Every founder has a list they’re not getting to.

There’s so much chat about AI (don’t worry, I’m only touching lightly on it here!).

Will it replace jobs? Will it increase productivity? Is it going to increase efficiency?

No doubt yes, in lots of ways, and as VAs, we’re definitely seeing how AI helps us work smarter and faster, which ultimately benefits our clients.

But how about founders? Having talked and worked alongside many business owners for years - despite AI – their to do lists still include:

-           that CRM cleanup
-           the event to organise
-           the website to update
-           recruitment admin
-           investor and network follow-ups
-           expenses
-           travel...etc....etc.....

AI doesn’t magically make that all disappear. You still need someone to own those things, or they just keep getting pushed to next week (and next week never comes right?). Small jobs hanging around eventually become an operational drag - sitting in the back of your mind taking up headspace that would be better spent building the business - and guilt that would be better spent on something more indulgent.

There is a concept in productivity called “open loops”, it states that the energy to keep remembering these small tasks is more exhausting than the energy needed to actually get it done.

For many founders, this is the point where they realise they don’t need to work harder – they need support. Removing those operational jobs from their mind completely and passing those “open loops” to someone else can make a real difference.

Quite simply, the most valuable thing you can give a founder isn’t hours.

It’s more capacity.

And more capacity means lowering the interruptions, the context switching, the decision fatigue and the “not being able to complete anything before something else pops up”.

The new era of VA support isn’t just providing a beautifully organised inbox or a perfectly managed diary; it’s giving the founder the confidence that someone else is thinking about the things they no longer have to.  

Maybe AI will change how we all work. I think it probably will.

But from what I’ve seen, founders don’t just need things done faster, they need someone to own the jobs that never quite make it to the top of the list.

And if that also means getting evenings and weekends back, I’d call that progress.