"You Completely Automated My Job." Now What?
Margaritas and a little league draft app somehow turned into a business. Zach Smith left Uber, bought a small dental benefits company, and now runs Houston AI Help, embedding with small and mid sized firms around town to build the stuff they did not know they could have. He gets into quick wins over month long discovery, why he will not rip out the software that runs your company, running his whole day through agents, and the moment his wife realized he had automated her job.
Click here to watch a video of this episode.
0:00 How legacy industries actually adopt AI
1:15 Margaritas, little league, and starting Houston AI Help
3:49 Two hour whiteboard beats a month of discovery
7:34 Six hours versus six months on the first quick win
11:52 What Zach will not build for you
15:37 Running an entire business on agents
19:33 Uber data lessons and permanent corporate memory
23:42 Going to market without cold calling mom and pops
28:41 The wife who got her job automated
32:24 Bay Area bubble versus everybody else
36:08 Why he is not raising venture money
39:25 Disposable software that still pays off
45:05 Zooming out on the weekly report
48:14 Getting AI to grill you instead
49:47 What year two might look like
https://twitter.com/collide_ai
https://www.tiktok.com/@collide.io
https://www.facebook.com/collide.io
https://www.instagram.com/collide.io
https://www.youtube.com/@collide_io
https://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.social
https://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai
Click here to watch a video of this episode.
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Collide is the community where oil & gas professionals connect, share insights, and solve real-world problems together. No noise. No fluff. Just the discussions that move our industry forward.
Apply today at collide.io
0:00 How legacy industries actually adopt AI
1:15 Margaritas, little league, and starting Houston AI Help
3:49 Two hour whiteboard beats a month of discovery
7:34 Six hours versus six months on the first quick win
11:52 What Zach will not build for you
15:37 Running an entire business on agents
19:33 Uber data lessons and permanent corporate memory
23:42 Going to market without cold calling mom and pops
28:41 The wife who got her job automated
32:24 Bay Area bubble versus everybody else
36:08 Why he is not raising venture money
39:25 Disposable software that still pays off
45:05 Zooming out on the weekly report
48:14 Getting AI to grill you instead
49:47 What year two might look like
https://twitter.com/collide_ai
https://www.tiktok.com/@collide.io
https://www.facebook.com/collide.io
https://www.instagram.com/collide.io
https://www.youtube.com/@collide_io
https://bsky.app/profile/collide-ai.bsky.social
https://www.linkedin.com/company/collideai
