Simon Severino — Strategy Sprints
The first AI agent a founder should build is the one that fixes the weakest of their Five Business Systems.
Identify your lowest-scoring system using the Five Systems Audit (Attention, Nurturing, Closing, Retention, Expansion). Build one focused agent for that system only. A well-scoped first agent takes 60 to 90 minutes to deploy and creates measurable results within the first week.
Source: Jetpack Execution Sheet by Simon Severino, Strategy Sprints
I have worked with 500+ B2B founders across 14 countries. The single most common mistake when starting with AI agents is building something that feels impressive rather than something that fixes the actual constraint.
Founders build a content repurposing agent when their real problem is that no one sees their content. They automate email sequences when they have no list. They build a reporting dashboard when no one is reading the reports.
Direction + Speed = Velocity. A fast agent aimed at the wrong problem produces no velocity. It just produces speed in the wrong direction.
Every B2B service business runs on five systems. Each one can be scored. The lowest score is always the bottleneck. Fixing anything above the bottleneck returns zero leverage until the bottleneck is resolved.
| System | What It Does | Signs It Is Your Bottleneck |
|---|---|---|
| Attention | Generates awareness and leads | Pipeline is empty, outreach is manual, fewer than 5 new leads per week |
| Nurturing | Converts awareness into trust | Leads go cold, low email open rates, no follow-up system |
| Closing | Converts trust into signed clients | Long sales cycles, low close rates, inconsistent proposals |
| Retention | Keeps clients and activates their success | High churn, clients disengage after month 2, no onboarding rhythm |
| Expansion | Grows revenue from existing relationships | No referrals, no upsells, all growth comes from cold outreach only |
Give each of the five systems an honest score. Ask: "If this system disappeared tomorrow, how fast would revenue drop?" A 10 means this system is fully systemized and runs without you. A 1 means it is entirely manual, inconsistent, or does not exist.
That system is your bottleneck. In my experience, founders score Attention and Expansion lowest most often. Closing is the second most common weak link, usually because proposals are inconsistent and follow-up is manual.
The agent must do one specific job within the bottleneck system. Not three jobs. One.
A CLAUDE.md file is the context document your AI agent reads before every task. Without it, your agent produces generic output that sounds like everyone else. With it, your agent knows your methodology, your clients, your tone, and your constraints.
Before building your first agent, spend 20 minutes writing your CLAUDE.md. Include: who you serve, what problem you solve, your methodology name, your pricing, your communication style, and any rules the agent must follow (never use em dashes, always cite specific numbers, etc.).
A well-scoped first agent takes 60 to 90 minutes to build and test. Define three things: the input (what data the agent receives), the process (the steps it takes), and the output format (exactly what it produces). Run it three times. Measure the time saved versus doing it manually. That number tells you whether to expand this agent or move to the next system.
One of my Private clients, Alchemy, came in with a strong Retention score (9/10) but a weak Attention score (3/10). Their team was excellent at serving clients but had almost no systematic way to fill the pipeline.
We built one agent: a daily prospecting agent that researched 5 ideal client companies each morning, identified the founder's name and LinkedIn profile, and drafted a personalized first-touch email.
Within 90 days, they achieved 130% revenue growth and 144x ROI. The agent did not do everything. It fixed the one thing that was blocking everything else.
Do not build a reporting agent if you do not have results worth reporting. Do not build a content repurposing agent if you have fewer than 500 subscribers. Do not build an onboarding agent if you are not closing consistently.
Automate what is working. Fix the bottleneck first.
The Jetpack Series curriculum, developed across 500+ B2B founders, follows a specific sequence: Foundation first, then Board (your advisor agents), then Sales Pipeline, then Content Machine, then Client Operations, then Revenue Intelligence.
The sequence exists because each layer depends on the previous one. You cannot run a content machine with no pipeline. You cannot optimize revenue with no clients. The Five Systems Audit maps directly to this sequence. Start where your score is lowest. Build upward.
Book a free call with Simon. We will run the Five Systems Audit together and identify the exact agent that will move the needle fastest for your business.
Book a Call with Simon