​After leading one of the highest-attended sessions at RDSW26, Andrew Parker returns for a deeper, hands-on workshop on applying AI agents to real startup workflows.

​AI agents are quickly becoming part of how startup teams think about building, operating, and scaling their companies. But for many founders and operators, it can still be hard to separate the hype from the practical use cases: what agents actually are, where they create leverage, and how to start using them in a way that is useful and realistic.

​​What will we cover?

​Led by Andrew, the session will walk through a shared workflow example and show how an agentic workflow comes together from idea to execution. Attendees will learn what makes a good candidate for agentic automation, what decisions matter when designing one, and where the limitations, risks, and tradeoffs show up.

​This will be part demo, part guided workshop. Attendees are encouraged to bring a laptop follow along. Andrew will walk through shared examples for hands-on learning; others are welcome to attend in a “watch and learn” mode.

​Who Should Attend?

​This workshop is designed for founders, operators, and startup teams who want to move beyond one-off prompting and begin thinking about AI as a tool for repeatable workflows.

• ​Founders and operators who already use AI tools and want to go deeper

• ​Startup teams looking for practical ways to apply AI to real workflows

• ​Technical and nontechnical builders who want a clearer mental model for AI agents

• ​Anyone trying to separate useful AI adoption from hype

​For attendees who want to follow along live:

• ​Bring a laptop

• ​Have access to Claude Desktop App with Claude Pro or higher

  • ​If you already use ChatGPT Plus, that can be a backup option for similar workflows

• ​Complete any tool-specific setup shared before the event

• ​Optional: Come with one recurring workflow, project, or task from your own business that you’d like to think through during the session

​Andrew will walk attendees through a shared workflow example so the group can stay together. Individual workflows may be useful for reflection, discussion, or office-hours-style feedback, but the session will not require every attendee to build a fully customized workflow live.

​Who is leading this event?

• ​Andrew Parker is a CTO, advisor, and relentless builder based in the Raleigh-Durham area. He has scaled technical organizations through hyper-growth and fueled multiple successful exits totaling over $819M. Today, Andrew is deeply focused on the AI-first engineering revolution. He’s passionate about shipping AI into real products, building agent-driven workflows that eliminate manual work, and using modern AI engineering tools to accelerate development. He believes in the power of small, sharp teams augmented by AI – building like they’ve never built before.

• ​Paola Ayala the co-founder and operations lead at Trayecto, a Durham-based startup building planning software for financial advisors serving clients with equity compensation, variable income, and complex tax planning needs. She is also a core volunteer with Raleigh-Durham Startup Week and supports RDSCo programming focused on practical, operator-led learning for Triangle founders.

​Raleigh-Durham Startup Co.

​This event is powered by Raleigh-Durham Startup Co., part of a year-round series of events that equip Triangle entrepreneurs with practical knowledge, actionable skills, and meaningful connections.

​Thank you to our Contributing Members for supporting RDSCo!