You're thinking about AI all wrong

Hey everyone, Austin Dandridge here!

This week on The Marketing Factor, I sat down with Justin Watt, an ops and systems strategist who’s worked behind the scenes with top agencies and tech companies, and someone who sees AI for what it really is: a business tool, not a magic trick.

We didn’t talk about AI in the abstract. We talked about how real teams, especially lean ones, are using it to save time, speed up workflows, and grow without adding headcount.

You can catch the episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple.

Justin shares a dead-simple approach to operational design that applies whether you’re running a 5-person team or scaling past 50. He walks through how to spot broken workflows, what AI can (and can’t) fix, and why the best systems start with clarity, not complexity.

For any founder or marketer trying to do more with less, here are a few takeaways:

• Sales to delivery handoffs don’t need to suck
  With AI, you can auto-generate project briefs, creative overviews, and context packets, instantly, without more meetings.

• Your best creative briefs might come from structured inputs
  Justin talks about how tools like Notion + GPT can pull from brand questionnaires and inspiration dumps to create first drafts that would’ve taken your team hours.

• AI works best when your data isn’t a mess
  This sounds obvious, but it’s the trap: if your business runs on scattered spreadsheets and siloed info, AI can’t help you. But with tools like Airtable and Notion, you can structure your workflows and make them AI-friendly.

• AGI is real, but not ready—so act now
  We got into the tech side too, like what context windows actually are, and why memory (not creativity) is the bottleneck. But Justin’s point was this: you don’t need to wait for AGI to overhaul your business. The real wins are already here if you know where to look.

This episode is a crash course in using automation to scale intentionally, not wastefully. If you’re building a lean brand and want to move faster without hiring a bigger team, this one’s for you.

P.S. You’re receiving this email because you’re a friend or supporter of Cobble Hill. If you no longer wish to receive these, no worries - just unsubscribe. If you know someone who would benefit from this content, I’d appreciate it if you’d share it with them!

If you’re new, here’s how you can follow along with my weekly podcast:

→ Weekly episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple. Every Wednesday.

→ Short-form content on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.