Daniel O'Shea monogram

How I Use AI in 2025

I do not outsource my thinking to AI, but I would not build without it. In 2025, AI is woven into how I think, plan, ship, and scale. This is how I use AI today - as a founder, advisor, and builder.

My AI team and I.

🧠 Thinking With AI: Co-Piloting Strategy

I use AI as a second brain when developing strategy. When I am refining positioning for a startup, drafting a product roadmap, or analyzing market moves, I use OpenAI deep research models to challenge assumptions and generate alternatives quickly.

🛠️ Building With AI: From Prototype to Production

AI is my lever for speed. When I need to ship fast, I lean on tools that can generate working code, handle integration overhead, and scale ops. It's like having an entire team of developers on my team. I use windsurf with either OpenAI 4.1 or Claude 3.7 Sonnet to do much of the day to day plumbing of programming. I treat the results with the same or higher level of review I would any member of my team.

  • Code generation: Next.js apps, API scaffolding, platform primitives, blocking and tackling or integrating other webservices, AI gets me 80% of the way.
  • Data wrangling: I use AI to parse unstructured data, extract form fields, or generate JSON schemas on the fly. It's also great for filling in test cases from a schema.
  • Agent workflows: My stack includes some custom AI workflows I've built in python on top of the OpenAI AgentSDK and inngest.

🧩 Integrating With AI: Making SaaS Systems Talk

Most businesses drown in disconnected tools. I use AI to bridge them.

  • AI-powered system integration that connects CRMs, docs, Slack, and dashboards without brittle Zapier-style logic
  • Custom agents that route IT tickets, respond to internal support, and even trigger ops automations
  • We can often generate custom code and tests for an API to API integration, faster than I can click through the UI of make.com or Zapier.

📣 Communicating With AI: Faster, Clearer, Smarter

From updates to strategy memos, I co-write with AI all the time.

  • First drafts: AI helps me go from zero to something fast—especially for decks, docs, one-pagers and emails
  • Voice alignment: I fine-tune tone and framing, whether it is candid or crisp exec comms
  • Media assets: I even co-design image prompts for visual storytelling—like the one above

👥 Mentoring With AI: Scaling Advice Without Losing the Human

Through AOTP Ventures, I mentor a lot of founders. AI helps me scale without becoming generic.

  • I use custom prompts to analyze pitch decks, simulate fundraising Q&A, or suggest growth levers
  • Sometimes I even record convos and run sentiment + insight analysis post-call to improve coaching

🧘🏽‍♂️ What I Don’t Use AI For

I do not outsource core insight. AI helps me explore ideas faster—but it is not a substitute for experience, values, or intuition.

Also:

  • I do not use it to write my personal journal
  • I do not use it to automate relationships
  • I never blindly trust outputs without a second look

🚀 Final Thoughts

AI in 2025 is not magic - it is leverage. It is not about using AI for everything. It is about knowing where it gives you superpowers.

I am always learning how best to work with it. If there is one thing I know for sure, it is this:

If you are not building with AI, you will be replaced by people who are.