How to Innovate on a Budget

I just had to share this amazing journey we've been on with AI tools at our company.// Remember back in 2022 when AI suddenly seemed to be everywhere? As the leader of a 150-person team, I was excited but also worried about the costs. Most AI tools were around $20 per month per user - it was going to be a budget nightmare! But guess what? We got creative! Instead of breaking the bank on subscriptions, we built our own in-house solution called CollabAI. It uses a token-based system, and the results have been incredible. Now we're using 55-60 million tokens a month (wild, right?), but here's the good news- it only costs us about $2 per employee! Key takeaways from our experience: 1️⃣ Most employees don't need unlimited access 2️⃣ In-house solutions can save tons of money 3️⃣ Controlling your own data is priceless If you're looking for a budget-friendly, secure AI setup for your business, consider building your own like we did with CollabAI. Sometimes the best innovations come from within! Check out the video for the full story. Has anyone else found creative ways to implement AI in their company? Share in the comments!

Money is not the problem. You are. I've led Customer Success teams at five different companies—different sizes, different stages, different funding levels. And no matter what my budget was, I got the job done. Yet, I constantly hear leaders complain that they can’t make progress because they “don’t have enough budget.” And honestly? I don’t buy it. If you’ve only ever operated with unlimited resources, of course, you’ll struggle when the purse strings tighten. But leadership isn’t about throwing money at problems—it’s about solving them. Now, don’t get me wrong. There are times when budget is necessary. No one’s running an enterprise org with $100. But let’s be real—most of us aren’t actually optimizing what we have. So before you march into your CFO’s office with a massive budget request, try this instead: 🔥 Focus on the Outcome Stop obsessing over how to do something and start asking why it needs to be done. When you focus on solving the actual problem, you’ll realize there are multiple ways to get there. 🔥 Audit Your Existing Resources Your company likely has dozens of underutilized tools. Before you request another shiny new software, check what’s already in the tech stack. A few extra licenses are a lot cheaper than a brand-new contract. 🔥 Run a Low-Budget Test Before you ask for a pile of cash, prove the concept. Use what you have, test on a small scale, demonstrate impact—then ask for budget to scale. 🔥 Get Creative (For Real) Most leaders don’t lack resources—they lack creativity. Forget “thinking outside the box.” Instead, start questioning why the box exists in the first place. 🔥 Ask: Is This the Right Problem to Solve? Sometimes we get so fixated on one idea that we miss the bigger opportunity right in front of us. Take a step back. Are you prioritizing what actually moves the needle? Years ago, I needed an LMS for our onboarding program. But the budget? Nonexistent. Instead of whining about what I couldn’t do, I built a full onboarding platform with Google Sites, Canva, and YouTube. It worked. Customers loved it. I even taught them how to build their own. I didn’t let money stop me. I made it happen. So before you claim poverty, challenge yourself to find a way. When you do, you’ll realize: 1️⃣ You still got results. 2️⃣ You became a stronger leader. 3️⃣ You saved your company money. Real leaders don’t wait for resources—they make things happen. _____________________________ 📣 If you liked my post, you’ll love my newsletter. Every week I share learnings, advice and strategies from my experience going from CSM to CCO. Join 12k+ subscribers of The Journey and turn insights into action. Sign up on my profile.

The old adage of “measure twice, cut once” is great when you are buying expensive fabric. But it puts the incentive on getting it right the first time, which goes against best practices for innovation. The solution is get cheaper fabric – and here’s what that looks like: 🚧 Put guardrails around your R&D work to help teams feel more comfortable failing. Innovation should not look like expensive, long-drawn out experiments with no results. Expect some sort of learnings (results) in a shorter amount of time, with a tighter budget. 🔍 Expect your teams to prototype and be smart about testing assumptions. Think like a scientist and design a smart experiment that can get you answers quicker, faster, cheaper. If you don’t need silk to prove that your shirt design fits the model, then use the cheaper fabric before sinking cost. This is hard to learn as an organization, and hard to do generally because we are wired to add on more and more, “yes, and”ing into infinity until we’ve added so much bloat and scope that the costs rise high. We need to learn a lean and subtractive mindset that narrows in on the factors that indicate success, and develop smart tests that help us understand if our core assumptions make sense. Leaders can get wary of innovation work because typically we assume it’s a big money and time sink without much ROI, but we’re doing it wrong. We have to create safe spaces for teams to experiment and fail (and learn), that the organization is comfortable with the investment, and test more ideas through cheaper, faster experiments. These are smart guardrails that we can establish to cultivate a more innovation-friendly environment. #innovation #design #leadership #designthinking This is the 2nd of 3 posts this week on innovation. Connect with me if this resonates ~