You built your business software with AI. Now what?
The last five, six, maybe seven clients we've worked with have all tried to build some of their software with AI first. These aren't softwa…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
Notes & Quick Takes
Short thoughts for business owners stuck in spreadsheets, handoffs, and work they hate doing by hand. Copy, post, swap between here and LinkedIn.
Manual workflows feel free until you run the math
Manual workflows in a company feel free because there isn't an invoice that comes up from a third party. That's why most business owners, e…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
You're the backup system
What if a quote could be in their inbox ten minutes after the call? For a lot of owners, it still takes hours. The quote gets rebuilt by ha…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
The problem was never speed
Software developers are more productive than ever before. Well, maybe more busy than ever before. Productive implies there's value returned…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
Which things to persist on and which to quit
Running a business is an endless barrage of problems, fires, and obstacles that require you to provide an answer. Do you persist, or do you…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
Nobody knows how the AI story ends
Every day I log on to LinkedIn, check my email, or watch a video, and it's a never-ending barrage of one of two things. Either "AI is killi…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
Right Now Is the Best Time to Think About Software, Not After You're Overwhelmed
App Kickstart closes tonight. This might be the last time we run it, so I want to say this plainly: right now is the best time for a busine…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
Automate the painful part last
Every business owner I talk to wants to start with the work that ruins their week. Sometimes it's a spreadsheet. Sometimes it's manual quot…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
The waste you forgot about is still eating your week
The more conversations I have with companies about automating manual work, the clearer this gets. Some of the biggest time sinks, the real…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
Turn your weaknesses into a baseline, not a project
We're all pretty good at spotting our strengths. And almost every time, they line up exactly with the parts of the business we love doing.…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
The Line That Actually Works
For years I described GorillaBot Labs the way an engineer describes anything: software development and automations agency, we help clients…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
Even great software breaks. That's not the problem.
I was using a piece of software the other day that I genuinely admire. Clean design, thoughtful UX, the kind of product I look at for inspi…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
The build-vs-buy math just flipped
We needed sales software. Call a client, bridge the call to a rep, record it, transcribe it, feed it into our AI ops and SOPs. Nothing exot…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
The AI that couldn't tell me what day it was
I use AI for almost everything I do day to day. Internal process, client billing, dashboard management, even drafting and publishing this n…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
You Never Really Know If It's Working
Ten years in, the thing nobody warned me about is still the hardest part. Every step forward feels identical to the step before failure. Th…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
My own automation blind spot
I missed a weekly client report a couple months ago. Not because I don't care — because the task depended on me remembering a Friday click.…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
When one person carries the close rate
If your top performer is dramatically better than everyone else, assume the process is still in their head. We mapped objections and pivot…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
No invoice doesn't mean no cost
Manual work hides because it's spread across the week. Copy-paste between tools, chasing intake over email, rebuilding onboarding from scra…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
"Delegate more" is useless advice
Passing tasks without passing criteria just trains your team to wait. I use a 90-10 rule with clients: if I'd say yes 90% of the time, they…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
You're handing off judgment, not steps
When a handoff fails, the SOP wasn't the problem. The person never learned what "done" looks like or when to escalate. Three things fix mos…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
The spreadsheet isn't the villain
I see owners beat themselves up for running on spreadsheets. Don't. They're a great tool until they're not. The mistake is skipping the mid…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
Sometimes wait is the right move
I had to tell a successful owner to hold off on custom software. She had real pain, but the math was ugly — rebuilding 80% to get the last…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs
Build beats roadmap
Most technical help stops at the plan. A deck, a recommendation, a list of tools — then you're on your own. The owners I work with don't ne…
John Rake
Principal, GorillaBot Labs