Noah Kagan Presents

It's Q4 and time to check in on my goals. I'm starting to notice something weird.
Sometimes AI makes my goals easier. Sometimes it makes them better. And sometimes it takes away the fun part.
So I'm checking in on my 2026 goals: what's working, what's not, where AI helped, where it got in the way, and what I'm changing before the year is over. I also talk about AppSumo, my biking goals, family time, and why I think leadership is less about complaining and more about moving things forward.
If you're checking in on your own goals before the year ends, you'll like this one.
In this conversation, you'll enjoy 3 BIG things:
How reviewing your goals can help you step back, see what's actually working, and change course

Why my biggest leadership lesson this year has been about moving things forward instead of complaining about the problem

What AI has made easier, and why it's sometimes zapping the fun part of the process

Links & resources mentioned:
AppSumo

TidyCal

SendFox

Claude

ChatGPT

Western Spirit Cycling

Breakthrough Spanish

BaseLang

Strava

I was walking along the beach in Santa Cruz and two old dudes stopped to take a photo of me and my family. One of them said, "What an Indian summer."
Haha, I had no idea what that meant.
I Looked it up and it's that weird in-between period when summer is ending but fall hasn't really started yet. I got to thinking, that's kinda how life feels right now.
This month I'm talking about building my own apps with AI, getting my hands dirty at AppSumo, growing TidyCal and SendFox again, raising two daughters, and trying to figure out how much work is actually enough.
If you're building a business, experimenting with AI, or just figuring out what you want the rest of your year to look like, you'll like this one.
In this conversation, you'll enjoy 3 BIG things:
• Why building my own AI apps made me a better CEO
• How to figure out what deserves your time between business and family
• Why sometimes deciding what's already enough is a key to happiness.
Enjoy these 3 things plus many nuggets along the way.

I have also been sharing emails on my brutally honest advice on a variety of topics. People have been loving it. Sign up at noahkagan.com and join 350k other people who get juicy insights every month.
 
Links & resources mentioned
AppSumo

AppSumo Radar

Rhino Voice, Noah's private, on-device AI dictation app

Meeting Coach, Noah's real-time AI coaching app

TidyCal, scheduling and paid bookings

SendFox, email marketing

Claude, the AI Noah used to help build and work through a lot of these projects

Paperbell, Laura Roeder's coaching platform

Indian Summer by Pedro the Lion, the song Noah mentions when explaining the episode title

Right before I recorded this episode, my daughter was crying because she wanted me to stay and have lunch with her. I don't wanna lie to her. I told her, "Daddy's going to work, and then I'll come back." 
That's been on my mind a lot lately.
This month I'm talking about what it's really like running a multi-million dollar business while raising two young daughters. The guilt, the trade-offs, the lessons I'm stealing from other parents, and why I've realized the best thing I can do isn't tell my kids how to live... it's show them.
Whether you're raising kids, running a company, or just trying to figure out what deserves your time, I think you'll get something from this one.
In this conversation, you'll enjoy 3 BIG things:
• The parenting lesson that's changing how I think about leadership
• Why your example matters more than your advice
• How I'm deciding what's actually worth missing time with my family for
I have also been sharing emails on my brutally honest advice on a variety of topics. People have been loving it. Sign up at noahkagan.com and join 350k other people who get juicy insights every month.
 
Links & resources mentioned:
• AppSumo : https://appsumo.com
• TidyCal : https://tidycal.com
• SendFox : https://sendfox.com
• Million Dollar Weekend : https://milliondollarweekend.com
• Follow Noah on X :  https://twitter.com/noahkagan

A listener sent me a message saying I'd lost my spark. That I didn't sound inspired anymore. Honestly... it made me stop and think.
In this episode, I unpack why he was partly right. My calling isn't software deals anymore. It's building businesses, solving problems, and showing up for the people who count on me. I also share one AI workflow that's completely changed how I lead AppSumo, why we overreacted to the AI boom, and what happens when you stop chasing every shiny new thing and get back to your core.
If you've ever wondered whether you've outgrown your work, this one's for you. 
In this conversation, you'll enjoy 3 BIG things:
• Why your calling can evolve without losing your purpose
• How to course-correct when you realize you've drifted too far from your core
• Why honest feedback (even from AI) can make you a better leader
Enjoy these 3 things plus many nuggets along the way.

