99% of Small Businesses Will Die Without AI in Four Years! – Brad Hart

This week I'm sitting down with Brad Hart, a forward-thinking entrepreneur with a deep background in masterminds, business building, and AI-enabled systems. We dug into why the world is about to change faster than ever for small business owners, what you can do to keep up, and how you can use amazing new tools to simplify your work and get your time back.

Curious what’s coming for your business? This episode squeezed out every useful detail about scaling with AI, making work easier, and why the next four years will be key to staying in business. Brad Hart explained in simple terms how anyone in business – even non-techies – can use these new technologies and systems to get real results. This summary will break down the episode in a way you can use right away.

Big Shifts in Business: The Power of AI & Robotics

Brad Hart didn’t waste words when talking about how quickly things are changing for entrepreneurs. People need an AI and robotics enabled company, he argued, or they risk being out of business within four years. He made it crystal clear: “If you don’t have an AI robotics enabled company in four years, you’re not going to be in business anymore. Full stop.”

Money, resources, and how we solve problems are being flipped. Brad Hart believes that with technology and scalable systems, the world could become a “utopia” – not just a fantasy – where basic needs become so easy and cheap to get that money could become “irrelevant.” He said, “All of the problems that you set out to solve are actually solvable, but it’s not going to be with more people and more headcount, more burnout and more late nights. You’ve got to up your game and start thinking in scalable systems.”

Key points:

• AI will touch every industry.
• Business owners must adjust to automation, scalable systems, and higher levels of tech.
• Scarcity thinking is outdated; new abundance is possible.

Useful quote:
“This is a supersonic tsunami that affects every industry top to bottom.”

How to Get Started: The First Systems to Focus On

Asked which systems he would focus on starting over, Brad Hart broke it down by stage and technology available. Once, people only had old tools. But now, he said, “every single problem is potentially solvable.” For small business owners, real-world processes like sales, marketing, operations, or client delivery matter most.

The main goal is not replacing people, but freeing them from boring, repetitive tasks that machines can do better. Humans should be “humans being, not humans doing,” Brad Hart said. Earlier, getting past ten employees was a big “pain point” – but now, with new tools, you no longer have that barrier.

Key takeaways:

• Focus first on workflows that add value: sales, marketing, operations, delivery.
• Look for places to automate or streamline – anything repetitive can be handled by AI.
• People will move from doing grunt work to being creative, strategic, and relational.

“Let’s plug into all the tools you already know and love and just allow you to use them all in one window and talk to it like an employee.”

Small Businesses: Where AI Tools Are Still Missing

Brad Hart pointed out a big gap not many notice – most AI is designed for consumers or huge companies. He met with AI developers in San Francisco and realized, “There’s nobody really championing it for small business.” That’s why most small business owners still use consumer chatbots or clunky software, missing out on what’s really possible.

Software companies focus on mega deals, like solving $100 million or billion-dollar problems. This means small business owners have to wait for solutions to “trickle down,” and by then, any competitive advantage is erased.

Key points:

• AI tools for small businesses are way behind.
• Founders should look for custom solutions before a software solution becomes “table stakes” – once it’s mainstream, everyone has it and it’s no longer special.
• Juggling too many software tabs is overwhelming; integration and simplification matter.

“SaaS promised solutions but mostly brought friction—15 tabs open, nothing connects, and it’s expensive.”

Building Your Own Stuff: Making a Competitive Advantage

Huge opportunities are opening for business owners who learn to build their own systems. Brad Hart encouraged everyone: “Build your own stuff, that’s the best way.” The gap between people who can code and those who have real business problems is shrinking fast, thanks to AI.

Even non-technical people can now use easy tools and AI to do what used to require a developer. Brad Hart himself shipped 80,000 lines of production code as a relative tech newbie—showing it’s possible to learn fast. He gave an example: a doctor with a repetitive client onboarding and lab workflow, which took 120 hours for 30 clients. With prompts and a custom AI-powered app, they cut it down to under an hour of prep—anyone on the team could do it.

Key takeaways:

• Non-tech founders can use AI for code, prompts, and automation with “tribe coding.”
• Competitive edge comes from custom processes, not off-the-shelf solutions.
• Efficiency can go from hours to minutes by automating steps.

