Dr. Erin Jacques · The Category
The category

AI-powered web apps people subscribe to.

Everyone else is teaching AI tools. Tools are things you use.

I teach AI-powered web apps people subscribe to. Apps are things you own and sell. That's the category.

The core idea

The web app is the product. The AI is a component.

The web app is the software. Agents and automations are components inside it.

Same relationship as a car and its engine. The car is the product. The engine is a component. Nobody buys an engine.

This is why most people building with AI never make money. They build the engine and have nothing to put it in.

An agent with no way to charge for it is a hobby. The web app is what turns it into a business.
The storefront
YOUR WEB APP
Core components — what makes it sellable
Authentication Database Billing File uploads Notifications Dashboard Admin panel API access
AI components — what people pay for
Agents Automations
Choose your plan
Starter
$9
Pro
$29
Premium
$79
Subscribe to enter
Chat interface Voice interface

Your components on the facade, and a door at the base. Pick your tier, walk in, that's the business.

The web app as a car AI COMPONENTS the engine YOUR WEB APP Subscribe · $29/mo Dashboard Authentication Database Billing

A web app is like a car: many parts, one product. The engine is your AI. The rest, database, billing, login, is what makes it sellable.

The range

Every kind of web app can hold AI.

"Web app" is a huge umbrella. Whatever kind you build, AI components live inside it. A few you already know:

Learning platform
Duolingo · MasterClass · Coursera

An AI tutor that checks your answers and adapts your lessons.

Directory
Yelp · Zillow · Tripadvisor

An AI that asks what you need and matches you to the right listing.

Marketplace
Airbnb · Etsy · Fiverr

An AI that answers buyer questions and matches them to the right option.

Membership & community
Skool · Patreon · Substack

A chatbot trained on your content that answers members any time.

Booking tool
Calendly · OpenTable · Mindbody

An AI that qualifies the lead and books the call for you.

Streaming & content
Netflix · Spotify · YouTube

AI recommendations that pick what you see next.

Different category, same truth: it's a web app people subscribe to, with AI components inside.

Take a few you already know:
Duolingoa learning platform
Core components it has
Login Progress database Subscription billing Streak reminders Stats dashboard
AI components — what makes it feel smart
A chat you roleplay with to practice → Chat interface + Agent
An AI tutor that explains your mistakes → Agent
Every AI feature = a front door (how you talk to it: chat or voice) + a brain (what does the thinking: an agent or an automation).
Yelpa directory
Core components it has
Login Listings database Reviews & ratings Ad billing Business dashboard
AI components — what makes it feel smart
An assistant that finds you the right business → Chat interface + Agent
Review summaries of what people say → Agent
Fiverra marketplace
Core components it has
Login Services database Payments Messaging Seller dashboard
AI components — what makes it feel smart
Neo, an assistant you chat with to find the right freelancer → Chat interface + Agent
AI that recommends the right gigs → Agent

Same anatomy every time: a web app people subscribe to, with AI components inside. You're building the same kind of thing, for your expertise.

The two kinds of components

What's in the app.

Core components

What every app needs, AI or not. These are what make it sellable.

  • Authenticationthe login
  • Databasewhere everything is stored
  • Billingyour Stripe connection
  • File uploads
  • Notificationsemail and Slack
  • Dashboard
  • Admin panelyour view of what users are doing
  • API access

AI components

What makes it intelligent. These are what people pay for.

  • Agentsdecide their own steps to get a job done
  • Automationsrun a fixed path you designed
  • Chat interfaceconversational front end
  • Voice interfacea phone number that answers, takes intake, books appointments
Where the money is

They're not paying for software.

Your customer isn't paying for software. They're paying for work to get done.

Anything a human used to have to do, an agent can do now. Which means the agent goes behind the paywall. The app collects and charges. The agent delivers.

The work becomes the agent. The app is how you get paid for it.
The question to ask

Not "what are you building."

That gets you nowhere. Ask instead:

Which components does your app have, and which is it missing? Someone with an agent and no billing doesn't have a business. The component list becomes a checklist.

And to find your agent:

What do you currently do for clients that you're tired of doing yourself? That's your agent. A better question than asking you to imagine one from nothing.
Come build with us

Own the category.

This is what we build in the Leveraging AI community: not AI tools you use, but AI-powered web apps people subscribe to, built around your expertise, step by step.

Join Leveraging AI →