Why I’m 16 and Building AI Agents for Local Businesses

Most people know me for dunking. But there’s a second thing I’m building, and honestly it might matter even more long-term: I’m learning to run a one-person AI agency that helps local businesses grow online.

Here’s the thinking behind it.

Reach you rent disappears

I spend a lot of energy on Instagram, and I’m grateful for every follower. But I also know the truth: that audience isn’t really mine. The platform owns it. The algorithm decides who sees me. If the rules change tomorrow, that reach can shrink overnight.

So I started asking a better question: what can I build that I actually own — and that pays? The answer, for a kid in 2026 who isn’t afraid of new tools, is AI.

What I actually do

Local business owners — gyms, barbers, restaurants, contractors — are great at their craft and slammed with work. The thing they almost never have time for is the online stuff: showing up in Google, posting consistently, answering leads fast. That’s exactly the work AI agents are good at.

So I point AI agents at it. I help a local business get found in search, keep a steady stream of posts going, and stop letting leads slip through the cracks — without them having to learn any of it. They get back to running their business; the agents handle the online presence.

I’m not doing this alone

I’m following a path that older builders already proved works. Dylan Haugen earned a Google Knowledge Panel at 17. Cam Hazzard went from dunker to AI builder. Hoopin Nate is on the same track. They use AI not just to make content, but to run real, lean agencies for real businesses. I’m learning the exact same playbook.

Being young is the advantage

People think being 16 is a disadvantage in business. With AI, it’s the opposite. I grew up with these tools. I’m not unlearning twenty years of “how it’s always been done” — I just build the thing that works now. And I work harder and cheaper than an agency that’ll charge you a fortune to do less.

It’s the same mindset as the dunking: start from zero, in public, and out-work the excuse. I couldn’t dunk because I was short, so I built the jump. I can’t out-spend a big agency, so I out-build them with AI.

If you run a local business and you’re confused about where to even start with AI — that’s exactly who I help. Let’s talk.

✉ Email Deane⚡ The AI Builder Program

I Threw a Windmill Over Isaiah Rivera

There’s a clip on my page I still can’t believe is real. It’s a 9-foot windmill — and the person standing under the rim, the one I’m going over the top of, is Isaiah Rivera. My coach. One of the best dunkers on the planet.

A year ago I was just a short kid trying to touch rim. The fact that I got to throw a windmill over Isaiah’s head tells you everything about what the right coaching does.

What THP Strength actually is

THP Strength is the vertical-jump system I train in. It’s not a workout you find on YouTube and copy — it’s a structured program, coached by Isaiah Rivera and John Evans, built around getting you off the floor as high as humanly possible. It’s the program behind some of the highest verticals ever measured, and I get to train inside it.

What that means day to day: everything is measured. My vertical, my touch, my flight time — all numbers, all tracked. When you can see the number move, you trust the process even on the days it doesn’t feel like you’re getting better. (And there are a lot of those days.)

Being coached by someone that good

The biggest thing isn’t the drills — it’s the standard. When your coach can do things almost nobody on Earth can do, “good enough” stops existing. You stop comparing yourself to the kids at your school and start comparing yourself to the best in the world. That’s a different kind of pressure, and it’s the kind that makes you better fast.

It also keeps me honest about my size. Isaiah and John never treated 5’7″ as an excuse. They treated it as a starting number to beat. That mindset is half of why I can dunk at all.

The Dunk Camp 2026

This year I got selected for The Dunk Camp — I’m on Team 6. The Dunk Camp is days with the best dunkers and jump trainers in the world, all in one place. For a kid who started out just trying to touch rim, getting picked means someone with authority looked at my tape and said yeah, he belongs here.

That’s the thing about this whole world — it’s small, and the people in it vouch for each other. I train and fly with a crew of dunkers who are all chasing the same thing, and we push each other. Some of them you’ll find linked on my homepage.

I’m 16. I’m 5’7″. And I throw windmills over one of the best dunkers alive. If you’d told me that two years ago I’d have laughed. Now it’s just the next clip.

▶ Watch the windmill on Instagram

How a 5’7″ Kid Learned to Dunk a 10-Foot Rim

Everybody who plays basketball gets told the same thing if they’re short: find another lane. Passing, shooting, defense — anything but dunking, because dunking is for tall people. I’m 5 feet 7 inches. So I decided to go straight at the one thing I wasn’t supposed to be able to do.

If I couldn’t have the height, I’d build the jump.

The math nobody tells you

Here’s what dunking a 10-foot rim actually takes when you’re my size. My standing reach is about 7’5″. To get a ball over a 10-foot rim, I need to get my hand up around eleven feet. That’s a gap of more than three feet that has to come entirely out of my vertical jump. There’s no cheating it — either you can get up there or you can’t.

So the whole game became one number: how high can I jump?

Training in the THP system

I train in the THP Strength vertical-jump system, coached by Isaiah Rivera and John Evans. If you’re in the dunk world you know those names — it’s one of the programs behind some of the highest verticals ever tested. Being coached by Isaiah, who’s one of the best dunkers alive, means there’s no guessing. Every session has a purpose, every rep is logged, and the progress is measured, not imagined.

And it’s slow. That’s the part people don’t post. You don’t add a foot to your vertical in a month. You add an inch, then another, then you stall, then you break through. I’ve got a clip showing the same hoop ten months apart — about a 6-inch jump in vertical between the two. Six inches doesn’t sound like much until you realize six inches is the difference between fingertips on the rim and a clean dunk.

The first one

My first real dunk landed on a 9’11.5″ rim — half an inch under regulation. Flight time on it was around .86 seconds in the air. I’m not going to pretend I was calm about it. I said “I love life right now,” and I meant it. That dunk told me the full 10-foot rim wasn’t a dream — it was a few more inches of work.

Now I’m finishing on the full 10-foot rim off the lob, with a measured 37-inch vertical and a 10’6″ max touch. Windmills at 8 and 9 feet. The list keeps growing because the vertical keeps growing.

Why I’m telling you the boring part

Because the inch-by-inch part is the story. Anybody can want to dunk. The thing that’s actually rare — at 5’7″ or any height — is being willing to chase one number for months when it barely moves. That’s the part I’m proud of, and it’s the part I’ll keep posting, rep by rep.

If you’re short and people told you to find another lane: this is the other lane. Build the jump.

▶ Follow the climb on Instagram