Agentic Monitive: The principles

Continuing my adventure to have Monitive being run by AI Agents, I had some brainstorming sessions with... well... AI.

I was impressed about the maturity of the discussions one can have with ChatGPT 5.1 Pro and Claude Code Opus 4.5.

The why

Simon Sinek thought us that one should always start with "why".

Why have AI Agents behind the curtains at Monitive?

Well, out of two reasons.

Everyone - and I mean everyone - looking towards the future, is either concerned or excited - or both - about how AI will completely reshape our lives as human beings. Suddenly, intelligence is cheap. That's a big one. I'm also one of them. My whole career I've been a builder. I love building tools that people use.

Therefore, first reason is for me to learn something new. It's a new technology that is capable of some pretty amazing creations.

Of course I want to learn the craft! 💪🏻

Second, nothing special happened at Monitive in the past years. I blame my poor business skills, but Monitive didn't get the traction I needed it to get. So it just went into maintenance mode, while I was contemplating if I should shut it down or not. Well, there is a chance - not big, but still - that AI Agents might just fill in the gaps, enabling me to do a much better job at growing Monitive than I've done in the past. Fingers-crossed for this one 🤞🏻

The what

Naming things is hard, but someone has to do it.

Well, lately, ChatGPT does a pretty good job at it.

Therefore, the code-name for the Monitive Agentic AI system is... drum roll 🥁

Silicon Sage

Has a ring to it, right? Okay, maybe not.

The goal

When I started this project, I was envisioning what success would mean to me. So I did some math and landed to €200,000 ARR. Not a lot, but a decent value. That value means "I did it".

"Entering" this goal into the "AI machinery", plus the reasoning and context behind it, got me somewhere else.

AI intelligence says running after an ARR/customer count goal is something that I already did in the past, leading me to a burnout. And wise men know that if you do the same thing, you'll get the same results.

So, Claude proposed this new goal...

"Understand deeply why the paying customers pay, make them ecstatic, and find more people exactly like them."

Ok, now we're getting somewhere else. It continues...

This reframes Silicon Sage from "growth hacking machine" to "customer intelligence and relationship system." The growth comes as a byproduct of genuine value creation.

What? Of course this makes sense.

Yes, this is the way.

Therefore, the goal is to have AI create value. A lot of it!

The trap with AI systems is they make it easy to generate lots of activity. Proposals! Experiments! Social posts! But what actually grows a small SaaS is usually boringly consistent: responding to customers quickly, shipping small improvements regularly, showing up in the places your customers look.

Silicon Sage's job isn't to make Monitive exciting - it's to make Monitive relentlessly consistent even when you're not feeling motivated.

Boom! 💥 Mind blown.

But... human!

Now, who loves to go on a website or support platform for some service and, having a problem, start chatting to a chat-bot instead of a human?

Definitely not me. I want to be heard, I want a human to be there, preferably a smart one, who can fix my problem. Or at least hear my complaint, or help me find a solution.

The point is, we're human and we want to collaborate with humans. I want to know there is a person behind that X, Y, Z brand. That there's someone who listens to my plea.

When I imagine Monitive being run by AI, I do see myself in it. Where?

At. The. Core.

What would I do? Build relationships, be there for my customers. Be the essence of the business.

What AI can do for me is automate everything except being human. That's my personal pleasure.

And not mine alone.

And not even a pleasure - it's a skill!

The Key Principle

AI handles the mechanics of relationships. You provide the humanity.

The AI remembers everything, responds instantly to routine stuff, spots patterns, and prepares you for meaningful conversations. But when a customer needs a human - to feel heard, to negotiate something unusual, to build trust - you show up, and you show up prepared because Silicon Sage briefed you.

Yes! This feels like the right way to go!

Okay, now that the principles are solid, we can get our hands dirty and start coding something meaningful. Something that went a long way from "I want this ARR" to "AI which handles relationship mechanics".