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Building in Public: How We Build Scaley AI

Build in public means you share how you make your company while it happens, mistakes included. We do it with Scaley AI, an AI media buyer for Google Ads, in a YouTube show called Building Scaley. We started in August 2025 and went live on 2 November 2026. Our first goal: 100 users in the first 30 days.

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We started building
August 2025
Scaley went live
2 November 2026
Episodes out so far
3
Store accounts ZenoX Media ran ads for
400+

What Build in Public Means

Building in public means you share your work while it happens. You share the plan as it changes, and you share the misses too.

You can do it with posts on X or a monthly update. We picked video. One long YouTube episode, about once a week, filmed while it happens.

Why we do it: Scaley reads your ad account, so you should see who builds it and how. It also keeps us honest. Say a goal out loud on camera and you cannot quietly drop it.

What We Are Building

Scaley AI is an AI media buyer for Google Ads. It is built on the notes of ZenoX Media, my Google Ads agency, from running ads for 400+ store accounts. Scaley Media Buyer reads your live account read-only and answers your questions about it, the way a senior media buyer would.

It comes in three levels. Pick the one that fits how much you want it to touch.

  • Scaley Consultant

    A straight answer from a screenshot. Nothing to connect.

    $99/mo flat

    See Scaley Consultant

  • Scaley Media Buyer

    Reads the live account read-only and answers. It cannot change a setting.

    $99/mo + 1% of total ad spend

    See Scaley Media Buyer

  • Scaley Suite

    Writes each fix down with the reason. You approve them one by one.

    $199/mo + 4% of total ad spend

    See Scaley Suite

Connect your account to Scaley Media Buyer and ask where your money goes. You see the waste right away, in chat. Scaley Suite also connects your Shopify store. Its dashboard keeps a live line that reads "Scaley found X in wasted spend this week", with your real number in it.

A Scaley answer with two lists: products under your break-even ROAS, and search terms that spent and never converted. Names blurred.
A real Scaley Media Buyer answer on a live store account. You ask where the money goes. It answers and changes nothing. Names blurred.

Watch the Show

Building Scaley comes out on YouTube about once a week. To play them on this site, open the episodes page. For the whole story in one read, see How We Built an AI Media Buyer.

Newest · Episode 3 · Oct 27, 2026 · 25:21

We Turned My 7-Figure Agency Into The Best Google Ads AI Media Buyer in the World

Watch Every Episode

Building an AI Startup in Public

An AI startup has one extra problem. People worry the AI will do something dumb with their money. So when we film, we show the guardrails first.

Read-only comes first. Scaley Consultant answers from your screenshots and connects nothing. Scaley Media Buyer reads your live account and never changes a thing. Only Scaley Suite writes, and only after you say yes to that one change. If you build an AI startup, let people try a read-only version before you ask for write access.

Our edge is the data. Scaley reads ZenoX Media's notes: 262,792 Slack messages across 636 channels and 8,183 voice memos. Any startup can call the same models we do. Few have years of real account decisions behind them. That is what we talk about on camera, not the model.

The full build story, from the first line of code to launch, is in How We Built an AI Media Buyer.

How to Build in Public

What worked for us, and one thing we would do sooner. Most of it works for any startup.

  1. Pick one place and one rhythm

    We picked YouTube, one long episode about once a week. One channel you keep up beats five you drop after a month.

  2. Say the goal out loud, with a number

    Ours is 100 users in the first 30 days. A number gives people a reason to come back and check. It also makes you check.

  3. Show what broke

    Our six-figure mistake with an outside dev agency is in episode 1. Hiring our own developers turned it around.

  4. Share your numbers, protect other people's

    Our own numbers are fair game. Client names and client figures are not. That is why the app screenshot on this page shows a real account with the names blurred.

  5. Let people try it while you build

    This is the one we would do sooner. Building in public only pays off if the people watching can try the thing. Put a way to try it next to every update.

When Not to Build in Public

If your edge is a secret, like a supplier or a trick a rival could copy in a week, keep that part private and share the story around it. And if filming eats the time you need to ship, a short written update once a month does the job.

What We Will Share Next

This is the plan for the next episodes. Plans change. When ours do, we will say so on camera.

  • Did we hit 100 users in the first 30 days? The real number, hit or miss.
  • What store owners ask Scaley first, once they connect a live account.
  • What breaks after launch, and how we fix it.
  • How we pick what to build next.

Update Log

One dated line each time something new goes out. Newest first.

  1. Goal set: 100 users in the first 30 days. The next row is the real number, hit or miss.

  2. Scaley goes live.

  3. Episode 3 is out: We Turned My 7-Figure Agency Into The Best Google Ads AI Media Buyer in the World

  4. Episode 2 is out: Vibe Coding Doesn’t Scale. Here’s How I Build Now!

  5. Episode 1 is out: I Killed My Ready-to-Launch Brand to Build an AI Media Buyer

Read and Watch the Whole Story

ZenoX Media, the agency whose notes Scaley is built on, is my ecommerce Google Ads agency. It still runs client accounts today.

Questions People Ask

It means you build your company in the open and share what happens as it happens, good and bad. People follow along wherever you post. For us, that is a YouTube show.

Watched the build? Try the product. Connect read-only and ask Scaley where your money goes.

Scaley Media Buyer: $99/mo + 1% of total ad spend. 3-day free trial. Card required. Cancel anytime.

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