GROWTH PILLAR: AI & Automation
WHO THIS IS FOR: SMB owners / Solopreneurs / Corporate escapees / Leaders building systems
WHAT THEY'LL GAIN: A clear look at how custom AI tools work in real businesses — plus a practical framework for auditing your tech stack and cutting what you don't need.
Most businesses are paying for tools they don't fully use. Marcus Gaughan built platforms to fix that.
Marcus is the founder of MindsOnFire — a firm that helps ambitious companies replace scattered SaaS subscriptions with unified, custom-built AI systems. At this East Trade Winds session, he pulled back the curtain on what that actually looks like.
He walked through a trades company platform that replaced $28,000 CAD per year in SaaS costs. He showed a C-suite AI tool that gives solopreneurs access to a Chief Marketing Officer intelligence app, an AI practice maturity advisor, and an app rationalization engine — all for as little as $20–40 a month. He talked about lead scraping that identified 2,920 targeted companies in days. And he broke down the real cost of AI token usage — and why most platforms are overcharging.
The core message is simple. You don't need more software. You need smarter systems.
Key topics covered:
Connect with Marcus:
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