From operator to builder · Jason Akatiff: AI, Media Buying & Lead Gen

Module 1: From operator to builder · 5 min

From operator to builder

Understand the business friction, then give AI a reliable working structure.

3 lessons · Use the arrows or scroll to move between boards.

A growing business can still absorb all its cash.

Jason describes a lighting business squeezed by higher freight, product costs, and acquisition costs. Revenue alone hid the strain.
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More physical sales meant buying more inventory. He questioned whether he wanted to keep funding that operating model.
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He distinguishes repeat consumable purchases from durable products that need a broader catalog to sell again.
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The numbers they shared

$2,500Jason’s reported earlier container cost in the lighting business.

$27,000His reported later container cost, illustrating the freight shock.

Reported in the conversation. Open a timestamp for context.

One solved problem reveals the next useful tool.

After an earlier coding-tool experiment disappointed him, Jason returned when first-pass website output had improved.
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His project expanded from a website into a CMS and reusable page templates, then into Lead Router.
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The business problem was fragmented routing: a lead sale, a call, and a later acquisition event needed to fit one operating flow.
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From useful page to operating tool

1
Get a working first version of a landing page.
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2
Add content management and templates for repeated use.
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3
Address the routing and event gaps around the business.
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Then it was like, hey, could I build a landing page system?

The model is the engine. The harness does the organizing.

Jason defines an agent as a model plus a harness: the surrounding tools, skills, instructions, and rules.
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Use scripts or software for repeatable data work. Ask the model to interpret those results and suggest campaign changes.
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His copy workflow uses a rubric, model reviews, and a rewrite threshold. Those scores are editorial signals, not proof that an ad will convert.
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A bounded copy workflow

1
Give the writing step an explicit copy framework.
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2
Have separate model reviews score the draft against a rubric.
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3
Rewrite drafts that miss the chosen quality threshold.
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a deterministic flow with a probabilistic engine inside of it

Recording