Nine months ago I couldn't build anything. I was an ideas person, a million a minute, and the same disappointment every time when I couldn't make any of them real. Today I run Memolio, a personalised illustrated life-story book for grandparents, built end to end by me with AI. Here's what I actually learned getting here.
1. You don't have to chase the latest model. My favourite image model is Seedream 4.5. Seedream 5 is out. I'm still on 4.5, because it's better for the painted look I need. The models are already very good. Each release is a real step up, but a small one. Fluency with the tool you have beats a benchmark you don't.
2. Develop your own taste. AI gives you options. It can't tell you which one is right for your product. That call is yours, and it's the thing that separates a coherent product from a pile of generated slop.
3. Treat the LLM with some scepticism. It is confident when it's wrong. Believe it less than it believes itself, and check the things that matter.
4. Think about architecture even if you can't code. You don't need to write the functions. You do need to understand how the pieces fit, because that's where the expensive mistakes hide.
5. Learn from your own past mistakes, on purpose. Every bug that bit me once is a rule now. The job is making sure the mistake you made in March can't happen in June.
6. Keep an activity log. Write down what you did, when, and what's being worked on right now. A real company keeps records. An AI-run business has to as well, or you lose the thread.
7. A company is mostly processes and documents. That sounds dull. It's the whole game. Document the process, and you've built something that runs without you holding it all in your head. Record-keeping is how you cover yourself and build something predictable.
8. Build a project management system early. Without it, it's pure chaos. It's still partly chaos for me, but the tracking is the difference between progress that's linear and days spent fixing the same bug three times.
9. Keep a human in the loop. AI can't get everything right all the time. I learned this the hard way through my edit feature. The skill of being the owner is finding the line: which decisions you hand to the machine, and which ones only you can make.
10. It's addictive, so build boundaries. Being able to make your own tools is intoxicating. You can always build more, always check one more thing. Decide when you stop, or it will quietly eat your life.
The thread through all ten: AI didn't remove the need to run a business well. It just changed who I'm managing. I'm managing AI now instead of people, and most of the old discipline still applies.
