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 leaner contract-review alternative popular with startup legal teams. ivo.ai Tool Ivo: AI Contract Review for In-House Legal Teams Ivo
  2. Instant, founder-priced contract review you can try on a live document today. goheather.io Tool goHeather: Legal AI Contract Review goHeather
  3. Expert-in-the-loop Indian incorporation from Rs 1,499, built by a startup for startups. razorpay.com Tool Razorpay Rize: Company Registration in India Razorpay Rize
  4. The India startup-law firm whose free guides cover almost every incorporation and compliance question. treelife.in Tool Treelife: Legal, Compliance and Finance for Indian Startups Treelife
  5. A real lawyer-drafted template to feed your AI instead of letting it invent one. promise.legal Tool Founder Agreement Template with Vesting Promise Legal
  6. A structured calculator beats a gut-feel 50/50 you'll resent in year two. icanpitch.com Tool Co-founder Equity Split Calculator: Fair Division Framework ICanPitch
  7. A ready template to review with AI rather than drafting from a blank page. zegal.com Tool Founder's IP Assignment template Zegal
  8. The standard startup baseline: GDPR/CCPA-aware policies that update as laws change. termly.io Tool Free Privacy Policy Generator Termly
  9. Pairs with the privacy policy so your two core documents don't contradict each other. termly.io Tool Terms and Conditions Generator Termly
  10. The free official-adjacent compliance checker; ten minutes tells you your risk tier. artificialintelligenceact.eu Tool EU Artificial Intelligence Act: developments and compliance checker Future of Life Institute
  11. The free fundraising network with thousands of investor profiles that shows which VCs want your stage and sector, plus your... signal.nfx.com Tool Signal by NFX NFX
  12. A free investor database that AI-personalizes each email and routes you to the channel each investor actually reads. openvc.app Tool OpenVC OpenVC
  13. An AI fundraising platform tracking 123k investor profiles that maps hidden warm-intro paths and analyzes your investor... withquill.ai Tool Quill (formerly Flowlie) Quill
  14. Smart Slides auto-fix the layout as your content changes, so deck iteration between investor meetings stops eating evenings. beautiful.ai Tool Beautiful.ai for Startups Beautiful.ai
  15. An AI deck builder from a team that has helped founders raise $500M+ and reviews real decks publicly on YouTube. slidebean.com Tool Slidebean Slidebean (Caya)
  16. A conversational co-pilot that interviews you and turns the answers into a deck, better for founders who talk better than they... pitchbob.io Tool PitchBob PitchBob
  17. The AI roleplay coach that interrupts with VC-style questions mid-pitch and grades your clarity, pace, and filler words. yoodli.ai Tool Yoodli Yoodli
  18. Record your pitch and the AI listens, interrupts, and challenges assumptions like a live investor would. launch.pitchmyventure.com Tool Pitch My Venture Pitch My Venture
  19. A presentation coach that reads facial expressions and vocal patterns, built for handling tough questions and projecting the... echopitch.io Tool EchoPitch EchoPitch
  20. Two decades of proven model templates rebuilt around AI: start from structure that works, customize with Claude or ChatGPT,... hemrock.com Tool Hemrock (formerly Foresight) Taylor Davidson
  21. Model your SAFEs, rounds, and exit waterfall properly so the dilution answer you give investors is actually right. hemrock.com Tool Cap Table and Exit Waterfall Tool Taylor Davidson (Hemrock)
  22. The default choice when you want the most polished UI per prompt. v0.app Tool v0 by Vercel Vercel
  23. A spreadsheet-first AI analyst for founders who live in Excel and Sheets. betteranalyst.com Tool Formula Bot: AI data analytics Formula Bot
  24. The single tool where you storyboard, generate, and stitch Veo clips; over 275M videos made in it. flow.google.com Tool Google Flow (Veo, Imagen, Gemini studio) Google Labs

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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