Lunch & Learn: Hiring Your First AI Employee: How founders can delegate real work to AI tools, workflows, and agents without losing judgment
About the event:
Most founders think about AI as a tool. But the more useful shift is to think about AI as your first operational teammate. Something that can research, draft, classify, summarise, route, monitor, and prepare decisions. As long as you define its role clearly. This session will help founders design their first “AI employee” by answering five questions:
What job should AI actually do?
What inputs does it need?
What tools should it use?
What decisions can it make versus prepare?
When should a human review, approve, or stop it?
Founders will leave with a practical way to identify the first workflow in their startup worth delegating to AI, plus a tool guide for choosing the right stack based on their company type and stage.
Bio:
Rishabh Banga is an AI Product Leader, founder of RBX Labs, and operator-advisor with 10+ years of experience across product, AI systems, GTM, startups, and emerging technology. His work has spanned multiple industries, including LegalTech, AutoTech at Copart, Aerospace through NASA, Devices at Microsoft, EdTech, and SocialTech through Kampd. Across these environments, he has worked on applied AI products, marketplace systems, enterprise workflows, trust and evaluation layers, support automation, user activation, and product-led growth.
About the Host
About the City of Markham
The City of Markham is one of the most vibrant, diverse, and rapidly growing communities in the Greater Toronto Area. Home to more than 365,000 residents and a thriving business ecosystem of over 10,000 companies — including 1,500 technology firms — Markham is recognized for its forward-thinking urban planning, dynamic entrepreneurial spirit, and strong pro-business environment.Through the Markham Small Business Centre, the city provides dedicated support to entrepreneurs and small business owners. A team of passionate business advisors offers personalized, one-on-one consulting and access to essential resources, helping local businesses launch, grow, and succeed in today’s competitive marketplace. www.markhambusiness.ca
About YSpace
YSpace is York University’s pan-university entrepreneurship and innovation hub supporting startups and entrepreneurs from a variety of sectors and communities. Our programming spans across scaling innovative technologies through customer and investor capital to scaling agri-food businesses into mass retail to diversity-focused initiatives like **ELLA powered by Desjardins** for women-led businesses and Black Entrepreneurship Alliance (BEA) for Black-led businesses. Additionally with our Start-Up Visa program, we are building a robust ecosystem, driving positive change and empowering entrepreneurs to shape the future. We are also home to two physical hubs in the City of Markham and the Town of Georgina