How to Win With AI in 2026
In a Nutshell
AI is advancing rapidly, making workflow-based thinking essential: break jobs into granular tasks, automate them with AI agents, and prioritize training AI like employees for 100x speed and 1/100th cost over role-based hiring. Adopt a barbell strategy—go fully AI-first for high-risk/high-reward startups disrupting incumbents, or low-risk bets on unchanging human needs like health, food, and entertainment—while leveraging slow human adaptation for massive margins. Actionable steps: list daily tasks, feed them to AI for automation plans, use screenshots as an AI tutor, and join communities like ACQ Vantage; free 10-stage roadmap at acquisition.com/roadmap.
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Wake up. AI is here. OpenClaw moment happened over President's Day weekend; it started a month earlier and was acquired for a billion dollars by OpenAI. If you're not paying attention, you will be left behind. Not here to fearmonger, but to prepare for the biggest shift on Main Street, not just tech businesses. News flash: AI will never be worse than it is right now. Assuming any rate of improvement over any reasonable time period, learning how to use AI should become your number one priority, number two priority, number three priority, and number 10 priority.
This video shares ways to think about AI and use cases deployable today to make significant changes in your business, start one, or safeguard your role in a larger business. Also for my team. Never been a better time to start an AI-first business to disrupt existing markets because incumbents are busy running businesses rather than learning AI and using terms like AI-first without being AI-first. Starting out gives you time advantage. Every AI skill stacked gives disproportionate leverage over competitors.
Started companies (not public) with revenue per employee in the millions per year per head from day one because big org charts make it hard to adopt new, uncomfortable tech and have hard conversations like automating roles. Encourage raising the bar: people who meet it stay, others don't. Harsh reality.
Effectively, there's zero net job creation in the private sector.
Jerome Pal said this recently: zero jobs growth in private sector despite good economy because people are automating jobs away. Motivates action because it won't happen slowly—it will happen quickly.
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