Lessons from Scaling a Company to 75 People — And What AI Would Have Changed

A Different Era of Building

In 2010, I founded GFM Corp in Panama with nothing but a laptop and an internet connection. Over 7 years, I grew it to 75 collaborators across 3 countries, shipped 45+ mobile apps, and delivered 650+ websites. I did this without AI, without automation, and without most of the tools we take for granted today.

Looking back, I sometimes wonder: what would have been different if I'd had today's AI tools?

What Would Have Changed

Hiring and Onboarding

Growing from 1 to 75 people meant I was constantly hiring. I spent easily 10 hours a week reviewing resumes, conducting interviews, and creating onboarding materials. With AI, I could have automated initial resume screening, generated tailored onboarding guides for each role, and created training materials in a fraction of the time.

Client Communication

Managing 250+ SMB clients was overwhelming. Most client questions were variations of the same 20 themes. An AI-powered knowledge base and draft response system would have saved my team hundreds of hours per month and improved response times dramatically.

The "Idea-to-MVP" Program

We helped 100+ entrepreneurs validate their app ideas. The most time-consuming part was creating wireframes and technical specifications. Today, I could use AI to generate initial wireframes from descriptions, create technical specs from conversations, and produce cost estimates based on similar past projects.

Related: see The Art of Technical Escalation: When AI Tools Can't Solve the Problem and Ford Rehired the Gray Beards. That's the AI Story of 2026..

What Wouldn't Have Changed

The hardest parts of building GFM Corp were never about efficiency — they were about people. Convincing a skeptical client to trust a young team in Panama. Keeping morale high when a major project fell through. Navigating cultural differences across countries. Building a reputation in a competitive market.

No AI tool would have helped with any of that. The lesson I carry to Google today is the same: technology amplifies human capability, but it never replaces the human element that builds trust, culture, and loyalty.

The most important email I ever sent as a founder wasn't generated by AI — it was the one I wrote at 2 AM telling a client I'd personally fix their broken website by morning. That's the kind of commitment that builds a business.