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Tag: AI tools

  • 3 Ways AI Helps Small Businesses Compete With Big Companies | Entrepreneur

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    Big companies have full teams: marketing departments, content writers, designers and salespeople all working together to grow the brand. But solopreneurs and small business owners don’t have that kind of support. Sometimes it’s just one person, or maybe a part-time virtual assistant or freelance copywriter. That’s why using AI tools isn’t just helpful — it’s necessary. With the right AI systems in place, small teams can get more done, move faster and compete with bigger players without needing a big budget or staff.

    The truth is, speed now beats size. A decade ago, a larger team almost always had the advantage — more hands to make calls, answer emails, create content and follow up with leads. But that’s no longer the case. AI tools can now handle in minutes what used to take days, closing the gap between solo entrepreneurs and big corporations.

    Even industries known for being slow to change are catching on. According to UpMarket, 75% of real estate brokerages in the U.S. already use AI to streamline their operations — automating follow-ups, predicting client interest and producing polished marketing materials faster than ever. If they can embrace it, so can you. The longer you wait, the more likely it is that larger competitors will out-automate you … and once they do, catching up will be much harder.

    Let’s look at three practical ways small businesses can use AI to compete and even win against bigger companies.

    Related: How AI Is Leveling the Playing Field For Small Businesses to Compete With Industry Giants

    1. Use AI to create social media content without a team

    Creating content for social media can take up a lot of time, especially when you’re trying to post consistently across different platforms. But you don’t need a large social media team to make it work. AI-powered tools can handle everything from generating captions and hashtags to creating scroll-stopping images.

    According to Piktochart, 71% of social media images are now AI-generated. With the right tools and a clear process, even one virtual assistant using AI can do the work of an entire team. This can save hours each week and produce results that look like they came from a big agency.

    2. Why small businesses can now handle SEO in-house

    Small businesses no longer need to rely on expensive SEO agencies to improve their rankings. Often, all it takes is one good consultant to build a clear strategy. Everything else can be done in-house with the help of AI. From writing content to generating meta titles and descriptions, and even handling technical SEO checks, modern AI tools make it easy to move fast without a team. According to TechnicalSEO, 67% of small businesses are already using AI for content marketing and SEO.

    That said, it’s important to treat AI platforms as tools, not as one-click content factories. The goal isn’t to paste a topic into ChatGPT, take the first draft it spits out and hit publish. Instead, use AI to brainstorm ideas, reshape your own writing, fact-check details and refine tone — especially if you’re not a native speaker. This is how professionals get real value from the technology, and according to Fantasy AI, 55% of marketers use AI for content creation. The best results come when you guide the AI, not when you let it lead.

    Related: How Small and Mid-Sized Businesses Can Leverage AI to Compete With Large Companies

    3. Out-communicate bigger competitors with AI

    For small service businesses, whether it’s plumbing, electrical work, HVAC repair, landscaping or handyman services, great communication can be the ultimate competitive edge. According to FieldBoss, 38% of customers say poor communication — like slow scheduling, missed updates or unclear pricing — is their biggest frustration, while only 21% point to high prices. Big companies often leave customers waiting for call-backs, stuck in scheduling queues or frustrated by vague updates.

    A solo operator with the right AI tools can do better. Imagine a solo service provider: While they’re busy on a job site, an AI-powered chatbot is answering customer questions, booking appointments and even generating quotes. By the time they wrap up for the day, the leads are captured, the jobs are scheduled, and the quotes are ready to send. Out-communicating your larger competitors isn’t about having more staff — it’s about using AI to make every customer feel heard, informed and prioritized.

    This approach also aligns with changing customer preferences, especially among Gen Z, who often feel more comfortable controlling the immediate nature of digital interaction. They prefer texting or messaging over face-to-face or phone conversations, making chatbots and AI-driven communication not just acceptable, but often the preferred way to connect.

    The playing field between small businesses and large corporations has never been more balanced. With the right approach, a solo entrepreneur or a small team can match — and sometimes outperform — companies with far bigger budgets and staff. AI isn’t a magic wand, but it is a powerful multiplier for your skills, speed and customer experience.

    Related: How Small Businesses Can Leverage AI Without Breaking the Bank

    From creating social media content without a team, to managing SEO in-house, to out-communicating bigger competitors, the advantage is clear. Those who use AI as a true partner, combining technology with human judgment, will prove that speed, adaptability and smart execution can beat size every time.

    Big companies have full teams: marketing departments, content writers, designers and salespeople all working together to grow the brand. But solopreneurs and small business owners don’t have that kind of support. Sometimes it’s just one person, or maybe a part-time virtual assistant or freelance copywriter. That’s why using AI tools isn’t just helpful — it’s necessary. With the right AI systems in place, small teams can get more done, move faster and compete with bigger players without needing a big budget or staff.

    The truth is, speed now beats size. A decade ago, a larger team almost always had the advantage — more hands to make calls, answer emails, create content and follow up with leads. But that’s no longer the case. AI tools can now handle in minutes what used to take days, closing the gap between solo entrepreneurs and big corporations.

    Even industries known for being slow to change are catching on. According to UpMarket, 75% of real estate brokerages in the U.S. already use AI to streamline their operations — automating follow-ups, predicting client interest and producing polished marketing materials faster than ever. If they can embrace it, so can you. The longer you wait, the more likely it is that larger competitors will out-automate you … and once they do, catching up will be much harder.

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    Georgi Todorov

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  • Turn Your Expertise into a Published Book for Only $49 | Entrepreneur

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    Youbooks is a powerful AI platform that streamlines the creation of polished non-fiction books in hours, not months. For a limited time, get lifetime access to Youbooks, an AI non-fiction book generator for just $49, down from the usual $540—a smart, one-time investment for any professional or entrepreneur aiming to amplify their reputation and revenue through publishing.

    Ideal for subject matter experts, creators, and YouTubers

    Youbooks isn’t just another writing assistant. It’s a sophisticated, AI-powered non-fiction book generator that leverages a multi-AI engine, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Llama, to craft manuscripts up to 300,000 words long. Its multi-step (often more than 1,000 steps) internal workflow ensures each draft is coherent, refined, and publication-ready.

    Whether you’re a subject matter expert, niche publisher, non-fiction author, YouTuber, or content creator, Youbooks transforms your domain knowledge—ideas, blog transcripts, videos—into a structured manuscript. Upload your materials, define your angle, and let the AI do the legwork. It even stores up to 100 style samples and 100 source documents to maintain your voice and expertise throughout the text.

    The perfect remedy for writer’s block

    Got half-baked ideas or fragmented notes? Youbooks lets you upload research, outlines, and writing samples to morph your rough drafts into polished, cohesive books.

    Say goodbye to writer’s block. Youbooks bypasses this entirely by turning a simple idea or prompt into a full-length manuscript. You retain control across style, tone, and structure, while letting the AI handle the heavy lifting. Whether you’re launching thought leadership content or crafting a business guide, Youbooks eliminates the blank page anxiety.

    The AI integrates up-to-date content via live web searches while composing, so your manuscript remains current and evidence-based. The export options (DOCX, PDF, EPUB, Markdown) make it easy to move straight into publishing platforms or PDFs for print-ready layout.

    Build authority and boost revenue—fast

    For entrepreneurs, a book is more than words. It’s credibility, trust, and inbound marketing. Youbooks delivers professional-quality manuscripts swiftly, enabling business leaders to publish content-rich guides, niche industry analysis, or thought leadership materials—fast. This lifetime subscription grants 150,000 monthly credits, equating to ample content throughput: you could generate multiple average-length nonfiction books each month.

    Whether you’re a consultant, educator, or enterprise founder, Youbooks can turn your notes into polished, publication-ready books.

    Get lifetime access to Youbooks, an AI non-fiction book generator, for $49 (reg. $540).

    StackSocial prices subject to change.

