Coke’s AI Persuasion, APAC Retail Agents, & Treasury’s Spreadsheet Exit

In partnership with

AI HUSTLE | February 24, 2026

Welcome to AI Hustle! This week, we're looking inward. While everyone's chasing the next AI-powered customer-facing app, a massive opportunity is hiding in plain sight: your own team's internal chaos. How much time do your employees waste just trying to find an answer to a simple question? Today's Hustle shows you how to build a bot that knows your business better than anyone, freeing up your team to do the work that actually matters.

Meet America’s Newest $1B Unicorn

A US startup just hit a $1 billion private valuation, joining billion-dollar private companies like SpaceX, OpenAI, and ByteDance. Unlike those other unicorns, you can invest.

Over 40,000 people already have. So have industry giants like General Motors and POSCO.

Why all the interest? EnergyX’s patented tech can recover up to 3X more lithium than traditional methods. That's a big deal, as demand for lithium is expected to 5X current production levels by 2040. Today, they’re moving toward commercial production, tapping into 100,000+ acres of lithium deposits in Chile, a potential $1.1B annual revenue opportunity at projected market prices.

Right now, you can invest at this pivotal growth stage for $11/share. But only through February 26. Become an early-stage EnergyX shareholder before the deadline.

Invest in EnergyX Today

_{This is a paid advertisement for EnergyX Regulation A offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.energyx.com. Under Regulation A, a company may change its share price by up to 20% without requalifying the offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission.}

The Hustle: Build a 'Know-It-All' Bot for Your Team

The Goal: Give your team instant, sourced answers to any question about company processes (e.g., "How do we do X?") without them having to interrupt a manager.

The Tools:

* Slack (or Microsoft Teams)

* Your knowledge bases (Notion, Google Drive, Confluence, etc.)

* An AI Chatbot Platform with RAG capabilities (e.g., Voiceflow, Custom API build, Glean)

Step 1: The Question (The Input)

It all starts with an employee needing information. Instead of DMing a manager or searching endlessly through shared drives, they go to a dedicated Slack channel (e.g., #ask-the-bot). They type their question in plain English: "What is our policy on international travel reimbursements?" or "How do I request access to the new sales dashboard?" This is the simple, human-language query that kicks everything off.

Step 2: The Trigger (The Trigger)

The workflow is triggered the moment the message is posted in the designated Slack channel. You can set this up so the AI bot is automatically mentioned @KnowItAllBot), or configure it to read every message in that specific channel. This immediate trigger is key—it ensures the process is just as fast as asking a colleague, but far more efficient.

Step 3: The Brain (The AI/Logic)

This is where the magic happens. The AI bot uses a technique called Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG). It doesn't just "know" things; it actively searches your company's private data sources that you've given it access to. It scours your Notion wikis, reads through Google Docs, and even looks at past public Slack conversations to find the most relevant information. It then synthesizes the findings into a coherent answer, just like a human would.

Step 4: The Answer (The Output)

The AI bot delivers a concise answer directly in the Slack thread. Crucially, it doesn't just give a response—it provides citations. The answer will include direct links to the source documents in Notion or Google Drive it used to formulate the reply. This builds trust and allows employees to dig deeper if needed. As a final step, if the bot is not confident it found a correct answer in your knowledge base, it automatically pings a pre-designated human expert (e.g., @manager-jane) to step in.

Why This Hustle Works:

* Reclaims Wasted Time: Studies show employees can spend up to 20% of their week just searching for internal information. This bot gives them that time back instantly.

* Ensures Consistency: It provides a single source of truth, eliminating the "he said, she said" problem that comes from asking different managers the same question and getting slightly different answers.

The Headlines Traders Need Before the Bell

Tired of missing the trades that actually move?

In under five minutes, Elite Trade Club delivers the top stories, market-moving headlines, and stocks to watch — before the open.

Join 200K+ traders who start with a plan, not a scroll.

Get the Next Alert

🚀 The AI Pulse: 3 Signals to Watch This Week

Coca-Cola Swaps Price Hikes for AI-Powered Persuasion

Coca-Cola is shifting its growth strategy from relying on price increases to using AI for more effective marketing. As inflation eases, the company is focusing on "persuasion," deploying AI to generate creative content, plan campaigns, and analyze consumer data to shape demand. This move signals a deeper integration of AI into core business strategy, viewing it not just as a tool for efficiency but as a primary engine for revenue growth.

The Hustle Take: This is a clear signal that AI's primary business case is moving from cost-cutting to revenue generation. Operators should ask: "How can we use AI to understand and persuade our customers better?" instead of just "How can we use AI to save money?" For smaller businesses, this means using AI tools to personalize email campaigns, test ad copy at scale, and find new customer segments you couldn't see before.

How AI is Reshaping Retail in Asia-Pacific

The retail sector in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region is rapidly moving AI from pilot projects into daily operations. Driven by dense urban markets and high labor churn, retailers are implementing cashier-less stores (Lawson Go), AI-powered inventory management to reduce waste (Coop Sapporo), and "agentic AI" that acts as a personal shopper. These agents can plan a week of family meals based on complex constraints and build a shopping cart automatically, aligning with local cooking and shopping habits.

The Hustle Take: The APAC market is a crystal ball for the future of retail everywhere. The most powerful idea for operators is "agentic AI." Instead of just recommending products, think about how AI can perform multi-step tasks for your customers. Could an AI agent help a customer plan a project using materials from your hardware store, or create a travel itinerary using your booking platform? This is the next level of customer service.

AI is Coming for Your CFO's Spreadsheets

Corporate treasury departments, which manage a company's cash and risk, often still rely on manual spreadsheets. This creates a massive bottleneck and risk due to slow, error-prone data. The consensus is that AI can revolutionize treasury management, but only if the foundational data is in order. You cannot apply AI to a messy house. The first step is to automate the data pipelines between trading platforms, banks, and internal ERP systems.

The Hustle Take: The lesson here applies to every department, not just finance. Before you chase a flashy AI solution, audit your data workflows. If your team is still manually copying and pasting data between critical systems, your AI initiatives will fail. The real hustle is to first invest in automation and integration to create clean, real-time data streams. That foundational work is what unlocks the true power of AI.

Turn AI into Your Income Engine

Ready to transform artificial intelligence from a buzzword into your personal revenue generator

HubSpot’s groundbreaking guide "200+ AI-Powered Income Ideas" is your gateway to financial innovation in the digital age.

Inside you'll discover:

• A curated collection of 200+ profitable opportunities spanning content creation, e-commerce, gaming, and emerging digital markets—each vetted for real-world potential

• Step-by-step implementation guides designed for beginners, making AI accessible regardless of your technical background

• Cutting-edge strategies aligned with current market trends, ensuring your ventures stay ahead of the curve

Download your guide today and unlock a future where artificial intelligence powers your success. Your next income stream is waiting.

Get Your Guide