You didn't unsubscribe. So I owe you an explanation.

The last real issue of this newsletter went out in September of last year.

Before that, January. Before that, November 2024. If you're reading this, you've been sitting on a list that's been quiet for the better part of two years, and you never hit unsubscribe. I don't take that lightly. So before anything else: thank you, and here's the truth.

What happened

I got busy building instead of writing about building. That's the flattering version. The less flattering version is that I let the newsletter become the thing I'd "get back to," and there's always another client, another deploy, another fire. Y'all know how that goes.

In the meantime, the entire AI stack I used to write about got replaced. Zapier-and-ChatGPT duct tape gave way to agents that run on their own. Prompts became Skills. Chat windows became systems that draft, check, and ship work while the operator sleeps. On Friday, Anthropic published that 26 percent of its own AI research is now led by Claude. A year ago that number was under 1 percent.

I was in the middle of that shift, doing fractional Chief AI Officer work for operators in regulated industries, and I had nothing to show the 1,300 of you who signed up to hear about exactly that.

That's the part I'm fixing.

What's changing

The format. Every issue now follows one structure: a cold open with the numbers, one sharp take, three stories that each answer "what does a small business owner actually do with this Monday morning," a receipts section when somebody in AI is selling smoke, and a closer. If a story can't pass the Monday morning test, it doesn't make the issue.

The cadence. Three issues a week to start. Not five. I'd rather show up every week for a year than hit you daily for three weeks and vanish again. When the three-a-week has held for a month, I'll move to weekdays.

The audience. This isn't an AI newsletter for Bay Area engineers. It's for operators. Real estate, contractors, small law firms, e-com brands, agency owners, family businesses. If you're running something between one person and fifty, and you want to know which of this week's AI news actually changes your work, that's who this is for.

The toolkit. Most issues come with a free guide tied to that day's biggest story. Free means free: no gate, no email wall. If a guide saves you a Monday, there's a $7 tip jar next to it that buys my next round of tokens. If it doesn't, don't pay me.

What I'm asking

Two things.

First, if you don't want this anymore, the unsubscribe link is at the bottom. No hard feelings. A smaller list of people who actually open is worth more to me than a big one that doesn't.

Second, if you're staying, hit reply and tell me one thing: what's the recurring task in your business you'd hand to an AI agent tomorrow if you trusted it? I read every reply, and the answers decide what I write about next.

What's next

The first regular issue drops Wednesday. It's about those three Anthropic numbers and what they mean for a one-person shop. It comes with a guide on building the same pattern, at your scale, in an afternoon, using nothing but the Claude subscription you probably already pay for.

I'm a little embarrassed about the gap and a lot fired up about what's on the other side of it. Let's go.

If we're wrong about anything, show us the receipts and we'll correct it.

Brent (@theMistersippi)

P.S. One reply. One task. That's the whole ask.