We hosted a live session with Maksim Gralnik — co-founder of Gralnik Group, Syntegy, and Gralnik Academy. He leads a large team, runs an active business, and is asking a critical question: what should we do with AI? And how do we tell the difference between hype and real opportunity?
In this article, SFIH founder Ruslan Gafarov shares key insights from their conversation. No jargon. Just clarity and value.
It’s evening in California. The sun is setting over the horizon. I’m in my Cybertruck, parked near the water. On the line is my old friend Max. We’ve known each other for over ten years. Back then, everything was different — BM battles, online courses, late nights with big ideas and bigger ambitions.
Now the questions are different. One of them: what do we actually do with this thing called AI? And how do we not miss the new reality?
Max leads a team of 250 people. Product development, marketing, sales, call centers. Everything is structured, professional. Funnels, metrics, systems. But he also has a strong curiosity for new tech. He’s not chasing hype. He’s the kind of person who senses when something is truly rewriting the rules.
We jumped on a call to talk AI. No slides, no decks. Just a real conversation. How can AI be useful in everyday life? Where do you start? And what can you already apply today?
A Simple Start
Getting started takes two clicks.
Download ChatGPT. Get the subscription. Open the chat. Ask a question — any question. For example:
“How can I use AI in my work as a designer / entrepreneur / marketer?”
You don’t need a technical background. You don’t need to know how to code. What matters is curiosity. And a willingness to experiment.
Max started with something unexpected. He didn’t ask AI to write sales copy. He just wanted to fix his nutrition.
He downloaded an app where you take a photo of your food — and AI tells you the protein, fat, and carb content. It even shows where you’re under- or overeating.
“My trainer had been begging me to keep a food diary for over a year. I always gave up. Too much hassle. But this — I just snap a photo, and it’s all there. No resistance.”
That’s the key. Find a use case that feels natural to you. Where AI makes your life easier — not harder.
Where AI Is Already Helping
What’s surprising is how quickly it becomes part of your workflow.
At San Francisco Innovation Hub, we connect AI to our Zoom calls.
It transcribes meetings, summarizes key points, captures agreements, and even drafts follow-up emails.
No need to rewatch the whole recording. No need to remember what someone said on the fly. Everything’s in the notes — structured, clear. Sometimes AI even suggests how to follow up better.
And there are dozens of tools like that:
- Spreadsheets & reports: Upload your file — AI finds duplicates, anomalies, optimization areas.
- Content: Generate text, video ideas, headlines, or Instagram stories — tailored to your audience and style.
- Marketing: Analyze customer pain points based on feedback and calls. Draft offers and landing pages.
- Product: Build a landing page draft, write docs, even generate interface components — all powered by GPT-based tools.
This isn’t the future. This was yesterday. And it’s quickly becoming the new normal.
Augmentation, Not Replacement
One of the biggest fears: “AI will replace people.”
Max was clear from the start:
“I don’t want to fire my team. I want them to become stronger.”
That’s the mature — and right — approach.
AI doesn’t replace people. It removes the clutter. Clears the field. Creates space for actual thinking.
If someone used to spend 40% of their time gathering information — now it’s 5%. The rest goes to making decisions.
Say you’re a marketer. You used to collect data manually, compare creatives, write hypotheses.
Now AI does that.
You focus on testing, interpreting, and strategic choices.
Or you’re a founder. You used to spend nights writing landing page copy.
Now AI gives you 10 drafts. You pick and refine.
AI makes teams faster, smarter, more focused.
The Valley, The Camp, and Conversations With (and About) the Future
In May, we’re hosting a camp in Silicon Valley. Maksim Gralnik is coming. And that’s where the magic happens.
We’ll show how to build AI assistants for specific business tasks. How to write smart prompts. How to make GPT go from novelty to productivity.
Silvio — a strategy lead at Microsoft — will be there. He trains teams to design products and business models through dialogue with AI.
What we used to do with flipcharts and sticky notes — we now do in chat.
We’ll explore “vibe-coding,” too.
You describe your product in words — GPT writes the code in real time.
At the last camp, we built a working Tinder-style app in one evening. Just by knowing how to talk to GPT.
This is the new reality.
Where it used to take ten people and three weeks — now it takes one person and ChatGPT.
Why This Matters
Here’s a metaphor:
AI is electricity 2.0.
When electricity first emerged, people protested.
They said it was dangerous. They were afraid.
But time passed — and today, life without it is unimaginable.
Now it’s the same with neural networks.
Some people scoff. Some ignore it.
But those who try, who learn, who implement — they win.
We’re entering a new wave of products, companies, professions — and champions.
The key skill? Not coding.
The key skill is being able to clearly explain what you want.
Just Start
You don’t need to read hundreds of articles.
You don’t need to attend endless webinars.
You just need to open ChatGPT and ask a question.
And see what happens.
That’s the magic: you don’t learn with abstract theory — you start solving real problems.
AI won’t replace you.
But it will replace the person who chooses not to try.
Joining the May bootcamp is easy.
And there, we’ll show you how to work — effectively and humanely — in a world where AI is part of the everyday.