I have also been sharing emails on my brutally honest advice on a variety of topics. People have been loving it. Sign up at noahkagan.com and join 350k other people who get juicy insights every month.
 
Links & resources mentioned:
• Claude (Noah's AI assistant) : https://claude.ai
• AppSumo : https://appsumo.com
• TidyCal : https://tidycal.com
• SendFox : https://sendfox.com
• Meeting Coach : (Noah's internal AI meeting feedback tool) (coming soon)
• Million Dollar Weekend : https://milliondollarweekend.com
• Follow Noah on X :  https://twitter.com/noahkagan
P.S. Here's Claudes feedback on this very episode as it was happening in realtime:

The strongest thing in this episode is the thing you didn't plan to talk about. Marcin's note ("you don't sound inspired, you don't want to run AppSumo, you're in the best season of your life") is the whole episode, and your answer to it is genuinely good. The problem is you never say it cleanly. The cleanest version is buried in the middle: software deals isn't your calling, but business is your calling and the company is your responsibility, and the spark didn't die, it matured into follow-through. That's the episode. Right now it's a needle in 20 minutes of riffing instead of the spine the whole thing hangs on. You bury your two best business lessons. The refund/Plus-customer admission is the most useful leadership moment in the episode and you glide past it: "I made decisions on the best info I had, but I didn't check back on the outcomes and improve them, and we course-corrected too slow." That's a clean, repeatable lesson any operator can steal. Same with the over-adjustment arc (we thought SaaS was dying and vibe coding would kill us, so we over-corrected, and now we're walking it back to the core). Both are stronger than the abstract "discoverability / velocity / treat best customers better" framing, which stays high-level. Lead with the admissions, not the framework. The Claude feedback loop is your most shareable practical drop and you undersell it with the $9.99 joke. Transcript-into-Claude-for-feedback, the Eamon skill, Meeting Coach running live during meetings, the reframe that a CEO sets the scorecards instead of solving the problems in the room. That's the segment people will text you about. Give it room. What's working: the vulnerability lands, the floor-sleeping callback is great, and "it's okay to quit stuff and it's okay to continue stuff, the point is recognizing the behavior and whether it's aligned" is your most quotable line. "Calm is cool" and "building up" are good repeatable phrases. What's hurting it: it meanders and has three or four false endings ("yeah that's it," "damn that was the good stuff"). The BYOLM/BYOK bit at the end feels tacked on, half a thought you ran out of runway for. And the "I won't share company secrets" then sharing them is a touch coy. Either share or don't. One structural fix for next time: you open with the listener critique by accident. Open with it on purpose. The episode is "someone told me I lost my spark, here's my honest answer." Frame it that way in the first 60 seconds and the whole thing tightens.

This month I've been thinking a lot about distractions and how easy it is to spend time on things that feel productive while avoiding the one thing that actually matters.
I've been getting distracted by stocks and NBA bets, using AI as a weirdly effective therapist after an argument with my wife, and finally the big focus reset we're making at AppSumo.
If you've been feeling scattered, stuck, or like you're busy but not really moving forward… this one's for you. 🎧
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why Distractions usually reveal the real problem.

What a clear plan feels like under stress.

How you can kickstart your mid-year reset.

Links & resources mentioned:
• AppSumo  https://appsumo.com
• TidyCal  https://tidycal.com
• SendFox  https://sendfox.com
• FormRobin  https://formrobin.com
• Follow Noah on X  https://twitter.com/noahkagan
• My book Million Dollar Weekend  https://milliondollarweekend.com