How a solo founder can compete with — and outperform — traditional teams.
Warm. Read the room. Smile.
Hi everyone. I'm so happy to be here. Today we're going to talk about how a solo founder — one human — can compete with and outperform a traditional team.
Not by working twice as hard. By using AI properly.
By the end of these 30 minutes, you'll know exactly where you are in the AI landscape, what to build first, and how to ship it this week.
Personal, conversational.
Quick context — I've been building software for 20 years. I'm a 3x founder, currently building Liltra.com.
Between raising two kids, acting gigs, and building a company — I had to find ways to get more done in less time, or none of this would fit.
I've spent years building systems that save time. That's also the work I do with other businesses.
So everything I'm about to share, I use myself, daily.
Build the gap.
You've probably used ChatGPT to write an email or brainstorm ideas. Most people stop there.
But that's the tip of the iceberg. Underneath, there's a whole layer of tools that work in the background — and most founders don't even know it exists yet.
Every week you lose hours to the same tasks. Sorting emails. Following up with leads. Logging new contacts. Sending reminders. Moving information between tools.
What if those steps happened in the background, and you only reviewed what matters?
Most small businesses still do this manually. That's the gap.
Set up the map. Five fingers, five categories.
There are five ways AI works for you. Think of them as five layers, from simple to powerful.
Think — you ask, it answers. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini. Research, drafts, ideas on demand.
Build — you describe, it ships. Lovable, v0, Bolt. Live websites, apps, forms in minutes.
Connect — you set the rules once. Zapier, Make, n8n. Your tools talk to each other, always on.
Store — you keep what matters. Sheets, Notion, Airtable. One source of truth your tools can read.
Orchestrate — AI runs everything. Claude Code, Codex. One assistant coordinates all the rest.
We'll walk through each one.
Quick. Most people know this layer.
This is where most people start. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Kimi.
Good for drafting, research, summarizing, quick analysis. Fast to start, little to no setup.
But on their own, they usually don't run reliable multi-step work across your tools. That's the next layer.
Show the magic.
AI can build the first version of almost anything — fast. Lovable, v0, Bolt.
Good for landing pages, prototypes, forms, lightweight apps. You describe the outcome, you get something usable in minutes.
Great for creating assets. Not the same as automation — that's the next layer.
This is where founders win back hours.
Your tools can work together. Zapier, Make, n8n.
Good for moving information between tools and triggering actions automatically. Clear, step-by-step logic for repeatable workflows.
Catch — someone still has to build, test, and maintain the workflow. That's where Orchestrate steps in.
Quick. Foundational.
Keep what matters. Files, Google Sheets, Notion, Airtable.
Leads, customers, tasks — searchable. One source of truth your tools can read.
Gmail isn't a database. Sticky notes either. If you can't find it in 5 seconds, it's not stored — it's lost.
Slow down. This is the unlock.
The most flexible layer. You describe the outcome. The system coordinates the work.
Claude Code and Codex can combine tools, files, and workflows into one process.
Web AI, then Lovable, then Workflows, then Claude Code and Codex. More power, more flexibility — and a higher learning curve.
This is where one person starts to compete with a team.
Three pieces. Make it concrete.
The model is the brain. But a brain in a jar can't do much. It needs three things.
MCPs — connections to your apps. Gmail, Notion, Calendar, Sheets, your CRM. The brain can read and write to your real business.
Tools — let it browse, read files, edit files, run code, inspect data. Hands and eyes.
Skills — give it reusable workflows and instructions so it does the same job well every time. Install once, reuse often, share with anyone.
The model matters. What it can access and use matters just as much.
Build the dream.
It remembers. It runs. While you sleep.
Memory — remembers your business. Your style, your customers, your offers — across every session. No re-onboarding.
Schedules — wakes up at 7am, drafts replies, reviews leads, posts to Telegram. While you're at yoga.
Useful systems don't just answer well once. They keep working.
Demo time. Walk through the flow.
Email triage. A new email arrives. The system reads and classifies it. Applies the right label. Flags urgent messages on Telegram. When needed, it drafts a reply for review.
