Synthetic intelligence is all over the place proper now. Instruments, platforms, predictions, and guarantees are flooding the entrepreneurial panorama, all claiming to save lots of time, improve effectivity, or unlock progress.
However amid the noise, one query retains surfacing for enterprise homeowners:
Can AI truly assist us construct higher companies—with out making them really feel much less human?
All of us need the identical factor from AI: Resolve buyer wants and clear up the again workplace on the similar time. That’s the dream, proper?
As a substitute of assuming it will work, I examined it.
I ran two AI experiments in parallel. One was public-facing and designed to serve prospects straight. The opposite lived within the again workplace and centered on operational effectivity.
Each have been intentional. Each have been small. And each have been constructed on the identical philosophy behind Revenue First, The Pumpkin Plan, and Clockwork.
Not a headline-grabbing stunt.
Not a rush to undertake the newest expertise.
However a deliberate take a look at rooted in the identical philosophy that formed Revenue First, The Pumpkin Plan, and Clockwork: actual progress comes from experimentation, not assumption.
What began as a take a look at of AI capabilities turned one thing a lot greater—a lesson in readability, momentum, and the place humanity actually belongs in fashionable enterprise.
The Buyer-Going through Experiment: AI + The Man
Why did I select this experiment within the first place? As a result of, entrepreneurs don’t wrestle as a result of they lack data. They wrestle as a result of uncertainty compounds quicker than assist.
A small query—Am I allocating money accurately? Is that this the fitting subsequent step? Am I lacking one thing apparent?—can quietly snowball into hesitation, delay, and ultimately inaction. Momentum doesn’t come from failure, however from friction.
,I’ve watched this occur for many years.
So the query wasn’t, “How can AI do extra?”
It was:
What if expertise might shorten the hole between confusion and readability—with out changing human judgment?
That query turned the inspiration for what ultimately developed into AI + The Man.
The Worry Most Individuals Don’t Admit About AI
Resistance to AI isn’t all the time concerning the expertise itself.
It’s about id.
The fear is that automation will flatten nuance, dilute voice, or flip significant work into one thing transactional. I shared these considerations. My work has all the time been rooted in empathy, lived expertise, and real-world testing. I didn’t need velocity to come back on the expense of connection.
So I set clear boundaries for this experiment:
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AI wouldn’t exchange dialog.
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AI wouldn’t exchange discernment.
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AI wouldn’t exchange teaching or accountability.
As a substitute, it will assist them.
That distinction mattered.
What Really Occurred When the Experiment Went Stay
The primary indicators of success weren’t metrics.
They have been messages.
Individuals started saying issues like:
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“I lastly moved ahead as a substitute of overthinking.”
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“I didn’t spiral once I hit a query.”
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“I felt supported within the second.”
These responses revealed one thing crucial.
The true worth of AI in enterprise isn’t productiveness—it’s emotional reduction.
Entrepreneurs don’t want extra data. They want well timed readability. When the time between query and reply shrinks, confidence grows. Motion follows.
That’s when the actual perception surfaced.
The Aha Second: AI Doesn’t Substitute Humanity—It Protects It
Right here’s the conclusion that modified every part for me:
AI doesn’t take away human connection. It reveals the place human connection issues most.
When AI dealt with what it does greatest—retrieval, repetition, and immediacy—it freed me to concentrate on what solely a human can do:
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nuanced judgment
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real-time teaching
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empathy
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truth-telling
As a substitute of being all over the place, I may very well be current the place it mattered most.
This shifted how I outline accessibility in enterprise. Being supportive doesn’t imply being continuously obtainable. It means designing techniques that ship the correct of assist on the proper second.
Why Alignment Issues Extra Than Intelligence
One other lesson from this experiment is that AI effectiveness has little or no to do with uncooked intelligence—and every part to do with alignment.
All through this course of, my buddy and masterful AI marketing consultant, Sandy Waggett, performed a crucial position on this grounding work.
constantly pulled the experiment out of concept and again into actuality and again to the lived expertise of entrepreneurs making choices underneath actual stress, with actual penalties.
The recurring query was easy however highly effective:
Is that this truly helpful to an actual entrepreneur, proper now, when the stakes really feel excessive and the margin for error feels small?
That lens formed each determination. We didn’t chase complexity. We didn’t chase novelty. We chased readability.
The end result wasn’t a software that felt robotic or generic. It felt acquainted, sensible, and grounded as a result of it was aligned with actual frameworks, actual language, and actual expertise.
The Again-office AI Experiment: Kick Accounting Software program
There’s one other experiment occurring quietly behind the scenes in my very own enterprise and it’s simply as essential.
We’ve began operating our books in parallel: one set in our current accounting system, and one other in a brand new AI-driven accounting software known as Kick.
Why do that? As a result of I don’t simply need to examine AI instruments or assume they’ll make life simpler, I would like proof.
We’re watching intently to see:
- Does it truly save us time?
- Does it floor issues our previous system misses?
- Is the output clearer, extra actionable, and extra human-friendly?
On the finish of the day, I gained’t totally commit until it’s a transparent enchancment that reduces friction, restores confidence, and helps higher choices. However that’s precisely what experiments are for: they allow us to push boundaries safely, collect proof as a substitute of opinions, and undertake new instruments deliberately, not reactively.
This Was By no means Simply About AI
The deeper fact is that this: the experiment was about intentional system design.
Designing companies that:
- scale back friction as a substitute of making it
- restore momentum as a substitute of draining vitality
- assist decision-making as a substitute of overwhelming it
AI merely pressured these inquiries to the floor. I’ve seen the identical sample play out throughout a number of experiments; on our talking web page, in how we’re pressure-testing Kick, and in how entrepreneurs reply when readability replaces chaos.
The sample is all the time the identical:
Take away friction. Restore momentum. Respect humanity.
Sensible Takeaways: Methods to Apply This in Your Enterprise
You don’t have to undertake AI wholesale to profit from this lesson. You do have to experiment deliberately. Listed here are 4 sensible actions you possibly can take proper now:
- Establish the place momentum breaks
Ask your self: The place do I hesitate most in my enterprise? Pricing? Money movement? Hiring? Determination-making? That hesitation level is your highest-leverage alternative for enchancment. - Shrink the hole between query and readability
Search for methods, AI-driven or not, to scale back the delay between uncertainty and perception. Higher techniques, clearer documentation, determination frameworks, or instruments that present quick steerage could make a dramatic distinction. - Shield human vitality
Audit the place your time is being spent on duties that don’t require your judgment, empathy, or creativity. Delegate, automate, or redesign these duties so you possibly can concentrate on work that truly strikes the needle. - Run small, reversible experiments
Don’t overhaul every part directly. Take a look at low-risk, time-bound, reversible modifications. Experiments don’t demand certainty, however they do create it.
Why This Issues Extra Than Ever
Entrepreneurship is turning into extra complicated, not much less. Data is ample, however readability is scarce. Instruments are multiplying, however confidence is fragile.
The long run doesn’t belong to those that undertake expertise the quickest. It belongs to those that design deliberately, ask higher questions, take a look at earlier than committing, and use techniques to guard, not exchange, their humanity.
A Closing Invitation
Right here’s the motion I would like you to take after studying this:
Discover one friction level in your enterprise. Only one. Then ask your self:
What’s a small experiment I might run to make this simpler?
Not good. Not everlasting. Simply intentional.
That’s how actual breakthroughs occur. And if you happen to’re inquisitive about testing AI in your enterprise, exploring Kick accounting, or operating your personal experiments, now could be the right time to start out.
You’ve acquired this!
-Mike