    Youbooks is a powerful AI platform that streamlines the creation of polished non-fiction books in hours, not months. For a limited time, get lifetime access to Youbooks, an AI non-fiction book generator for just $49, down from the usual $540—a smart, one-time investment for any professional or entrepreneur aiming to amplify their reputation and revenue through publishing.

    Ideal for subject matter experts, creators, and YouTubers

    Youbooks isn’t just another writing assistant. It’s a sophisticated, AI-powered non-fiction book generator that leverages a multi-AI engine, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Llama, to craft manuscripts up to 300,000 words long. Its multi-step (often more than 1,000 steps) internal workflow ensures each draft is coherent, refined, and publication-ready.

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  • AI Won’t Wait for Your Strategy — Why Should Your Leadership? | Entrepreneur

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    AI is rewriting the playbook for businesses, and it’s reshaping market winners and losers in real time. The next several years may well decide which companies survive and which get squeezed based on who can keep up with the pace of change.

    When cloud computing transformed the tech world, it took a decade to reach mass adoption. Gen AI achieved the same scale in just a year, and Agentic AI, poised to become mainstream next year, is setting a new benchmark, already boasting a 50% adoption rate among tech execs. With AGI (superhuman AI) on the horizon, the rate of change will be almost incomprehensible, transforming life as we know it.

    In North America, 66% of organizations using AI agents report measurable productivity gains, 73% view their strategy as a competitive edge, and nearly half worry they’re already lagging behind their competitors.

    Despite anxious headlines (and even some dire warnings), I’m energized by the possibilities — and I share that optimism with my team, focusing on the transformative opportunities AI unlocks.

    Related: Artificial General Intelligence: The Next Frontier In Technology

    But optimism alone doesn’t cut it. The pace of change is so quick that the only way to build business resilience is to match it with speed and precision. I’ve always believed in short timelines and fast results, but now they’re non‑negotiable.

    The question for leaders is how to build organizations that can move as quickly and as intelligently as the world around them. Here’s how to get there:

    As a leader, you’ve likely got a plan in place for the next three to five years. But with the velocity of change, it’s tough to see what’s around the corner. That doesn’t mean you can’t set your business up for success, no matter how the landscape evolves. You just need to build the right foundation:

    A strong and unwavering vision and mission

    No matter how fast AI evolves, your company’s mission should remain steady. A clear, simple and consistent purpose keeps teams rowing together. For us, it’s about transforming access to the digital world. We do this by delivering content that is compliant and performing — both for humans and AI.

    What will evolve is how we execute on that vision. Today, we’re transforming our platform capabilities with agentic AI; tomorrow, emerging technologies may lead us to new strategies. But the mission itself? That provides focus and steadiness through change.

    Collaboration that moves as fast as AI

    I’ve seen organizations where leaders are incentivized to compete against one another, yet research has shown that internal competition can actually stifle innovation. A better approach? Empower cross-functional teams to collaborate on strategic thinking at all levels.

    Problems don’t care which department ‘owns’ them, and neither should your organization. I don’t hesitate to bring everyone involved in a project into the same room, regardless of title or position. Flattening hierarchies and breaking down silos accelerates decision-making, fosters shared accountability and unlocks the kind of speed and creativity AI demands.

    Related: Is AI Truly Driving Your Growth — or Wasting Your Time?

    A relentless commitment to AI alignment

    Keeping pace with today’s market realities requires more than urgency; it demands alignment on why we must keep embracing AI’s evolution. That understanding can’t be assumed. During a recent company-wide meeting on agentic AI, someone asked if we had invented the technology. It was a powerful reminder that we aren’t all starting from the same place.

    While I’ve never been one to mince words, alignment only happens when people truly comprehend what’s happening and what’s at stake. In recent months, I’ve made it a priority to connect directly with our entire global team, along with sharing regular updates through a recurring internal newsletter.

    The goal? Ensure everyone feels informed, empowered and included in the journey ahead.

    Pulling your team toward AI versus pushing them

    Resistance to change is often endemic, particularly in larger organizations. But forcing change is not the answer, either. While I actively encourage everyone to explore AI, I believe people need to pull themselves toward the opportunity.

    This requires fostering a culture where continuous learning and experimentation are encouraged — and where failure is seen as a necessary part of growth. Ultimately, it’s about helping people understand that the more you pull yourself toward change, the more successful you’ll be. The more you push away, the more it’s going to hurt.

    AI-paced decision-making (quarterly business reviews won’t cut it)

    AI compresses timelines. To move quickly, you need to dramatically increase your cadence. It may sound excessive for a busy CEO, but I meet weekly with our product teams and monthly with leadership to fine-tune execution. That way, we can quickly test assumptions, learn from real-time feedback and adjust course.

    Of course, evolving your culture to one of fast execution doesn’t mean barrelling ahead recklessly – it’s about establishing a steady rhythm of learning, iterating and improving at a pace that matches the world around you.

    That shift has already started paying off. I’ve seen early results in productivity: our team is more agile than ever, moving from idea to execution in a fraction of the time.

    Related: A Founder’s Guide to Building a Real AI Strategy

    But this isn’t just about speed. In our case – and likely for many other organizations – agentic AI is expanding the kinds of problems we can solve and the customers we can serve. So much so that we’re betting on a massive expansion of our total addressable market within the next three years.

    The real lesson of leading at the speed of AI is not about simply surviving the next wave of disruption; it’s about positioning your organization to shape it. At the end of the day, leaders must envision where the world is going, bring that future into their organizations and inspire their teams to take the leap alongside them.

    This is no time to wait and watch.

    Today it’s agentic; tomorrow it will be AGI. Either way, if you don’t adapt, you can be sure others will.

    AI is rewriting the playbook for businesses, and it’s reshaping market winners and losers in real time. The next several years may well decide which companies survive and which get squeezed based on who can keep up with the pace of change.

    When cloud computing transformed the tech world, it took a decade to reach mass adoption. Gen AI achieved the same scale in just a year, and Agentic AI, poised to become mainstream next year, is setting a new benchmark, already boasting a 50% adoption rate among tech execs. With AGI (superhuman AI) on the horizon, the rate of change will be almost incomprehensible, transforming life as we know it.

    In North America, 66% of organizations using AI agents report measurable productivity gains, 73% view their strategy as a competitive edge, and nearly half worry they’re already lagging behind their competitors.

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    Nayaki Nayyar

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  • Stop Switching Tabs and Compare Every AI Model in One Place | Entrepreneur

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    If you’re working with artificial inteligence (AI) to streamline workflows, improve outputs, or test prompts at scale, ChatPlayground AI offers a focused solution: compare responses from 40+ AI models in a single view, without hopping between platforms. This lifetime subscription to the Unlimited Plan for $89.99 is great for users who need a reliable, centralized interface to optimize daily output and maximize the quality of generative AI results.

    Whether you’re a founder fine-tuning marketing copy, a developer experimenting with code generation, or a researcher looking to test variations in tone or logic, ChatPlayground gives you a unified workspace to view and analyze side-by-side responses from leading AI models — including GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet 4, Gemini 1.5 Flash, DeepSeek V3, Llama, Perplexity, and more.

    This isn’t just about comparisons. The platform also includes powerful tools to help you iterate and implement: prompt engineering, AI image generation, file upload and chat for images and PDFs, and saved chat histories for future reference. The Chrome extension enables AI access directly from your browser.

    The Unlimited Plan includes unrestricted monthly messages, making it ideal for heavy users running frequent queries or managing team workflows. You’ll also get priority support, early access to new features, and compatibility across any major desktop browser — no OS limits or device caps.

    Built for scale and speed, ChatPlayground AI is a practical investment for entrepreneurs, marketers, analysts, and creators who want to make better use of generative AI — without wasting time jumping between tools or guessing which model will perform best.

    For a limited time, take advantage of this deal on a lifetime subscription to ChatPlayground AI on sale for $89.99 (MSRP $619).

    StackSocial prices subject to change.

