AI in Business: Productivity Without the Shortcut
AI is everywhere, but most companies are still asking the wrong questions.
They’re asking:
“What can AI do for me?”
They should be asking:
“Where am I wasting my team’s talent on tasks AI could own?”
Because AI isn’t a silver bullet. It’s not here to generate your ideas or replace your creativity. But it is the most effective way to speed up your execution without sacrificing quality, if you use it right.
Let’s walk through how we think about AI at Foundations, and how founders should think about it inside their teams.
Use Case #1: Accelerate the Tasks You Used to Hate
Think back 5–10 years.
If you needed closed captions on a video, you had to manually transcribe the audio, build the script, and time each subtitle. It took hours, and drained creative energy.
Now? AI does 90% of the work in minutes. You still need to clean it up, but you’ve compressed the task from hours to minutes, without outsourcing quality.
That’s the sweet spot. AI isn’t about doing less work. It’s about doing the same work faster so you can stay in your zone of genius longer.
Use Case #2: Notes, Research, and Briefings
At Foundations, we use AI to:
Transcribe sales calls and extract takeaways
Generate meeting prep docs from CRM data and company sites
Build V1s of research briefings before outbound calls
It doesn’t replace our thinking. It accelerates the admin so we can spend more time customizing our pitch, focusing on strategy, and closing deals.
The secret? Prompting.
If you’re not getting the results you want from AI, the issue isn’t the tool, it’s the instructions. Think of AI like a junior employee. If you tell them:
“Write an email.”
You’ll get something generic.
But if you say:
“Here’s the goal. Here’s the audience. Here’s the format. Here’s a sample. Now rewrite this draft within that framework.”
Now you’ve turned AI into your quality control. You’ve replaced hours of formatting and polishing with a system that works at the click of a button.
AI Is for Repetitive Work, Not Strategy
There’s a temptation to hand off the entire task to AI:
“Write this blog.”
“Create this sequence.”
“Build this strategy.”
That’s a mistake.
You still need to own the idea. You still need to set direction and build structure. AI isn’t a strategist, it’s a draft engine. It helps you move faster from thought to action.
You should be thinking first. Then asking:
What tasks are repetitive?
What elements are already structured?
What outputs do I always format the same way?
Then, and only then, feed that context to your AI engine.
Train Models Like You Train Teams
Don’t just ask AI to “write an email.” Train it on your tone, style, structure, and expectations.
You can build your own frameworks:
Emails with 3-sentence intros, grade 5 readability, clear CTAs
Blogs that follow a hook-insight-example structure
Demo scripts that highlight 3 key value props and end with next steps
Once AI knows your standards, it becomes a force multiplier, not a risk.
That’s how we use it at Foundations. Our blog process starts with a live Zoom recording. We run that into a trained GPT model. Then we refine, layer on tone, and tailor it for our brand.
The V1 is done in a fraction of the time. The quality stays the same. And we get to spend our energy where it matters, not in formatting purgatory.
AI Doesn’t Replace People. It Clears the Runway for Them.
The goal isn’t to replace skill with automation.
It’s to clear out the mundane so your people can operate in their zone of excellence.
AI shouldn’t replace cold calling.
AI shouldn’t write your outbound for you.
But AI can take your drafts, format them, and get you to ready faster.
It’s not the strategist. It’s the builder.
Use it to:
Consolidate scattered notes
Draft recap emails
Structure follow-ups
Standardize briefings
QA copywriting
Accelerate templated content
You don’t just move faster. You reduce human error. You unlock capacity. And you let your team do more without burning out.
Final Thought: Prompt Like a Pro, Don’t Shortcut the Work
Great founders don’t look for hacks.
They look for levers.
AI is one of the best levers available today, when used with intention.
So ask yourself:
What’s slowing down your team today?
What are you doing manually that could be structured once and repeated?
Where is time being spent on formatting, not thinking?
Start there.
Give AI the playbook.
Then review, revise, and iterate like you would with any good teammate.
That’s how you get V1 faster. That’s how you scale your execution.
And that’s how AI becomes your engine for operational leverage, not a shortcut for shallow work.