Going freelance
Richter had been a project manager in a few companies for almost two decades before making the jump to freelance. As a project manager, Richter says he wasn’t solely focused on his core tasks. “I was always tending to join topics around personal effectiveness and tools and getting organized and things like that.”
This came out in his daily work, too: “Then I started running internal workshops in the company’s lunch hour and taught and mentored there as well. I realized I liked it a lot. which brought me to considering going solo and trying to pursue this area.”
Startups seemed like a natural point to gravitate to. The first company Richter worked at was a startup before it grew, so he was familiar with the culture – in fact, the reason he left is because it became more corporate and structured. He prefers the fluidity of startups.
Another reason is that startups motivate him. “It sounded really refreshing to also get involved in something that has some kind of additional impact, not only looking for, you know, business numbers.”
Focus on effectiveness
In his work with startups, Richter focuses on personal effectiveness, which to him means more than productivity. In fact, he makes a point of not liking that word: “productivity feels like you need to do more. Instead, it should be about intentionally choosing what you work on.”
Often, productivity becomes about crossing more tasks off a list or moving Trello cards in a convincing manner, but this, according to Richter, doesn’t actually do anything unless one has “the bigger picture of what is important for you in mind, not only at work, but in life.”
This is where, for Richter, AI comes in: as a fan of the technology, he deplores how it’s currently used, as a productivity tool that just produces more without focusing on what’s actually important. “The key thing is not the tools… but the mindset, to think in a different way.”
Systematic use of AI
In Richter’s mind, “for people to leverage AI consistently, systematically, they need to have the basics in place, the basics of personal effectiveness.” For him, the use of AI is too haphazard; people aren’t approaching it in a structured way.
“Firstly, you need to dedicate the time and effort. You can’t learn AI in a few days. It will be tricky. Be curious, ready to try new things and fail. You need to accept that when you do new things with AI for the first time, it might take more time than if you did it manually.”
On top of that, many people have the tendency to expect amazing results from AI, which Richter sees as overoptimistic: “Sometimes AI will get you from 0 to 80%, sometimes it will help to finetune from 95 to 100%.”
How we can use AI more effectively
Naturally, this begs the question of where Richter thinks we could all improve. He advocates for using AI as a second brain, or a place where you can keep information and then work from it. “If you have a clear digital system and data that you trust, clear priorities and focus, AI will amplify your work. Otherwise, the AI will amplify the mess, and you might get into even more trouble.”
There’s also the matter of prioritization. “You should decide which tasks require perfect outcomes and your focused effort, vs which tasks you can offload, fully or partially, to AI,” Richter says. “You can even use AI to suggest tasks where it can help, if you give it enough context.”
This is where he visibly warms up. ”Don’t forget, AI is multimodal; you can share documents, images, screenshots; you can talk to it. AI can also control your browser, fill in forms, edit sheets including formulas, create presentations…the possibilities are endless.”
Founders can also benefit by looking for business use cases, something that an AI can help you determine. From taking notes to doing research on a competitor, AI can help, says Richter.
Ending on a practical note
Finally, he has some practical advice for anybody interested in AI: “There are several skills or habits that can help you leverage AI much better. For example, if you dictate your prompts and use various shortcuts, you will speed up your work with AI.”
Currently, the Marc Impact Programme comes together once a month for sessions focused on topics that help projects grow and prepare for the next step. This includes financial planning and budgeting, fundraising, strategy, impact communication, and getting ready for external funding. More information and an application here.
