A company that runs itself.
A company that runs itself is one where every recurring job has an owner that is not the founder, and most of those owners are AI employees. Brad Hart staffs his own company this way: six departments, each with named seats, each one a single role with its rules written down. The owner reads reports and writes rules. The doing has an owner.
The six departments
- Marketing — the media buyer, the content desk, the copywriter.
- Sales — the SDR, the application desk.
- Operations — fixes and ships, spins up offers, keeps the fleet up.
- Customer success — the support desk, the onboarding desk.
- Leadership — the chief of staff, the analyst.
- Finance — the numbers desk.
The Runs-Itself Scorecard
Four questions on each of the six departments: who owns it today, what breaks when they are out, what an AI employee could own this month, and what stays human. Each answer scores zero or one. The total is zero to twenty-four. The lowest-scoring department is the first seat to fill.
Frequently asked questions
What does 'a company that runs itself' actually mean?
Every recurring job has an owner that is not the founder, and most of those owners are AI employees. The owner reads reports, writes rules, and decides.
What is an AI employee?
A single role, running under rules the owner wrote, reporting to one person. Not a chatbot and not a workflow: it has a job, watches for the thing it is supposed to watch for, and writes you back what it did.
What does the scorecard do?
Four questions on each of six departments. Each answer scores zero or one. The total is zero to twenty-four, and the lowest-scoring department is the first seat to fill.
Do I have to let people go?
No. Nothing here asks you to. Most owners start with the hire they have been putting off, and the roster stays where it is while the work gets done.
What if I am not technical?
You do not have to be. The agents are the tech part. The rules are written in plain language, and judgment is the piece no agent supplies.
What do I get when I sign up?
One email signs you in with no password. Inside: the one-page scorecard, your score and the first department to fix, and a short lesson for each of the six departments showing what the AI employee in that seat does.
Brad Hart · Make More Marbles · Optimus · Terms & Privacy