This narrative is derived from a chat with Rachel Woods, the CEO and co-founder of AMP, and has been condensed for clarity and brevity.
Rachel's journey into the world of artificial intelligence began with her internship at Facebook, where she transitioned into a full-time role in 2018 focused on AI research and development for the company’s advertising system. Despite lacking a traditional engineering background—with a degree in management information systems from The University of Texas at Austin—her hands-on experience with personal projects that involved training AI models and conducting data analysis was pivotal in securing her position.
In 2020, Rachel ventured out from Facebook to launch a business in the wine sector, which she later sold. Following that success, she established an AI-focused enterprise. Rachel emphasizes the need for effective AI playbooks, stating that without them, her team would have had to double in size.
She notes a common misconception: many overlook how to design AI systems that can operate autonomously without causing sleepless nights for their operators.
Business Insider aims to connect with founders of small AI-driven companies with fewer than ten employees and those collaborating with AI agents, seeking insights into what the era of "Tiny Teams" looks like, including triumphs, challenges, and the essential human skills that emerge in this landscape.
Since the age of 15, Rachel has embraced entrepreneurship, starting with a photography business, despite being too young to drive herself to client meetings, which often required rides from others—something her parents disapproved of.
Her interest in technology blossomed during college, where she witnessed peers engaged in data analytics and coding at internships. This exposure prompted her to seek online courses and realize that breaking down business challenges could enable AI to address components such as prediction and sorting.
While applying for Facebook, she utilized AI and data analysis to compile a report on coffee shops in Austin optimal for her study sessions, a project that likely contributed to her recruitment.
Post-Facebook, Rachel founded Vinebase, a wine business that deployed AI to assist winemakers in selling their products online while managing the digital aspects of their operations. At that time, AI was not mainstream, so they marketed their product as an "auto magic" system to avoid alienating potential clients. Vinebase was acquired by Corksy in fall 2022.
Currently, Rachel co-leads AMP—initially named The AI Exchange—alongside her sister. The company was founded before the debut of ChatGPT in November 2022, as Rachel recognized the rapid advancement in AI technologies during her time at Vinebase. After ChatGPT's launch, interest in their platform surged.
Presently, AMP employs four full-time staff and four part-time contractors, but Rachel asserts they would need to hire twice as many personnel without their reliance on AI. With their current structure, they would require additional roles including a sales manager, customer support specialist, executive assistant, and operations coordinator.
AMP's operational approach hinges on what they term "playbooking." Each department within the organization maintains its own system comprised of playbooks that can function independently or in tandem. To develop an AI playbook, they focus on a repetitive task, outlining its initiation, execution, and expected outcomes before detailing it as if training a new employee. This approach facilitates an ongoing refinement of the playbook until it becomes reliable enough to function autonomously.
The company has integrated an AI agent to manage their sales playbook, streamlining the review of customer interactions, thus freeing the sales manager from manual evaluations. Team members now consult the playbook for operational inquiries, which automatically retrieves information from internal guides.
AMP incurs two main types of AI costs: subscriptions to AI services like Claude and ChatGPT for each team member and operational expenses associated with their background-running AI playbooks. For example, in September, they spent $8,510 on Claude Code to manage these playbooks efficiently.
Their mantra, "own the playbook, rent the tech," underscores the importance of developing robust playbooks that are adaptable to various technological platforms—be it Claude Code, ChatGPT, or others—allowing flexibility despite rapid tool changes.
To mitigate the risks of uncontrolled AI, they prioritize thorough documentation of processes. Human oversight remains essential to design and dictate the execution of work, with AI serving to enhance productivity rather than replace human roles.
Rachel recommends initiating AI workflows with manageable tasks. Once teams experience their first positive outcome from automating mundane tasks, the momentum can lead to broader implementations, creating an encouraging cycle of innovation and productivity.