    If you’re working with artificial inteligence (AI) to streamline workflows, improve outputs, or test prompts at scale, ChatPlayground AI offers a focused solution: compare responses from 40+ AI models in a single view, without hopping between platforms. This lifetime subscription to the Unlimited Plan for $89.99 is great for users who need a reliable, centralized interface to optimize daily output and maximize the quality of generative AI results.

    Whether you’re a founder fine-tuning marketing copy, a developer experimenting with code generation, or a researcher looking to test variations in tone or logic, ChatPlayground gives you a unified workspace to view and analyze side-by-side responses from leading AI models — including GPT-4o, Claude Sonnet 4, Gemini 1.5 Flash, DeepSeek V3, Llama, Perplexity, and more.

    This isn’t just about comparisons. The platform also includes powerful tools to help you iterate and implement: prompt engineering, AI image generation, file upload and chat for images and PDFs, and saved chat histories for future reference. The Chrome extension enables AI access directly from your browser.

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  • Scan, Sign, and Manage Your Documents Right From Your Phone | Entrepreneur

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    If your business or work depends on documents, you need a scanner that can do more than just snap a photo. iScanner is a top-rated scanning and document management app that brings professional-level tools right to your phone or tablet — with no ads, no recurring fees, and a focus on secure, high-quality output. Score lifetime access to iScanner for the price of $24.99 until September 7 by entering promo code SCAN at checkout (MSRP $199.90).

    With support for iOS and Android, iScanner lets you digitize everything from contracts and receipts to handwritten notes and math equations. Use it to scan documents, export to PDF, Word, Excel, JPG, or even TXT, and automatically straighten, crop, and clean up pages with AI. It also offers full OCR support (Optical Character Recognition) in 20+ languages so you can extract and edit text from scanned documents with ease.

    But iScanner doesn’t stop there. You can sign forms, redact sensitive info, add watermarks, number pages, protect folders with a PIN, and even merge or split documents on the fly. Advanced scan modes let you handle IDs, passports, math problems, measurements, object counts, and QR codes. Plus, its intuitive file manager keeps everything organized with drag-and-drop, folders, and 200MB of included secure cloud storage.

    For freelancers, remote teams, and small businesses, this is a pro tool built for real-world document workflows on your iPhone, iPad, or Android.

    New users can get a lifetime subscription to the iScanner App for just $24.99 with code SCAN until September 7.

    StackSocial prices subject to change.

    If your business or work depends on documents, you need a scanner that can do more than just snap a photo. iScanner is a top-rated scanning and document management app that brings professional-level tools right to your phone or tablet — with no ads, no recurring fees, and a focus on secure, high-quality output. Score lifetime access to iScanner for the price of $24.99 until September 7 by entering promo code SCAN at checkout (MSRP $199.90).

    With support for iOS and Android, iScanner lets you digitize everything from contracts and receipts to handwritten notes and math equations. Use it to scan documents, export to PDF, Word, Excel, JPG, or even TXT, and automatically straighten, crop, and clean up pages with AI. It also offers full OCR support (Optical Character Recognition) in 20+ languages so you can extract and edit text from scanned documents with ease.

    But iScanner doesn’t stop there. You can sign forms, redact sensitive info, add watermarks, number pages, protect folders with a PIN, and even merge or split documents on the fly. Advanced scan modes let you handle IDs, passports, math problems, measurements, object counts, and QR codes. Plus, its intuitive file manager keeps everything organized with drag-and-drop, folders, and 200MB of included secure cloud storage.

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  • Why Content, Not AI, Will Decide Who Wins in Business | Entrepreneur

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    AI is not transforming businesses. Content is. AI simply accelerates the impact — for better or worse.

    That’s why content strategy can no longer be delegated down or siloed away. It belongs in the C-suite, where it can be aligned with vision, risk and value creation. Here’s what that looks like in practice.

    1. Content is the engine, AI is the accelerator

    Executives often think of AI as the change agent. But AI is only as good as the content it runs on. Whether powering a chatbot, a decision engine or a customer experience, AI magnifies the strengths — and flaws — of your content ecosystem.

    In one audit with a global enterprise, we tested a generative AI support assistant. Instead of delivering answers from the official knowledge base, it confidently cited outdated PDFs buried in an unmanaged folder. AI didn’t invent the problem — it amplified it.

    Leaders must understand: the real transformation happens when AI accelerates well-governed, accurate and consistent content. Without that foundation, AI only scales chaos.

    2. Every department runs on content

    Content is not just copy, images or video. Content is the substance of marketing, sales, product, support, and customer experience. And content is policy in HR, compliance in legal, onboarding in operations, disclosures in finance, and much more.

    Take Pfizer’s experience during the pandemic. Their challenge wasn’t simply producing more vaccine to support going to market — it was ensuring every department, from medical to regulatory to communications, worked from a unified content system. That cross-functional alignment enabled them to deliver accurate, trusted information on a global scale.

    That’s the level of integration AI now demands. And it requires leadership from the very top.

    Related: Adapt Your C-Suite for the Digital Era In 3 Steps

    3. Maturity determines whether AI helps or hurts

    Our research across 200,000+ content effectiveness assessments and our study of content operations with nearly 1000 professionals and leaders show a clear pattern: organizations with mature content operations adopt AI faster, with fewer failures.

    But 58% of organizations still operate with low content maturity. Poorly defined workflows. Little governance. Few metrics. In an AI-accelerated world, that’s not just inefficient — it’s a strategic risk.

    Just as cybersecurity and data privacy moved onto the C-suite agenda, so must content maturity. Without it, AI investments will stall — or backfire.

    4. Content is an intangible asset

    Boards increasingly view intangibles — brand equity, trust, intellectual capital — as drivers of corporate value. Content is the connective tissue for all three.

    Annual reports, investor communications and brand valuations already reflect this shift. In fact, the quality and consistency of content often serve as a proxy for organizational discipline and credibility.

    Executives can’t afford to see content as overhead. It is an asset that requires investment, governance, and reporting at the highest level.

    Related: How to Develop a ‘C-Suite Mindset’ for Success, From 5 Leaders Who Have Done It

    5. AI risks are content risks

    When AI generates content, it doesn’t just “produce words.” It makes decisions: what to say, how to say it, which source to trust. That means governance challenges move from “content management” to content risk management.

    Consider the regulatory implications: a chatbot that cites outdated policy, or a sales assistant that generates a misleading claim. These aren’t technical glitches — they’re governance failures.

    AI forces the C-suite to answer hard questions:

    • Who owns the accuracy of AI output?
    • How do we enforce compliance at scale?
    • What’s our escalation path when AI gets it wrong?

    These are executive questions, not operational ones.

    6. From AI experiments to content-driven transformation

    Too many organizations frame AI adoption as an innovation. But the real transformation happens when AI accelerates a disciplined, cross-functional content system.

    That system connects three pillars:

    • Content intelligence → using analytics, audits, and user feedback
    • Content operations → workflows, governance, and standards
    • AI enablement → tools that amplify the first two

    AI without those foundations is a shiny demo. AI with them is a force multiplier.

    The takeway

    AI is not the transformation. Content is. AI only accelerates its impact.

    For executives, that’s both risk and opportunity. The companies that win will not be those who rush to deploy AI pilots, but those who recognize content as infrastructure — governed, measured, and led at the top.

    As I argue in The Content Advantage, content isn’t a side project. It’s a potential strategic advantage. In the age of AI, it’s also a C-level responsibility.

    AI is not transforming businesses. Content is. AI simply accelerates the impact — for better or worse.

    That’s why content strategy can no longer be delegated down or siloed away. It belongs in the C-suite, where it can be aligned with vision, risk and value creation. Here’s what that looks like in practice.

    1. Content is the engine, AI is the accelerator

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    Colleen Jones

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  • Closer or Colder? How AI Shapes Your Customer Relationships | Entrepreneur

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    I’m not going to lie, the latest generation of AI, especially large language models and agentic AI, is nothing short of impressive. At Human Cloud, we used tools like Claude and Windsurf to accomplish in 5 minutes what had previously taken us 5 years.

