For founders and CEOs

AI Adoption for Founders of Growing Companies

You know AI should be changing how the company runs. You do not have anyone whose job it is to make that happen. That is the gap I fill.

Book a 30-minute callTake the 2-minute scorecard

No pitch. If I can’t find a workflow worth automating, I’ll tell you on the call.

The problem with doing it yourself

Founders are usually the most AI-curious people in the building, and the least available. Experiments happen on weekends, a few tools get bought, and nothing gets rolled out across the team with a process and a number behind it. Meanwhile the operations work keeps growing with headcount.

What I do for founder-led companies

I come in as the operator who owns it. I map the work across support, operations, finance, and internal requests, pick the workflows where automation pays, get the first one live with your team, and build the measurement so you can see what it is doing. I have co-founded a venture-backed company and taken a product from zero to 50,000 users, so I know what a growing team can actually absorb.

  • A ranked list of automation targets across the company, not just one department
  • First workflow live inside 90 days, with training for the team
  • Vendor decisions made with the numbers, including what not to buy
  • A standing fractional option when you want an owner without a hire

I also build with this stuff

I run Chief, an AI team for small business where specialized agents take real tasks over chat, and I publish Models at Work, an independent site covering AI in production with a daily briefing and an adoption index. Both keep me honest about what agents can and cannot do today.

Questions

What people ask first.

We are smaller than 50 people. Does this still fit?

Sometimes. If you have real operational volume in support, fulfillment, verification, or back office, there is usually a workflow worth automating. A 30-minute call is enough to tell.

Can you help us decide what to build versus buy?

Yes, and I will write the tradeoffs down. I have bought enterprise platforms and built internal tools with Claude and current agent tooling, so I can see both sides of the decision.

Which AI tools and vendors do you work with?

I am vendor neutral. I have bought and implemented platforms such as Zendesk, Twilio Flex, and 8x8 at Lyft scale, and I build with Claude, OpenAI, and current agent tooling every week. The recommendation follows the workflow, not the other way around.

Do we need engineers for this to work?

Usually not for the first wins. Most operations automation comes from well-defined workflows and off-the-shelf tooling configured carefully. When a build is needed, I write the first version or a spec your engineers can act on.

We are in a regulated industry. Is that a problem?

It is the normal case for me. I run operations under FCRA today, and at Lyft I worked through regulatory programs that required careful tradeoffs. Compliance is designed into the workflow with audit trails and human review, not bolted on afterward.

Further reading
AI & Operations

How Non-Technical Leaders Should Think About AI

A decision framework for leaders who are not engineers: where AI fits, where it does not, and how to avoid the AI-first traps that waste a quarter.

AI & Operations

Building a Lead Signal Engine with LLM Classification

A working case study: designing, prototyping, and iterating an AI classification system that surfaces high-signal opportunities, including what broke and what finally made it useful.

Let’s find the first workflow.

Thirty minutes. Bring the process that eats the most time. You leave with a view on whether AI can help and what it would take.

Book a 30-minute call