Hi Reader

I recorded one episode of The Mobile User Acquisition Show in 2018 sitting cross-legged in a shack in a mango orchard in Ratnagiri, on the west coast of India, swatting away mosquitoes, editing on GarageBand while tethered to a dying phone signal.

Another from the town of Bhopal, in a house with a pet cow roaming freely.

One from Indore, just after I let a street vendor light a paan on fire and push it into my mouth: yes, while it was still burning(because, why not?).

Yet another from a room in an orphanage-school in Bodh Gaya, a few miles from the Bodhi tree where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.

Just me, GarageBand, and two constant questions:

I wasn’t on a soul-searching sabbatical.

I wasn’t traveling for fun.

I was in exile.

​

A visa limbo had kicked me out of my NYC home (I told this story here).

I didn’t know when I’d be back—or what I’d come back to.

No team. No fallback plan. No runway.

​

It was structure.

It was connection.

It was proof that something still worked...

that I could still build something.

​

And it worked.

Over 250 episodes.

It inspired 15 books.​

Event and webinar invites.

Lots of clients found us through it.

People at conferences would say: “I listen to your podcast!”

​

It wasn’t just a show.

It was my identity.

It was who I was.

​

So when the magic started to fade, I almost didnt notice.

It didnt happen all at once.

It didn’t crash.

It eroded.

​

The calendar invites felt heavier.

The prep questions felt stale.

The edits felt like obligation.

Answers felt like déjà vu.

​

I wasn’t curious anymore. And that terrified me.

​

But this wasn’t ‘just content.’

This was a machine that drove our business.

​

Stopping it felt… dangerous….

What if the inbox went quiet?

What if people forgot?

​

What if the machine I built broke when I stepped away?

​

But I knew the truth:

If I kept recording without interest,

I’d be clinging to a dead thing out of fear.

​

So I did something scary:

I shut it down.

Quietly. No goodbye episode. No announcement.

Just… stopped.

​

I gave it space.

And giving that space - especially when something has worked.... is harder than it sounds.

There were moments I asked:

​

But in that space, something new started to build.

​

Not the show.

Not the rhythm.

Something else entirely.

​

AI.

​

Started with a few experiments.

Then a flood of breakthroughs.

AI helped me do something I’d never thought possible:

Learn to code.

Build faster.

Get leverage on problems I thought were just “how things are.”

​

It reshaped how we make creative.

It reshaped how we work.

​

Helped me as a technophobe to build an army of agents…

…and build an amazing team of humans to run these agents.

​

And... maybe most importantly - it made me curious again.

Joyful about making, building, creating again.

So after that long, quiet pause…

​

The answer showed up - slowly, gradually, unmistakably:

🎙️ Intelligent Artifice — a podcast about how AI is reshaping how we build, create, and perform.

Each episode either:

• Deconstructs a high-performing advertiser using AI in interesting ways
• Or features a builder, operator, or marketer talking about how they are adapting to an AI-first world - and taking us behind the scenes - imperfectly, warts-and-all.

I’m lining up the first season. We’re recording now.

I already have some amazing guests.

But I dont know who I dont know.

Sooo if you’re a marketer, operator or builder leaning into an AI-first world(and no: you dont necessarily have to be a programmer or maker, or to have 'figured it all out' - heck, you may even be 'struggling-but-trying')…

…I’d love to feature you on the show.

Hit reply with “ARTIFICE.”

...and tell me a bit more about what you'd like to speak about - and we'll take it from there.

Later,

Shamanth

PS: Some recent deconstructions from our socials….
​
​🧠 𝗡𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝟰𝟬𝗞+ 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟴𝟬𝟬𝗞+ 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵. I ran semantic analysis of 40+ video ads to uncover what’s clicking, what’s missing, and what growth-minded marketers can steal. Check the link here.

​🧠 𝗕𝗮𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝟱𝟬𝟬𝗞+ 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 $𝟭𝗠+ 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵. I ran semantic analysis of 50+ video ads to uncover what’s resonating, what’s fading, and what high-performance education apps can steal shamelessly. Check the link here.