90% of founders/owners/managers are missing out on the AI advantage
Founders are implementing enterprise AI strategies when they should be solving one painful task at a time.
The current playbook, Hire consultants. Attend masterclasses. Subscribe to 15 tools. Three months later? You’re still manually doing tasks. Businesses are optimizing for complexity instead of immediate wins. The “adopt AI everywhere” approach is the fastest way to adopt AI nowhere.
Here’s my contrarian take: The smartest founders aren’t using AI to “transform” their business—they’re using it for unglamorous micro-automations that give them hours back. No fancy integrations. No expensive consultants.
Real examples working right now:
Customer research: A skincare founder uploads competitor reviews to Claude asking “What are customers frustrated about?” Gets insights that would’ve taken 20 interviews.
Proposals that sound like you: Record yourself explaining your service for 5 minutes, transcribe it, ask AI to turn YOUR words into a template. One consultant cut proposal time from 4 hours to 45 minutes.
Email triage without the robot voice: An e-commerce founder forwards customer emails to AI with brand voice and FAQ docs. AI drafts, she edits in 30 seconds. Service time: down 60%. Satisfaction: up.
Meeting notes that matter: Company asks AI to analyze sales calls for pain points, objections, red flags, next steps. Close rate jumped 23% because nothing falls through cracks.
Content repurposing: Record one 15-minute video. AI creates 5 LinkedIn posts, 10 tweets, 3 email segments, and a blog outline. 6 hours becomes 90 minutes.
Competitive intel minus the research firm: AI analyzes competitors’ sites, reviews, social presence, then answers: “What are they doing that I’m not? What complaints could I solve?”
SOPs you’ll actually create: Record process explanations, feed to AI, get step-by-step checklists. One agency built their entire ops manual in a month.
Pricing validation: A freelancer asked AI to analyze services against market comparables. Discovered $30K/year undercharging.
Contract first drafts: Describe project scope, provide earlier contracts to AI, get a draft. Your lawyer reviews 20 minutes instead of drafting 2 hours. Legal bills: down 70%.
Job descriptions and screening: Paste your best employee’s background, get a JD for similar traits, use for first-pass screening. Time to first interview: 3 weeks to 4 days.
The pattern? These founders ask: “What repetitive task is eating my week?” Then treat AI like a $20/month employee who never sleeps, complains, or needs training.