“You just condense 120 hours by using what you said into less than an hour of prep.”

Step-by-Step Systems for Automation

Brad Hart broke down his process into four clear steps:

1. Plan: Whiteboard out your process, choose your tech stack, map what works now with what you want.
2. Prompt: Build input/output prompts. AI can prompt itself when you give it examples.
3. Produce: Create code or workflows. Code ensures the process runs every time, not just when someone remembers.
4. Polish: Test and fix edge cases; build feedback from humans.

An extra step, “platformatize,” combines these into a platform (like Optimus) that holds all your processes. He recommended starting simple—try automating a process before hiring out.

Key points:

• Building automation needs a system and feedback loop.
• AI turns multi-hour work into multi-minute work.
• Start with what’s working before adding more complexity.
• Human oversight, especially in early iterations, makes results stronger.

Useful quote:
“The factory of the future will have two employees—a man and a dog. The man’s job is to feed the dog, and the dog’s job is to make sure the man doesn’t touch the machine.”

The Human Side: Why Mindset & Teams Still Matter

People need a mindset shift to keep up with AI-driven changes. Most people see AI as “someone else’s problem.” In reality, businesses in every category are about to feel a big effect. Brad Hart called it a “supersonic tsunami” and said falling behind means closing shop by 2030.

Humans aren’t being replaced, they’re being shifted into roles that matter—feedback, creativity, coaching the systems. Having a mastermind or advisory group helps push through mindsets stuck in old ways of working.

Key takeaways:

• Shift from “doing” tasks to “being” and creating new value.
• Stay curious—experimentation is key.
• Most resistance is mental, not technical.

“Let's give all the humans most of their time back and let them do more human things.”

The Optimus Platform & Tribe Coding

Optimus is Brad Hart’s new platform—a way for small businesses to connect all their favorite tools, automate workflows, and run their business by talking to one interface. He also shared his idea of “tribe coding”: learning and building together, not just solo “vibe coding.”

Optimus lets people run up to 30 major workflows—integrated in minutes instead of weeks or months. Everything is simplified, and it works with whatever apps a business already uses. Brad Hart funded it through his mastermind group, focused purely on serving small and medium businesses.

Key points:

• The Optimus platform rolls many tools into one easy workflow.
• Tribe coding lets everyone build, learn, and solve problems faster together.
• Masterminds pool talent, experience, and distribution to multiply impact.

“No need for Zapier or Make.com—the system handles all integrations through natural language commands.”

How Masterminds Help You Lead, Not Just Follow

Business leaders who want to “lead, not just follow” are joining masterminds to stay ahead of the curve. Brad Hart’s Optimus mastermind has over 30 businesses involved, representing $250 million in combined revenue and a wide range of backgrounds.

Members get direct help building their own tools and systems, learn from each other, and multiply results by sharing resources. The group is diverse by age and industry—but everyone wants to build, not just wait for big companies to trickle down new tools.

Key takeaways:

• Small business owners can get custom, hands-on learning and rapid building.
• Distribution and relationships within a mastermind speed up growth.
• Accountability and group feedback make new tech feel possible instead of intimidating.

“We want to own our time, own our future, own our freedom… and realize: this is the first time in history you can go from a very small portion of your TAM to a large portion in almost no time.”

Connect with Brad Hart

• See what Brad is building over at Optimus
• Get some FREE Training from Brad

Conclusion & Top Highlights

AI and robotics are about to change how businesses work, giving owners chances to save time, make money, and solve problems they’ve put off for years. Waiting for software companies—or refusing to learn new tools—is not smart. Create simple automations, embrace mindset shifts, and test out new workflows before hiring or delegating.

Masterminds help you get hands-on and build with others, creating real impact and speed. Brad Hart’s Optimus tool and tribe coding process show how simple tech is now, letting anyone try out new ideas without waiting or spending a lot.

Biggest lessons from the episode:

• Automation and AI will drive success for businesses in the next four years.
• Start by fixing repetitive, bottleneck processes and build custom solutions.
• Join or form mastermind groups to learn, grow, and distribute at scale.
• Free your time for what matters most—and keep experimenting.