Rowan Chung and The Rundown AI: How One Founder Built a Multi-Million Dollar Media Company with AI Agents

by | Sep 8, 2025 | AI, Branding, Business, People, Services, Technology

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Rowan Chung and The Rundown AI: How One Founder Built a Multi-Million Dollar Media Company with AI Agents

Rowan Chung, the visionary behind The Rundown, has transformed a simple AI-focused newsletter into a multi-million-dollar AI media empire—with a lean team of fewer than 20 people. How? By leveraging AI agents, avatars, and automation to operate at the speed of a 50+ person company.

In a recent deep dive, Chung shared exactly how The Rundown AI runs its operations, content creation, and audience growth. What he revealed is a masterclass in how small teams can scale like giants using AI tools.

Screensharing how this guy makes millions with AI agents

From Newsletter to Media Company

When The Rundown AI started, most assumed it had dozens or even hundreds of employees. In reality, the team is closer to 15. The secret is an AI-first workflow across every layer of the business:

  • Content creation

  • Audience growth

  • Internal operations

  • Partnerships and lead management

  • Employee onboarding

By weaving AI agents into these systems, The Rundown now generates millions of dollars per year while staying lean, fast, and innovative.

1. AI Avatars for Content Creation

Rowan admits he’s a writer first, not a camera personality. Instead of spending hours recording videos, he built an AI avatar of himself:

  • HeyGen powers the avatar.

  • ElevenLabs provides his cloned voice.

  • Editors repurpose newsletter content into engaging short-form video.

The result? Millions of views, 150K+ social followers, and a scalable short-form strategy that works even when Rowan isn’t in front of the camera.

2. AI Tweet Generator

Chung uses voice dictation + Claude to transform ideas into tweets that go viral. His workflow:

  1. Dictate ideas during long walks with Whisper.

  2. Push notes into Claude trained on his top-performing tweets.

  3. Edit the AI’s draft for personal insight and polish.

This gets each tweet 90% ready instantly, saving hours of manual drafting.

3. AI Newsletter Editing

The Rundown newsletter—one of the most-read AI newsletters—still starts with human writing. But Claude acts as an editor-in-chief:

  • Refines headlines and bullet points.

  • Suggests structural edits.

  • Adapts tone and format for email delivery.

This back-and-forth makes the newsletter sharper while keeping Rowan in control of the voice.

4. Lindy AI as a Personal Assistant

Rowan created a custom scheduling agent named Ava with Lindy AI.

  • Ava auto-replies to meeting requests.

  • Syncs with Google Calendar to suggest times.

  • Books and reschedules calls instantly.

Instead of relying on Calendly or a human EA, Ava responds to leads within seconds—even outside working hours. This speed has been a game-changer for capturing high-value opportunities.

5. Perplexity as an AI Tutor

Research is streamlined with Perplexity Comet, an AI assistant that summarizes YouTube videos, podcasts, and complex topics.

  • Extracts key insights in seconds.

  • Acts as a real-time tutor for business and tech content.

  • Helps the team onboard knowledge faster without hours of study.

6. GPT-Powered New Hire Onboarding

Onboarding new employees is typically slow and repetitive. Rowan solved this with a custom GPT trained on:

  • Company SOPs

  • HR docs and policies

  • Loom transcripts and meeting notes

Now new hires can ask the onboarding GPT any company question—getting instant, accurate answers while freeing up managers’ time.

7. Sponsorship Finder & Email Manager AI

With a massive audience, The Rundown receives thousands of inbound emails weekly. Rowan’s AI agent sorts through it all:

  • Filters spam and out-of-office replies.

  • Flags high-value messages for the right team members via Slack.

  • Drafts 90%-ready email responses.

This system has already landed major sponsorship deals that could have been lost in the inbox chaos.

The Bigger Lesson: AI as a Force Multiplier

Rowan Chung proves that the future of business isn’t about how many employees you have—it’s about how you leverage AI agents to multiply output.

From avatars to scheduling bots to AI-powered newsletters, Rowan’s strategies show entrepreneurs how to:

  • Scale small teams into media powerhouses

  • Automate low-level tasks while staying focused on creativity

  • Monetize audiences faster with AI-powered content and partnerships

For anyone building in the AI or media space, The Rundown AI is a blueprint for what’s possible when you embrace AI not just as a tool—but as an operational backbone.