We’ve all seen the hyped-up LinkedIn posts: “I told ChatGPT to start a business with $100 and it’s already making $10k a month!”
As something of an AI thinker, I’m usually the one in the room squinting at those claims. In the real world—the world of Ballard bakeries and Capitol Hill boutiques—business isn’t just about catchy ta…
Category: AI Lab
If I Were Designing an AI Assistant for a Law Firm Today, Here’s What I’d Build
AI is being marketed to law firms as either transformative or dangerous. Depending on the headline, it will replace associates or expose firms to malpractice risk. I find both narratives unhelpful.
If I were designing an AI assistant for a small, local law firm, perhaps a 3–10 attorney practice handling personal injury or family law, I wouldn…
Can AI Reduce Administrative Overhead by 40%? Modeling the Math for a Solo Founder
1. The Baseline: Where the Time Actually Goes
AI’s promise is leverage. For large companies, that often means reducing headcount or headcount growth. For a solo founder, it means something much simpler and more urgent: reclaiming time.
This question is not abstract for me. As I build Seattle App Studio, developing a portfolio of small bus…
Before You Automate Anything: How I Evaluate an AI Workflow for a Small Business
Artificial intelligence tools are improving quickly. Every week, a new platform promises to automate customer service, replace administrative work, or “10x productivity.”
For a small business owner, that creates pressure. You start to wonder: Are we falling behind? Should we be using this?
But in my experience, the right question isn’t…
Why Measuring AI’s Ability to Complete Long Tasks Matters — and What It Means for Businesses
When most people think about AI progress, they think about big, flashy moments: an AI winning a chess match, generating a song, or answering a complicated trivia question in seconds. But if you run a business, you know real success doesn’t come from a single clever move. It comes from sticking with a project — handling complexity over days, ev…