How Two Founders Actually Use AI to Run Their Businesses

Damian and Sam are back for another Gulf Founders podcast — this time getting practical about how they're actually using AI inside their businesses, not just talking about it. Damian runs Capytech, a Dubai-based e-learning company, and Sam runs a web agency. Both have rebuilt how their companies operate around AI, and in this episode they swap the real tools, workflows and DIY builds they're using day to day. You'll hear how Capytech threads AI through its e-learning products — generating content, images and voiceover, cutting animation timelines from weeks to days, and finally cracking high-quality Arabic narration for government clients. Sam shares how AI-generated websites took his agency from seven designers to three, collapsed a nine-stage approval process down to one or two, and opened the door to working with startups and Free Zones. Then it gets hands-on. Damian walks through two tools he built himself: "Cappy Watch", a Chrome extension that replaced a paid SaaS tool over two weekends, and his "AI COO" — a Claude Code setup connected to his email, CRM, ClickUp and social scheduling that he now relies on every day. They dig into the build stack, hosting, memory and portability, and have an honest chat about trust, control and the anxiety of handing autonomy to AI agents. If you're a founder trying to keep up with how fast this is all moving, this one's for you. Topics covered: AI in e-learning, AI website generation, ElevenLabs voiceover, Arabic AI narration, Adobe Firefly & Gemini, ClickUp Brain, Google Workspace & Gemini, Microsoft Copilot & SharePoint, Claude Code, building your own tools, and the AI COO.