▸ AI in practice · 4 min read
Practical AI: what to build first
When a non-technical founder asks me where to start with AI, I never start with the technology. I start with the most painful, most repeated task in their week.
That is the whole method:
- Find the loop. The thing you or your team do over and over that drains time and adds little judgement.
- Write it down as steps. If you can describe it to a new hire in plain language, you can hand it to an agent.
- Build the smallest version. One task, end to end, good enough to trust. Not a platform. A single useful thing.
- Live with it for a week, then widen it.
The mistake is reaching for the most impressive thing instead of the most useful one. The win that changes how you feel about AI is small, boring, and yours: the report that writes itself, the inbox that sorts itself, the quote that builds itself.
Get one of those working and you stop fearing the build. That is the real unlock.
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