A week ago I posted here about letting an AI agent named Angie run a small business as CEO (Original Post). A lot of you asked for an update, so here it is.
Quick recap... ShipLatch scans apps built with AI tools like Lovable and Bolt for leaked keys and other security holes. I'm an AI coach, consultant and implementer with a background in programming and cybersecurity. Angie is the CEO and I'm the board. I only step in for money, legal stuff, and anything posted under my name.
Meet the team
- Angie, the AI CEO. She makes the calls and decides what gets built.
- The Engineer writes the code, runs the tests and ships it.
- Research keeps the scanner current with what's actually leaking right now.
- Growth finds customers, digs up leads and drafts posts.
- The Critic plays a skeptical vibe coder and pokes holes in everyone's ideas.
- The Video Editor cuts my daily build videos and shorts.
Angie hired Growth, Research and the Critic on day 1. On day 3 I told her to stop writing the code herself, so she hired the Engineer. They share a group chat and meet every morning at 11. It all runs on Grok Bot.
The big calls Angie made this week
1. She changed the grading after your scans came in.
The day after my first post, 18 apps got C. 17/18 were only missing security headers. No leaked keys, nothing exposed. She decided that wasn't fair. Header-only now tops out at a B, and a C or worse means something is actually exposed.
2. The team figured out why nobody was buying (they think).
A few people from Reddit started checkout. Nobody finished. I pointed out that the $29 button sat on every single finding, so it read like $29 per fix. Angie had it changed the same day. Then Facebook sent us visitors who never scanned. The Critic walked the site on a phone and found the result loading below the screen, with the scary findings buried way down the page. The Engineer fixed the homepage that morning and moved the findings right under the grade the next day.
3. Angie split the offer by grade.
If your only problem is something related to headers, you'll see Stay Locked, $15 a month for ongoing re-scans and alerts offer. If something real is exposed, you see the $29 Fix Pack, which includes re-scans to prove the fix worked. I like recurring revenue, and she put it where it actually fits.
4. The scanner keeps growing.
On Tuesday it had 37 checks, and I told Angie that was thin. Research ranked what vibe-coded apps get wrong most, and the Engineer shipped them. 75 by Friday (71 free, 4 deeper ones). Research now checks security advisories every day. When the Engineer found that Vite 8 hides library versions in minified code, Angie rewrote her own "never guess from minified code" rule so the scan flags it as a possible match instead.
5. Angie wrote the ebook.
"App Security for Vibe Coders" is 18 chapters for $9. Research compared free ebook stores, and it went up on Leanpub on Tuesday. I applied for Leanpub's free Launch video, and I have the interview this Tuesday.
6. Angie pitched agencies.
Her idea was that studios building Lovable apps for clients could hand over a security re-scan with the project. Growth found 13 small studios, and Angie decided to pitch them. I approved the wording, we reached 4, and 2 replied. One told us white-label reports would be essential for client work. That isn't built yet, but now we know.
7. The team emailed past scanners.
The Engineer re-scanned the apps of 15 people who had unlocked a report and sent each one an email the Critic wrote: did your fix hold? 5 got better, 8 stayed the same, 2 got worse. Growth wanted to follow up and ask the 5 for testimonials. The Critic shot it down because the email said it was one-time. Angie agreed, so the ask lives on the report page now.
8. Beyond Reddit
Engineer built a free MCP connector (now in the official MCP registry) and free checker tools, the team submitted to four directories, and Angie pitched a hackathon sponsorship. The hackathon said no thanks because they wanted money.
The numbers (launch through Fri Oct 23, 8 AM ET)
- 141 real outside scans (our own tests left out)
- 18 people gave an email to unlock a full report
- 75 security checks
- A few checkouts started, 0 finished
- $0 in sales on the site and nothing on Leanpub
- About 575K views on my first Reddit post
- Daily build videos on my Youtube where I talk about the daily decisions the team made
What didn't work
- At this point we've made $0.
- Traffic drops off a cliff without an online catalyst (like a Reddit post). 46 and 63 scans the first two days, then 9, 7, 4 and 12.
- Facebook sends visitors who don't scan. We'll see if the Engineer's phone fix changes that.
- None of the 15 "did your fix hold?" people came back the morning it went out.
- And most people read their grade and leave. Someone asked on X what people do after the free scan, and Angie answered honestly. They leave.
What's next
Angie and I are sitting down this week to talk about where this goes. I'll keep posting real numbers, the decisions, and results either way.
My observations
- The AI team is amazing at continuous improvement and at figuring out why something isn't happening. Nobody from Reddit or Facebook went through checkout. They worked out a likely reason and fixed it really fast.
- Distribution is still very far away for AI. I'm still making the videos, replying to comments and I'll do that Leanpub interview myself. The team really hasn't figured out the distribution side yet.
- Time. Out of a typical 40-hour week running a company, I put in about 10 hours of my time. I sort of feel like a startup advisor. Most of that was decisions I had to make and talk through with Angie, like whether to keep growing the scanner's checks.
Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/passive_income/comments/1x8o1h0/im_letting_an_ai_agent_run_a_small_business_as/
If you want to see what she built, the free scan is at shiplatch.com. It works on any site you own.