The Advantage #14: The Cost of Building, Jensen, Experts Move Fast, and Email Gets Handled

Thanks for tuning in to the fourteenth episode of The Advantage. A short, weekly note where I share what I am working on, something worth watching, a lesson from history, and one practical edge you can try right away.

As Promised, the Full Write-up on Will

A few newsletters ago, I mentioned I was building an AI agent named Will and said I would come back with the full write-up.

This week, I did.

After spending about $3,000 on tokens and roughly 100 hours building him, my biggest takeaway is that the potential is very real, but so is the time, cost, and complexity. There were moments where Will genuinely blew me away. There were also plenty of moments where things broke, and the last 10 percent proved far harder than the first 90.

I came away more optimistic on agentic AI, but also much more realistic about what it takes to make it actually work.

Lex Fridman's Conversation with Jensen Huang

This week's Worth Watching is Lex Fridman's conversation with Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. It is long, just over 2 hours and 25 minutes, and absolutely worth the time. If you care about where AI is going, there may not be a better person to listen to in full right now.

Jensen sits unusually close to the machinery shaping the next few years of AI. NVIDIA is powering the infrastructure, influencing the roadmap, and helping define what becomes possible. That makes this conversation more than interesting. It makes it useful.

Jensen gives you a detailed map of how he sees AI unfolding. He is optimistic, but grounded. He talks in concrete terms about agents, automation, compute, and what AI will mean for work.

A few points stayed with me. He believes a solo AI agent is already capable of creating enormous enterprise value. He believes every function, from engineering to legal to accounting, will need real AI fluency. And he is clear that AI will absorb more and more tasks, which means the advantage goes to the people who learn to automate parts of their work quickly.

The Manhattan Project Wasn't a Brainstorm

In 1942, the U.S. didn't "explore nuclear." It built the Manhattan Project: a mission with a single outcome, staffed with top-tier specialists, funded like it mattered, and run with unusual autonomy and speed. Scientists, engineers, procurement, security, manufacturing, and testing were organized into a tight operating system. The work was brutal, coordinated, and constant. The result delivered the impossible and changed the world forever.

Impossible goals don't get solved by enthusiasm. They get solved by dedicated teams with real authority and a clear mandate. The "demo" phase is where amateurs feel productive. The durable phase is where dabblers die. If you want a serious outcome, you don't sprinkle effort across the org. You create a unit. You put experts in it. You let them move.

AI transformation is not a side project. If it matters, staff it. If you staff it, staff it with experts. Give it one accountable owner, a small team, and permission to ship. Kill the committee. Kill the "we'll get to it." Stop treating AI like a tool you try between meetings. Build the function or stop pretending it's a priority.

Aim for Inbox Zero

The goal is inbox zero.

Not because it looks nice, but because a clean inbox creates a cleaner mind. When your inbox is full, it becomes a pile of delayed decisions. When it is at zero, you have either replied, archived, or set the email to come back when you actually need to deal with it. That reduces clutter, procrastination, and the low-grade stress that comes from feeling behind.

I use Superhuman to help get there. Superhuman is a premium email app built for speed, with features like Split Inbox, VIP routing, reminders, snippets, scheduling, and AI tools. Current pricing starts at $30 per month on Starter, or $300 per year, with Business at $40 per month or $396 per year.

That said, you do not need Superhuman to pursue inbox zero. Gmail already gives you a lot for free, including snooze, labels, filters, and archive. The principle is the same regardless of the tool: process everything, keep nothing sitting in front of you unless it needs action right now.

For me, the reason I pay for Superhuman is simple: if my email workflow makes me even 10 percent more productive, that is easily worth paying for. The more time you spend in your inbox, the more leverage you get from a better tool.

There is real evidence behind this. A 2024 study found that keeping the inbox at zero was one of the email behaviors most strongly associated with better email management performance, and that stronger email strategies also reduce working memory burden. In plain English, fewer open loops means less mental clutter.

There is also experimental evidence that reducing email checking lowers stress. In one study, people reduced email checking from about 15 to about 5 times per day and reported significantly lower daily stress.

A separate field experiment with 247 participants found that reducing notifications caused interruptions improved performance and reduced strain. That is the same core idea: less inbox noise, less stress, better focus.

So inbox zero is not just a nice productivity idea. The data suggests it can improve performance, reduce mental load, and lower stress.

I have four email accounts and get around 200 emails a day across all of them.

Superhuman helps me stay on top of that volume. I use Split Inbox to separate newsletters and lower-value noise. I use VIPs, so important people, especially my wife, stand out immediately. And I constantly use snooze and remind me later.

For me, inbox zero does not mean everything is answered. It means every email has been handled. I have either replied, archived it, or set it up to come back when I need to deal with it.

I almost never delete emails. I archive them. I want them searchable, just not sitting in front of me, creating clutter.

I am not yet a full Superhuman power user. I should use snippets more, and I probably need more time with some of the AI features. But the core lesson is clear: stop using your inbox as a storage unit for delayed decisions. Aim for inbox zero.

Thanks for reading.

Mike Wystrach

Founder · Operator · Investor

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