Training on AI and automation for business professionals: workshops, online courses, live sessions, all the way down to custom company training programs

Co-Founder

Circula

Advisor

Circula.com

Head of Operations

On Deck

Fellow

solarisBank AG

Senior Business Development Manager

payleven Global Mobile Payments

IT Team Lead

Fundraising - Internship

Helping startup operators move faster with automation

I train business professionals on AI and automation: workshops, online courses, live sessions, all the way down to custom company training programs

Alexandre Kantjas

This is definitely one I didn't have on my bingo card this year: Meta just bought Manus AI for $2B. Thoughts:

While everyone's still talking about who has the best model, Zuck bets on another field: the application layer where the real value gets created (and captured).

The AI stack is splitting into two battles:
→ 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘴: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google competing on foundation models
→ 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴: Where AI actually does work people pay for

Meta struggled with models this year. They know it.

By doing this, Zuck doesn't panic buy: he repositions.

Manus already has:
→ Over $125M revenue run rate
→ Millions of active users
→ A general AI agent that actually executes tasks
→ Proof the application layer is where money flows

Meta didn't buy Manus because they're behind.

They bought it because they're ahead.

If you can't win the infrastructure battle, own the consumer experience.

Thoughts?

Kaboom! Anthropic just launched Cowork and made Claude Code accessible to non-developers. 

Yesterday, Anthropic launched Cowork as a research preview - a simplified version of Claude Code designed for business users who don't write code.

This is a big deal.

Claude Code has been the hottest AI tool since its release. Developers used it for coding. Then for everything else. Then business users started playing with it.

The problem: most business users found it too intimidating to adopt.

Cowork should fix that.

Here's what I'm expecting from it:

𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆'𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴
Claude Code is powerful but complex. Cowork simplifies the interface specifically for non-technical users. Anthropic knows that business adoption requires lowering the barrier to entry - and they're betting big on making this accessible.

𝟮. 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗮𝘀 𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲
Cowork comes with restrictions by design. I'm curious to understand what trade-offs Anthropic made - and whether those limitations actually help or hurt adoption for typical business use cases.

𝟯. 𝗦𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱
Enterprise buyers need controlled environments. If Cowork delivers better security guardrails while maintaining usefulness, it becomes the tool you can roll out to every employee.

Anthropic is executing on business AI better than anyone right now.

While other providers focus on developer tools or basic chat, Anthropic is building a complete stack for enterprise adoption - from power users (Claude Code) to everyday business users (Cowork).

If your company is still on the fence regarding which AI provider to standardize on: Anthropic is making the strongest case right now.

AI transformation isn't a 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 problem. It's a 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘭 one.

The bottleneck isn't technical skills. 

It's organizational structure.

These three 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴 are a must to bring AI across the entire organization:

𝐀𝐈 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 
Without this role, your AI pilots never get the resources to scale. Evangelists make AI a strategic priority, not a side project:
- Sell the vision from the top. 
- Get executive buy-in.
- Secure budget. 

👤 𝘞𝘩𝘰: Founders, C-levels, VPs 
✨ 𝘒𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴: vision, storytelling, strategic thinking, stakeholder management 
📊 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘴: Budget secured, initiatives launched, board approval
--

𝐀𝐈 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬
Without this role, your AI strategy stays a PowerPoint deck. Champions bridge strategy to execution and drive adoption:
- Lead by example
- Drive change management
- Train teams and communicate wins

👤 𝘞𝘩𝘰: Middle management, AI Transformation Leads, Department heads, Regional heads 
✨ 𝘒𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴: Leading by example, change management, training & communication 
📊 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘴: Pilot success rate, user adoption, training completion, cross-team usage
--

𝐀𝐈 𝐆𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬
Without this role, your AI initiatives become legal nightmares. Guardians keep AI safe, legal, and ethical:
- Manage AI ethics and governance
- Navigate regulatory requirements
- Assess and mitigate risks

👤 𝘞𝘩𝘰: Legal counsel, Risk managers, IT security officers 
✨ 𝘒𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴: AI ethics & governance, regulatory knowledge, risk assessment 📊 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘴: Incidents prevented, compliance rate, audit pass rate, policy adoption
--

You can have the best AI Operators, Builders, and Engineers in the world. 

But without Evangelists to fund it, Champions to drive it, and Guardians to protect it, you're building on sand.

