While Cathryn was with her family, her team of AI agents did all this:
Today I’ll show you how she gets that done, but let’s end it with real-talk about AI agents.
(It’s based on my interview. If you prefer to listen or watch, check it out here.)
Cathryn Lavery is a founder I’ve known for over a decade. I watched her build BestSelf into a self-improvement company that generated over $55 million, selling over 5 million products like these:
This is her company.
She sees her company as a dojo for learning new technology, so she always has something new to show her friends when we meet up. At a recent founder dinner here in Austin, she blew me away with how she organizes her team, so I interviewed her about it.
One of the first things Cathryn told me about AI agents was:
”I don't like managing a human team very much, and I really don't want to manage an AI team either.”
I get it.
When I set up my OpenClaw, one of the first things that hit me was how needy they are. They needed directions, API access, feedback, etc.
Nothing worked until she found Paperclip, the open-source orchestration software for zero-human companies.
In Paperclip, you create goals:
You create the goals.
Then the agents help create tasks to hit those goals:
Tasks work like any project management software
Of course, you can create tasks too:
You create tasks for your agents.
Then your agents work to hit those goals:
Your agents report their progress.
And ONLY if they’re blocked do they create a task for you:
Your agents can signal when they’re blocked.
Go to Paperclips’s site and copy this text and paste it into your computer’s terminal:
Easy set up.
You can bring your OpenClaw agent in, or create a new agent in Paperclip:
You create agents or bring your OpenClaw agents in
You tell it what your company is and its current goal:
You set your company’s goal here
And start creating tasks for your agents:
Start telling your agents what to do
Agents are clearly the future of how we’ll all work.
Even McKinsey’s CEO Bob Sternfels said he wants every one of his employees to have an agent working alongside them.
He’s not a new tech junky like Cathryn. Or me. Or you.
He’s the head of the company that advises the world’s largest companies.
BUT…
Here’s the “real talk” I alluded to at the start of this email.
It’s a ton of work to set this up.
I made it look easy in my description above. Install Paperclip, set goals and get a text message with completed tasks.
Cathryn spends hours a week “playing” with this set up.
Paperclip is maybe the 12th thing she tried.
A founder I interviewed, Eric Siu, confided in me that he’s spending 12 to 14 hours a day tinkering with OpenClaw at his company. 12-14 hours, daily!
It takes real work to learn how to get them to do what you need, to set them, to troubleshoot them, to teach your team, etc.
The outcome is substantial.
But so is the work.
My goal with these interviews is to have founders who love tinkering tell us what finally worked for them, so we can get to the fun outcomes faster.
See it now or hit “save” and watch later
Andrew Warner
Founder and AI lover who still can’t get his AI to write his newsletter.
PS On a personal note, my friend Nir Eyal just published his latest book, Beyond Belief. It’s about how our beliefs determine our lives. A few friends here in Austin got together to celebrate him.
