Practical Playbooks for Building with AI, Raising Capital, and Running Lean
Choose the work you want to improve, then move into practical notes built for founders, investors, and tech-forward readers.
Recent notes by workstream
Shadow AI is already in your company. So is the bill.
Pax8 says 35% of AI-engaged SMBs found shadow AI and 49% got a surprise AI bill. A CFO's one page inventory for agents, access and who owns the spend.
Don't give agents the checkbook without a ledger
Fragment raised a $12M Series A so AI agents cannot move money the books cannot explain. A CFO's view on agent ready accounting and where approval stays.
Claude Sonnet 5.5: price the workhorse, not the flagship
Claude Sonnet 5.5 keeps $2/$10 per-million-token pricing, half of Opus 5.5. Budget AI by cost per finished job, not by which model scores highest.
OpenClaw Enterprise makes the agent control plane free
OpenClaw Enterprise is a free, MIT-licensed control plane for persistent AI agents. The license cost of governance is now zero. The discipline is on you.
The SBA just tightened its acquisition loan rules
SBA SOP 50 10 8.1 took effect Oct 1. First-time buyers face unwaivable 10% equity, 1.25x coverage and a QoE report at $3M or more. Here is the math.
Meta's Muse wants your QuickBooks. Check five things first
Meta's Muse for Small Business links an AI agent to QuickBooks, Shopify and Stripe, free to start. Check these five settings before connecting your books.