This is the first of five articles in a series titled How to Actually Apply AI in Your Company (A Guide for the Executive Tasked with Making AI Work)

Let’s be real—your processes might look like a typical startup’s Slack channels: scattered, chaotic, and full of well-meaning hacks. Before you throw AI at the problem, let’s talk about why that matters and how to fix it.

Many startups get this backward. They invest in AI tools, hoping to automate their way out of chaos. That’s like asking a Formula 1 driver to navigate San Francisco’s Lombard Street during rush hour. The tools might be cutting-edge, but no AI can thrive in disorganized systems.

Stop trying to automate broken processes.

The Reality Check

Here’s what the numbers tell us: Over 70% of manufacturing plants have adopted predictive analytics. Yet only a fraction see real gains. The winners? They see 2-3% higher productivity—a meaningful edge in hyper-competitive markets. The difference? They mapped and understood their processes first.

Take a page from a customer success startup that poured resources into an AI system to enhance onboarding efficiency, only to discover the bottleneck was their internal ticketing process. A simple reorganization of ticket handoffs—without any AI—reduced response times by 30%.

Three Non-Negotiable Steps

1. Document Reality, Not Fantasy

Document what actually happens, not what you wish happened. For a startup, that could mean:

• Tracking every step, decision point, and handoff—yes, even those midnight fixes founders love to brag about.
• Estimating time spent on tasks (spoiler: everything takes longer than you think).
• Documenting shadow workflows, like those Google Sheets your ops team swears by.
• Understanding the unofficial roles people play (hint: “Growth Hacker” often translates to “Swiss Army Knife”).
• Identifying decision-makers and their processes (because titles rarely match influence).

2. Map the Flow

For each step, capture:

• Required inputs.
• Expected outputs.
• Quality standards.
• Error rates (if applicable).
• Time variations and outliers (pro tip: break down easy, medium, and hard cases).
• Workflow dependencies.
• Exception paths and how often they occur.

The takeaway? Companies with standardized, flow-efficient processes see 3x better returns from AI compared to their more “flexible” peers. Even in startup land, chaos doesn’t scale—not even with AI.

3. Define Success

Before writing a single line of AI code, establish:

• Baseline performance metrics.
• Target improvements.
• ROI thresholds.
• Quality requirements.
• Customer impact metrics.

Leading implementations deliver:

• 15-40% process time reduction.
• 20-50% fewer errors.
• 25-50% higher employee satisfaction.

But none of this happens without solid process foundations.

How to Start

Pick a process that:

• Happens frequently.
• Has clear inputs and outputs.
• Can be measured.
• Won’t sink the company if it goes sideways.

Document every step. Question every assumption. Find ways to simplify the process before involving AI.

Your goal isn’t automation—it’s improvement.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Process mapping is like debugging spaghetti code. It’s tedious, sometimes painful, but absolutely necessary. If you’ve never reviewed a process, you’ll likely find improvements before AI even enters the picture.

Case in point: A startup once spent $2 million automating a process, only to realize the entire workflow could be eliminated. Don’t be that company.

Good process mapping means asking tough questions:

• Why do we do this step?
• Who actually needs this output?
• What would happen if we stopped?
• Is this complexity adding value?

Moving Forward

You don’t need cutting-edge tools to start. Sticky notes on a whiteboard can be just as effective as sophisticated SaaS solutions. What you need is honesty about how work really gets done in your organization.

Remember: AI can’t fix a broken process. It can only make it fail faster.

Start mapping, now. Your future self—and your investors—will thank you.

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Sit-Back and listen to a Podcast Version of This Series

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Enjoy!

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