    On the surface, it’s a story of overnight magic. But dig deeper and you’ll find that the real magic wasn’t the AI itself; it was the five years of groundwork that came before. We spent that time using spreadsheets, Canva graphics, CRM automations and hacky off-the-shelf tools to create the right sales and delivery motion, and validate our customers’ needs.

    Only then did the AI become a true accelerator, as we used Claude, Windsurf and AWS to create the Human Cloud Platform in less than 5 minutes.

    This brings up a crucial point. AI can easily be a distraction, prioritizing hype and buzz over real revenue and profitability. Why? Because the fundamental principle of business remains unchanged: every breakthrough starts with a deep understanding of what your customers need.

    Before you invest another dollar in AI, ask yourself one question: Is this technology making us closer to our customers, or pulling us further away?

    Here are five steps to ensure AI helps you get closer.

    1. Manually implement before automating

    “Do things that don’t scale” is a famous startup moniker brought up by Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator, in his essay in 2013. As a 4x founder myself, this ethos has always run true.

    In the case of AI, in every scenario, ask yourself if there is a manual alternative. If there is, try that first, then automate based on customer demand.

    Related: LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman: To Scale, Do Things That Don’t Scale

    2: Capture enough manual feedback

    Step 1 is only half the story. The other half is ensuring you have enough of the right type of feedback to automate what really works. My strongest recommendation is to capture feedback that’s closest to customers actually paying, engaging and sharing.

    I learned this the hard way in a former startup. We spent 3 months listening and iterating on prototypes based on feedback. We were maniacal in the level of detail we captured, from the user experience to the design. Then we launched, and less than 5% of these users actually paid. Instead, we shouldn’t have listened to what they said, but instead prioritized what they did.

    If you want a book to help you capture the right type of feedback, check out The Mom Test.

    Related: How the ‘Mom Test’ Can Help You Cut Through B.S. and Find Important Answers

    3: Make AI accessible for everyone, not just AI experts

    Rather than investing in an AI team or hiring AI experts, give everyone an opportunity to apply AI across their team and their work.

    Preston Mossman, Senior Director of AI Consulting for Galaxy Square, told me, “learning to use AI is a muscle you have to build. A lot of people self-select out because they can’t use AI today to help them, but the first step is to accelerate their comfort and understanding in a way that feels valuable to them.”

    When asking Preston about ways companies have helped their leaders get comfortable with it, he brought up investing in AI-related tools for interested individuals.

    In his words, “if your mechanic told you about a $50 wrench that could get your job done just as well for half the cost, you would buy it for them or find a new mechanic (with the $50 wrench).”

    Leaders not using AI in 5 years will be like leaders not using a computer today.

    Related: Why Your AI Strategy Will Fail Without the Right Talent in Place

    4: Hire independent experts first

    Telling someone to use AI with no support is like telling someone to jump out of a plane without a parachute.

    Obviously, hiring AI experts as full-time employees would be expensive and out of reach for most of us. Likewise, AI trainings take time, might be expensive, and rarely has direct applicability from training to application.

    But a shortcut is hiring individuals who already use AI, as 65% of independent experts were already using AI as far back as 2024, and 95% of independent experts stated that AI makes them more competitive.

    This brings up step 4: to hire flexible talent first, with flexible talent defined as independent, freelance, and fractional experts.

    The data is clear that flexible talent upskills faster than full-time employees and is ahead of the curve in AI adoption and effectiveness. It’s not just AI, Deloitte research shows that the independent workforce upskills faster than their full-time peers.

    There are also four massive benefits of flexible talent compared to full-time. You can control cost. You have a quicker time to effectiveness. You learn by seeing their expertise. And the most important benefit is that this is the future workforce.

    To get started, look for a flexible talent platform that is specialized in your region, industry, and the application you need AI for. There are over 800 of these specialized solutions.

    Related: Solopreneurship and Freelancing Is Here to Stay — Are You Ready?

    5: Scale like the cloud

    We take for granted how transformational cloud computing has been for us entrepreneurs. Without getting too geeky, what it really did was enable us to scale in line with customer demand rather than taking big bets because of large fixed costs.

    Apply this same mindset to AI.

    Do you think your AI idea is the next big breakthrough that will transform your company, your industry, and the world? That’s great. Now go through steps 1-4 before you bet the farm.

    I’m not going to lie, the latest generation of AI, especially large language models and agentic AI, is nothing short of impressive. At Human Cloud, we used tools like Claude and Windsurf to accomplish in 5 minutes what had previously taken us 5 years.

    On the surface, it’s a story of overnight magic. But dig deeper and you’ll find that the real magic wasn’t the AI itself; it was the five years of groundwork that came before. We spent that time using spreadsheets, Canva graphics, CRM automations and hacky off-the-shelf tools to create the right sales and delivery motion, and validate our customers’ needs.

    Only then did the AI become a true accelerator, as we used Claude, Windsurf and AWS to create the Human Cloud Platform in less than 5 minutes.

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  • Most Founders Start With the Product. I Started With These 3 Questions Instead. | Entrepreneur

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    Too many founders start with the product. They get excited, build something, and then scramble to figure out if anyone actually wants it.

    I almost did the same. Technically, I started by generating silly AI images of my boss to make my coworkers laugh. But when I saw the potential of the tools I was playing with — and how accessible they were becoming — I realized I could turn it into something real.

    I didn’t have a background in AI or deep learning. But with open-source tools like Stable Diffusion suddenly available, people like me could build things that felt like magic.

    And like most entrepreneurs, I wanted to move fast. But instead of rushing to build, I gave myself a reality check. I asked three hard questions before writing a line of code. That checklist became the foundation of my business — and helped me avoid wasting months (and money) on a product no one wanted.

    These same questions apply whether you’re launching a SaaS company, a consumer product, a service-based business, or, yes, an AI tool.

    Related: AI Isn’t Plug-and-Play — You Need a Strategy. Here’s Your Guide to Building One.

    1. Is there real demand?

    Before investing anything in product development, I set up a test. I opened an Etsy store selling AI-generated pet portraits during the holidays. It was clunky. Every order meant I was manually training models and fulfilling them by hand.

    But people paid. They loved the results. It wasn’t scalable — yet — but that didn’t matter. It gave me proof:

    • I could deliver something people genuinely valued
    • They were willing to pay for it

    This kind of early signal is more important than a sleek prototype or a detailed roadmap. For you, it might mean selling a simplified version of your offer, pre-selling a service, or running a paid pilot. The goal is the same: confirm there’s real demand before you build at scale.

    2. Will people pay me — and how?

    After validating interest, I started experimenting with pricing. We tested $15, then $25. We ran ads on Reddit. Some worked, most didn’t. I tried subscriptions — but quickly realized that running custom-trained models on demand was too expensive to support recurring plans at an early stage.

    So I switched to a one-time payment model. Simple, low-friction, no complicated onboarding. We started at $9.99, and conversions were strong. Over time, we added higher-tier pricing — but from day one, the business had to make financial sense.

    Many people advised offering a freemium version. I considered it, but GPU costs made that unrealistic. Instead, I built a free tool that looked like our main offering (an AI headshot generator) but was actually a low-cost background remover. It gave users a taste of the experience and warmed them up to buy. And it converted.

    The takeaway? Revenue models aren’t just about pricing — they’re about sustainability. Founders often over-index on what’s ideal for the user and forget what’s viable for the business.

    3. Can I actually reach people?

    I didn’t have an audience. I didn’t have connections or media buzz. But I had Reddit.

    I started joining threads where people were talking about AI headshots. I added value, offered comparisons, answered questions — and eventually, shared my own product. That got us our first 100 customers. We used Google Ads to scale to 1,000.

    It wasn’t viral. It wasn’t pretty. But it worked. Why? Because I focused on solving the hardest part of distribution first: attention and trust.

    When people think about go-to-market, they think channels. But it’s better to think in terms of risk:

    • Can you find the right people?
    • Can you earn their attention?
    • Can you convert them — without overspending?

