AI agents in production are happening right now.
They’re already production infrastructure at Walmart and JP Morgan.
And those are just the big names. Thousands of smaller companies are deploying them too.
Here’s what I’m worried about: companies are taking AI agents too slowly, treating the move to agents like traditional software.
Spoiler: It’s not. AI agents won’t wait around for the 2026 budgeting cycle. Why? Because agents can be built quickly, and once built deliver durable advantage through accumulated institutional intelligence you won’t be able to replicate later—not with better models, not with bigger budgets, not ever.
I’ve been building a library of AI agent use-cases to answer what actually works because I keep hearing reasons for delay from leadership teams. Some are waiting for the right model. Some for the right talent. And some for the right tool for their vertical.
And I am coming to the conclusion that waiting isn’t worth it.
AI agents are production infrastructure now. And they’re delivering disproportionate value to companies that deploy them now.
And yes, they are buildable. I’ve worked through my library of production AI agent use-cases to build a set of principles for building production AI agent systems. Leaders can pull from these principles to build agents quickly (like in days or weeks, not months), and start reaping the rewards quickly.
And to make it easier, I’m including a custom prompt to help you factor in your unique organizational context with the agentic principles here, so you can figure out what you need to do first to build AI agent frameworks that really deliver ROI.
Beyond the prompt, this guide walks through the six principles that separate organizations that build successful AI agents from those that don’t. And yes, I dig into successful use-cases too. My goal is to deliver you an actionable, strategic framework for making AI agent decisions that compound instead of depreciate.
Let’s get into it!
This is an Executive Circle briefing, a Sunday newsletter exclusively for Founding Tier Members. You can learn more via this 60 second video explaining what’s in each tier, and you can change your plan here. Enjoy, and back to regular programming Monday!
