Last week we ran an AI training day for developers.
40 people. 3 hours. One topic: how to actually use AI to ship faster.
Not ChatGPT for answering questions.
Not copy-pasting code from a browser tab.
Real AI-assisted development. Terminal-level. Codebase-aware. Production-ready.
We showed two real products built with this approach:
SaaS product A: data analytics platform. took 4 people 18 months the old way. Rebuilt by 1 person in 9 months with AI.
SaaS product B: data monitoring platform. Design to production in 1 month. One developer. Claude Code.
Here’s what surprised me most on the day.
Some of the developers in the room had never used AI in their workflow. At all.
It’s 2026.
I’m not judging, I’m alarmed.
Because while those developers are writing code line by line, somewhere else a team of 2 is shipping what their team of 15 used to ship.
This is exactly what I keep seeing in every company I audit:
Bloated R&D teams. Infrastructure costs 4–6x what they should be. Delivery speed that hasn’t improved in years.
It’s not a talent problem.
It’s not a budget problem.
It’s a tools problem. And it’s fixable.
The developers who came to that training left with a different way of working. Some of them will 3x their output this quarter alone.
The ones who didn’t come, or who resist, will be the first line items reviewed when a founder finally looks at the headcount.
AI doesn’t replace good developers.
But a good developer using AI will replace one who isn’t.
- Is your team using AI the way they should be?
If not, let’s talk: https://lnkd.in/dBZ8xjEa