AI—and how to get real value from it—is one of the hottest topics in startup land right now. Entrepreneurs have been sharing how they’re incorporating it into their businesses in ways that go far beyond the basics.

By now, we’ve all used LLMs for research, summaries, and content production. Those use cases are powerful—but they’re just the beginning. Coding companions and “vibe coding” have received most of the attention, deservedly so. Still, even for non-developers, there are more advanced AI tools that should already be part of the workflow. Here are a few I’ve been experimenting with:

1. Open-source AI as an employee
For the past few weeks, I’ve been using OpenClaw, an open-source agent running on my Mac Mini, prompting it to create software, conduct longer-running research, and act as an assistant. The big idea is simple: treat the AI like an employee. Give it access to your corporate tools and a full web browser, and there’s no reason it can’t handle a significant percentage of the tasks knowledge workers typically do.

2. Spreadsheet and financial model work
AI tools are now incredibly strong at building financial models, writing scripts for data transformation, and running complex analyses. Instead of delegating the first draft of an analysis to someone on your team, try doing it yourself—with AI as your partner. Force yourself to use AI to accomplish the goal and see how far you can get. You may be surprised by how much leverage you already have. Start with Gemini for Google Sheets or a similar tool.

3. A coworker agent as your default mode
Run through a coworker-agent tutorial like Claude Code for Everyone and then use it as your default operating method for the day. Let it draft emails, summarize documents, analyze data, and plan tasks. It won’t be perfect, and it won’t finish everything. But by making it your starting point—and cleaning up around the edges—you’ll quickly appreciate what’s already possible. The productivity gains are real today, and the software will only continue to improve.

There’s also a growing debate about AI eliminating “laptop jobs.” I’m in the camp that believes higher productivity ultimately increases demand for capable team members. Historically, the diffusion of new technology takes longer than people expect. The world will absolutely change—but it’s unlikely to result in mass unemployment in the next 12 to 24 months. Over the next decade, we’re far more likely to see a productivity boom that enables people to do more meaningful work at greater scale and make a larger contribution.

Entrepreneurs should deeply integrate advanced AI tools into the workflow of every team member. If someone isn’t willing to adopt them, that’s a real issue. The companies that fully embrace these tools will move faster, learn faster, and compound progress more quickly.

It may feel uncomfortable at first. But over time, founders and teams who put AI at the center of their workflow will increase their velocity and accelerate progress toward their vision.

Don’t wait. Make AI foundational—personally and across your startup.