Happy Thursday,

AI isn’t slowing down—and neither should we. This newsletter is your shortcut to practical ideas and smarter strategies to grow, lead, and adapt as tech reshapes our industry.

To take it one step further, I’ve launched a new YouTube series. Each month, I’m sharing quick, tactical videos showing how advisors can use tools like ChatGPT to save time, think better, and scale more efficiently—starting with the work you're already doing.

Watch my latest episode here

The AI Edge

Helping advisors scale from 1 person to many people.

AI Application:

Knapsack

Overview:

Knapsack is an AI workflow platform that sits on top of your existing tech stack. Think of it as a conversational command center that connects your CRM, email, and calendar, then lets you interact with all of it through simple prompts instead of clicking through multiple systems. What makes it different from other AI tools is its focus on "Knaps" - pre-built automated workflows designed for advisor tasks like meeting prep, email management, and client research. The interface feels familiar if you've used ChatGPT or Claude, but instead of just getting answers, you're actually executing tasks across your connected systems. It's part assistant, part automation engine, and entirely focused on reducing the administrative friction that keeps advisors from spending time with clients.

How to apply Knapsack AI to the business today:

• Email triage and draft responses - Connect your email and ask Knapsack to summarize incoming messages and draft responses in your tone. Drafts appear directly in your drafts folder, ready to review and send. Turn "staring at blank screens" into "editing nearly-finished emails."

• Pre-meeting client briefings - Ask Knapsack to pull recent CRM activity, previous conversation notes, and outstanding action items before meetings. Get a consolidated briefing without logging into three systems or scrolling through months of scattered notes.

• Research assistance for client questions - When clients ask about concentrated positions or rebalancing, Knapsack researches current conditions, pulls their CRM data, and drafts responses covering strategy and tax implications. Like having a junior advisor handle the initial research and draft work.

• Calendar-based task automation - Set Knaps to run automatically based on your schedule - briefings every Monday morning, follow-up email drafts after client calls. The system anticipates what you need based on your calendar patterns.

• CRM data entry from conversations - After meetings or emails, Knapsack extracts key information and creates tasks in your CRM for specific team members. Documentation and delegation happen through natural language instead of manual data entry.

Advanced:

• Multi-system workflow orchestration - One client email triggers multiple actions: draft response, create CRM trading task, update client record, schedule follow-up reminder. Complete workflows execute across platforms without switching systems.

• Custom MCP integrations - Connect Knapsack to specialized tools beyond standard integrations using Model Context Protocol. Bring your portfolio management software, planning tools, or proprietary systems into the workflow environment.

• Automated meeting intelligence - Knapsack joins calls, processes transcripts, drafts follow-up emails, extracts CRM action items, identifies research topics, and prepares next-meeting materials. Your post-meeting workflow runs itself.

• Team delegation workflows - Route client requests to the right team member, create tasks with full context from CRM and email threads, and prepare briefing documents. Automate how work flows through your entire practice, not just your individual tasks.

What could this application mean for the future of our business?

Here's what struck me about Knapsack: it's designed around the assumption that we're not going to keep interacting with email and CRMs the way we do now. The current model - switching between inbox, calendar, CRM, portfolio management system - is a relic of when each software company built their own fortress. Knapsack suggests a future where natural language becomes the interface and all your systems are just data sources in the background.

The competitive shift isn't obvious at first. You might think "great, I can process more emails faster." But the deeper implication is about what becomes possible when administrative friction approaches zero. Right now, many advisors are capacity-constrained not by how many client relationships they can manage, but by how much administrative overhead each relationship creates. If Knapsack-style tools deliver on their promise, the constraint shifts entirely to relationship quality and strategic thinking. The advisors who win won't be the ones who figured out the best CRM workflow - they'll be the ones who used the freed capacity to deepen relationships and provide better advice. That's a different skill set than what's created success over the past decade.

See Knapsack AI in action:

I stumbled on this tool through a LinkedIn post and spent an afternoon testing how it actually works with real client scenarios. My “ah-ha” moment was watching it not just draft an email response about a concentrated Apple stock position, but actually save that draft directly into my Gmail drafts folder - complete with research on current market conditions, diversification strategy, and tax considerations. I didn't copy and paste anything. I didn't switch applications. I just asked, and the work appeared where I needed it. Watch the full demo to see how it handles meeting prep automation, connects across your existing tech stack, and introduces "Knaps" - pre-built workflows that might change how you think about delegating work to AI.

-Matt