I drove down to the city this evening to attend a presentation at the Raleigh Founded building.
Hosted by Parker Mayes and James Fredley of the Triangle Startup Collective, the evenings guest speaker Alec Coughlin (AIwithAlec) presented a two-hour talk titled “AI-First Startups & Real Execution Tactics.”
We will explore what “AI-first” actually looks like day-to-day for a 1-10 person startup.
Expect honest discussion on where founders are wasting the most time with AI right now, how to measure real ROI instead of just feeling productive, which tools are genuinely worth investing in, and how to connect tools into repeatable workflows so AI compounds over time.
We will also cover using AI across sales and marketing to punch above your weight as a small team, plus how “build in public” can become a real growth engine when amplified by AI.
Parker MayesĀ andĀ James Fredley
I parked out front of the facility and paid the meter online using the nearby QR code. Two hours cost me $10.85 with fees. I had some difficulty getting the site to load, that’s why it says I paid 20 mins after I arrived.
There was a sign inside the building referring to 2-hour free parking, but the page it linked to said there was no current availability.
Raleigh Founded
509 W North St Suite 224 Ā· Raleigh, NC
I arrived at 5:49 pm and went inside, there was table with blank name tags and a gentleman greeting entrants. After exchanging names, and getting permission to film, I found a spot to sit down and grabbed a sandwich.
Actually, I had a late lunch, so I was a bit full when I started eating. The cookies were nice. I had an oatmeal raisin.
The event was catered with sandwiches, cheese platters, salami, and bottled water.
Food was provided by event sponsor, Portal Warehousing (https://www.join-portal.com/) “Flexible Warehouse Space for Growing Businesses.”
The presentation started around 6:10 pm I think. There were many questions and quite a few audience members chimed in with their own take on the topic being discussed.
I quietly filmed the first half of the presentation. I had forgotten my mount and my arm got sore, so I put away the action camera midway through the display.
I can’t say I really understood everything that was said during the presentation.
Among the crowd some were critical of AI, while others seemed to be quite involved with it.
Not a lot was said about how AI could be directly applied to a startup business. Many of the talking points referred to large enterprises and their use of AI.
The event ended around 7:50 pm with Alec staying up front to field questions.
There was a considerable amount of food left over by the end. I took a croissant sandwich for my mother and some cheese and salami for Mei Mei (@kittyplumblossom).
I arrived looking for answers on how to design an Agent to automate tasks that I have been manually prompting Gemini to do. What I left with was a sense that I could create a workflow to better curate content on my blog and other websites.
I’ll need to keep looking for answers that apply to my eBay shops, but for my travel blog and photography, I think I’ve found something special.
