Shouldered AI  /  Free AI education

Plain AI lessons for owners, schools and press.

Shouldered AI offers free, plain AI lessons for business owners, schools and the press. Learn what an AI agent is, what a virtual employee is, and what proactive AI means. AI Business University, a free library of articles for lawyers and the trades, answers the problems that keep owners up at night, and a weekly live webinar answers your questions.

What people ask first

"Is AI too technical for me?"

No. Our lessons use plain words and real examples from real businesses.

"What is an AI agent anyway?"

An AI agent is AI that can take actions to get work done, not only answer questions. Our lesson explains it in two minutes.

"Can I use these lessons in a class?"

Yes. They are free for schools and for the press to read and quote.

"Where do I ask questions?"

Bring them to Shoulder to Shoulder, our weekly live webinar, or to our Telegram community.

The ideas, plainly

AI education, in plain words.

AI agent

AI that takes actions to get work done, not only answers questions.

Virtual employee

An AI agent that does the work of a role inside a business.

Proactive AI

AI that starts the work itself when something is due.

Reactive AI

AI that waits until someone asks. Most AI today works this way.

HQ

The admin side of a business: sales follow-up, invoices, scheduling, HR, compliance.

Human decisions

Legal, tax, medical and financial decisions stay with people and their licensed advisers.

Simon runs HQ: all the tech and all the brain power, and the one you talk to. Each of the seven desks is run by a Hero, and Simon directs all seven and answers for them. A person approves what matters, and legal, tax, medical and financial decisions stay with you and your licensed advisers.

What it looks like

An owner reads a two minute lesson over coffee. A teacher uses the same lesson with a class that afternoon. On Wednesday both join the live webinar and ask their questions. AI Business University, our free article library, answers the problems that keep owners up at night: one track for the trades and one for law, every article checked by a person before it goes up.

An illustration, not a promised result.

How the math works

Start

Start free: read a lesson, read AI Business University, or join Shoulder to Shoulder on Wednesdays.

Grow

When you are ready, try a Hero for $25 a month, or join the Founding 50 list for HQ.

Your Hero is here to improve the human. Your HQ, led by Simon, is here to improve your business.

Your investment

Two prices, and 50 Founding places.

First, what the work costs you today. A full-time office manager runs most small businesses about $4,000 to $5,000 a month with taxes and benefits, and goes home at five. Every call nobody answers is a job that goes to someone else.

Business coaching often costs $5,000 to $7,500 for one session day. HQ does the work every month, with a coach running the Shouldered Way and workshops included. Already have a coach? HQ works alongside them.

Your Hero · available now

For you

An assistant for one person: mail, chat, calendar, to-dos and contacts. It learns how you work.

A seat a month
$25
Founding price, first 50 only
$20
  • A seat a month. Cancel any time
  • No onboarding fee
  • It stops where you stop. It does not run a business
Your HQ · Small

Up to five people

5 seats and 80 hours a month. Onboarding $1,000, paid once.

Paid for the year
$750
Month to month
$1,100
Founding price, first 50 only
$500
  • Simon and all seven desks
  • Starts the work itself
  • About $25 a day, paid for the year
  • The six-month guarantee
  • Arrives in December. Join the founding list now
Your HQ · Medium

Six to twenty people

20 seats and 200 hours a month. Onboarding $2,000, paid once.

Paid for the year
$1,875
Month to month
$2,750
Founding price, first 50 only
$1,250
  • Everything in Small
  • Room to grow without changing plan
  • The six-month guarantee

Prices are per month. Only the first 50 companies (the Founding 50) get the Founding price with a two-year commitment, paid yearly by bank transfer, and keep it for as long as they renew. Pay yearly by bank transfer and take 3% off. Onboarding is $1,000 for Small and $2,000 for Medium, paid once, and free at Shouldered events. It is one 1-hour call: technical setup with our technical team first, then your business with our team. The person who sold you HQ joins your onboarding call. Paid for the year, you get a named person who checks in every month. Month to month gets standard support. Twenty-one people and up is built around you. More seats are $25 each (Founding price $20), and more hours $12.50 each; hours count only while HQ is working, like minutes on a phone plan.

Enterprise and government. For large companies and public agencies. Custom plans start at $5,000 a month. Pilots are paid. We start SOC 2 Type 1 work in 2027. Texas agencies: we are working toward TX-RAMP.

The six-month guarantee · HQ plans

If HQ does not complete at least 40 hours of real admin work a month for you in your first six months (100 hours on Medium), tell us by the end of month five and we refund every dollar you paid for the plan.

The onboarding fee is not refunded. The guarantee asks one thing of you: let HQ do its work. Give it the access it needs and review its work in good faith. If our records show you kept declining or blocking the work HQ set out to do, the guarantee does not apply. If we see that happening, we tell you in writing so you can fix it.

The six months start the day HQ goes live for you. The Founding 50 are included. The guarantee covers HQ only, never coach fees.

Questions people ask
Are the lessons free?

Yes. The lessons, AI Business University and the weekly webinar are free for owners, schools and press.

Who writes AI Business University?

Drafts may start with the Heroes at HQ, the same Heroes that run businesses. A person checks every fact and approves every article before it is published.

Can press quote the lessons?

Yes. They are written to be clear and quotable. For interviews, write to simon@shouldered.com.

When is the webinar?

Shoulder to Shoulder is planned for Wednesdays at 11 am Pacific.

Do I need to buy anything?

No. Learning is free.

Who we are

A Christian-run company, and proud of it.

Churches get free Hero seats. When a member's business joins, its church gets an HQ, free.

Simon is named for Simon of Cyrene, who stepped in and shouldered the cross for another. Shouldered takes no outside funding and is open to everyone. The technology comes from the OurWorld group: ten years of work, 60+ engineers, running in 20+ countries.

Get started

Pull up a chair.

Start with your Hero today, take a Founding 50 place for HQ, or just come and ask questions in the community.

Or write to Simon: simon@shouldered.com