How Founders Use AI

How people use AI, and the tool for each job.

The AI map of which tool is for which job, checked on 29 October 2026, what changed since July, and every video, thread, guide, podcast and tool behind 278 answered questions on putting AI to work.

The AI map: which tool is for which job, as of 29 October 2026

Models and assistants AI assistants Frontier models Open-weight models Decision models

Building with AI Coding agents App builders Design and presentations Spreadsheets, data and internal tools

Agents and research Agents that do tasks for you AI browsers No-code automation with AI steps Research and search Meeting notes and everyday productivity

Making media Video generation Images Avatars and voice Music and audio Video editing

AI at work Prospecting and sales Marketing, ads and AI search Customer support agents Legal and contracts Finance and accounting Hiring and HR

What changed since July

  1. 28 Oct 2026 GitHub began including Copilot with GitHub Enterprise licences and added projects to the Copilot app, where several agents work across repositories. Coding agents github.blog
  2. 27 Oct 2026 n8n released the 3.0 beta, a reliability and security release with breaking changes; self-hosting now runs on Docker only and the stable release is due in early December. No-code automation with AI steps blog.n8n.io
  3. 27 Oct 2026 Hex released Hex 4.0, rebuilt for analysts and AI agents working together, with a $100 million raise. Spreadsheets, data and internal tools hex.tech
  4. 26 Oct 2026 Replit launched Replit for Business, and the next day Cloud Agents that let non-engineers propose changes to a company codebase. App builders blog.replit.com
  5. 26 Oct 2026 OpenAI released GPT-6.1 Terra at $1 / $5 per million tokens, half the price of GPT-6.1 Sol. Frontier models openai.com
All 108 changes

What founders use most, ranked by how many answers lean on it.

  1. A practitioner who built a six-figure automation business compares the actual tools named in this question, including how each... nicksaraev.com Article Make.com vs n8n in 2025 (AI Agents, Key Features, & More) Nick Saraev
  2. A first-person founder write-up of the exact n8n + AI workflows running a small startup, not a hypothetical tutorial. sliplane.io Article How I use n8n and AI agents to scale my startup Jonas Scholz (co-founder, Sliplane)
  3. A widely-shared operator thread breaking a whole business into agent-and-workflow building blocks you can copy piece by piece. linkedin.com Thread I built a 20 AI agent team that automates my business Ben van Sprundel
  4. Survey data from thousands of operators on where AI is actually saving time, evidence for prioritizing your first automations... lennysnewsletter.com Article AI tools are overdelivering: results from our large-scale AI productivity survey Lenny Rachitsky
  5. The strategic playbook that tells you what all the AI tooling should actually be executing, written by GPs who have sat on both... nfx.com Guide The NFX Fundraising Manual NFX
  6. Data-backed rules for the email your AI drafts must end up matching: short, specific, and impossible to mistake for a template. openvc.app Guide How to Cold Email Investors (And Actually Get Replies) OpenVC
  7. A layered outreach strategy showing where AI-found mutual connections beat even the best cold email. openvc.app Article Investor Outreach Strategy: Start Warm, End Cold OpenVC
  8. A real founder-investor walks a $2M seed raise through Claude end to end, from deck scoring to investor matching to cold emails. climateinsiders.substack.com Article I ran a $2M raise through Claude. Here is what happened. Yoann Berno (Climate Insiders)
  9. Shows how wiring Claude into your tools via MCPs collapses investor research from hours per firm to minutes, with paste-ready... 8fundraising.substack.com Article Fundraising MCPs (Claude, ChatGPT, & Perplexity) Nico & Ignacio (8fundraising)
  10. A working fundraiser's actual AI stack for outreach, not a listicle: what each tool does and where humans stay in the loop. 8fundraising.substack.com Article Raise Your Round 3x Faster With These 7 Tools Nico & Ignacio (8fundraising)
  11. Names the failure mode nobody mentions: obviously templated AI emails get founders quietly blacklisted between funds. venturecurator.com Article How to automate your startup fundraising with Claude (and avoid the autopilot trap) Sahil S (The Venture Curator)
  12. A Claude-powered qualification engine that cuts a 2,000-name investor list to the ~40 who can actually say yes. thevccorner.com Article Your Investor List Is 90% Dead Weight Ruben Dominguez (The VC Corner)
  13. A sitting VC GP hands over the five-prompt system that makes outreach read like real research into his thesis, because he... the-founders-corner.com Article The Claude prompt that turns a cold email into one a VC actually reads Chris Tottman (Notion Capital)
  14. Turns every investor meeting and rejection into training data for your next outreach instead of treating each email as a one-off. thevccorner.com Article Build a Self-Improving Fundraising System With Claude in 14 Steps Ruben Dominguez (The VC Corner)
  15. The canonical slide-by-slide structure your AI drafts should be filling, straight from the people who see the most seed decks... ycombinator.com Guide How to build your seed round pitch deck Y Combinator
  16. The tactical narrative-and-materials playbook from an experienced angel, the best target spec to hand your AI before it drafts... lennysnewsletter.com Article A playbook for fundraising Marc McCabe (Lenny's Newsletter)
  17. Built on actual reading-time data from thousands of decks, so you know which slides investors linger on before you draft them. docsend.com Article What VCs really want to see inside your seed deck DocSend
  18. Three evidence-backed edits worth more than fifty AI-generated slides, from the platform that watches investors read. docsend.com Article 3 pitch deck changes that make VCs pay closer attention DocSend
  19. A real fund's folder-by-folder checklist, the ground truth to have AI draft against so nothing is missing when diligence starts. underscore.vc Guide What Should Be in a Series A Data Room? (Checklist & Template) Underscore VC
  20. A VC explains how the first hours in your data room set the lens for all of diligence, with six Claude prompts to fix yours first. the-founders-corner.com Article Your Data Room Is Killing Your Round. Six Prompts to Fix It Chris Tottman (Notion Capital)
  21. Seven Claude skills and scheduled checks that keep your deck, FAQ, and data-room answers telling one consistent story. 8fundraising.substack.com Guide The Fundraising Guide to Claude Nico & Ignacio (8fundraising)
  22. The most rigorous mainstream account of how AI is changing both how VCs invest and what they now expect portfolio companies to... hbr.org Article How Generative AI Is Reshaping Venture Capital Harvard Business Review
  23. A current inside look at Motherbrain from EQT's Head of AI, on how the platform transforms venture sourcing and due diligence. tech.eu Article How EQT uses AI to see the startup world differently Tech.eu
  24. The fund's own description of its AI across sourcing, diligence, and portfolio work, straight from the source rather than... eqtgroup.com Article Motherbrain: A Powerful Synergy of AI and Human Expertise EQT

