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. The definitive weekly newsletter on how data-driven funds actually screen, written by the Earlybird partner who built one. datadrivenvc.io Guide Data Driven VC Andre Retterath (Earlybird)
  2. From the CRM half the industry runs on: the actual AI stack sitting between your email and a partner meeting. affinity.co Guide 10 AI Tools for Venture Capital Firms in 2026 Affinity
  3. Lemkin shares what actually surfaced from running thousands of decks and 850k valuations through LLMs, a rare look at the... saastr.com Article When the Most Expensive LLM Isn't Worth It: Analyzing 3,000+ VC Pitch Decks Jason Lemkin (SaaStr)
  4. A high-volume pre-seed fund on where AI helps its decisions and where humans still decide, useful for calibrating what actually... hustlefund.vc Article Understanding the Impact of AI on Venture Capital Investment Decisions Brian Nichols (Hustle Fund)
  5. The stage-calibrated prompts investors run on you, from pre-seed to Series B, which makes it a cheat sheet for founders too. 22ndcenturyfrontier.com Article The Complete VC Due Diligence Prompt Playbook: 33 AI Prompts Petar Dimov (22nd Century Frontier)
  6. The official walkthrough of getting from one paragraph to a full draft, including what the AI covers and what it leaves to you. gamma.app Guide Gamma Generates Investor Pitch Deck Drafts From a Simple Startup Description Gamma
  7. A tool-maker's unusually honest take on where AI generation helps a raise and where founder judgment must override it. beautiful.ai Article AI Presentations for Startups: Pitch Deck Best Practices That Actually Win Funding Beautiful.ai
  8. Shows exactly what their AI can and cannot do for an investor deck, useful calibration before you trust any generator. slidebean.com Guide Slidebean AI Pitch Deck Generator: How It Works Slidebean
  9. A builder-written comparison focused on output quality and PowerPoint/Slides compatibility rather than affiliate links. plusai.com Article 5 Best AI Pitch Deck Generators Plus AI
  10. Reading-behavior data on what makes decks work, the quality bar to judge any AI-generated draft against. docsend.com Article Anatomy of a compelling pitch deck DocSend
  11. Explains how the VC pitch coach works, including tuning the AI to the temperament of the specific investor you will face. geekwire.com Article AI-powered VC pitch coach from Yoodli helps startup founders prepare to face investors GeekWire
  12. Signal that AI roleplay practice has become a real category, with context on where the product is heading. techcrunch.com Article Ex-Googler's Yoodli triples valuation to $300M+ TechCrunch
  13. A ready-to-paste prompt that turns Claude into a skeptical Series A investor who rates every answer and summarizes your weak... founderprompts.com Article How to Use AI to Prep for Investor Q&A (Prompt Included) Vasil (Founder Prompts)
  14. The prompt-plus-code original that showed founders how to simulate angels, VCs, and PE investors with distinct personalities. linkedin.com Article GPT Venture Capitalist Bot: Practice Your Startup Pitches Reuven Cohen
  15. The seven questions every pitch must answer succinctly, the exact list to drill until your AI interrogator cannot trip you. ycombinator.com Guide How to Pitch Your Company Y Combinator
  16. Shows how deep context plus structured prompts turns Claude into a genuine stress-tester of your narrative instead of a... climateinsiders.substack.com Article The Claude Prompts That Are Closing Climate Rounds in 2026 Yoann Berno (Climate Insiders)
  17. A practical prep sequence combining rehearsal reps, question banks, and delivery feedback into one routine. yoodli.ai Guide How to Prepare for an Investor Pitch & Win Them Over Yoodli
  18. The startup-CFO firm behind hundreds of venture-backed companies lays out exactly what financial diligence will probe. kruzeconsulting.com Guide Finance Due Diligence for Startups: A Guide Kruze Consulting
  19. The stacked-SAFE dilution surprise that ambushes founders at Series A, explained with real numbers before you sign the next cap. kruzeconsulting.com Article How SAFE and Convertible Notes Impact Your Series A Dilution Kruze Consulting
  20. A lawyer-written cap table guide with worked dilution examples and vetted templates, a trustworthy skeleton to iterate on with AI. promise.legal Guide Free Cap Table Template: Track Equity, Dilution & Ownership Promise Legal
  21. A VC shows the reclassification audit investors now run on ARR, and the Claude prompt to run it on yourself first. the-founders-corner.com Article The Claude Prompt That Found My Real ARR. Then I Raised. Chris Tottman (Notion Capital)
  22. If you build with AI, data provenance is now a diligence killer; this explains what documentation keeps your round alive. startupsmagazine.co.uk Article The new due diligence: why VCs are walking away from AI startups with hidden legal risk Startups Magazine
  23. A stage-appropriate checklist so your early-stage diligence folder is complete without being bloated. raisetalks.com Guide 2025 Ultimate Data Room Checklist for Pre-Seed & Seed Startups RaiseTalks
  24. Written from the investor's side of the table, so you assemble numbers in the order diligence will actually read them. goingvc.com Guide VC Checklist Guide: Everything Investors Expect In Your Data Room GoingVC

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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