gonna use Stripe to accept payment, that kicks off a notification.
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