Zapier

Head of Enterprise Innovation

NoCodeOps (acquired by Zapier)

Co-Founder & Community Member

Co-Founder & CEO

Compass

Solutions Architect, National Operations

National Agent Experience Specialist

Gett

‌• Enabled 50% reduction in driver onboarding time though creation of streamlined digital workflow (Defined requirements, sourced white-label platform, customized features, built Applicant Tracking System on Google Sheets, and deployed iOS app for Brand Ambassadors)
‌• Results: 10x driver growth (3K to 30K+); Same-day driver activations (US record time); First self-service driver onboarding station globally
‌• Producer & Director of US Driver Training Video in conjunction with customizing LMS platform for scaling driver onboarding experience
‌• Developed & implemented SalesForce integrated web form enabling drivers to update documents; Reduced SLA from 5 days to under 2 hrs
‌• Tech Day B2C Brand Activation Project: Secured title sponsorship; Built gamified interactive experience driving 800+ new users in 1 day

US Head of Driver Onboarding Product

• Pioneered and executed the company’s first US Brand Ambassador (BA) Program, onboarding new drivers in the field in entirety 
• Majorly contributed to over 70% reduction in driver acquisition cost through optimizing BA pay structure, deploying technology enabling BAs to recruit drivers offline, creating and analyzing KPIs, and implementing feedback loops to allow for continual improvement
• Created channel-specific landing pages to track ROI of Multi-Million Dollar OOH Campaign; Increased conversions by 50% with A/B testing
• Established strategic partnerships (ex: Luxor Car Dealer, Large Auto Brokerage) to expedite ongoing driver lead generation

US Driver Acquisition Team Lead

Your NYC Concierge

• Clients included: Fever, TableList, SeatGeek, Served by Stadium, and Gett
• Partnered with $5M-$640M funded companies to garner 5K+ app installs via street teams; Generated $40K in 6 months; Recruited by Gett
• Built company-specific playbooks with methodology/unique breakdown of product knowledge; Managed up to 15 brand ambassadors
• Administered ongoing quantitative analysis of BA performance that pinpointed locations to reach 300 installs/day KPI

CEO & Co-Founder

Handy HQ

• Led transition of street team from an awareness campaign to on-site voucher sale; ROI increase prompted replication in several markets 
• Top performer in NYC market; Trained management on brand activation methodology and sales technique which was pushed to scale

Lead Brand Ambassador

Davenport Theatrical Enterprises

• Created and maintained street teams for the following Broadway and Off-Broadway shows:  Avenue Q, Rent, Godspell, Million Dollar Quartet, & The Gazillion Bubble Show
• Launched “Your Broadway Genius” Street Team which sold tickets to Broadway & Off Broadway shows in Times Square, direct-to-consumer
• Hired and trained 30+ brand ambassadors to cross-functionally serve show-specific promotional and direct-to-consumer sales teams

Street Team Manager

Empowering Ops Professionals that use #NoCode with Operator (an automation management platform) and community at NoCodeOps 🧰

I lead Enterprise Innovation at Zapier, focusing on redefining how businesses scale automation. Previously, I was the co-founder and CEO of NoCodeOps, a community and automation management platform acquired by Zapier. Before that, I built the onboarding program for 15,000+ real estate agents at Compass. With 8+ years in operations, internal systems, and automation, I’m passionate about empowering teams with no-code solutions.

Fun fact: Before tech, I was an actor—appearing on Law & Order, in films at Cannes and Tribeca, and in way too many off-off-off Broadway shows.

Philip Lakin

HERE WE GO. My team and I at Zapier are opening a new cohort where we train EVERY SINGLE PERSON in your company how to build their own AI agents.

Not a small pilot. Not an innovation pod. Your entire org learning how to spot the right opportunities, prioritize them, build agents, and put them into real workflows.

We started working with a group of forward thinking companies this year and the early results have been incredible. Teams that had never touched AI are now shipping real agents in days, not months. Adoption moves fast when everyone is empowered.

Any function. Any stack. And Zapier sits in the center as the orchestration layer that ties everything together.

Now we’re opening spots for a few more companies in the next cohort.

If you want in, comment below or DM me. You can also tag a leader who should see this.

A few requirements:
• 100 plus employees
• A C-Suite that is genuinely committed to AI adoption
• Already using or open to using Zapier as your AI orchestration layer

Let’s make 2026 the year your entire company knows how to build and deploy AI agents.

Philip Lakin 

Head of Enterprise Innovation at Zapier. Co-Founder of NoCodeOps (acq. by Zapier ’24).

Figure It Out people don’t have nightmares about failure. They have nightmares about competence.

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