    If the answer is no, it doesn’t matter how good the product is.

    Related: AI Will Define Your Brand If You Don’t — Here’s How to Take Control

    Don’t build until you can answer these three questions

    Every founder wants to build something great. But building too early — or on shaky assumptions — can kill even the best ideas.

    A rough product built on real answers will always beat a polished one built on hope.

    So before you start building or investing heavily in a new product or service, ask yourself:

    • Who wants this right now?
    • Will they pay?
    • Can I reach them profitably?

    Everything else can wait.

    Too many founders start with the product. They get excited, build something, and then scramble to figure out if anyone actually wants it.

    I almost did the same. Technically, I started by generating silly AI images of my boss to make my coworkers laugh. But when I saw the potential of the tools I was playing with — and how accessible they were becoming — I realized I could turn it into something real.

    I didn’t have a background in AI or deep learning. But with open-source tools like Stable Diffusion suddenly available, people like me could build things that felt like magic.

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  • Turn Your Voice Into Text Instantly with VoiceType AI | Entrepreneur

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    Running a business often means ideas come faster than your keyboard can keep up. From mapping out project requirements to firing off client emails, leaders spend an overwhelming amount of time typing instead of executing. That’s exactly what VoiceType AI does.

    It’s an AI-powered dictation tool that transcribes at up to 360 words per minute with 99.7% accuracy, making it 9x faster than the average typing speed.

    With lifetime access now available for just $39 (MSRP: $154), VoiceType helps business leaders capture thoughts, notes, and strategies instantly—no matter which app you’re in. It works across the platforms you already use, including Slack, Google Docs, Notion, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Trello, and more, so you don’t need to change your workflow.

    This isn’t just dictation—it’s a writing assistant. VoiceType automatically formats your text with punctuation, grammar corrections, and even tone adjustments depending on the app. Need to draft a professional email? Done. Want a clean project doc in Notion? Easy. Even in noisy offices or while whispering on the go, VoiceType adapts to your environment for reliable results.

    For entrepreneurs, consultants, and executives alike, it’s like hiring a personal scribe who never misses a beat. Whether you’re documenting meeting takeaways, planning your day, or drafting proposals, VoiceType ensures you get your thoughts into action at the speed of speech.

    Because in business, speed and clarity aren’t just nice to have, they’re the edge.

    Get a lifetime of VoiceType AI for just $39 (MSRP: $154) and save yourself time forever.

    VoiceType AI Voice-to-Text: Lifetime Subscription

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    Running a business often means ideas come faster than your keyboard can keep up. From mapping out project requirements to firing off client emails, leaders spend an overwhelming amount of time typing instead of executing. That’s exactly what VoiceType AI does.

    It’s an AI-powered dictation tool that transcribes at up to 360 words per minute with 99.7% accuracy, making it 9x faster than the average typing speed.

    With lifetime access now available for just $39 (MSRP: $154), VoiceType helps business leaders capture thoughts, notes, and strategies instantly—no matter which app you’re in. It works across the platforms you already use, including Slack, Google Docs, Notion, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Trello, and more, so you don’t need to change your workflow.

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  • Busy Leaders Can Get a Lifetime of Smart Investing for $55 | Entrepreneur

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    Running a business means your time is already stretched across strategy, operations, customers, and employees. The last thing most leaders want is to spend their nights buried in financial reports and stock charts. Sterling Stock Picker is a platform that is designed to take the complexity out of investing while still giving you smart, actionable insights.

    With lifetime access available now for just $55.19 (MSRP: $486) using code SAVE20 through September 7, you can finally let technology handle the heavy lifting in the markets.

    Here’s what makes it different:

    • AI-powered guidance: Sterling’s patent-pending North Star tech helps you know when to buy, sell, or hold without guesswork.
    • Done-for-you portfolio builder: Skip the endless stock screening. Build a diversified, risk-aligned portfolio in just a few steps.
    • Personal financial coach: Meet Finley, your AI advisor that delivers personalized recommendations, explains strategies, and even answers your investing questions in plain language.

    For business leaders, the value is simple: your capital should work just as hard as you do. Sterling Stock Picker helps you tap into top-performing companies, identify high-growth opportunities, and adjust based on your risk profile—all without stealing hours from your calendar.

    Instead of chasing stock tips on social media or getting buried in spreadsheets, you’ll have a smart system that works in the background while you run your company.

    Think of it as having a research team in your pocket—for less than the cost of dinner.

    Get a lifetime of Sterling Stock Picker for $55.19 (MSRP: $486) using code SAVE20 through September 7.

    Sterling Stock Picker: Lifetime Subscription

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    StackSocial prices subject to change.

    Running a business means your time is already stretched across strategy, operations, customers, and employees. The last thing most leaders want is to spend their nights buried in financial reports and stock charts. Sterling Stock Picker is a platform that is designed to take the complexity out of investing while still giving you smart, actionable insights.

    With lifetime access available now for just $55.19 (MSRP: $486) using code SAVE20 through September 7, you can finally let technology handle the heavy lifting in the markets.

    Here’s what makes it different:

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  • AI Design Tools May Have Finally Caught Up | Entrepreneur

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    Running a business today often means juggling marketing, client communication, and internal planning, and each of those tasks benefits from clear, professional visuals. Hiring a designer every time you need an infographic, chart, or logo is costly, while DIY solutions can eat up hours that should be spent on running the business.

    InfographsAI is a more efficient path. This AI-powered tool generates polished infographics, charts, mind maps, and logos in as little as four minutes. Instead of wrestling with templates that look like everyone else’s, the platform builds unique designs from your actual content, and right now, it’s only $49.99 (reg. $360) for a lifetime subscription.

    Professional quality AI designs

    Saving any time as a business owner is huge. With InfograpshsAI, a sales report can become a bar graph ready for a client presentation, or a long block of text can be reworked into a shareable infographic for social media. If you’re building a brand identity, the AI logo generator provides multiple professional variations in seconds. Everything you create can be edited manually, allowing you to fine-tune the details and match your branding across different platforms.

    A built-in fact-checking system helps ensure your data is up to date, reducing the risk of presenting outdated numbers or information. With support for more than 100 languages and automatic brand integration, InfographsAI scales with businesses that need to reach diverse audiences quickly.

    The platform continues to expand with frequent updates, adding new features such as image generators and fresh design templates. Users praise it for turning messy notes, static PDFs, or pitch deck drafts into visuals that impress teams and clients alike.

    If you need high quality visuals and don’t have room in the budget for a designer, AI is a good alternative.

    Get an InfographsAI lifetime subscription on sale for $49.99.

    InfographsAI: Lifetime Subscription

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    StackSocial prices subject to change.

    Running a business today often means juggling marketing, client communication, and internal planning, and each of those tasks benefits from clear, professional visuals. Hiring a designer every time you need an infographic, chart, or logo is costly, while DIY solutions can eat up hours that should be spent on running the business.

    InfographsAI is a more efficient path. This AI-powered tool generates polished infographics, charts, mind maps, and logos in as little as four minutes. Instead of wrestling with templates that look like everyone else’s, the platform builds unique designs from your actual content, and right now, it’s only $49.99 (reg. $360) for a lifetime subscription.

    Professional quality AI designs

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  • AI-Powered Planning Tools Designed for Serious Growth | Entrepreneur

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    Running a business means balancing vision with execution — and if you’ve ever tried building a business plan from scratch, you know it can feel like juggling spreadsheets, projections, and endless “what ifs.” That’s why LivePlan was created.

    For just $119.99 (MSRP: $180), you can access a full year of LivePlan’s business planning and financial forecasting platform — built to help entrepreneurs and leaders turn ideas into action.

    With LivePlan, you’ll get:

    • AI-powered planning that offers suggestions and guidance as you write.
    • 550+ sample business plans spanning nearly every industry to give you a head start.
    • Automatic financial forecasting — no messy formulas, just clear reports.
    • One-page plan builder to simplify big strategies into actionable priorities.
    • Growth tools like milestone scheduling, performance tracking, and budgeting.
    • Collaboration features that let you securely work with partners, advisors, or teams.

