Small Business Big AI · 2026-06-16 · 33 min
What happens when your next customer never calls, never fills out the form, never reads your About page - becausetheir AI agent does it for them? In Episode 93, Kim Lewis Howard and Hal Howard close the Systemized or Squeezed series with the most forward-looking conversation of all four weeks. This is a Coffee Table Conversation - Kim and Hal thinking out loud at the edge of what they know, naming what theycan see and admitting what they cannot. Kim introduces the agentic customer shift and the two-interface business: one interface for intelligence that evaluates (clear, structured, machine-readable), and one for humans who feel (warm, trustworthy, emotionally present). The trap, she warns, is building a business that is machine-readable and human-forgettable. But the most surprising turn is this: the agentic shift may make the human relationship more valuable, not less. When the agent strips away the commodity layer, what remains is interpretation, judgment, and the moment a human says, "I've got you." That moment is not a break in the process. That moment is theproduct. Kim closes by admitting she doesn't fully know how to build for this yet.
The 6-Hour Tax: Why AI Costs You More Than It Saves54 / 100The AI-Native Business: Stop Chasing Tools and Build What Competitors Cannot CopyThe Lean Business Blueprint: What Your Company Looks Like When AI Is the Operating SystemThe Invisible Advantage: How the Businesses Winning Right Now Build Systems Their Clients Never SeeSystemized or Squeezed: The AI Divide That’s Splitting Small Business in Half