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 360 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. YouTube's free library of royalty-free production music and sound effects, copyright-safe for your YouTube videos, found in... support.google.com Guide Use music and sound effects from the Audio Library YouTube
  2. Basic is free with 500 credits and 10 minutes of video a month, watermarked; Starter is $19 a month for 1,250 credits and... synthesia.io Tool Synthesia pricing Synthesia
  3. How to scan yourself with a phone to make an avatar with your own visual and audio likeness, call it into any shot with @me,... support.google.com Guide Create and use your avatar in Google Flow Google
  4. How YouTube adds translated audio tracks to your videos, who is eligible, and how to review a dub before it goes live. support.google.com Guide Use automatic dubbing YouTube
  5. YouTube's inauthentic content rule: mass-produced, generic or repetitive videos are not eligible for monetisation, the line... support.google.com Guide YouTube channel monetization policies YouTube
  6. Professional 2D animation and motion graphics for Mac and Windows, completely free to download and use for individuals, with... cavalry.studio Tool Cavalry Cavalry (Canva)
  7. Blender's Grease Pencil tools for drawing 2D in a 3D viewport, with full animation support and onion skinning, in free and... blender.org Tool Blender: story art and 2D animation Blender Foundation
  8. The free, open-source painting program's own guide to frame-by-frame animation, starting with a walk cycle. docs.krita.org Guide Animation with Krita Krita
  9. A free frame-by-frame animation app for phones and tablets, the easiest place to start drawing animation by hand. flipaclip.com Tool FlipaClip FlipaClip
  10. Animated character videos from a script or a document: Starter $58 a month billed yearly ($699 a year), Professional $100 a... vyond.com Tool Vyond plans Vyond
  11. Runway's own video model, which it says ranked first on the Artificial Analysis text-to-video benchmark at launch. runway.com Article Introducing Runway Gen-4.5 Runway
  12. The model for editing existing video: adding, removing and transforming objects, generating new angles of a scene, and changing... runway.com Article Introducing Runway Aleph Runway
  13. Who Runway is, its research into world models, and its offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Tokyo and elsewhere. runway.com Article About Runway Runway
  14. Runway's CEO Cristobal Valenzuela on where AI video is going and why the company is building world models. techcrunch.com Podcast Is AI video just a prequel? Runway's CEO thinks world models are next TechCrunch Equity
  15. An independent report on the Gen-4.5 launch and where Runway stands against the big labs. cnbc.com Article Runway rolls out Gen-4.5 AI video model that beats Google, OpenAI CNBC
  16. A free plan of 60 credits a month, where one credit is one minute of uploaded video; paid plans remove the watermark and export... vizard.ai Tool Vizard pricing Vizard
  17. Riverside's free plan for recording interviews and podcasts includes Magic Clips; Pro, billed $288 a year, adds hosting and... riverside.com Tool Riverside pricing Riverside
  18. How to ask Gemini to find a video and summarise it, the setting it needs, and what it cannot do with your YouTube account. support.google.com Guide Find and ask about YouTube content in Gemini Apps Google
  19. YouTube's built-in Ask feature for questions about the video you are watching: who can use it, on which devices, and its limits. support.google.com Guide Ask YouTube on the watch page YouTube
  20. One-time packages with no subscription: Basic $29, Professional $39 for 50 headshots in 30 minutes, Executive $59, a free redo,... headshotpro.com Tool HeadshotPro pricing HeadshotPro
  21. Basic, Standard and Executive packages for 40, 60 and 100 headshots, priced $35, $45 and $75 on the current offer, with a full... aragon.ai Tool Aragon pricing Aragon
  22. Growth at $19 an agent a month billed yearly with the Freddy AI Agent's first 500 sessions included; more sessions at $49 per 100. freshworks.com Tool Freshdesk pricing Freshworks
  23. An Indian helpdesk priced in rupees: a free edition, Express at ₹420 a user a month and Standard at ₹800, with Zia AI and an... zoho.com Tool Zoho Desk pricing Zoho
  24. Support Team at $19 an agent and Suite Team, which adds AI agents, at $55 billed yearly. zendesk.com Tool Zendesk pricing Zendesk

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 20 Databases & Internal Tools 11 AI Agents 15 Design & Prototyping 14 AI in Your Product 15

Research & Knowledge

Search & Research 16 Market Research 13 Data Analysis 13

Marketing & Growth

Content Creation 14 Video, Image & Audio 27 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 5 Workflows & Automation 3

Strategy & The AI-Native Founder

Fundraising 6 Prompting 4 Building Your AI Stack 5 AI as a Thinking Partner 5

Everyday AI

Choosing Your AI Assistant 15 Learning with AI 8 Working with AI Agents 8 Using AI Safely 9 AI in Indian Languages 8 Quick Fixes for Files, Photos and Video 26 AI for Your Line of Work 12
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