    Whether you’re pitching to investors, planning your next phase of growth, or just trying to bring structure to your big ideas, the web-based LivePlan platform gives you the clarity and confidence to lead smarter.

    Because business success is more than just ideas.

    Get one year of LivePlan’s Business Planning Software while it’s on sale for just $119.99 (MSRP: $180).

    LivePlan Business Planning Software: 1-Year Subscription

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    Running a business means balancing vision with execution — and if you’ve ever tried building a business plan from scratch, you know it can feel like juggling spreadsheets, projections, and endless “what ifs.” That’s why LivePlan was created.

    For just $119.99 (MSRP: $180), you can access a full year of LivePlan’s business planning and financial forecasting platform — built to help entrepreneurs and leaders turn ideas into action.

    With LivePlan, you’ll get:

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  • Your Competitive Edge Is a Multi-AI Platform for Just $80 | Entrepreneur

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    Running a business today isn’t just about keeping up — it’s about pulling ahead. The leaders who win are the ones who can make smart decisions faster, create sharper content quicker, and adapt before their competition even knows what’s happening. That’s exactly how 1min.AI can help — and through September 7, you can lock in lifetime access for just $79.97 (MSRP: $540).

    This all-in-one AI platform gives you the tools to turn ideas into action in under a minute. Need a blog post, a pitch deck image, a product video, or even a summarized market report? 1min.AI handles it — pulling from a lineup of powerhouse AI models (GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, Llama, and more) to deliver professional-grade work at speed.

    Here’s what business leaders get:

    • Smarter content: Articles, ads, and copy tailored to your brand voice.
    • AI design tools: Generate, edit, and optimize images in seconds.
    • Media made easy: Text-to-speech, video editing, and audio translation without outsourcing.
    • Data at your fingertips: Chat with PDFs, run keyword research, or analyze documents instantly.

    Think of it as your all-in-one competitive edge — no subscriptions, no recurring costs, just lifetime access to a toolkit that keeps improving every week. For a one-time payment of $79.97, it’s one of those rare business decisions that’s a total no-brainer.

    Get lifetime access to 1min.AI’s Advanced Business Plan for just $79.97 (MSRP: $540) through September 7.

    1min.AI Advanced Business Plan Lifetime Subscription

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    StackSocial prices subject to change.

    Running a business today isn’t just about keeping up — it’s about pulling ahead. The leaders who win are the ones who can make smart decisions faster, create sharper content quicker, and adapt before their competition even knows what’s happening. That’s exactly how 1min.AI can help — and through September 7, you can lock in lifetime access for just $79.97 (MSRP: $540).

    This all-in-one AI platform gives you the tools to turn ideas into action in under a minute. Need a blog post, a pitch deck image, a product video, or even a summarized market report? 1min.AI handles it — pulling from a lineup of powerhouse AI models (GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, Llama, and more) to deliver professional-grade work at speed.

    Here’s what business leaders get:

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  • Meta partners with Midjourney on AI image and video models | TechCrunch

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    Meta is partnering with Midjourney to license the startup’s AI image and video generation technology, Meta Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang announced Friday in a post on Threads. Wang says Meta’s research teams will collaborate with Midjourney to bring its technology into future AI models and products.

    “To ensure Meta is able to deliver the best possible products for people it will require taking an all-of-the-above approach,” Wang said. “This means world-class talent, ambitious compute roadmap, and working with the best players across the industry.”

    The Midjourney partnership could help Meta develop products that compete with industry-leading AI image and video models, such as OpenAI’s Sora, Black Forest Lab’s Flux, and Google’s Veo. Last year, Meta rolled out its own AI image generation tool, Imagine, into several of its products, including Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. Meta also has an AI video generation tool, Movie Gen, that allows users to create videos from prompts.

    The licensing agreement with Midjourney marks Meta’s latest deal to get ahead in the AI race. Earlier this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg went on a hiring spree for AI talent, offering some researchers compensation packages worth upwards of $100 million. The social media giant also invested $14 billion in Scale AI, and acquired the AI voice startup Play AI.

    Meta has held talks with several other leading AI labs about other acquisitions, and Zuckerberg even spoke with Elon Musk about joining his $97 billion takeover bid of OpenAI (Meta ultimately did not join the offer, and OpenAI denied Musk’s bid).

    While the terms of Meta’s deal with Midjourney remain unknown, the startup’s CEO, David Holz, said in a post on X that his company remains independent with no investors; Midjourney is one of the few leading AI model developers that has never taken on outside funding. At one point, Meta talked with Midjourney about acquiring the startup, according to Upstarts Media.

    Midjourney was founded in 2022 and quickly became a leader in the AI image generation space for its realistic, unique style. By 2023, the startup was reportedly on pace to generate $200 million in revenue. The startup sells subscriptions starting at $10 per month. It offers pricier tiers, which offer more AI image generations, that cost as much as $120 per month. In June, the startup released its first AI video model, V1.

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    Meta’s partnership with Midjourney comes just two months after the startup was sued by Disney and Universal, alleging that it trained AI image models on copyrighted works. Several AI model developers — including Meta — face similar allegations from copyright holders, however, recent court cases pertaining to AI training data have sided with tech companies.

    We’re always looking to evolve, and by providing some insight into your perspective and feedback into TechCrunch and our coverage and events, you can help us! Fill out this survey to let us know how we’re doing and get the chance to win a prize in return!

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  • The ‘Boring’ Side of AI That Could Make You a Fortune | Entrepreneur

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    Most people building with AI are chasing the same thing: viral chatbots, cool demos or the next trending wrapper. But I think the real money — the serious, unicorn-level money — is somewhere else entirely.

    It’s in the stuff nobody wants to touch. Tedious, time-wasting, must-do tasks. The things you hate doing, but have to. That’s where the next wave of AI companies will emerge.

    Painful > pretty

    AI that makes you laugh is fun. AI that gets your taxes filed, your Visa sorted or your documents organized? That’s life-changing.

    When I moved to the UK on a Global Talent visa, I couldn’t find a single tool to track my absence days — something crucial for maintaining legal status. So I built it myself. Not to show off. Just to solve a problem I was quietly freaking out about.

    That’s the kind of “boring” problem most people overlook. But if it causes stress, repetition or fear — it’s valuable.

    There’s more money in fixing one painful workflow than chasing 100 likes on a fancy AI-generated avatar.

    Related: Don’t Be Afraid to Embrace Boring Ideas

    The more annoying it is, the bigger the opportunity

    Scheduling medical appointments. Submitting invoices. Picking wines from a 40-page restaurant list. These aren’t sexy problems. But they’re everywhere, and no one enjoys dealing with them.

    I’ve built apps that take care of those exact scenarios. Some were simple side projects, but they solved problems that people repeatedly run into. That’s the magic formula.

    In a piece I wrote earlier — 7 AI-Based Business Ideas That Could Make You Rich — I pointed out that the most profitable ideas are often hiding in plain sight. This is another example of that.

    No team? No problem.

    The tools available now are ridiculous. With GPT-4o, Supabase, Vercel and Claude, I’ve launched entire products in a week — solo.

    No designers. No backend engineers. Just a painful idea, an AI stack and a few cups of coffee.

    I’m not the only one. I’ve seen one-person shops build apps that manage apartment leases, prep legal docs and even coach you through IVF. They’re quiet tools with unflashy interfaces, but they’re deeply useful.

    If you’re a founder today, your MVP doesn’t need to be impressive — it just needs to make someone’s headache disappear.

    Build for Tuesday, not for tech Twitter

    Some of the smartest founders I know aren’t even trying to go viral. They’re building for Tuesdays — for that one problem that hits at 4:00 p.m. when you’re stuck in a bureaucratic loop and need someone (or something) to handle it for you.

    And here’s the kicker: The more boring the problem, the less competition you’ll have. AI founders are still chasing novelty. That’s your advantage.

