The Tools Top Entrepreneurs Hope For Next

Imagine an AI tool genie could make your next wish come true. What would you ask for? In a recent podcast interview, I requested that someone listening made Better Friend AI, a personal CRM where you record a voice note after hanging out with someone, recounting your experience and conversation topics, to be reminded the next time you meet them. A few months later, a DM arrived from Saravanan A. R., who had bought the domain name and built the tool. He acted fast, and now he has a business with customers.

In a more recent tweet, on a similar theme, I asked AI experts, content creators and business leaders if they could wave a magic wand and have an AI tool do anything in the world for them, what it would be. Creators and builders, it’s up to you to take these ideas and conjure up the platforms. Here they are.

Dream AI tools wanted by experts: when will they exist?

Tools to consolidate communications

With all the ways you could communicate with the world, some entrepreneurs just want it to be simple. Adam Butler, CIO of ReSolve Asset Management, thinks his dream AI tool would “monitor my email, calendar, Slack, Notion, Teams and Zoom transcripts.” He’d also want it to “consolidate relevant communications into summaries with links to relevant context in files, notes and other communications, create to-do lists and calendar events, and draft messages in respective channels.” Could you build this into existence?

College professor and AI educator Jeremy Nguyen had the brilliant idea for, “when a call comes in on your phone, the AI retrieves knowledge from the last conversation you two had, and reminds you with text on screen.” He wants prompting with the exact topics, such as, “Ask about how things went with their big presentation, baby’s birthday, or whatever.”

Karla Singson, founder of Proximity Outsourcing, would also put an AI tool to work with her personal connections. “I would like an AI tool to go through my phonebook, make prompts to reach out and propose activities with my loved ones. Say, three suggestions based on the profile of the person (that the AI scrubbed through social media).” She said, “That would be awesome.”

Personal assistance tools

Sally Day, owner of Saltoria Marketing, is looking for a personal assistant. She wants “a tool that can book all your ‘life admin’ stuff on your behalf, like doctors and dentist appointments or even putting your car in for a MOT.” She calls these tasks, “things that you hate doing but are also a pull on your precious resources and time!”

Health and performance coach from Total Shape James Cunningham also wants to outsource the jobs he hates, in a quick and simple way. “Something that could effortlessly handle all the mundane tasks that eat away at my time and energy.” By this he means “scheduling appointments, sorting through emails, maybe even tidying up my workspace. Basically, anything that frees me up.”

Taking this another step forward, Bhavik Sarkhedi, CMO at Content Whale, wants a “personal assistant or a top-tier secretary that could understand and predict my needs, managing everything from daily tasks to long-term projects seamlessly.” He wants this tool to be “a digital clone-type extension of my own capabilities, amplifying my decision-making while allowing more space for personal growth.”

Tools to level up in business

Now we’re onto specific tools to help professionals in their business. Founder of Frame PR, Julie Thompson Dredge, would like an app to tell her “which journalists have specific interests” including which are vegan, or have dogs, and so on. “As a PR we often need to contact the media about their specific points of interest and databases don’t go this far,” she added. More details, better relationships, equals more coverage for her clients.

Freelance content strategist Jessica Hodkinson is also looking to streamline work with a tool that, “could tell you what is trending instantly and where so you could keep on top of all topics and feed this into your marketing strategy.” Similarly, founder of MentorHer, Katie Doyle, would “love an AI tool that understands the growth ideas and channels for our business and gives me weekly ideas for companies, organisations and individuals in different markets that we could partner with in order to expand.”

Taking research and content one step further, founder of Mantra Greg Findley wants an artist, researcher and marketer in one, with a tool designed to “source the perfect stock photos, which don’t look like stock photos, and aren’t already used by my client’s competitors.” Share your requests with the world and see what comes back.

Tools to buy back your time

Time is the only finite resource. But AI can give you time back. AI business consultant Vee Khuu, wants an AI to do all of his work for him. It sounds like a big ask, but it’s becoming more possible as time goes by. “This notion dawned on me after witnessing the impressive capabilities of Cognition Lab’s AI, Devin,” he explained. “This software engineer AI can learn, code, debug, and even take on Upwork gigs independently (supposedly).”

For Khuu, deploying AI means humans can pursue their passions. “Humans can take a back seat with Devin or the emerging concept of AGI. Our AI bot can work for us, generate profits, and allow us to pursue our passions, instead of mundane tasks to earn a living.” Free up your time to do more of what you love.

With all this talk of AI, CEO and founder of Marketing Optimist Richard Michie, has had enough. His magic wand wave would grant “an AI that makes all the useless AI go away.” Don’t waste your time on bad AI tools. Mihie elaborated, “we’re getting to a point where AI is being added to everything… It can be a great tool but it should be used where it adds a benefit not just ‘because’.”

A tool to gamify your life

Let’s finish on one that sounds extra cool, from someone who confessed he has “given this an alarming amount of thought,” including prototyping the tool. Founder of Enigmatica Edward Frank Morris would “create an AI tool that auto generates a “quest log” and experience and virtual currency for completing each task.” Sounds crazy? Read on. “Think combining AI meeting tools with Pokemon Go and World of Warcraft and you get the general idea.”

Morris said this AI would be constantly on, receiving voice and visual recordings from what you are doing on screen, and integrated into a wearable. Your game is to complete quests towards goals, “anything from taking out the trash in the morning, all the way to making a million in a year.” Morris further explained, “Completing each quest rewards experience with character skill points based on the difficulty of the task and virtual currency.” VR combines with business in a whole new way. Gamify your life, have fun achieving your goals, and remember every part of the journey.

Envisioning AI tools that could transform the way we live

Run with the thought experiment and have some fun. Decide what you’d ask your AI tool genie to conjure up. Tell the internet about the tools you want to buy. Find the problems and challenges of business owners to get ideas for what you could build. Solve your own problems by building your own, and see who else wants in.

Whether you’re a dreamer, builder, or both, the possibilities are endless for what you can expect. Consolidating your communications, getting AI personal assistance, leveling up in business, buying back your time, and even gamifying your entire life. It’s all on its way.