New email arrives → AI reads and classifies → labels plus Telegram if urgent → response drafted if needed.
I haven't manually sorted my inbox in months.
This one always gets the room.
Business card to email. You meet someone at an event. You take a photo of their card. The system turns it into a follow-up workflow — extract details, draft a personalized email, send or queue based on your setup.
Photo to Telegram bot, AI reads name, email, company, personalized email sent.
Same outcome, built three ways. Zapier or n8n — you wire it yourself. Claude Code — you describe it, Claude writes the script. OpenClaw — you describe the outcome, it handles setup and execution.
Three different effort levels. Same result.
This is the showcase. Slow down.
One pipeline, many SEO pages. The articles on liltra.com/learn — every single one was generated by an AI editorial pipeline I built with Claude.
I call it an AI Board — a structured workflow where different agents handle different jobs. Research, writing, critique, SEO. An orchestrator coordinates from start to finish.
First step — discover what to write about. Before any writing happens, the board figures out what's actually worth covering. What customers are searching for, what questions they're asking, where the gaps are.
That produces a list of topics. Each topic becomes a page.
Each page goes through an agentic loop — Claude watches every step. If anything goes off track, it pings me on Telegram. One page takes about an hour, but it's the most thorough research you can pull from the internet.
Run through the 7 steps. Don't dwell — show the depth.
Then for each topic — seven steps.
One — deep research across 100+ sources. Articles, competitor pages, forums, studies, expert sources.
Two — build a local knowledge base. Structured, sourced, verified. The writer draws from facts, not guesses.
Three — write an SEO-optimized page. Right structure, right keywords, natural readability — from the first draft.
Four — review, critique, rewrite. Other agents act as critics. Flag weak sections, challenge claims, suggest improvements. The writer rewrites. Loop repeats until quality passes.
Five — translate to five languages. Adapted for tone and local context, not word-for-word.
Six — create the final page. Production-ready, styled, no manual cleanup.
Seven — publish and notify Google. Live and discoverable in minutes, not weeks.
Every article on liltra.com/learn was built by this pipeline.
Map the audience to a starting point.
Pick your level.
Tier 1 — web chatbots. ChatGPT, Gemini, Kimi. You type, they answer. Great for brainstorming, drafting, summarizing. No setup. One conversation at a time.
Tier 2 — smart tools. Lovable, Zapier, Notion. AI baked in. Builds a site from a description, connects your apps, organizes your databases. AI does real work inside the tool — not just chat.
Tier 3 — orchestrators. Claude, Codex, OpenClaw. You describe what you want, the AI figures out which tools to use, connects them, executes the workflow. You build your own automations. Ultimate power, steeper curve.
Start where you are. Move up when you're ready.
Make it actionable. Five steps, five days.
Five days. One workflow. Here's exactly what to do.
Day 1 and 2 — track repetitive tasks. Don't try to fix anything yet. Just notice.
Day 3 — pick one small, low-risk workflow.
Day 4 — write the steps in plain language. Ask Gemini how to automate it.
Day 5 — build the version with Gmail, Telegram, Notion, Zapier, or Claude. Test it on three real examples. Fix what breaks.
Don't automate everything at once. Start with one repeatable task. Win that first, then expand.
Read the names. Tell them they can start tonight.
Start with these. All free or free-tier. No credit card for the first step.
Claude Desktop and Claude Code — friendly UI, works with your local files and apps. Code runs in the terminal for maximum power.
Lovable — describe what you want, get a live website, app, or form in minutes. No code.
OpenClaw — open-source business and personal AI assistant on your own device. Works through WhatsApp, Telegram. Caveat — runs on your machine with broad access.
Zapier — connect 7,000+ apps. When this happens, do that. Runs 24/7.
Wispr Flow — dictate instead of typing. Works in any app.
Notion — notes, tasks, databases, wikis. Your entire business, searchable.
Warm close. Look at the audience. Pause.
If you want help building this for your business — let's talk.
Software architect, AI automation specialist, technical founder. With love to female founders.
Find me on LinkedIn, X, or ostankov.com/linktree.
Thank you.
Reach me via the contact section or my linktree.