How to Turn Economic Challenges into Opportunities

THE HOW TO GUIDE
How to Start Using AI in Your Business (Without Huge Budgets or Wasted Time)

Hi there,
We’re not going to pretend things are rosy. Business confidence is low. Budgets are being scrutinised. Customers expect more — faster, cheaper, smarter.

But downturns are rarely just problems — they’re also filters. They force us to strip away the fluff and get laser-focused on what creates real value.

The businesses that win during times like this don’t just survive. They use uncertainty to reinvent how they operate. Here’s how to do that — practically, fast, and without burning your budget.

PART 1
⚡ Accept That the Game Has Changed

Waiting for “normal” to return is a losing strategy.

In just the last 12 months:

 • 80% of Fortune 500 CEOs said AI is now a top-three priority
 • 70% of tasks in white-collar jobs are now considered AI-augmentable
 • Companies using AI across operations grew 50% faster than peers (McKinsey 2024)

Even Google admitted internally: “We have no moat” — referring to how quickly generative AI has levelled the playing field.

Adapt or get outpaced.

What we’re seeing with our clients:

-Legacy businesses being out-executed by nimble startups using ChatGPT,
Zapier and Notion
-Mid-sized teams launching new AI-powered products in weeks, not quarters
-CTOs and Heads of Ops experimenting with internal agents that replace dashboards altogether

STEP 2
Look Inside Before You Look Out

Customer facing AI is an enormous opportunity and will revolutionise customer experience. But You don’t need to start there  — the fastest ROI is often buried in your internal processes.

Start with three brutal questions:

 1. Where are our people wasting time on repeatable tasks?

 2. What processes make talented people feel like robots?

 3. Which tools or workflows create friction instead of flow?

A Gartner study found:

50% of employees consider quitting due to frustrating internal systems.
That’s not just a morale issue — it’s a margin killer.

Where to look:

-Customer service teams rewriting the same replies
-Finance teams drowning in manual reconciliation
-Ops teams hopping between outdated CRMs, Excel sheets and ticketing tools
-Sales reps spending more time finding data than using it

Fixing this isn’t about hiring more. It’s about working smarter.

WANT TO KNOW MORE

To read the full guide on our website click here. Happy Reading!

Thank you for signing up to my newsletter. I’ll be sending it out every week.

Let me know how you get on!

Matt Jonns

Want Help Finding the Hidden Opportunities in Your Business?

We’re opening three free AI Discovery Workshops with our CTO and product team. No fluff. Just real conversations about:

• Where AI fits in your roadmap

• What’s realistic (and what’s not)

• What your competitors may already be doing
Let’s make leaner, smarter, and faster the new normal — before your competitors do.
Get in touch to book your session now - [email protected]

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F+L Upcoming Events:
Ai Dinner- 02.04.25

ABOUT MATT

Matt is the Founder and CEO of Founder + Lightning, a product and AI innovation studio helping businesses build, scale, and future-proof their digital products.

With a decade of experience in venture building, product development, and investment, Matt has worked with startups and enterprises alike to create high-performing digital platforms. Today, Founder + Lightning specialises in AI-powered product development, AI agent & copilot design, and corporate venture building, enabling businesses to leverage AI for smarter customer interactions, automation, and growth.

Under Matt’s leadership, Founder + Lightning has launched and invested in over 40 companies, bridging the gap between startup agility and enterprise-scale in the new AI era.

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