    This article on overlooked metaverse jobs made a similar point: There’s a fortune in places people ignore.

    Boring doesn’t mean small

    If you told someone a decade ago that accounting automation or AI-powered scheduling tools would be billion-dollar companies, they’d probably laugh.

    Now those tools run quietly in the background of almost every business.

    The lesson: Don’t build for applause. Build for relief. If your product makes someone breathe easier, saves them time or reduces stress — they’ll pay for it.

    Even if they never tweet about it.

    Related: Why Unglamorous Entrepreneurial Opportunities Can Be Lucrative

    Boring tools can still build billion-dollar companies

    If you need proof, look at Expensify. It started by solving one thing: making expense reports less painful. It’s not exciting, not revolutionary — just useful. Nobody dreams about scanning receipts, but millions of people have to do it.

    Now Expensify processes billions in transactions. All because it made one annoying task easier.

    Same story with Calendly, which killed the back-and-forth of scheduling. DocuSign, which removed the pain of printing and scanning contracts. UiPath, which built a massive business by automating office tasks.

    None of these were flashy, but they fixed something people deal with every day. That’s what makes them work.

    If you’re building with AI, forget the hype. Look for the problems people quietly suffer through. The ones they never talk about publicly, but deal with constantly. That’s where the best ideas live.

    Boring isn’t a weakness. Boring is a business model.

    You don’t need a revolutionary idea. You just need to make one annoying thing go away.

    If you can do that, it won’t matter how it looks. It will sell.

    Most people building with AI are chasing the same thing: viral chatbots, cool demos or the next trending wrapper. But I think the real money — the serious, unicorn-level money — is somewhere else entirely.

    It’s in the stuff nobody wants to touch. Tedious, time-wasting, must-do tasks. The things you hate doing, but have to. That’s where the next wave of AI companies will emerge.

    Painful > pretty

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  • Take Your Entrepreneurial Workflow to the Next Level With This E-Degree in AI | Entrepreneur

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    A survey by the Chartered Management Institute discovered that seven in 10 managers are taking their questions to an AI service before asking a superior. As an entrepreneur, you often don’t even have the option to ask another person your questions. That means it’s more important than ever to get comfortable with artificial intelligence.

    If you’ve been looking for a convenient way to learn how to use ChatGPT and AI to your advantage, the ChatGPT and Automation E-Degree can help. It provides 25 hours of instruction for just $19.97 (reg. $790) now through September 7.

    Learn practical AI skills to improve your workflow with these online courses

    Learn the ins and outs of artificial intelligence from the comfort of home thanks to the ChatGPT and Automation E-Degree. This comprehensive bundle of 12 courses is packed with 25 hours of content that gets you acquainted with artificial intelligence so you can use it to your advantage as an entrepreneur.

    Eduonix Learning Solutions, a team of professionals well-versed in tech training, serves as your instructors in each of these informative courses. They cover practical, real-world applications of ChatGPT that can be customized and adapted to different industries, so you can start working with AI in your day-to-day work life.

    Learn to streamline your work processes with smart automation, and discover how ChatGPT can improve your communication and data visualization. With this instruction, you’ll figure out how to push the boundaries of what AI can do within your own unique field, both now and in the future.

    Discover how AI can work for you with this ChatGPT and Automation E-Degree, available now for just $19.97 (reg. $790) until September 7.

    StackSocial prices subject to change.

    A survey by the Chartered Management Institute discovered that seven in 10 managers are taking their questions to an AI service before asking a superior. As an entrepreneur, you often don’t even have the option to ask another person your questions. That means it’s more important than ever to get comfortable with artificial intelligence.

    If you’ve been looking for a convenient way to learn how to use ChatGPT and AI to your advantage, the ChatGPT and Automation E-Degree can help. It provides 25 hours of instruction for just $19.97 (reg. $790) now through September 7.

    Learn practical AI skills to improve your workflow with these online courses

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  • Bring Your Nonfiction Book Ideas to Life Without Losing Any Sleep | Entrepreneur

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    Eighty-eight percent of the world’s wealthiest people read for at least 30 minutes per day, according to Business Insider. If you’re an avid reader filled with book ideas you don’t have time to write, Youbooks has the solution.

    This AI-powered non-fiction book generator can turn your ideas into polished manuscripts and, right now, a lifetime subscription to this platform is just $49 (reg. $540).

    Bring your best nonfiction book ideas to life with this AI-powered platform

    Entrepreneurs barely have time to sleep, much less crank out an entire nonfiction book. That’s where Youbooks comes in, offering a convenient way to bring your nonfiction book ideas to life. This AI-powered book generator takes your rough idea and turns it into a comprehensive manuscript, to which you retain full commercial rights.

    All you have to do is provide a brief or detailed description of the topic, and Youbooks takes the power of different AI models ranging from ChatGPT to Gemini and Llama to whip up a full-length nonfiction book up to 300,000 words long.

    If you’re concerned it may sound like a robot wrote it, rest easy knowing you can provide samples of your writing. Youbooks ensures the finished product sounds like your voice and tone. You can even provide your very own research, like documents, transcripts, or memos, so that the finished product can be based on your hard work.

    Thanks to the AI models, your manuscript will include the most up-to-date facts, statistics, and news, as it conducts real-time web searches during the drafting process. You’ll receive a final manuscript in PDF, EPUB, Word, or Markup file format.

    Your lifetime subscription provides 150,000 monthly credits, and each credit equals one word or one uploaded source word. You can also store up to 100 style samples, so Youbooks is ready to write in your style.

    Let your nonfiction book ideas see the light of day with help from this lifetime subscription to Youbooks for just $49 (reg. $540).

    StackSocial prices subject to change.

    Eighty-eight percent of the world’s wealthiest people read for at least 30 minutes per day, according to Business Insider. If you’re an avid reader filled with book ideas you don’t have time to write, Youbooks has the solution.

    This AI-powered non-fiction book generator can turn your ideas into polished manuscripts and, right now, a lifetime subscription to this platform is just $49 (reg. $540).

    Bring your best nonfiction book ideas to life with this AI-powered platform

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  • Why AI-Driven Marketing Is No Longer Optional | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    In today’s increasingly interconnected world, it can be difficult for businesses and organizations to cut through the massive amount of noise and marketing clutter vying for people’s attention. Not only are consumers exposed to more information than ever before, but businesses are being extremely creative and adaptive in how they reach their target audience. For new business owners or CMOs, identifying the right target audience and finding creative ways to distinguish themselves from competitors is a daunting task.

    Fortunately, with the introduction of artificial intelligence and powerful software tools, identifying your target audience and understanding the effectiveness of your marketing tactics has never been easier. Through the use of AI-powered market research and consumer behavior analytical tools, even the smallest companies can leverage qualified data for successful business decisions. These tools perform tasks at lightning speeds, saving executives time and money, all while learning from each client interaction.

    By evaluating the capabilities and effectiveness of AI-driven marketing campaigns, it will become clear that these advanced tools are no longer just an advantage for businesses but a necessity. Companies that fail to adapt to comfortably using AI, even beyond marketing, will struggle to keep pace with the competition. To efficiently identify and engage with qualified prospects, AI-powered tools must become a central part of the marketing toolkit.

    Related: How to Incorporate AI into Your Marketing Strategies (and Why You Should)

    Keeping up with the times

    One of the most significant advantages of AI in marketing campaigns is its ability to personalize messaging at large volumes. Instead of crafting a blanket “one-size-fits-all” approach for 50,000 recipients, AI tools can efficiently analyze consumer preferences to create tailored experiences that are more likely to resonate with prospective customers. Personalization not only leads to higher conversion rates but also demonstrates a sense of understanding that more consumers seek from businesses.

    In a recent study, McKinsey & Company found that companies leveraging AI for personalization increased their marketing ROI by 10-30%. Additionally, 65% of respondents stated that targeted promotions are a key reason to make a purchase.