Show the next 24

Playbooks

A goal, and the route through it a step at a time.

Start using AI well Pick an assistant, learn with it, hand it real work, and keep yourself and your data safe. 5 steps Build your product with AI From a prompt to a shipped product: prototype, build, and wire AI into what you ship. 6 steps Code and ship with AI Write, ship, and maintain real software as a founder, with AI as your pair. 4 steps Design and prototype with AI Go from idea to a clickable prototype without a designer. 3 steps Build AI agents and automations Wire up agents and internal tools that do real work for you. 3 steps Put AI inside your product Ship AI features users actually feel, not a bolted-on chatbot. 3 steps Research your market with AI Size the market, study competitors, and read data in hours, not weeks. 3 steps Market and grow with AI Content, creative, and distribution: fill the top of the funnel without a big team. 5 steps Create content with AI Write, film, and design a content engine that runs without a team. 3 steps Get found in AI search Show up when founders and buyers ask AI, not just Google (AEO/GEO). 3 steps Run ads with AI Brief creatives, read the numbers, and optimize spend with AI. 3 steps Find and serve customers with AI Research the market, prospect, close, and support, with AI doing the heavy lifting. 4 steps Sell and prospect with AI Find leads, personalize outreach, and run better sales calls. 3 steps Support customers with AI Answer faster and deflect tickets without losing the human touch. 3 steps Run the back office with AI The unglamorous grind: workflows, finance, legal, and hiring, automated where it counts. 5 steps Automate your workflows Stitch your tools together so the busywork runs itself. 3 steps Hire and manage your team with AI Source, screen, and onboard faster, and keep the team in sync. 3 steps Handle legal and finance with AI Draft contracts and stay on top of the numbers without a big spend. 2 steps Be more productive with AI Get more done and think sharper with AI as a daily habit. 3 steps Become an AI-native founder The meta-skills: build your stack, prompt well, and use AI to research, think, and decide. 6 steps Build your AI stack Pick the tools worth paying for and the prompts worth reusing. 3 steps

The questions, by topic

Building & Product

Vibe Coding 15 Databases & Internal Tools 11 AI Agents 15 Design & Prototyping 12 AI in Your Product 13

Research & Knowledge

Search & Research 13 Market Research 13 Data Analysis 13

Marketing & Growth

Content Creation 12 Video, Image & Audio 14 Getting Found in AI Search (AEO/GEO) 12 Ads & Performance Marketing 14 Social & Community 12

Sales & Customers

Sales Prospecting 13 Customer Support 6 CRM & Sales Calls 12

Operations & Back-office

Legal & Contracts 13 Finance & Accounting 3 Hiring & HR 3 Productivity 3 Workflows & Automation 3

Strategy & The AI-Native Founder

Fundraising 6 Prompting 3 Building Your AI Stack 3 AI as a Thinking Partner 4

Everyday AI

Choosing Your AI Assistant 8 Learning with AI 7 Working with AI Agents 7 Using AI Safely 8 AI in Indian Languages 7
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