Connecting the Dots · #2
I launched a new product before lunch. Here’s what AI actually did (and didn’t)
Friday 6 November 2026 · Emma Williams · 3 min read
This week’s dots are my own. On Friday morning I took an idea from a conversation to a live product launch before lunch, with AI doing a lot of the building. Here’s what that actually looked like, warts and all.
Dot 1: The idea
On Wednesday I sat down with a salon owner and trainer I work with. Her network kept saying the same thing: they’re fed up of paying a monthly fee for their booking system and a cut of their bookings on top.
So we’re building Owl HQ: a simple salon booking system at £20 per person, per month, with no commission. Ever. Salons and self-employed therapists can link their diaries, and anyone with a gap can drop it as a last-minute deal.
The app isn’t ready yet. But you don’t wait for the app to find out if people want it. You open the doors and see who walks in.
Dot 2: The morning
By lunchtime on Friday, all of this was live:
- A page explaining it, with a short video and a voiceover
- A sign-up form that saves every name to a database
- A welcome email that goes out by itself, with tips so it lands in the inbox, not spam
- Its own share link for every person who signs up. Bring three friends and your first month is free, and the system counts them
- A Facebook post and a paid ad, £7 a day for two weeks
A year ago that would have been a fortnight of work and a few different freelancers.
Joining the dots
AI didn’t have the idea. It didn’t know salons, and it didn’t pick the price. It did the fiddly building, fast.
It also got things wrong. The ad was set to show in the United States. My Facebook page turned out to be hidden from the UK. The video cut the words off on a phone. I only caught them because I checked everything the way a customer would, on my own phone.
That’s the dot that matters. The skill isn’t knowing the tools. It’s knowing exactly what should happen next, then checking it did. Every piece above started with one question: “the moment someone signs up, what should they see, get and do?”
What I’m doing with it
Owl HQ sign-ups are open now. If you run a salon, rent a chair or work self-employed in beauty, you can get in first here. I’ll share how the two-week test goes, numbers and all.
Your one next step
Pick the moment a new customer first gets in touch with you. Write down what should happen in the next 60 seconds: what they see, what they get, and what you get told. Five lines. That’s your first automation, and it’s exactly what I’d build first.
Need a hand with this?
That’s what we do at ATO Insight Solutions.
Enquiry automation, cost estimators and dashboards for small businesses in North Wales, built from the steps you already do by hand.
See you next week.
Emma
Want it in your inbox?
One email a week. The post and nothing else.
Emma WilliamsFounder of ATO Insight Solutions, Northop, North Wales. Builds websites, cost estimators and enquiry automation for small businesses. Ask her anything.