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Amanda Smith
Amanda Smith

Amanda Smith is a freelance journalist and writer. She reports on culture, technology, and human interest. Her work has been published in highly respected titles including The Guardian, Business Insider, and National Geographic. Amanda is a regular contributor at CNET, where she’s covered AI since 2024.

Five founders. Five different bets on where AI is going.

Founder stories

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Five founders. Five different bets on where AI is going.

October’s stories, in case any got buried.

BY Amanda Smith

/

Oct 28, 2026

This CEO helps families access public benefits with AI

Founder stories

This CEO helps families access public benefits with AI

She’s building the future of agentic benefits enrollment

BY Amanda Smith

/

Oct 27, 2026

This founder-turned-VC is betting against the AI hype

Founder stories

+1

This founder-turned-VC is betting against the AI hype

And what he’s funding instead...

BY Amanda Smith

/

Oct 22, 2026

This founder is building the back office for American dental insurance

This founder is building the back office for American dental insurance

It’s a $17B problem

BY Amanda Smith

/

Oct 15, 2026

This founder does $25M+ annually with a generative AI video platform

Founder stories

+2

This founder does $25M+ annually with a generative AI video platform

But they didn’t start out in AI

BY Amanda Smith

/

Oct 8, 2026

This founder is building AI agent verification infrastructure for the new economy

New/Upcoming AI Startups

+2

This founder is building AI agent verification infrastructure for the new economy

KYA: Know Your Agent

BY Amanda Smith

/

Oct 1, 2026

This founder built an AI tool for ticket resales

New/Upcoming AI Startups

+2

This founder built an AI tool for ticket resales

He’s betting on AI and IRL

BY Amanda Smith

/

Sep 23, 2026

This founder built an AI agent that does around $2M ARR

Founder stories

+2

This founder built an AI agent that does around $2M ARR

Built on his own breakthrough

BY Amanda Smith

/

Sep 17, 2026

This founder is her own AI tool’s best customer

Solo AI Builder/No code

+2

This founder is her own AI tool’s best customer

The smart way to validate a product

BY Amanda Smith

/

Sep 10, 2026

This AI app publisher founder hit $6M ARR in 9 months

Founder stories

+3

This AI app publisher founder hit $6M ARR in 9 months

Every app is vibe-coded

BY Amanda Smith

/

Sep 3, 2026

She built a better social media platform where the AI protects users

New/Upcoming AI Startups

+3

She built a better social media platform where the AI protects users

Using social media for social good

BY Amanda Smith

/

Aug 27, 2026

$103M to fix something nobody thought needed fixing.

$103M to fix something nobody thought needed fixing.

Plus two more stories from the past few weeks worth catching up on.

BY Amanda Smith

/

Aug 20, 2026

This founder built an AI agent marketplace of actual humans

Solo AI Builder/No code

+2

This founder built an AI agent marketplace of actual humans

Where being good at conversation is an income stream

BY Amanda Smith

/

Aug 13, 2026

This serial founder built a voice AI agent for older adults

New/Upcoming AI Startups

+2

This serial founder built a voice AI agent for older adults

He’s bullish on voice as the preventative-care layer for the aging population.

BY Amanda Smith

/

Aug 6, 2026

This founder raised $103M to fix general ledger accounting software

Founder stories

+3

This founder raised $103M to fix general ledger accounting software

This once unglamorous category is now a major AI battleground

BY Amanda Smith

/

Jul 30, 2026

This co-founder raised $20M to use AI to bring toys to life

Founder stories

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This co-founder raised $20M to use AI to bring toys to life

He’s bullish on the $43M “kidult” industry

BY Amanda Smith

/

Jul 23, 2026

He built a coding agent. ClickUp bought it.

He built a coding agent. ClickUp bought it.

Plus two more stories you might have missed.

BY Amanda Smith

/

Jul 20, 2026

The AI founder who sold his company to ClickUp

Founder stories

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The AI founder who sold his company to ClickUp

It now powers ClickUp Brain

BY Amanda Smith

/

Jul 16, 2026

This technologist built a tool to check AI’s wellbeing

Solo AI Builder/No code

+2

This technologist built a tool to check AI’s wellbeing

She calls it a welfare protocol

BY Amanda Smith

/

Jul 9, 2026

This founder built the AI OS for DTC companies

Solo AI Builder/No code

+2

This founder built the AI OS for DTC companies

Helping small companies 10x their size

BY Amanda Smith

/

Jun 25, 2026

This founder built a simulation platform for FDA submissions

New/Upcoming AI Startups

+2

This founder built a simulation platform for FDA submissions

And created a new category of AI tools

BY Amanda Smith

/

Jun 18, 2026

This AI music video generator platform does $5M ARR

Founder stories

+1

This AI music video generator platform does $5M ARR

Long live the music video

BY Amanda Smith

/

Jun 11, 2026

This founder built an AI tone detection tool

New/Upcoming AI Startups

+2

This founder built an AI tone detection tool

For socially conscious companies and individuals

BY Amanda Smith

/

Jun 4, 2026

This AI recruiter automates first-round interviews

AI in HR & Hiring

+2

This AI recruiter automates first-round interviews

What’s the deal with these AI interviewers?

BY Amanda Smith

/

May 27, 2026

This founder built the integrations infrastructure used by big AI labs

Founder stories

+2

This founder built the integrations infrastructure used by big AI labs

You’ve probably used it without knowing it

BY Amanda Smith

/

May 21, 2026

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