CE
Chris Explains AI
Idea Factory
Last regenerated 2026-05-27 18:57 CT
--:--:--
 
Dallas: +84°F
In the pipeline
1
ideas moving through gates
Awaiting you
1
needs an answer
Idea Bank
13
ready to promote
Built
0
nothing built yet

How the Idea Factory works

Every business or content idea lands in the Idea Bank first. Nothing runs automatically. When you want to take an idea seriously, you promote it into the Factory and it moves through three human gates before becoming a build plan.

The Factory can run many ideas at the same time. Each idea has its own folder under ideas/<slug>/ with its own state file, so ideas advance independently and never collide. At any moment, some ideas may be paused waiting on you, others may be researching, others sitting verdict. The Decision queue below surfaces only the ones that need your attention.

Gate 1
Clarifying questions
The Factory asks 3-7 sharp questions to lock the idea's scope, audience, and success criteria before spending tokens on research.
Gate 2
Verdict
After research + scoring, you see a verdict on a spectrum (build now / build later / needs work / kill), with the reasoning.
Gate 3
Final plan
A concrete build plan for build-now or build-later ideas. You approve, edit, or send back. Approved plans land in Built.

Decision queue 1 awaiting you

questionsvideo-reverse-engineeropened 2026-05-27 15:50

Factory pipeline Promoted → Verdict → Plan → Built

Promoted 1
Social content reverse-engineering tool
awaiting answers20%
Awaiting you: questions
Verdict 0
empty
Plan 0
empty
Built 0
empty

Idea Bank 15 ideas across 7 categories

Content Automation 3
AI content posting / production engine bank
Pipeline that studies trending short-form content, generates at scale, and auto-publishes. Production automation for social. Publer is the current scheduler in the launch stack.
Creator trendscape scraper bank
Scrape trending TikTok/Instagram creators in a niche, surface what is working, and feed or automate recreating those patterns.
Social content reverse-engineering tool in-factory
Send a video (link or file), transcribe it, break down hook/structure/pacing, and turn it into a reusable template to learn from. yt-dlp + transcription + analysis.
Content Business 2
AI UGC / short-form video content business bank
A content engine that produces AI UGC-style short-form video, used as top-of-funnel for the course and/or its own income stream. Umbrella over several ideas below. Strongest if it feeds the Architect Method audience rather than splitting focus before launch.
Etsy store (AI-generated products) bank
Sell AI-generated digital products on Etsy as a monetization target for the content/automation work. Dogfood the video automation on the course first, then point it at a store.
Future Product 2
Claude Code beginner course (future product) bank
A beginner course teaching Claude Code, after The Architect Method establishes the brand.
Claude Code advanced course (future product) bank
An advanced Claude Code course following the beginner one.
Marketing 3
Affiliate marketing via content bank
Promote affiliate offers through the AI content channel. Pairs with the UGC content business.
HTML email design system (Paper) bank
Use Paper (paper.email) for HTML email design. Post-launch, once MailerLite is live.
Google Ads AI manager parked
Agent that A/B tests, manages, optimizes, and budgets Google Ads. Needs ad spend and a working funnel first, so parked until post-launch.
Product Tooling 1
Voice + image/avatar clone of Chris bank
Clone voice (ElevenLabs) and image/avatar (HeyGen-style) so an introvert can ship video without being on camera live. Tension: authenticity vs the performative-founder voice Chris dislikes. Test deliberately, do not default.
Research Study 3
Study Harper Carol AI (the 'AI translator' framing) bank
Analyze her positioning, messaging, and content style. The 'AI translator' framing is smart and sits next to the fear-to-opportunity spine.
Study RourkeHealthAI (self + AI video style) bank
Figure out his video style: cloned self vs post-edit. Reference for the voice/image clone idea.
Evaluate AI video generation tools bank
Compare Pika, Higgsfield, Google Veo/Gemini, Kling, Runway, Sora. Best handled by the daily research digest rather than a standalone project.
Research Tooling 1
Daily AI research intelligence digest bank
Monitor new models, wrappers, features, video tools, and ecosystem releases; produce an auto-summarized daily digest. Cheap, compounding, and feeds the brand since teaching AI requires staying current. Strong early candidate; could feed the Command Center.