    Nielsen IQ reported that Gen Z almost expects convenience and personalization in business transactions. With Gen Z an increasingly large share of the consumer market, businesses need to add personalization wherever possible throughout the consumer engagement.

    At Image One, integrating AI into our outreach has allowed us to better understand what resonates with potential franchisees at a high level — what they’re looking for and how they prefer to be approached. We’ve taken the guesswork out of our top-funnel marketing strategies and are using real-time data to guide our decision-making. This level of precision and market awareness would have been unimaginable only ten years ago without a large team and a massive budget.

    Related: 10 Ways to Use AI for Hyper-Personalized Marketing

    Setting the new standard

    The benefits of AI in marketing aren’t only in the capacity to personalize. It’s in the real-time awareness and informed decision-making that it provides to marketing teams. AI-powered platforms like HubSpot, Salesforce and Einstein offer automated insights that help marketing teams work faster and be more informed regarding their tactics. What would once take someone an hour can now be done and reviewed in five minutes.

    These tools can analyze email campaigns, website traffic, podcast transcripts, social media comments, press releases and even customer reviews across different sites to generate an informed recommended course of action. Even if that recommendation is eventually scrapped, the entire process can be replicated until an adequate outcome is achieved or built upon.

    This begs the question of how companies not deploying these AI-powered tools will keep pace with the constantly innovating market. I think there will be successful businesses that don’t widely advertise and have a regional niche. However, marketing at larger and larger scales will be necessary for companies looking to grow and expand beyond their current footprints. The efficiency with which you can deploy that large volume of marketing will make a significant difference in capturing sales and establishing yourself locally.

    It’s not a prediction; it’s an ongoing process.

    Related: Artificial Intelligence is Revolutionizing Marketing. Here’s What the Transformation Means for the Industry

    The next frontier of marketing

    AI-driven marketing isn’t a future trend, as it is already reshaping how we connect with consumers. As the tools become more advanced and accessible, the standard for what constitutes effective outreach will continue to evolve. Consumer insights and trends can easily be adapted into marketing strategies to ensure optimal results. The businesses that embrace this shift in technology will not only stand out, but they’ll also lead the way.

    At Image One, we’ve seen firsthand how AI has transformed our marketing efforts. We’re no longer relying on assumptions — we’re acting on data. And in today’s marketplace, that difference can define your success.

    Whether you’re a franchise operator, a startup founder or a seasoned executive, now is the time to adopt AI-driven marketing strategies into your operations. The tools for success are rapidly evolving, and the insights are tangible. The opportunity to grow your business with confidence has never been greater.

    In today’s increasingly interconnected world, it can be difficult for businesses and organizations to cut through the massive amount of noise and marketing clutter vying for people’s attention. Not only are consumers exposed to more information than ever before, but businesses are being extremely creative and adaptive in how they reach their target audience. For new business owners or CMOs, identifying the right target audience and finding creative ways to distinguish themselves from competitors is a daunting task.

    Fortunately, with the introduction of artificial intelligence and powerful software tools, identifying your target audience and understanding the effectiveness of your marketing tactics has never been easier. Through the use of AI-powered market research and consumer behavior analytical tools, even the smallest companies can leverage qualified data for successful business decisions. These tools perform tasks at lightning speeds, saving executives time and money, all while learning from each client interaction.

    By evaluating the capabilities and effectiveness of AI-driven marketing campaigns, it will become clear that these advanced tools are no longer just an advantage for businesses but a necessity. Companies that fail to adapt to comfortably using AI, even beyond marketing, will struggle to keep pace with the competition. To efficiently identify and engage with qualified prospects, AI-powered tools must become a central part of the marketing toolkit.

    The rest of this article is locked.

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  • AI Won’t Take Your Job — Because It Already Took It – Dragos Roua

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    When the Titanic was sinking, the band kept playing, in an eerie mix of oblivion and resignation.

    Our world is that Titanic now, and we are its musicians. We keep going, day after day, ignoring the rapid and inevitable sinking of a human era.

    If this sounds too gloomy, that’s on you. It’s not gloomy — it’s real. Our world has hit the AI iceberg, and whether we like it or not, whether we think the future is dark or bright, we’re sinking. It’s neither good nor bad. It simply is.

    Your Job Is Already Lost — You Just Don’t Realize It

    The way we do things has already changed. From coding to content production, everything now has some AI woven into its fabric. Tiny bits and pieces are already offloaded to “something else” — something cheaper and better.

    In some verticals, like software production, it’s no longer just bits and pieces, but entire chunks of operations orchestrated by a single person. Teams of ten have become the job of one.

    One-year predictions are foggier than ever; no one really knows how things will be. We can only look back at the last year and stare at it in disbelief.

    What’s Really Lost

    When I said your job is already lost, I didn’t mean your company is firing you and someone else will take your place — yes, you may think this is how things are happening, but it’s far more than that.

    Behind the thin veil of our familiar understanding of reality, there’s a more profound shift: a world in which a job is something that unequivocally defines us is disappearing.

    The entire concept of “job” is becoming obsolete.

    It’s hard to wrap our heads around this, because this is how we grew up — it’s how we made sense of the world. But really, who said we need jobs the way they are now? Who made the rules that for eight hours a day, from 9 to 5, we must lend our bodies, our thought processes, and our skills to someone else in exchange for sustenance? Why does it have to be this way?

    What if there’s a better way?

    The prospect of not having a job suddenly feels less frightening now, doesn’t it?

    You Cannot See Something You Haven’t Seen Before

    Our ability to understand the future is fundamentally based on our past experiences. If we encounter something we’ve never seen before, it simply doesn’t exist for us. We have no reference points, no framework — so it slips through our minds.

    We cannot see what will replace the “job”; we’re not equipped for it.

    But history has taught us, time and again, that every disruption — whether biological (from Neanderthal to Sapiens) or social (from hunter-gatherers to agriculture) — has ultimately enabled something better.

    We just weren’t prepared for that kind of “better,” clinging instead to our old, familiar ways.

    AI won’t take your job — because it already took it. And in the process, it made room for something far better than a job.

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    dragos@dragosroua.com (Dragos Roua)

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  • Get AI-Powered Flight Deals Delivered to Your Inbox | Entrepreneur

    Get AI-Powered Flight Deals Delivered to Your Inbox | Entrepreneur

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    Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

    While everything has seemingly gone up in price, business travel in particular can quickly eat into your budget. There are ways to dramatically reduce those costs with one easy and affordable investment. Sounds amazing? Head straight to checkout to grab it at this price.

    The OneAir Elite Plan offers a lifetime subscription that helps people save big on flights, hotels, and more. For just $69.99 (reg. $790) through November 3, you can gain access to an exclusive membership that ensures you’ll always find the best deals on travel.

    OneAir Elite is designed to help you travel smarter financially. With lifetime access to a vast selection of business, first, premium, and economy-class flight deals from up to 10 home airports to destinations worldwide, you’ll never miss out on a great deal. This membership also includes access to all mistake fares, giving you an even greater chance to score great prices.

    At the heart of OneAir Elite’s effectiveness is its advanced AI technology. This AI-powered system scans and tracks millions of fares in real time, so you receive the best flight deals faster and more accurately than ever before. It’s like having a personal travel assistant who never sleeps, constantly on the lookout for deals that fit your specific needs.

    If this could help your bottom line, stop wasting time and go to checkout to purchase it now.

    The OneAir Mobile App for iOS and Android makes the entire process simple and user-friendly. Unlike other discount travel services that redirect you to third-party sites to complete your bookings, OneAir allows you to search, book, and manage your travel all within the app.

    The Elite Plan allows you to set up destination-specific deal alerts and tailor your preferences. Whether you have frequent business trips to specific cities or you’re planning future international meetings, you’ll receive relevant and targeted flight deals that align with your needs.

    Don’t sit on this opportunity to get the best flight deals and one-on-one support for the rest of your life.

    Head straight to checkout to get a OneAir Elite Plan lifetime subscription on sale for just 69.99 (reg. $790) through November 3.

    StackSocial prices subject to change.

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