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….
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​🧠 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.