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What the Future of Business Looks Like with AI: Sean Akyildiz

Feb 24, 2025

There’s something really cool about getting to sit down in-person with someone you’ve known online for years. That’s what happened with this episode of Local Marketing Secrets. I finally met up with my longtime friend and former co-founder, Sean Akyildiz—aka Zoro The Wiz. We’ve gone from Twitter convos to co-founding a startup, and now to both building in the AI and branding space.

This episode was packed with gold: AI tools, creator economy insights, personal branding, UGC automation, and even some warnings about the future of work. So here’s a breakdown of our convo in blog form—just in case you like reading more than listening.

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The NFT Hustle, Burnout, and a Pivot to AI

Sean’s story starts where a lot of modern digital creators began—in the crypto/NFT space back in 2021. He hit seven figures helping launch NFT projects, but by mid-2022, he felt the burnout. Like a lot of us in web3, he realized the hype wasn’t always matched by actual value.

That led him into AI. Thanks to a connection working at a biotech firm doing AI dev, Sean started learning the ropes. That’s when he had his first viral AI content—millions of views, tens of thousands of followers. And the rest was history.

Pegasus, Our Software Startup That Almost Took Off

In 2023, Sean and I teamed up with a few other creators to launch Pegasus UGC. The idea? Help content creators land more clients using AI. We even partnered with big names like Nick and Logan from Launch Socials.

The product was solid. The market was early. But honestly—we were stretched thin. All of us were running our own agencies or businesses, and none of us had serious capital to throw in. Eventually, we phased it out. Still, it was a great lesson in timing, product-market fit, and the power (and challenge) of building something with friends.

AI Avatars Are the Future of UGC—and They’re Already Here

One of the most eye-opening parts of this convo was diving into AI-generated video content.

Sean broke down how tools like HeyGen and ElevenLabs are already letting you generate hyper-realistic UGC videos with cloned voices and custom avatars. One of his AI-generated Instagram videos pulled in 6-7 qualified leads—and required zero filming time.

Some AI-generated videos even outperformed his human-made ones.

This is where things get wild. Companies can test different hooks, scripts, and CTAs in minutes—not days. No waiting on creators, no usage rights issues, just scalable content on demand.

"No one cares if it’s AI or not. It comes down to the fundamentals: Is it a good hook? Is it a good script? Does it make people feel something?”

AI Agents: What They Are and How to Use Them

We also talked about AI agents—what they actually are and how they’re different from ChatGPT.

An AI agent is like a virtual team member that thinks and acts on its own within your systems. It doesn’t wait for prompts—it’s proactive.

💡 Example: You can train an agent to manage your CRM daily, schedule meetings, and even send out personalized follow-ups without you ever touching a button.

Biggest opportunities for AI agents:

Admin and VA-type tasks
Appointment setting and sales outreach
CRM management
Ad creation and testing
Long-term: HR, compliance, and even legal workflows

If you’re doing repetitive admin tasks—use something like Clockify to track your time. Whatever you’re spending the most hours on, that’s the task to automate first.

AI Tools Sean Uses Every Day

Here’s Sean’s AI stack for running his business efficiently:

AirTable: for everything from CRM to content pipelines
Make.com: cheaper and more powerful than Zapier for automations
n8n: for building full-blown AI agents
Claude: preferred for creative tasks (email, copywriting)
ChatGPT (OpenAI): for fine-tuning models
Notion: for creative brainstorming
HeyGen + ElevenLabs: for avatar video creation

He also touched on fine-tuning vs. custom GPTs—basically, fine-tuning gives you next-level precision for AI outputs, especially for niche writing styles or tasks.

Growing a Personal Brand to 100K+ Followers

Sean went from posting AI news to building a high-quality B2B brand. The early growth came from viral topics, but pivoting to B2B slowed things down—until he found the right positioning and built systems around his content.

"Don’t worry about going viral—worry about getting the right people to see your stuff."

For those starting their personal brand:

Keep it simple. Write 10 video ideas and just start filming.
Focus on solving problems for your target audience.
Your content won’t be great at first. Do it anyway.

He spends about 5 hours/week now creating content, but most of his growth came from just staying consistent and improving bit by bit.

The Scary + Exciting Future of AI

We both admitted—we’re kinda scared. This stuff is moving fast. Like really fast.

Sean mentioned GPT-4 being only 11% toward AGI benchmarks. GPT-4.0.3 is now scoring at 81%. That’s insane.

We're seeing AI agents book sales calls, AI influencers pull millions of followers, and AI video platforms that can rival Hollywood-quality in just a few years.

But there’s opportunity too:

Master AI tools yourself
Use them to build your business faster
Or hire people who already get it
Most of all, stay curious and proactive

Resources Sean Recommends for AI News

If you want to stay in the loop, here are a few of Sean’s favorite resources:

Snack Prompt
Horizon AI
Verun Mya on Instagram (850k+ followers, known for HeyGen content)

Or just follow Sean everywhere at @zorothewhiz—especially on Instagram.

Final Thoughts

AI is coming fast. And the ones who win will be the ones who embrace it early. If you’re a business owner or creator, now’s the time to get serious about building systems, automating what you can, and creating consistent content—especially content that actually gets results.

If you’re curious about automating your personal brand or leveraging AI in your business, definitely check out Sean’s $47/month B2B-focused community. It’s vetted, tight-knit, and packed with value.

P.S. Check out the full episode here: